How the Bear Lost his Tail.* 



Once on a time on a certain day a mousedeer was in a 

 hole, busy eating terong rimbang. He noticed a tiger approach- 

 ing the ant heap where he was eating the terong. He thought 

 that the tiger wanted to catch him. His joints and bones all 

 trembled owing to his very great fear and his head was in a 

 whirl. While in this state he began to chew one of the terong 

 making as much noise with his mouth as he could. " Kerab 

 kerab kertub kertub " went his jaws. " Ambohi," he said, 

 " how delicious is this pickled tiger's eye." Then he eat another 

 terong in the same way and said the same thing. And so on 

 four or five times. When his majesty stripes heard that he 

 began to shudder and crept away very softly. 



A short while after the tiger met with a bear and said to 

 him, " Ho, Sang Beruang, hath my lord heard what manner of 

 animal it is that lives in that ant heap there, and is so busy 

 eating tiger's eyes ? " The bear replied, " Thy servant knoweth 

 not." The tiger then said, " Come along and see." But the 

 bear replied, " I dare not." The tiger said, " Never mind, come 

 and let us swear fealty to each other, and let us tie our tails 

 together. Then if anything happens we will both suffer." So 

 they tied their tails together, and approached the mousedeer' s 

 ant heap very gingerly as if they were going against some very 

 great enemy. 



When Salam di Rimba saw these animals he knew that 

 they were badly frightened, so he shouted out, " Look at this 

 accursed tiger, his father owed us a white bear and he is now 

 going to pay his debt to us with a black one. Black or not, 

 bring it along quickly." When the bear heard this he was 

 very greatly startled " Hei," he said, " is this the trick that 

 Sang Harimau is trying to play on me ? He wants me to pay 

 his father's debt, does he." . So the bear tugged violently. 



* A short tale by Penghulu Haji Mohamed Nasir, bin Kanda Mat 

 Sen, of Hutan Melintang. Lower Ferak. He is a Perak Malay. He 

 cannot recollect the source from which he learnt it. 



K. A. Soc, No. 48, 1907. 



