Indonesian Folklore Webpage
Folklore from West Kalimantan
A mouse deer and a turtle were best friends. One day, they went to a river. They wanted to go fishing. On the way to the river, they met a deer.
"Hey friends, where are you going?"
"We're going to go fishing," said the mouse deer.
"May I join you?"
"Sure, no problem."
The three of them continued walking. They later met a hog. The hog also wanted to join them. The mouse deer, the turtle, and the deer agreed. Then the four of them continued walking.
While they were walking, they met a buffalo. The buffalo also wanted to join them. Later, a rhinoceros and an elephant joined them. They were happy, they could go together. While they continued their trip to the river, a bear stopped them. He was curious about why they were walking together.
"Hey guys, where are you going?"
"We're going fishing," said the mouse deer.
"Hmm... It's interesting. May I join you guys? I'm hungry now."
"Sure, no problem. The more the merrier," said the mouse deer.
They were led by the mouse deer. They were walking happily.
Finally, they arrived at the river. They all jumped into the river and caught the fish. After they caught the fish, they threw the fish on the river bank. The buffalo was still standing on the river bank. The mouse deer asked him to guard the fish they caught.
The buffalo did his job carefully. He was collecting all of the fish that his friends had thrown onto the riverbank. Suddenly, a tiger came.
The tiger was hungry. And when he saw a lot of fish in front of him, his mouth was watering. The tiger tried to steal the fish. The buffalo was angry. He attacked the tiger. They were fighting.
Unfortunately, the buffalo lost the fight. He fainted. The tiger then ate all the fish. The mouse deer finally knew what happened. He asked his friends to keep on catching the fish and throwing them to the river bank. He knew the buffalo could not guard the fish anymore. He then asked the deer to guard the fish.
Sadly, the tiger came. The deer and the tiger were fighting. The deer also could not win the fight. The tiger again ate the fish that the mouse deer and his friends threw to the river bank.
The mouse deer saw the deer fainted. So he next asked the hog. But the hog could not win the fight against the tiger.
Then the mouse deer asked the elephant to guard the fish. The same thing happened. The elephant also lost the fight. Next, the rhinoceros and the bear had to guard the fish. Unfortunately, they also lost the fight.
There were only the mouse deer and the turtle. The mouse deer did not want to ask his best friend to fight against the tiger. So he guarded the fish by himself.
Later, the mouse deer collected some rattans. He made big rings from the rattans. He wore the big rings on his legs.
And then he looked up at the sky. Later, the tiger came. He wanted to steal the fish again. However, he was curious about why the mouse deer was looking up in the sky.
"What are you doing?"
"If you wear the big rings, you can see what happens in the sky," said the mouse deer.
The tiger was curious, so he wore the rings.
"Hey, I still cannot see anything," said the tiger.
"That's because you don't wear enough rings. Your body is big, so you have to wear many rings. Here, let me help you," said the mouse deer.
The mouse deer put all the rings on the tiger's legs. All the legs were full of rings. The tiger could not move his legs at all.
He was just lying hopelessly. The mouse deer was happy that the tiger could not disturb them anymore. ***
Please Read More Stories!
