he Murut people live in Sabah along the Sapulut and Padas rivers. They can also be found along the border with Sarawak, where they are known as the Tagal people. In Brunei, they are referred to as the Lun Bawang, where they supplied soldiers to the Sultans of Brunei. They were the last group to renounce headhunting.
A Murut Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there lived in a Murut village near Keningau a young man called Burok. Burok means ugly in the local language but he was a handsome man and the ladies swooned over him. Nobody knows where he received the name.
Forgoing the traditional loin cloth of the Murut, Burok wore the blue pants of a Chinese and a singlet. He also wore a multi-colored turban, not unlike the Punjabs. Attached to his belt was his parang, a long machete implement.
Burok was fond of hunting and rarely missed his blowpipe. He was wandering the forest one day and heard the giggling of girls. He cautiously approached the sound and found five young girls bathing. They were discussing the pros and cons of marriage which caused Burok to blush.
Burok looked up a tree and discovered some funny things with wings. He grabbed the closest one and covered it with leaves.
The girls, who were fairies, came out of the pool took their clothes off the tree and put them on. However, the youngest one cried out that she could not find her garments as Burok had taken them and hid them under some leaves. The other girls tried to console her and together tried to lift her skyward but she was too heavy. So bidding her adieu with many tears and embraces they ascended upward.
Burok came out of hiding and asked the girl why she was crying. The girl cast her eyes downward and asked him if he had seen her clothes but Burok claimed ignorance. Burok said she should quit crying and go with him to his mother’s house where she would adopt him as a daughter. “How do you expect me to go like this”? she said as she was as naked as she was born. Burok gave her his headdress (sigar) and told her to use it as a sarong. The two then proceeded to his mother’s house.
The mother was suspicious of her and treated her coldly. After a few days, she helped the mother look after the pigs and fowl. The girl secretly studied the ways of Burok’s family and when Burok asked her to marry him she said yes.
Things went well for awhile and a son was born to Burok and his fairy wife. Meanwhile, the mother in law took an extreme dislike to her because she would not help harvest the paddy or gather firewood. Her friends taunted her because she did not bring a dowry to Burok as was the Murut custom. Burok’s wife was ignorant to all this back biting.
When her son turned four, he became aware of all this talk and informed his mother. Burok’s bride became upset and told his son that she was a princess from Kayaangan (heaven). She had come down to earth to go bathing in a pool, lost her clothes and could not return.
“Look Ma,” said the child “could your clothes be the same garments that Pa keeps in the old wooden box underneath firewood?” “Show me quick,” said his mother. The son removed the firewood and opened the box “Yes, it is so” said the mother with great glee. “Now, let us leave these wicked humans and return to heaven” she said putting on her clothes.
She put on her garment and tried to take her son back to heaven. However, she failed to lift him at every attempt.
Amid tears, she bid her son goodbye. However, she left a message for his father.”When he returns, he should go to the Jabatan merah (red bridge) at sunset. There he will find an old man fishing. He should dive into the water and get a hold of the line with you tied securely to his back. Then, he should jerk on the line and the old man will jerk the line up to fairyland. Tell him he will find the house easily when he sees plants with red leaves growing nearby. Now goodbye until then my son. With that, she flew away.
When Burok returned late that night he was very sad to find his wife had returned to heaven. His son told him everything his mother had said and the next morning, with his son strapped to his back, set out to find the old man.
He had not gone far when while passing a dam with a fish trap set he heard his name being called. When he looked into the river he saw his name being called from the fish trap where as many as 100 little fish were caught. “Do release us Burok and one day we will be able to repay you for your kindness” said the fish. He opened the door of the trap and the fish escaped jumping with great glee.
As Burok hurried along he came across a broken line of ants carrying their eggs. They were at the water’s edge and could not cross. They were running around distractedly. Again he heard his name being called and he replied he was busy. “Oh do help us we want to cross the stream”. They said. Burok found a log and placed it across the stream and the ants were able to easily cross.
Not far away Burok saw a squirrel caught in a trap. “Oh, Burok” cried the animal. “Do release me and who knows I may be able to assist you?” he said. Burok released the latch and set the squirrel free. Going further on he heard a deer call his name. The deer was caught by the antlers in a rotan (vines) noose. Immediately he took his parang and cut the deer loose.
Burok was getting tired and angry because he thought he might miss the old man. A firefly cried out and asked for help as he was caught in a web with a huge spider coming his way. With the wave of his hand, the web was totally destroyed and the firefly was able to escape.
It was not long afterwards he reached the old man with the fishing pole. He was casting his line from a huge rock overlaying a deep pool of water. He jumped into the water with his son tied to his back and caught the line with both hands. Now the old man thinking he had caught a fish jerked the line and sent Burok and his son flying through the trees and clouds until he landed with a bump into a strange country.” Now this must be Kayangaan” he thought.
The next step was to find the house with the three plants with red leaves. He found the house and called for his wife who came out and welcomed them joyfully. His wife introduced them to her father who was Rajah of Kayangaan.
Now the Rajah was a stern ruler as Burok learned to his dismay. Burok explained to the Rajah that his purpose was to take his wife back to earth. The Rajah flatly refused as he was not invited to the wedding and could not give his consent. Moreover, his daughter had a suitor who was promised to her from childhood. “Besides, you are not of Royal blood and you would be a disgrace to the family,” he continued. “But if you could do certain feats, I would consider you of high lineage,” said the Rajah.
Burok agreed to try and so the Rajah with his entourage took Burok to a large pool and emptied a large box of beads. He was told he must find all the beads. Burok dove into the water but could not find one bead. In despair, he began to weep. Suddenly a school of fish asked why he was upset. When Burok explained, the fish said they were there to help and to hold the box under the water. The fish gathered the beads and Burok presented the box to the Rajah who had to admit not one bead was missing. The Rajah said he had other tests before he would consent to give him his daughter’s hand.
The next he took Burok to a field of long wirey grass and scattered se gantang (2.5 kg) of rice and stated every grain had to be returned to him before sundown. Burok realized it was not an easy task and sat down and began to sob. A line of ants came along and one asked why he crying. Burok explained and the ants said they were there to help. The ants went through the entire field and collected each grain of rice. Burok went back to the Rajah presented the rice and asked for his daughter’s hand.
“Not so fast,” said the wily old Rajah. “Tomorrow you must come to my orchard and prove yourself worthy of my daughter” he continued. The next day Burok went to the orchard and the Rajah pointed to a langsat tree laden with fruit on the outermost twigs. Then the Rajah ordered his servant to cut the tree until it was almost falling. “Now you pick every langsat from that tree without breaking a twig or causing the tree to fall,” he said.
Now Burok was a good climber but knew he could not trust his 8 stones (50 kg) to this frail tree. Again he began to weep and the squirrel asked what was wrong. Burok explained and the squirrel said since you helped me out of that trap I will help you. The squirrel jumped on the tree and bit each langsat just at the base of the twig. The langsats fell to the ground and Burok collected them and took them to the Rajah and asked for his daughter’s hand. “Not so fast,” said the Rajah.” I have another task for you to complete.”
The next day, the Rajah took Burok along with the original suitor, the Fairy Prince to a place from which a wide expanse of jungle could be seen with trees with red leaves on a hill above the jungle at a distance. “Fetch me some leaves from the distant tree and the man who first brings me the leaves will be the better man.” sneered the Rajah.
Now the Fairy Prince despised Burok and thought little of him because of his lowly birth. He knew he could win this contest and laid down and ate some langsat before catching up to Burok.
Burok had a hard time fighting his way through the jungle. Time and again he fell and badly hurt himself. The jungle was thick and full of brambles.
As if from nowhere, out dashed a deer. He told Burok to climb on his back and dashed to the tree with the red leaves. Burok gathered the leaves and presented them to the Rajah, ahead of the Fairy Prince. The Rajah was forced to admit that Burok was the better man.
The Rajah said there was one final test to earn his daughter’s hand. The rajah went into a dark room, closed the door and took a small vial from his sarong. He placed it among the many pots and jars. He closed the door and told Burok to find what he had left. Into the dark room, Burok went. He was afraid to move very much in fear of hurting himself. He was about to come out admitting to the impossibility of the test when he saw a small firefly. “Do you remember when you saved me from the huge spider?” the firefly asked. I am here to repay you. With that, he settled on the vial the Rajah had replaced in the room. “Here is what the Rajah had left. Take it to him” the firefly said.
Burok went to the Rajah’s room and showed the vial to him. The Rajah was surprised but he could not deny it was the right item.
“You have won your bride but you cannot go back to earth with her. You must live here with us” said the Rajah. Burok became despondent and unhappy. Although he had coconut trees, he missed the fruits like durian, mango, terap, bakap-bakap, pulusan and manggis. Worse, the locals claimed he smelled. His peculiar body odour was because he did not bathe and soap was taboo to most Muruts.
Instead of sleeping in his wife’s room, he slept on the veranda and every time people passed by they would say what a disgrace for the Rajahs son in law. Moreover, to his dismay, he had to use a coconut as a pillow instead of a sarong guni (pillowcase) stuffed with cotton because of the stench he imparted on the cloth. Poor Buroks wife tried hard to please her husband but nothing could change his attitude.
Finally, the people decided to get rid of Burok because his body odour permeated everywhere. They decided to cut a hole in the bamboo floor and allow him to fall back to earth. Poor Burok fell through the hole and landed back on Mother Earth. On waking up he saw his mother who welcomed him like the prodigal son of the Holy Scriptures. There was merry-making in the true Murut tradition.
One fine day Burok noticed a coconut tree and it reminded him of the cruel Rajah. He got an ax and was about to chop it down when the tree said “Look, if you were in the jungle and thirsty, all you would have to do is to take the nut, split it open and have a refreshing drink. The flesh (coconut meat) is good eating and when dried it can be pressed into oil to be used for frying your fish. The oil could also be used to light your lamps. The husk you could turn into brooms and I could supply you with toddy for your festivals.
Burok thought about it and decided to chop down the tree because he was afraid the nuts would fall down on the head and injure someone. The tree said “Hey stop! I won’t drop a nut down while your people are around.”
And it came to pass that no nut fell on a Murut head and they saw fairy’s whenever they drank toddy.
From
Many thanks to Facebook PhilatelicSociety Kuching Sarawak via Veronica Chang Schmidt from a newspaper clipping. Original article not found.
BorneoHistory.net
