A Bizarre Iban Tale.

This story was found in the Sarawak Gazette and included a mixture of Iban and English. I have edited and organized the tale, so it makes sense to the reader.

 In the village lived Kumang and Keles (Keling in Iban literature) In the olden days, any female of beauty and wisdom would be called kumang while any dashing and courageous male be called Keles. There were many Kumangs such as Kumang Gumiloh, K Selau, K. Katak, etc. There were also many Keles, but Keles was very seldom used to describe them. For example, Gumpara was also a Keles.

In this legend, Kumang was pregnant and a young Keles proposed to take the expected child as a wife should it be a female and as a brother should it be a male. Unfortunately, what was born was not a normal baby, but a being with the upper body of a human but the lower body of a Rasbora fish. To add to Kumang’s woes, the baby preferred water to land.

Out of exasperation, Kumang took it to the bathing place and hit its head with a wooden implement.  Left for dead, the body drifted to a deep pool and was retrieved by Siniang Naga, the lord of the dragons, who nursed it back to life. The child grew up to be a fine young boy and was given the name Gumpara.

Gumpara lived with Siniang Naga. One day, while wandering around the country, the couple chanced upon the above world, the world of humans. Seeing so many people of his own kind, Gumpara was curious about the place. So, with permission from Sintang Naga, Gumpara ascended to the world of humans and, by a strange coincidence, met his own mother, Ruling, at the bathing place.

 Gumpara was invited to live with Kumang who realized his identity by virtue of a gashing scar on his head. Being a normal child, he made friends and played with the village kids and looked after the house. Soon, Kumang’s patience had run out. So one day before leaving for the padi fields, she left a packet of wood shavings from the spinning top instead of rice. This made Gumpara sad and he decided to leave.

Armed with a small knife, he headed for the great forest. For seven days and seven nights, he wandered in the jungle. Then he met a giant. The giant caught hold of Gumpara and swallowed him. Strangely enough, Gunpara slipped out of the anus. After the seventh attempt, the giant decided to take him home, where his wife made seven unsuccessful attempts to swallow Gumpara. Finally, the couple decided to adopt him as a grandson.

One day, while the giant couple went out hunting, Gumpara decided to climb a stout palm, just in front of the house. But as Gumpara tried to ascend higher, the tree grew taller. Up and up went Gumpara and the crown of the tree reached the clouds, until Gumpara was directly over the village of Kumang Gumiloh.

By sheer coincidence, Gumiloh was watching over her rice. Gumpara was so captivated by the maiden’s beauty that he plucked a nut and threw it down towards Gumiloh. The nut fell on the rice. Gumiloh, thinking it was the work of some naughty kids, ignored it. This made Gumpara sad, and he began to weep as he descended. The giants took pity on him and decided to send him to the village.

With Gumpara on his shoulder, the giant took a few gigantic steps towards the destination and came upon Gumiloh’s farm. On a coconut tree laden with nuts, Gumpara climbed the palm and plucked some nuts to quench their thirst. But the giant tried to dissuade him, as he knew that Gumiloh’s father had cast a spell on the coconut.

Gumpara ignored the giant’s pleas and started to climb the palm. As soon as he gained some height, the spell began to unfold in the form of scorpions, snakes, wasps and all the creatures on earth. They fell from the palm and swarmed on Gumpara but were rendered harmless by Gumpara’s counter spell.

While Gumpara was throwing the nuts to the ground below, the was giant also busy gulping down everything, shell and all. When Gumpara finally descended and found nothing left for him, he threatened the giant. Meekly, the giant disgorged the nuts for Gumpara to split open. They enjoyed the nuts the normal way.

 After that, Gumpara caught a hornbill, skinned it, slipped into the skin and perched on a tree stump in the middle of a sugarcane plot. The next day, Buk Linau and Bukuh Tebuh, sent by Gumiloh to collect sugarcane, had the fright of their lives. The hornbill which they described was right there in front of their eyes. When Gumiloh ordered them to catch the great big bird, all they succeeded in doing was to put the noose on each other’s neck.

Finally, Gumiloh came over and held out her hand, which the bird willingly approached and perched on it. On reaching home, the bird refused to be placed anywhere but in the loft. It also refused to take food from anyone but Gumiloh. However, in due course, it learned to be friendly to helpers who were none other than Buk Linau and Bukuh Tebuh.

One day, the bird asked the two men to prepare a casting net and a boat for going fishing. As soon as the trio reached the river bank, Gumpara emerged from his shell. He kicked the two helpers, and they changed into two palm trees.

Gumpara dove into the water and swam towards the home of the dragons. When he reached Sintang Naga’s home, grandfather did not recognize him and refused to accept him. Instead, the old man reached out for his spear, which was like a large banana leaf, and hurled it at Gumpara. The great spear missed Gumpara and the gigantic blade got lodged in the buttress of a huge tree.

Gumpara pulled out the spear and threw it at Sintang Naga. It barely missed the old man’s crotch and clipped off a sizeable length of his loincloth. With this, the old man accepted Gumpara and allowed him into the house. During the night, Gumpara was asked to sleep on the veranda and beddings were prepared for him. However, during the night, Gumpara placed a cylindrical fish trap container at the head and then leapt to the loft to watch the coming happenings from above.

True enough, a thing crept out in the dark towards the spot where Gumpara was supposed to be fast asleep, carrying a great big machete. Seeing the prostrate figure, Siniang Naga, brought down the knife on the neck and the severed gourd (the fish trap must have changed into a gourd) spewed water. Thinking that it was blood gushing out, grandfather laughed with glee and claimed to have killed Gumpara. But Gumpara leapt down the loft and revealed himself. Grandfather just kept quiet and sulked away in the main room. Gumpara crept into the sleeping quarters of Siniang Naga’s granddaughter, and she revealed grandfather’s secret to him.

The next morning, when Siniang Naga asked Gumpara to choose from his array of talisman and amulets, he picked the most potent one, a bottle with a chip at the mouth. Grandfather had to admit defeat and presented Gumpara with a high number of fowls to take back. When Gumpara reached for the fowls, they changed into fish. After sleeping, the misfits(I assume they were Buk Linau, Bukuh Tebuh and Gumpara dressed in the hornbill skin)  went back to their old form and putting on the hornbill skin, the trio headed for home.

Life went on as usual until one day Gumpara, smitten by Gumiloh’s beauty, decided to pay her a visit during the night. Now, as Gumiloh’s sleeping chamber was situated high above the commoners, it was not easily accessible. So Gumpara sought out a nearby tree which was a dragon disguised. He immediately climbed the tree and bade it to bend towards Gumiloh’s abode, but the dragon refused. So Gumpara broke off a branch and the dragon wept.

The next tree was behai, who agreed to help Gumpara. It slowly leaned and rested against the rooftop. Then, Gumpara slowly approached Gumiloh’s bed. When Gumiloh inquired about his identity, he tried to elude her questions and finally decided to leave, but as he was attempting to make a quick getaway, Gumiloh managed to grab hold of his loin cloth and clipped off a fair length.

In the morning, a gong sounded and summoned the people of the village to a meeting. When she related the incidence to the public, every able-bodied man tried to claim credit. In those days, a man is honored to have the chance to “nyagam Kurina”. Of course, no one would believe such a claim and after many deliberations, it was assumed that the culprit was their traditional enemy, Orai Menyawai, especially so when they saw the piece of the loincloth laced with gold thread.

It was decided that they would attack his village and confiscate the heads of Orai Menyawai parents. They agreed to make preparations immediately. Buk Linau and Bukuh Tebuh decided to join the fracas and received many cheers, especially so when it was learned that they wanted to bring along the pet hornbill.  

Gumpara consulted the seven of the shorea trees. Each of the six brothers was asked to accompany him. They were not brave enough to enter the territory of Menyawai. Finally, the seventh one agreed and it was felled by Gumpara. He changed the other trees into a coucal, bubot, rhinoceros hornbill, tikun, the peacock, awi weevil, bubok to help him in constructing the boat.

 When the boat was finished and everybody had taken position on the river, Gumpara’s boat took up the last place.  Every boat capsized except for Gumpara’s.  Gumiloh was puzzled but pretended to ignore the whole party. So the party finally headed for a country. Soon they came upon a dangerous rapid. Each member of the raiding tried to assault it, but was unsuccessful. Gumpara neutralized it and the party moved on.

Next they came upon a section of the river which passed under a wild mango. It was laden with huge fruits that fell continuously. It was put to a stop by Gumpara. The next obstacle, the clapping stone, was also neutralized the Gumpara.

The party finally passed all the obstacles. At the end of the river journey, they came upon a ridge.  They each tried to be the first to reach the top. Gumpara beat all and proceeded to a resting place. He felled a giant tree to start a fire, spreading the leaves like a mat on the ground. He boiled rice in a tiny cooking pot and fetched water in a small bucket made of bamboo. Both were sufficient for the large raiding party.

When night came, the party decided to send a scout to spy on Menyawai country. The first to volunteer was Mang Lentur. However, a short distance along the path, he came upon a mystic bamboo grove. Spotting the scout, it spoke and warned Mating Lentur not proceed lest he suffer from Menyawai’s spell. Cowardly Mating, Lentur wept in fear and came back to the camp.

The next day, the same fate occurred with the others until it was Gumpara’s turn. He calmly approached the bamboo grove and proceeded to slash it. The fallen bamboos wept and begged to be spared. Next Gumpara came upon a field of upturned pickaxes, (beliung) but Gumpara calmly neutralized it. Then he came upon the head house, where Menyawai and his younger brother were fast asleep. Gumpara decided to check on his enemies power with the use of the betel leaf.

 First, he placed a leaf on Menyawai’s chest. It withered. He placed the leaf placed on his brother’s chest and it turned brittle. But the one placed on his own chest turned to ash. He had won the initial round. Next, he reached for the weapons and rendered them useless by rubbing the blades against the stone.

Next, Gumpara crept to the sleeping chamber Menyawai’s wife, Tunrrmi Simelansr. After waking her up, he disguised his voice as Menyawai’s and inquired about the whereabouts of the heads of Gumiloh’s parents. When Menyawai’s wife expressed disbelief, she pretended to have lost track of all the heads he had taken. But when it was revealed, he murdered her and retrieved the heads.

 Early the next morning, Menyawai’s mother called for the wife to wake up and boil rice. But there was no answer. After repeated failure to arouse her daughter-in-law, the old lady lifted the mosquito and saw blood all over the bedding. Tunggu screamed for Menyawai and his brother. Menyawai jumped up and grabbed his weapons. His brother followed suit and rushed out. The awaiting Gumpara asked them to identify themselves. Menyawai identified himself as Tugru, the bamboo stump that does not topple over, and the brother was Jala, the casting net that catches the passing one.

 In return, Gumpara identified himself as Hangkang.  The twig props up the casting net while the pickaxe chops the bamboo stump. Thus, Gumpara won the second round.

They fought on the ground and above it. After sometimes, Menyawai fell, mortally wounded and then the brother also died. Gumpara fell on people’s camp, was also wounded, but he recovered very soon. Then the party attacked Menyawai’s people, taking heads and looting the whole village. When the village was burned to the ground, the party headed for home.

When they returned, Gumiloh was at the bathing place. On seeing that it was Gumpara who brought back her parents’ heads, she paid more attention to Gumpara than her own, especially so after Gumpara brought her back to life. This made Mang Lentur extremely jealous and challenged Gumpara to a fight. Gumpara slashed off his ears so that they will not get entangled in the overhanging bushes. The next to go was the nose so that he will not to bear with the stinks. Finally, he slashed off the buttocks to relieve him of some unnecessary load. The poor Mang Lentur minus his ears, nose and buttocks, headed for home and fell dead at his doorstep. 

Meanwhile, Gumpara and Gumiloh were married and there was a big celebration.

The Legend of Gumpara by SAET GADUG The Sarawak Gazette April 1991