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Category: Bisaya Fables

The Third and Last Sultan of Santubong Part 1

Sultan Abdul Jalil Muhammad Al Hafiz Zussalam ~1490 – 1512 The third and last Sultan of Santubong ~1490 – 1512 (The last sultan who used the title Abdul Jalil after his late brother and father) Abdullah Muhammad became the Sultan upon the retirement of his brother. Sultan Abdullah Muhammad had

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May 19, 2024 No Comments

Ngaju People: Blood, Slaves and New Religion

The historical information was gleaned from a lecture by Martin Barier, date unknown. Much of the information about German missionaries ie names and places in Germany etc was omitted to focus on the Ngaju people.  The Ngaju People South Borneo contains the settlement area of the Ngaju People. The first European descriptions date back to the 1690s. Father Bartolomeo

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May 11, 2024 No Comments

Bisaya Fables

Some Bisaya Folk Lore The scene of this story is the Klias Peninsula situated on the west coast of North Borneo opposite Labuan Island. After crossing the beautiful beach with its palm trees there is a huge swamp with a tangled mass of impenetrable mangrove, nipah and sago. It is

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September 8, 2022 No Comments

Datu Merpati: A Fable?

Tom’s Note: Here is an oral history of Datu Merpati. He is a person who, it was said, ruled Sarawak sometime in the 1700s and who many of the current and past rulers have traced their lineage. Much of it is fantasy except for one item the Sultan of Brunei

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July 17, 2022 No Comments

A Mouse Deer Story

Salam The Mouse Deer- Second Evening Old Abdullah picking his way homewards through the deep forest one evening at sundown by following the narrow winding Wild Beast tracks that criss-cross it in every direction but which to him were as familiar as our town streets to ourselves, had picked up

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March 31, 2022 No Comments

Mouse Deer

Since I arrived here 12 years ago, I have heard of the stories about the Mouse Deer. I wanted to find examples, but the stories in English were all prohibitively expensive. Finally, a few months ago, a volume appeared in Ireland and was termed a “reading copy.” I jumped on

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October 3, 2021 No Comments

Early Schools in Kuching

The Anglican Mission Schools The mission schools were used by the missionaries as a source of converts to Christianity. The Rajah James Brooke used the schools as a source of English language graduates to work in the civil service and local European commercial houses. The Chinese viewed them as a

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April 22, 2021 No Comments

Tortoise and the Mouse Deer

The Tortoise and Mouse DeerTranslated by A.C. HaddonThe tortoise and the mouse deer agreed to steal from a neighbouring garden the fruit known as ‘buah mah”(rambutan in Malay). The mouse deer suggested that the tortoise should climb the tree whilst he would pick up the fruit. The tortoise did so

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

The Ibans of Saribas

The History of the People of Bangkit , Paku, SaribasNote: The houses mentioned in this article are called longhouses. They are built on stilts where each section is like a townhouse with a family living in each one.They share a common porck or verandah.There are several ancient people who lived

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January 20, 2021 1 Comment
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