Kumang Kidundung by Sunga Tom’s Note: This tale comes from the Bidayuh in the Serian district. Kumang, in the Dayak world, are spirits among the people. This story tells an interaction between one of those spirits, Antu Puah, and a Dayak named Kidungdung. Kumang Kidundung One day Kaleng went out to the jungle to shoot […]
Dayak Ghost Story Read More »
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 appointed Datuk Merpati to rule
Datu Merpati: A Fable? Read More »
Tom’s Note: The fable is from the Bidayuh living around Bau. It tells who owns the caves in the area and why. Enjoy! A Land Dayak Girl Explorer Many years ago, there lived two land dayak children. They were brother and sister, and the boy was the elder. They were orphans; their father and mother
Bidayuh Birds Nest Fable Read More »
Toms Note: I try to read all the literature that could have a historical fact or two. In this essay by Dato Maha Rajah Lela, much of the story is fantasy. However, when he stated Brunei got its name from the word Punay I had to take a closer look. Brunei is pronounced “Brew nay”
New Brunei Word Origin ? Read More »
Greetings! Happy Gawai to all. I am presenting these six old stories about the Mias and the people to celebrate the holiday. Six Mias (orangutan) Stories by Gaun anak Sureng Balin anak Salau accompanied by Sanjat anak Rayang went out hunting with guns to Bukit Menuku on the upper Mentu stream. As they walked that
Orangutan Stories Read More »
Comic Tales of Api Salui by Benedict Sandin Sarawak Museum Journal July-December 1960 Tom’s Note: The below story has been passed from generation to generation among the Ibans. It tells a tale of a wise wife with her stupid husband. The Malays in the kampongs across the river also have similar accounts. They tell of
The Chinese Revolt by Rev. Brian Taylor SMJ 1969 The first woman, other than women with their husbands, ever sent abroad by the Society for the Propagation of the Bible was Sarah Coomes. Miss Coomes was left behind in the first evacuation of the town after the Bau Chinese had arrived to pillage and sack
A Ladies Perspective of the 1859 Revolt Read More »
The Mother of the Pleiades A Mythological Story of the Iban Almighty God made a golden stone in the eastern corner of the sky known as Tangkulas Batu Mas. Many years afterwards this stone changed into a very beautiful girl whose eyes and skin shone and glittered like a lump of gold. Her name was
Pleiades Creation Story by the Iban Read More »
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 a baby honey bear which
A Mouse Deer Story Read More »
Notes from Benedict Sandin Sources of Iban Traditional History published by the Sarawak Museum Journal 1994 Sumatra Suriani and I have maintained the Iban came from Sumatra. On page 140 n.2 “The question of where the Iban originated is largely unanswerable. On linguistic grounds, it has been frequently argued, that, as Malayic speaking people, the
Iban origins, floods and rules for sex, war and kitchens Read More »
