The Mousedeer & The Crocodiles
Lucy Bulan reads a folk story in the Bario dialect of Kelabit. This is the traditional Malaysian folktale of how the mousedeer tricked the crocodiles into letting him cross to the other side of the river. Lucy translated this version into Kelabit. The recording was made in Bario on 9th November 2017.
nih uih la' masa' edteh sekunuh
now I am going to read a story
lem ayu' pelanuk diweh bayeh leng mula' dih
about the mouse deer and the many crocodiles
edteh lekedtang ngi lem pulung nangey
one morning, far away in the forest
liat-liat edteh pelanuk lawey-lawey liang kayuh
a mouse deer was happily walking around beneath the trees
medting ieh ngi edteh ebpa' rayeh
he came to a big river
siren neh edteh lawa kayuh bua' libuh pedipar ngen ebpa' sineh
he looked out and saw a guava tree across the river
mula' bua' libuh nuk doo' ribed sia' luun lawa bua' libuh dih
there were many fruits on the tree that were perfectly ripe
"mmm, nih men uih lili la' kuman ineh," keneh
"yum, I would really like to eat them," he thought
ken lem burur pelanuk ih
the mouse deer thought to himself
neh nieh la' uput mey lem ebpa' dih
he was just about to jump into the river
kadi' ieh la' lemangui mey dipar dingi
so that he could swim across
denak-denak ieh neninger ebpa' dih tepesak muneng iring nedih
when all of a sudden, he heard the water splashing nearby
ni'er ieh keyh
he looked
edteh temen bayeh nuk rayeh dih tenganga' muneng ineh
and saw a huge crocodile baring his jaws nearby
"petabi' lekedtang, bayeh," ken pelanuk ai'-ai' ngeneh
"good morning, crocodile," the mouse deer said quietly
kadi' ieh la' ngapung kapeh ken tegegker neh neni'er bayeh sineh
as he wanted to hide how scared he was seeing that crocodile
"naru' enun iko uleng-uleng nginih?" keneh ngen bayeh ih
"what are you doing all alone?" he said to the crocodile
"ohhh," ken bayeh dih na'ur ieh, "idih ngabi teh kamih dengeruyung edteh kanan lem inih tebey',"
"ohhh," said the crocodile in reply, "actually my whole family is here somewhere,"
"kadi' nih keduih la' buro mado let ngedeh kedi'it beto'," ken bayeh ih ngeneh
"but I just wanted to get away from them for a little bit," said the crocodile to him
"ken kereb iko mada' ideh ngekuh?" ken pelanuk
"can you show them to me?" said the mouse deer
"na'am tebuut teh kereb menu"
"I simply cannot believe"
"ngemuh inan lun ruyung nuk kineh ken mula' muneng nginih," keneh
"that you have so many relatives right here," he said
"na'am tebuut tideh mawan siren narih," ken pelanuk sineh
"I can't see them at all," said the mouse deer
"ian muh, pelaba mula' kamih dengeruyung nih," ken bayeh
"how dare you, my family is so huge," said the crocodile
"tulu narih pitung"
"if you count"
"pupuh kamih nih teh leng-leng mula' lem ebpa' sinih"
"we are the most populous of all creatures in this river"
"kadi' tulu iko la' na'it kedi'it"
"so if you wait a little while"
"kereb tuih nawar deh ngabi inan muh petulu," ken bayeh sineh
"I will call them all to come and meet you," said the crocodile
kedi'it teh pingan ineh, ungat neh bayeh merar dih
a little while later, all of the crocodiles poked their heads up
siwa-siwa let liang kulit ebpa' ih
one-by-one from beneath the water
besi-besi tideh ngiup ebpa' let lem idtung dedih
noisily they breathe out water from their noses
ta'ut ketuh teh pelanuk dih ni'er deh
the mouse deer was very scared looking at them
"ken kereb uih nginam kapeh ken mula' muyuh tu'uh?"
"can I count how many of you there really are?"
ken pelanuk ngitun ngen sena'ang nuk gegker-gegker
said the mouse deer with a voice that was trembling
"mo, doo' teh, nginam niko kamih"
"yes, go ahead and count us"
ken bayeh dih subo-subo
said the crocodile with pride
kuma' ieh lemangui kawi'-kawi'
as he swam from one side to the other
lem erang lun ruyung bayeh nedih nuk pelaba mula' ineh
amongst his crocodile family that was indeed very large
"ken da'at teh muyuh patur lalad-lalad"
"why don't you line up"
"doo' tuih kereb uput luun muyuh tedteh-tedteh," ken pelanuk
"so that I can jump on you one-by-one," said the mouse deer
"doo' meley kuh nginam muyuh renga' kineh dih," keneh
"that will make it easy to count you," he said
"mo, doo' tineh," ken bayeh
"yes, that's ok," said the crocodile
lem puket neh lili ni'er pelanuk sineh nuk muneng iring nedih
whilst he looked at the mouse deer hungrily who was stood next to him
la' ketuh tieh la' kuman ieh tebey'
he must have really wanted to gobble him up
"mawa meto' narih keyh"
"you'll be amazed"
"pelaba mula' kamih dengeruyung"
"I have a really large family"
"ulit pupu teh berang ebpa' dih inan kamih patur," ken bayeh
"when we line up, we will cover the whole width of the river," said the crocodile
ngesu teh pelanuk dih ngenalan nuk pinian nedih
so the mouse deer proceeded to put his plan into action
neh nieh upun maya' luun kenep-kenep bayeh nuk ineh
and jumped on top of every last crocodile
nginam deh tedteh-tedteh
counting them one-by-one
mala, "edteh, dueh, teluh, epat"
going, "one, two, three, four"
mey kesu-kesu paad ieh medting ngi pedipar ebpa' rayeh sineh
and so on until he reached the other side of the river
medting ieh nangey, ngi pedipar ebpa' ih
when he got to the other side of the river
leng-leng doo' liat nieh ni'er bua' libuh dih
he was very happy to see the guava tree
ngen ta'ang nedih penu' ngen bua' libuh nuk doo' sia' laak neh
with his mouth full of red, ripe guavas
neh nieh ngerengat mala, "terima kasih ngen abi muyuh bayeh"
he shouted, "thank you to all of you crocodiles"
"doo' selinuh muyuh nenulung uih guta ebpa' dih na'ah," keneh ngedeh
"it was kind of you to help me cross the river," he said to them
kidih teh bayeh dih keli'o ideh pinalug pelanuk suk doo' ayu neh
at this point the crocodiles realised they had been tricked by the wiley mouse deer
kapeh taru'?
what could they do?
nepuit neh men ieh let ngedeh
he had already escaped from them
na'am nekereb deh nekuman labo nedih suk doo' main nieh
they wouldn't get to eat his tasty meat
pelaba neh laya' iat bayeh dih
so the crocodiles were sad
kadi' nideh ngesu seterem lem ebpa' rayeh dih
and proceeded to submerge themselves back into the big river
paad ideh na'am mawan-mawan neto'
until they could be seen no more
neh paad sekunuh sineh
that's the end of the story