Palug Rayeh & Palug I'it Go Fishing
Penghulu Robertson Bala tells a folk story in the Bario dialect of Kelabit. The story tells two of many tales about two brothers and how the younger one tricks the older one. In this particular story, they go fishing but Palug Rayeh misunderstands and ends up losing all his fish. The story was recorded in Bario on the 19th November 2017.
ngesu let ngen nekaruh lem ayu' ali lun merar malem
carrying on from talking about taboos in the past
nih meto' emu' Bulan pian ngekuh mala edteh sekunuh lah
now Bulan would like me to tell a story
itung pemetaso tudo kah
as a means of passing the time
ataupun nepu'un anak-anak la' rudap ko'
or to get the children to sleep
kineh lun merar ngilad
that's what our elders did in the past
sebelum anak la' rudap keyh
before the children go to sleep
neh nideh mala sekunuh metaso supaya deh rudap lah
they would tell them a story to send them to sleep
lem beruhmalem kinih uih pian mala sekunuh
this afternoon I'm going to tell a story
lem ayu' Palug Rayeh diweh Palug I'it
about Palug Rayeh and Palug I'it
kadi' Palug Rayeh neh keleyh
but this Palug Rayeh
pelaba Palug I'it malug ieh ko'
Palug I'it often fools him
macam-macam tu'en neh malug
he does many different things to fool him
ngadan tun tieh Palug Rayeh keleyh
his name may be Palug Rayeh (Big Fool)
tapi suk i'it teh suk malug-malug ieh ko'
but it's the younger one that is always playing tricks
neh diweh, mey diweh nganeh keleyh
so the two of them set off to do something
Palug I'it keyh, tumen bubuh ko', tumen bubuh keyh
so Palug I'it goes to set the fish trap, set the fish trap
edteh reberuh ngadan neh Reberuh Bunut
there's a wide stretch of the river called Reberuh Bunut
neh nieh tumen... tumen bubuh neh ngineh keyh
so he sets his fish trap there
mey nieh edto riak, periak
so the next day, after that he goes back
teyh mula' tungen-tungen teh luang keneh bubuh sineh
so many fish were caught in that trap
muli neh mey ngi ruma' keyh
he goes back home
neh neh Palug Rayeh ngitun ieh
and then Palug Rayeh asks him
"eyh Palug I'it!"
"Palug I'it!"
"nun ieh?"
"what?"
"ngapeh inan muh tumen bubuh mudih leyh?"
"where did you set your fish trap?"
"Reberuh Bunut"
"Reberuh Bunut"
"Udung Runut?"
"The top of the climber trees?"
"Reberuh Bunut"
"Reberuh Bunut"
"Udung Runut?"
At the top of the climber trees?
"mo", keneh
"yes!" he says
neh neh Palug Rayeh nemuit dieh bubuh rayeh keleyh, bubuh
then Palug Rayeh takes his big fish trap
neh nieh nengiet dih udung runut nangey ko'
and he hangs it from the top of the climbers up there
udung runut
on top of the tree branches
inan men upan neh keleyh
there's some bait in it
mey men telu'a'
so along come the crows
edteh manuk neh telu'a', mitem ieh ko'
there is a bird called 'crow', they're black
temipa men telu'a' sineh lem dieh bubuh keyh
then the crow sticks its head into his fish trap
bukan luang mey, telu'a' teh mey ngi ko'
so it's not fish get trapped, but crows!
neh neto'... muli' neh Palug Rayeh muit dieh bubuh keleyh
so then Palug Rayeh goes home with his fish trap
penu' ngen telu'a' teh ena', lem bubuh ineh ko'
and it's full of crows
neh neh Palug Rayeh nenguto ieh lah
so Palug I'it teased him
ngudeh tiko la'ih sineh ki-kineh
"why are you so stupid!"
"Reberuh Bunut keyh lem reberuh lem ebpa' teh"
"Reberuh Bunut is the wide stretch in the river"
"mey ngudeh ko tumen dih udung runut?" keneh
"why did you go and set your trap at the top of the trees?"
neh edteh sekunuh man lah
so that's one story
luk kedueh man
the second one
mala diweh mey nganeh keduih mey nubeh lah
is about when they went fishing with poison
mey nuba diweh ko'
when they went fishing with posion
mey diweh nubeh keyh
so they go off fishing with poison
Palug I'it keyh, ken nubeh ieh lem puneng ih, ebpa' ih ko'
so Palug I'it, he puts poison at the start of the river
matey luang medting-medting elung keyh
and the fish all die, right up to the part where two rivers meet
kapeh neh
what then?
neh neh Palug Rayeh ngitun Palug I'it
then Palug Rayeh asks Palug I'it
"eyh nubeh ngapeh ko leyh?", keneh
"where did you set the posion?"
"oooh nubeh ngi arur dayeh neh uih", keneh
"ooh I put the poison upstream", he said
"kapeh ieh?"
"what's that?"
"mo, nubeh narih leyh, nubeh lem ebpa' ih"
"I put the poison in, I put the poison in the river"
neh neh kedieh nutuk dieh tubeh ngi elung ebpa' idih ko'
so then he pounds his poison at the point where the two rivers meet
na'am men luang matey mey dayeh kemuh
but fish don't die upstream, you know
matey ngineh tu'uh teh
they die there
am ieh matey ngi dayeh ngi
but they are not affected upriver
neh nieh mey nganam luang ih keyh
so then he goes to pick up the fish
Palug Rayeh mey nganam luang ko'
Palug Rayeh goes to pick up the fish
pauu meneh bulu' ko'
but the bamboo has a hole in it
neh nieh nipa luang ih keyh
so when he puts the fish in
pengesu tutu' tideh ko'
they all fal out the other end
neh nieh mala bulu' nih penu' keyh
then he thinks the bamboo is full
pada hal, mabi tutu' teh luang nedih ko'
but actually all of the fish fell out
ken na'am men bukuh bulu' ngidih keyh
was there no divider in the bamboo?
kiteb neh neh bukuh bulu' ih ko'
well he cut it out, didn't he!
neh lem ayu' dueh na'an sekunuh Palug Rayeh lah
so that's two different stories about Palug Rayeh
kineh serita neh
that's the end