iAsai & iTin Berene
Tagal Paran tells the story of Asai and Tin Berene in the Ba Kelalan dialect of Lun Bawang. The story goes that Tin Berene shaped and flattened the land, whilst Asai made the rivers. At the beginning, they had lots of energy and made the earth nice and flat, but by the time they got to Borneo they were tired. This is why there are lots of mountains and streams on the island of Borneo. The story was recorded in Buduk Nur on 21st February 2019.
inan eceh cerita lun merar tau maun nilad keleh
There is a story that our elders told in the past
cerita' deh inan dueh lemulun
According to them there were two people
mungkin lek, dingdiruh diweh lek
probably they were a married couple
ceh delai dih, iAsai
the man was called Asai
ceh decur dih, Tin Berene
the woman was called Tin Berene
maya' buri' deh lun merar
according to the elders
iAsai ne' nabang efa'
Asai made the rivers
iTin Berene ne' napi' tana'
Tin Berene flattened the earth
buri' deh
they said
puun-puun diweh nemudut tana' nih
the first time they made the earth
rat nge' bawang mado diweh atun
they started from places far away
rat kudeng dei' America
like America
rat kudeng dei' England
or England
kudeng bawang-bawang luk mebelad
places that are flat
mebelad tana' deh
where the land is flat
doo' pudut bawang deh
and the villages are beautiful
kayuh-kayuh luk mulun bawang deh, dari-dari
and all the trees that grow there are short
na ieh kayuh kudeng bawang tau tunge' lun Sarawak
not like the trees here in Sarawak
bawang tau lun dayeh
like in our interior villages
kudeng neh
like that
buri' deh iTin Berene ne' napi' tana'
they said that Tin Berene went to flatten the land
kereb ieh napi' tana' nih
when she was flattening the land
napi' dih pieh bang bala tau Lun Bawang
as for the word "napi'" in Lun Bawang
ayu' remerar tau maun
like our elders
ideh mudut kuden
they make cooking pots
kereb deh napi' kuden kedeh
when they "napi'" cooking pots
ngalap tana' dih, dih deh napi' dih
they get the soil and then they mould it
dengan sebuleng kayuh
with a piece of wood
ruen deh mudut kayuh sineh
they make that stick by hand
tapi' ngadan sineh
and they call it "tapi'"
ruen deh mudut kayuh sineh peh
so they make that stick
doo' raan ieh
it's nice and light
inan deh napi'-napi', mefet-mefet teh tana' dih ke'
and they use it to flatten the ground, to hit the ground repeatedly
napi' ngadan sineh
they call that action "napi'"
mefet-mefet tana' dih
hitting the ground
dih tana' dih mebelad
so then the ground is flat
pian pideh naru' dih teburur
if they want to make it round
naru' dih teburur
then they make it round
pian mesenang deh mudut tana' dih leh
they want to make it easy to make the earth
iTin Berene dih mudut tana'
Tin Berene makes the earth
dih ieh napi'-napi' tana' dih
then she shapes it
inan luk ruen ieh mebelad
there are some bits that she makes flat
inan luk ruen ieh tebuduk
there are bits that are bumpy
inan nuk melubang
and some bits have holes
iAsai dih nabang fa'
Asai made the rivers
pengeh iTin Berene mudut tana' dih peh
after Tin Berene has made the earth
dih iAsai nabang fa' nih peh
then Asai made the river bed
naru' inan fa' manud lah
makes a place for the rivers to flow
buri' deh diweh ne' mudut rat bawang rayeh
they said that they started from big places
rat dei' England, Australia, bawang luk doo' belad
from England, Australia
bawang luk doo' belad
places that are flat
pengeh diweh nemudut range' peh
after they had finished making those places
me' diweh tunge' Borneo
then they came here to Borneo
tunge' Borneo nih, nier tau tunge'
here in Borneo, we can see
mula' pegkung
lots of mountains
inan fa' arur-arur
and streams
bawang tau nih
our villages
mikup ketauh, mikup
they are covered in mist
merita' pegkiung
there are high mountains
idih fa' dih manud lapad-lapad pegkiung nih
and the rivers cut through the mountains
ineh
that one
kereb diweh mecing tunge' bang Borneo peh
when they came to Borneo
merur diweh peh
they were already tired
merur diweh peh
they were already tired
iTin Berene nih na... na ieh metueh
Tin Berene was not as strong
kudeng ieh kerja dei' bawang beken
as when she was working in other places
dih ieh naru' tad neh napi'-napi' tana' nih peh
and then she did like that and flattened the earth
mudut tana' nih, merita'-merita'
moulded the earth high
na mepudut idih mebelad kudeng ieh kerja puun-puun
she wasn't able to flatten it like her work in the beginning
ineh puun neh mula' pegkung-pegkung tunge' Borneo
that's why there are many mountains here in Borneo
pegkung luk medita'
high mountains
iAsai pun merur tineh neh
Asai also started to get tired
kian mungkin ieh makai enun keh kereb dih
I have no idea what he was using at that time
merur ieh peh
but when he got tired
dih ieh namid-namid tana' nih peh
he stamped his feet onto the ground
dih ieh namid selipa, namid selipa peh
stamped here, stamped there
ineh ilung neh fa' sineh peh
and those spots became the rivers
jadi luk tinamid iAsai nih peh
so the earth which Asai stamped on
fa' manud maya' bawang neh peh
the rivers flowed through those places
neh luk belain tau arur keh atau fa' rayeh keh luk manud
that's what we call streams or big rivers that flow
inan ngadan bang nekinih peh
and today there are names
anid-anid efa' luk bang bawang tau Borneo
for every river in Borneo
Sabah, Sarawak
in Sabah and Sarawak.
inan meh ngadan fa'
for every river that has a name
arur-arur deh inan ngadan
for every stream that has a name
buri' duwa' merar pem
the elders say
ineh
that one
iAsai nengabang sineh buri' deh
Asai built that, they say
inan pegkung-pegkung
if there are mountains
inan surud-surud luk dita'
if there are high hills
inan luk beneh
if there are low hills
ineh, tinapi' Tin Berene sineh, buri' deh
that one, they say that Tin Berene made that
ineh cerita lun merar leh
that's the story of our elders
na inan buku sineh sen
this one is not written in a book
a uih ninger
I have not heard so
mecing nekinih pun, cerita neh
until now this story
mula' lun ninger cerita lun merar maun
there are many people who heard this story from the elders
kudeng neh luk uih ninger
that's what I heard
cerita sinih, cerita metuu keh, na metuu
this story could be true or not
jadi kudeng tauh ngerawe nekinih pun
but if we think about it now
keli' tau ayu'-ayu' neh
we know in actual fact
beken iAsai, beken iBerene nemudut tana' nih
it wasn't Asai and Tin Berene who made the earth
Tuhan nemudut dih peh
it was God who made the earth