Si' Nang, Si' Aang
Bu Alan tells a folk story in the Pei' Aloon dialect of the Sa'ban language. The story is about two frogs that live in the jungle of Borneo. One is named 'Nang' and one is named 'Aang'. In the story, the two frogs go looking for fire but end up falling out. The end result is that Nang curses Aang only to be able to drink when it rains. This explains why the Aang frog is never seen drinking from rivers and instead lives in hollows in trees. The story was recorded on 25th November 2017.
éek aroo' si' suenghneu
I'll tell a story
suenghneu Nang
the story of the frog
si' Nang
there was a "nang" frog
si' Aang
and an "aang" frog
kawan pi-pi déweh nah
they were very good friends
kawan pi-pi déweh nah
they were very good friends
mai si' dei déweh tau
wherever they went
si' nah weh déweh
they went they went together
mai si' sieu
one day
adiin-adiin
a long time ago
si' sieu, adiin-adiin déeh
one day, a long time ago
mai ndéweh la'oot sieu hnah
they went to work together that day
ooh sieng déeh lem kerja dong ngaai
they arrived at the place where they work
"ooh, Nang, mai ceh nteu si' apuei nlún taweh"
"Nang, go and ask those people for fire for us"
"ooh, mai keh nteu apuei nlún taweh tau"
"and when you go and ask for fire from those people for us"
"sieng keh ngaai tau"
"when you get there"
"ai nsúek keh arai nteu yeh ndeh"
"if they ask you who it was that told you to come and ask for fire"
"ooh Aang kuek Aang atoi adeu' puek nsúek éek arai nu'uum," nyeh
"you should answer - it was Aang kuek, the frog with the long hair that asked me to come," he said
pi nong mai Nang
then Nang went
sieng Nang nguoi lún nok waan apuei ai
when she got to the people with the fire
"Nang, ai nsúek ceh arai nteu apuei," ndeh
they asked, "Nang, who asked you to come and ask for fire?"
"oooh"
"oooh"
"Aang kuek atah kuek alau naan ppah-ppah brée ppah padi," nah Nang
Nang said, "Aang kuek, the frog that's used to pound rice and paddy"
pi, iraai lún apuei ndéweh
then the people gave them fire
mai nyeh leu'
and she went back
pataai ndéweh
and they fought
pataai ndéweh, bileu nah Aang nyeh
they fought, and Aang got angry at her
mroel yaat Nang nyeh bileu nyeh
Nang was unhappy that he was angry with her
aroo' yeh sumpah yeh
and she cursed him
am yeh maan pei' lem aroel nai
so he can't drink from the stream there
too' diin tau, dei yeh mérop
when it rains then he can drink
nonoh dduet yeh
it was like that
nah pat yeh
the end