"If we have any mishaps," he said, "I shall be away two months. If not, I shall be back in a month." She remained in the kampong guarded by her father, mother, and other people, and after a while many young men began to pay her attention, telling her: "He has been away a long time. Maybe he will not return." One day at noon when she was filling her bamboo receptacles in the river as usual, taking a bath at the same time, she saw a fish sleeping, and caught it. She then lifted on her back the big-meshed rattan bag which held the bamboo receptacles, all full of water, and went home, carrying the fish in her hand. Before cooking it she went to husk paddi.

The bird Teong, who had heard she was beautiful, saw her and he liked her much. He flew to a tree from which he could get a good look at her where she was husking the paddi. In admiration he jumped from branch to branch until a dead one broke which fell down and wounded young Otter in the river under the tree. The mother of Otter became angry with Bird Teong for the injury. "I have been in this tree quite a while," Bird answered, "because I like to look at that woman. I did not know Otter was underneath. If you want damages, ask that woman there." "Why should I pay Otter?" the woman said. "I did not call Bird Teong. I have just finished pounding and am going to cook fish. This case we will settle tomorrow. I am hungry now." She went away and so did Bird and Otter. She cooked rice in one bamboo and the fish in another. Then she ate, after which she went to the river as the sun was setting, to take her bath. She soon went to sleep.

Early the next morning she made her usual tour to the river to bring water and take her bath, and when she had eaten, Bird and Otter arrived. Otter wanted damages from Bird, and Bird insisted that the woman should pay. She repeated that she knew nothing of Bird and had not asked him to come. As they were arguing, to her great relief her husband arrived. He brought many prisoners and many heads. "It is well you have come," she said. "Bird and Otter have made a case against me. I was husking paddi, and Bird liked to look at me. I did not know he was there in the tree for a long time. A branch fell down and wounded Otter's child, making her very angry, and she asks damages from me." "This case is difficult," the husband answered. "I must think it over." After a while he said: "The best thing to do is to give food to both." Bird was given fruit to eat and Otter fish, and they went home satisfied. All the people of the kampong gathered and rejoiced at the successful head-hunting. They killed pigs and hens, and for seven nights they ate and danced.

NOTE.—When an attack on men is decided upon the sumpitan is hidden and left behind after the spear-head has been detached from it and tied to a long stick. This improvised spear is the principal weapon on head-hunting raids, as well as on the chase after big game. The bird, called by the Saputans teong, is common, of medium size, black with yellow beak, and yellow around the eyes, also a little red on the head. It learns easily to talk, and is also common in Java.

16. LAKI MAE

(From the Saputans; kampong Data Láong)

The wife of Laki Mae was pregnant and wanted to eat meat, so she asked her husband to go out hunting. He brought in a porcupine, wild hens, kidyang, pig, and deer, and he placed all the meat on the tehi, to smoke it over fire, that it should keep. But the right hind leg of the porcupine was hung up by itself unsmoked, to be eaten next day. They had their evening meal and then went to sleep. In the night she bore an infant son, and, therefore, next morning another woman came to do the cooking. She took the hind leg and before proceeding to cook it, washed it. It slipped through a hole in the floor to the ground underneath. Looking through the hole she saw a small male child instead of the leg, and she told Mae of this.

"Go and take this child up and bring it here. It is good luck," he said. "It is my child too." It was brought up to the room and washed and laid to the wife's breast, but the child would not suckle. Mae said: "It is best to give him a name now. Perhaps he will suckle then." He then asked the child if it wanted to be called Nonjang Dahonghavon, and the child did not. Neither did it want Anyang Mokathimman, nor Samoling, nor Samolang. It struck him that perhaps he might like to be called Sapit (leg) Tehotong which means "Porcupine Leg," and the child began to suckle at once. The child of the woman was given a name two months later, Lakin Kudyáng.

For two years the mother suckled the two, and then they were old enough to play behind the houses of the kampong. They saw many birds about, and they asked their father to give each of them a sumpitan. When they went out hunting the human boy got one bird, but the other boy got two. Next time the woman's son killed a plandok (mouse-deer), but the other one secured a pig. Their father was angry over this and said to "Porcupine Leg": "Go and kill the two old bears and bring the young ones here." He had recently seen two bears, with one cub each, under the roots of a tree in the neighbourhood. The boy went, and the bears attacked him and tried to bite him, but with his parang he killed both of them, and brought the cubs along to the kampong, bringing besides the two dead bears. The father again sent him out, this time to a cave where he knew there were a pair of tiger-cats and one cub. "Go and kill the pair and bring the cub here," he said. Again the boy was successful. Laki Mae did not like this and was angry.

In the evening "Porcupine Leg" said to his brother: "I have a long time understood that father is angry with me. Tomorrow morning I am going away. I am not eating, and I will look for a place to die." His brother began to weep, and said he would go with him. Next morning they told their father they were going to hunt for animals and birds. But when they did not return in the evening, nor later, the mother said: "I think they will not come back." Half a month later many men attacked the kampong. Laki Mae fought much and was tired. "If the boys had remained this would not have happened," the people said angrily to him. In the meantime the human son began to long to return, and he persuaded "Porcupine Leg" to accompany him. They both came back and helped to fight the enemy, who lost many dead and retired.