Fables and Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest

There is a tune which when played upon the "Kêrõtong" (a two-stringed bamboo harp) makes Rîmau the Tiger drowsy, but only a few old people know it. One evening two men were sitting together and playing in a hut in the jungle when two tigers overheard them.

The tigers took counsel together, and one of them said to the other, "You shall be the first to go into the house; Whatever you seize shall therefore be your portion, but Whatever plunges down the steps (to escape) shall be mine."

At this the second tiger ascended the house-ladder and was just crouching upon the topmost rung when one of the men to amuse himself commenced to play the Tune that makes the Tiger Drowsy. As soon as the Tiger heard it he began to grow sleepy, and presently fell plump down the steps to the ground, where he was seized by his companion. And when he objected, his companion exclaimed, "Did we not agree that Whatever plunged down the steps was to be my portion?" and proceeded to devour him at his leisure.

[1] This Tune which the Malays call ''Lagu Rîmau mengantok" may perhaps only exist in the popular imagination, like our own "tune the cow died of." The phrase appears to be pretty generally known in the East Coast States, though I had not heard it in the States of the Western Sea-board. The 'kêrõtong' is a 'joint' of bamboo, longitudinal strips of the skin of which are raised with a knife, and tightened by means of wedges (or 'bridges') inserted (under the strips) at both ends, so that the strips form the instrument's strings. The strings may be two or more in number, and are twanged with the fingers.