October's
Borneo Legends & Myths |
by Stanislaus Kassun
Text &
Images Courtesy of SarawakAlive!
It is believed that the buffalo once had teeth in the upper and lower jaws
just as we have them. Here is a story of how the buffalo lost all the teeth on the
upper jaw.
One day one of them went grazing over an area on which grass grew. It
did not know that there were other animals there. Through the grass came a little
bird with a long and beautiful tail. This bird was no taller than the grass.
Its size was an advantage to the bird for it could hide itself whenever an enemy came
near, but if large footed animals came they might not see it and there would be a chance
that it might be trampled to death.
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The bird shouted with pain
and struggled very hard |
This buffalo was busy grazing and the little bird was resting in the grass
for it was tired after a long search for food. As time passed by, the buffalo came
to the spot where the little bird was resting, and suddenly the tail of the little bird
was accidentally stepped on. The bird shouted with pain and struggled very hard. It
struggled and struggled. Then it happened that the buffalo's mouth was very near and
so, during the hard struggle, the teeth of the buffalo's upper jaw were knocked out
completely by the bird's legs and wings. Not a tooth was left.
The bird finally escaped, but sad to say, it had lost its tail. How
angry the little bird was, and at the same time, how miserable and annoyed the buffalo at
losing all its upper teeth. They quarrelled and quarrelled, they cast evil over each
other. Finally the buffalo said that the little bird's tail and the tails of all its
offspring would never exist again from that day. The little bird did not just keep
quiet, but told the buffalo that he had all his generations would only have one row of
teeth. Then they separated. So, when we look at the mouth of a buffalo, we
will see that it has no teeth in the upper jaw. If we happen to see this little
bird, we will see that its tail end is round, and without feathers. These birds are
known as pimpikau in Kadazan.
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