The Clouded Leopard and the Nose Flute ( Harimau om Suling)

The largest wild cat in Borneo is the famous Clouded Leopard. Known as harimau by the Sukang tribe that lives down the Kinabatangan River, famously known as mondou by the Kadazan dusun of Penampang and Tengara tribes and tananansat by the Tobilung tribe. It's length can be from one and a half metres long and has markings that are cloud-like on its body. Being a very shy animal, it hunts mainly during the night and stays in the forest canopy.

Long ago when the world is still young, it is said that the harimau was a very ferocious animal and they eat human beings even. One evening, a villager played a suling (flute)  in the Kinabatangan River. His suling was unique. It is pointed at the end and is played by blowing the suling holes by a nostril while blocking the others with a wad of tobacco. 

While this young man was playing his suling, the hungry ferocious harimau crept up to the end of the forest to see what was making such noise. It inched forward and when it noticed that the man didn't noticed, it moved faster until it was quite close to the man before encircling him as it licked its lips with saliva dripping to the ground.

The man, unperturbed, continued to play his suling and ignored the animal completely. As the animal suddenly pounce to strike the man with its paw, the man poked the pointed end of the suling into its paw and pierced it. 

The harimau howled fearsomely and tried to get rid of the suling that was pierced in its paws but fail. At last, it begged the man to remove the suling from its paw as it felt too much pain. The harimau said " I promise that I and my descendants will not eat you or your descendents as long as you or they are playing the suling."

Then, the man thought about it and immediately pulled the suling out of its paws. Since then, Clouded Leopards stay away from villages whenever they hear the sound of the suling. In fact, they lived as far from human habitation as possible and are hardly ever seen nowadays.

Narrated by KK Jabil bin Bahiri
Source: Animal Tales of Sabah, P.S. Shim

The Orang Utan and the Jew's Harp (Kogiu om Bungkau)

In the local language of the Kadazandusun, the orang utan is also know as kogiu which only slightly smaller than the gorilla. These creatures can be found on two islands only: Borneo and Sumatera.

Once upon a time, there lived a hunter who is fond of playing a musical instrument locally known as the bungkau or in English, Jew's Harp. He took it with him wherever he went. One fine day, he saw a large kogiu sitting high up on a tree. Without hesitation, he took his blowpipe and shot darts laced with poison at the kogiu. Unfortunately, the kogiu was too high up the tree for the poisonous darts to reach.

The hunter sat down and thought of an idea. His bungkau! He took it out and played it. The kogiu, who have never heard or seen such instrument, became fascinated by the siren-like music that he climbed own a little to hear the music better. The hunter noticed this but continued on to play the bungkau. The kogiu moved closer and more closer to the ground that when it got within the range of the blowpipe, the hunter shot 51 darts at the kogiu. The kogiu became dizzy, lost its grip and fell dead into the Liwatong Kadiu River near Ulu Malagatan.

The kogiu was carried by the hunter to the village and swore loudly, "Any kogiu that comes close to the areas where the bungkau is being played will follow the same fate as this dead kogiu."

From that very day onwards, the kogiu are always afraid of bungkau music.


(Narrated by KK Jabil bin Bahiri)
Source: Animal Tales of Sabah, P.S. Shim