WHY DOESN'T A BEAR HAVE A LONG
TAIL?
This is a Malay folktale,
which is one of the ancient folktales that was "saved" from
extinction. A Dutch scholar, C. Hooykaas carried out his researches into Malay
culture in the end of 19th century and he contributed to protect it.
The original script is in
Malay language, not in modern Indonesian language and I did my best to
translate it into English.
One afternoon, a mouse deer
was sitting in a pit, eating nuts. He heard a tiger was coming closer and he
thought the tiger was going to eat him.
The mouse deer was very scared
and his heart beat so hard.
Then, an idea came to his mind
and he made a loud noise of chewing nuts, saying, "Wow, how delicious is
this tiger's eye!"
He repeated it for five times.
Tiger, the king of jungle, was
so scared to hear that and he moved back.
Tiger met a bear on the way
and he said, "Hey, Bear. Do you hear what did the animal on the pit over
there, eating tiger's eyes?"
Bear said, "I don't know,
Your Majesty,"
Tiger said, "Then let's
see."
Bear replied "But I'm
scared, Your Majesty"
Tiger said, "Don't worry.
Let's make a deal with me. We're going to stay together, uniting our tails. If
anything happens, both of us will face it."
Tiger and Bear tied their
tails and moved into the pit with full cautions because they were expecting to
see a big enemy.
The mouse deer was surprised
again.
He thought quickly and yelled,
"Oh, that's the glutton tiger! His father owes us a white bear, now he
will pay us with a black bear. Come on black, over here."
Bear was so surprised.
"Hey, it's a Tiger's trick! He wanted to use me to pay his father's
debt!"
Bear went into a panic, which
also made Tiger panic because they were tied each other.
Accidentally, Tiger stepped on
the Bear's tail, then jumped. Bear was beaten on the ground hard, and his tail
was cut off.
That's why Bear doesn't have
long tail.
Thus the mouse deer escaped
from the tiger twice.
Question
1. What
does the story tell you?
2. Who
are the main characters of the story?
3. Where
is the setting of the story?
4. Why
did the mouse deer feel so scared?
5. What
did the mouse deer do to frighten the tiger?
6. How
did the bear lose his tail? Tell us!
7. Is
there any moral value of the text above? Mention!