it to is to steal money and other species of property.”
The next few notes on Malay bird-lore were collected by the writer in Selangor:
—
The Toucan or small Hornbill (Ĕnggang) was metamorphosed from a man who,
in conjunction with a companion, broke into the house of an old man living by
himself in the jungle, and slew him for the sake of his wealth. When life was
extinct they threw a sheet over the body, and proceeded to ransack the house,
throwing the loot into a second sheet close to the corpse. Day was about to
dawn, when a false alarm induced them to make a hurried departure, so that they
picked up the sheet with their loot and made off with it, carrying it slung hastily
upon a pole between them. As they proceeded on their way day commenced
gradually to dawn, and the man behind noticing something unexpected about the
bundle, and divining the cause, called out to his companion “Orang!” (pr. o
rang) “The man!” His companion, misunderstanding his exclamation, thought he
meant that they were pursued by “a man,” and only went all the faster, until, on
hearing his comrade repeat the cry a second and a third time, he turned round,
and there saw the feet of the man he had murdered protruding from the sheet, a
sight which startled him to such a degree that he turned into a bird upon the spot,
and flew away into a tree, repeating as he went the fatal cry of “O’Rang!
’Rang!” which had caused the transformation. And to this day, whenever the
Malay hears among the tree-tops the cry of “’Rang! ’rang!” he knows that he is
listening to the cry of the murderer.^40
The Argus-pheasant^41 and the Crow^42 in the days of King Solomon were bosom
friends, and could never do enough to show their mutual friendship. One day,
however, the argus-pheasant, who was then dressed somewhat dowdily,
suggested that his friend the crow should show his skill with the brush by
decorating his (the argus-pheasant’s) feathers. To this the crow agreed, on
condition, however, that the arrangement should be mutual. The argus-pheasant
agreed to this, and the crow forthwith set to work, and so surpassed himself that
the argus-pheasant became, as it is now, one of the most beautiful birds in the
world. When the crow’s task was done, however, the argus-pheasant refused to
fulfil his own part of the bargain, excusing himself on the plea that the day of
judgment was too near at hand. Hence a fierce quarrel ensued, at the end of
which the argus-pheasant upset the ink-bottle over the crow, and thus rendered