or tarahan kayu); the sĕnunggang fish from the long-tailed monkey (k’ra); the
aruan fish from a frog (katak) or lizard (mĕngkarong); the bujok fish from
charred fire-logs (puntong api); the telan fish from the creeping roots of the yam
(sulur k’ladi); and so on. There is even the leaf of a certain tree which is
sometimes said to turn into a fish (the ikan bĕlidah),^312 while the following story
is held to account for the origin of the Porpoise:—
Once upon a time there was a fishing-wizard (Pawang Pukat) who had
encountered nothing but misfortune from first to last, and who at length
determined to put forth all his skill in magic in one last desperate effort to repay
the burden of debt which threatened to crush him. One day, therefore, having
tried his luck for the last time, and still caught nothing, he requested his
comrades to collect an immense quantity of mangrove leaves in their boat.
Having carried these leaves out to the fishing-ground, he scattered them on the
surface of the water, together with a few handfuls of parched and saffron-stained
rice, repeating a series of most powerful spells as he did so. The next time they
fished, the leaves had turned into fish of all shapes and sizes, and an immense
haul of fish was the result. The wizard then gave directions for the payment in
full of all his debts and the division of the balance among his children, and then
without further warning plunged into the sea only to reappear as a porpoise.
“A species of fish-like tadpole,^313 found at certain seasons of the year in the
streams and pools, is supposed to divide when it reaches maturity, the front
portion forming a frog and the after-part or tail becoming the fish known as ikan
kli, one of the cat-fishes or Siluridæ. In consequence of this strange idea many
Malays will not eat the fish, deeming it but little better than the animal from
which it is supposed to have been cast.
“The ikan kli is armed with two sharp barbed spines attached to the fore-part of
the pectoral fins, and can and does inflict very nasty wounds with them, when
incautiously handled. The spines are reputed to be poisonous, but it is believed
that if the brain of the offending fish is applied to the wound, it will act as a
complete antidote to the poisonous principle, and the wound will heal without
trouble. The English cure for hydrophobia—that is, ‘the hair of the dog that bit
you’—will occur to all as a modification of the same idea.”^314
The fish called sĕluang is used for purposes of magic. It is supposed that any one