Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay PeninsulaSkeat, Walter William
Religion
Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula
Skeat, Walter William
Magic -- Malay Peninsula; Malays (Asian people) -- Folklore; Malays (Asian people) -- Social life and customs
"Once, and only once, have I seen a bull succeed in throwing his
opponent, after he had lifted it off its feet. The vanquished bull
turned over on its back before it succeeded in regaining its feet,
but the victor was itself too used up to more than make a ghost
of a stab at the exposed stomach of its adversary. This throw is
still spoken of in Pahang as the most marvellous example of skill
and strength which has ever been called forth within living memory
by any of these contests.
"As the stabs follow one another, to the sound of the clicking of the
horns and the mighty blowing and snorting of the breathless bulls,
lift succeeds lift with amazing rapidity. The green turf is stamped
into mud by the great hoofs of the labouring brutes, and at length
one bull owns himself to be beaten. Down goes his head--that sure
sign of exhaustion--and in a moment he has turned round and is off
on a bee-line, hotly pursued by the victor. The chase is never a long
one, as the conqueror always abandons it at the end of a few hundred
yards, but while it lasts it is fast and furious, and woe betide the
man who finds himself in the way of either of the excited animals.
"Mr. Kipling has told us all about the Law of the Jungle--which
after all is only the code of man, adapted to the use of the beasts
by Mr. Rudyard Kipling--but those who know the ways of buffaloes
are aware that they possess one very well-recognised law. This is,
'Thou shalt not commit trespass.' Every buffalo-bull has its own
ground; and into this no other bull willingly comes. If he is brought
there to do battle, he fights with very little heart, and is easily
vanquished by an opponent of half his strength and bulk who happens
to be fighting on his own land. When bulls are equally matched, they
are taken to fight on neutral ground. When they are badly matched
the land owned by the weaker is selected for the scene of the contest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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