The Pig, seeing what had happened, pursued the Mouse-Deer, determined to avenge the death of his friend. He found his enemy taking refuge on a tree round the trunk of which was a large python curled. “Come down,” said the Pig, “and I will kill you.” “I cannot come down to-day. I am set here to watch the King’s girdle. Look at it,” he said, pointing to the Python. “Is it not pretty? I have never seen such a handsome waist-belt before.” “It is beautiful,” said the Pig. “How I should like to wear it for one day!” “So you may,” said the Mouse-Deer, “but be careful, and do not spoil it.” So the foolish Pig entangled himself in the folds of the Python, who soon crushed him to death and ate him for his dinner, and the clever Mouse-Deer escaped, having outwitted his enemies. SEA DYAK PROVERBS. King Solomon, we are told, “spake three thousand proverbs,” and many of these, as well as proverbs of an older date, have been handed down to us in a more or less authentic form. A translation of them into English is to be found in a well-known book. King Solomon was perhaps the first to make a collection of proverbs, but long before his time proverbs were in common use. It would seem that in every age and in every clime the existence of language is accompanied by the existence of proverbs. The Sea Dyaks have their proverbs, and these remind us of the lines:— “Turn, turn thy wheel! The human race, Of every tongue, of every place, Caucasian, Coptic, or Malay, All that inhabit this great earth, Whatever be their rank or worth, Are kindred and allied by birth, And made of the same clay.” It is impossible to imagine two nationalities so far removed from each other in every respect as the English and the Dyak, and yet, when we come to consider their proverbs, we find that they join hands and stand on common ground. Allowing for difference in environment, and consequent difference of similes, the ideas expressed in many Dyak proverbs is precisely similar to that of some well known among the English. The three following examples, taken from among many others, which are often used by the Dyaks of the present day, will illustrate what I mean:— _Remaung di rumah, rawong di tanah_ (“A tiger in the house, [but] a frog in the field”). A lion in council, but a lamb in action. _Kasih ka imbok, enda kasih ka manok_ (“To show kindness to the wild pigeon, [but] not to show kindness to the domestic fowl”). Charity begins at home. _Lari ka ribut nemu ujan, lari ka sungkup nemu pendam_ (“Running from the hurricane, he encounters the rain; running from a tombstone, he finds himself in a graveyard”). Out of the frying-pan into the fire.