A pelandok tale
G.M. Laidlaw published “A Pelandok Tale” in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1906, presenting a Perak Malay trickster narrative collected from the penghulu of Pulau Tiga, Lower Perak, Haji Mahomed Ali bin Haji Mahomed Perak, a man described as of “pure Perak extraction” for several generations. The tale, rendered in English translation followed by the original Malay text, centres on the pelandok (binturong) as a cunning counsellor to King Solomon who repeatedly outwits the tiger, the king’s chief warrior, through a series of escalating deceptions.
Summary
The article is a straightforward folklore transcription rather than an analytical study. Laidlaw provides a brief prefatory note identifying the teller and his lineage, then presents the full tale in English, followed by the complete Malay text. The narrative is structured as a chain of episodes in which the pelandok, serving as Penghulu (chief counsellor) to King Solomon (Raja Suleyman), uses flattery, misdirection, and the authority of the king’s name to manipulate other animals. The tiger, as Hulubalang (chief warrior), is the principal victim of these schemes, and the tale builds toward a final confrontation in which the pelandok engineers the tiger’s death by luring him into water where crocodiles—previously allied with the tiger—seize and kill him.
The tale draws on a well-known motif complex in Southeast Asian animal folklore: the small, weak animal defeating the large predator through intelligence rather than force. The specific Perak dialectal features of the Malay text (e.g., mēnangkap, bērpakat, tēngah) and the use of honorifics such as Toh Sang Dirimba and Hulubalang situate the narrative firmly within the Perak oral tradition. The errata page at the end corrects several species identifications, notably specifying that “roe deer” should read “barking deer” and “deer” should read “sambhur deer,” which clarifies the ecological setting of the story.
The two final episodes—the axe-head adjudication and the black goat dream-interpretation—shift the narrative from the animal world to a human legal setting, where the pelandok’s rhetorical skill is deployed in a courtroom context. In both cases, the pelandok exploits the king’s own stated principles (improbability as grounds for disbelief; dream-fulfilment as a rule of conduct) to turn the logic against the accuser or predator, a structural device that reinforces the tale’s central theme of the triumph of wit over brute authority.
Key Findings
- The teller, Haji Mahomed Ali bin Haji Mahomed Perak, was the penghulu of Pulau Tiga, Lower Perak, and of “pure Perak extraction” traceable for several generations (p. 72).
- The tale’s political hierarchy mirrors Perak administrative titles: King Solomon (Raja Suleyman) as sovereign, the tiger as Hulubalang (chief warrior), and the pelandok as Penghulu (chief counsellor) (p. 72).
- The errata page (p. 102) corrects species identifications: “roe deer” should be “barking deer” and “deer” should be “sambhur deer,” indicating the specific fauna of the Perak forest setting.
- The Malay text preserves Perak dialectal forms throughout (e.g., mēnangkap, bērpakat, tēngah, kērana), providing a valuable record of early twentieth-century Perak colloquial Malay.
- The tale comprises approximately ten distinct episodes, each following a pattern of deception, pursuit, and escape, culminating in the tiger’s death by crocodiles (pp. 72–87).
- The final two episodes (the axe-head case and the black goat dream) introduce human characters and a legal-judicial framework, distinguishing this version from purely animal-fable treatments of the same motif.
Conclusion
Laidlaw’s contribution is primarily one of preservation: the article provides a complete bilingual record of a Perak pelandok tale at a moment when such oral narratives were being systematically collected by colonial administrators and scholars. The tale’s structure—escalating trickery culminating in the predator’s destruction, followed by a demonstration of rhetorical skill in a human legal setting—exemplifies the Perak variant of the widespread Southeast Asian “cunning small animal” tradition and offers insight into how local administrative vocabulary and concepts of royal authority were embedded in popular narrative.
Context
- Laidlaw was a colonial administrator in Perak; the piece follows the standard JSBRAS practice of the period in which European officials collected and published Malay oral literature with minimal analytical commentary.
- The tale was sourced from a single informant with no further provenance details recorded, a limitation Laidlaw acknowledges in the prefatory note (“No details of the source can be obtained,” p. 72).