Malaysian Folktale #5 – “Hikayat Sang Kancil” (The Tale Of The Mouse Deer)
This story was popular in a TV anime series, and it is also said to be the story of indigenous people called Orang Asli.
A mouse deer is a small deer with no horns that lives in the jungle of Southeast Asia and Africa. It’s a small but nimble deer that survives the jungle wisely and robustly. This video was shot in Subang Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur. There are also universities and shopping malls, making it a popular area for living. If you look at the video, you can see that nature is spreading right next to the big road where wild animals also live.
The storyteller is an independent visual anthropologist and interdisciplinary artist, Lim Paik Yin. You will surely feel the stagnant, sticky air of the tropical climate… please enjoy!
As a side note…in various episodes, there is a story called “The White Rabbit Of Inaba”, in which the rabbit tricks a crocodile into crossing a river. In the Japanese story, the rabbit also tricked sharks into crossing the sea. Grandparents in the region of San’in call sharks “wani（鰐）” which means crocodile in the modern standard Japanese.
