I had fun grading my students' drawings.
We decided to draw their favourite Chinese horoscope and guess what, now I know cows from children's crayons can be descent, can also be scary.
Check out some of their drawings...
(Obedient cow. You call, it responds)
( Confused cow. "Why is my skin colour not even?")
(Happy cow. Ones with botox-ed lips)
(THE COW. THE SCARY ONE! )
If you ever see this cow, run for your life! Ancient Dusun people call it DUHARUNG. Tale has it that DUHARUNG could suck out your soul and then feast on your body!
How do I know it's a DUHARUNG? My late grandmother, Kiyik Kawi, told me she once survived from something what she believed to be a duharung. According to her, Duharung was an evil which could change into many different forms. Usually it took the animals' form, started from the smallest to the biggest animal before it attacked. Look at the picture above. It looked like a cow, but it's not. The ears and horns were goats', but it suppose to be a cow. The eyes look very cunning and the mouth..... cows don't smile like that!
My late grandma was only little when it happened to her. She went to a wedding reception with her parents one day. She decided to walk back home with her sister because it was already late, yet their parents stayed for more booze. Her sister was only a toddler that time, she had to carry her half way home for she had fallen asleep. It was very late at night, they were lucky the moon was full. Back in those days (early 1920's), there was no such thing as torch light in their home. When they travelled at night, they used either pilasut (home made gasoline lamp) or depended on the moon as their light.
Half way home (note that during those days, there was no road like these days), she saw a mouse crossing the pathway. She didn't suspect anything until she heard a weird sound, something like an animal was groaning in pain. She looked around...all she could see was a small tiny mouse, probably the same mouse crossing the pathway before. Being curious, she stopped to stare at it. To her surprise, the mouse started to change into a squirrel. She suddenly recalled all those stories and safety guidelines her grandfather made her recited every day. She knew it was DUHARUNG, the most feared creature during their period.
Without waiting any longer, she piggy-carried her sleeping sister and ran for their life. Her grandfather told her nobody could survive from the DUHARUNG if it caught its prey after it completed its last form, which should be the biggest animal it chose to be (not sure which animals). In my late grandma's case, lucky it was chasing them slowly because it was still changing its form. She heard many animals' sounds like chicken, cat, dog, monkey, buffalo, cow and horse during its transformation. After running about 100 metres with her sister on her back, she lost all her energies. She could hear the sound coming closer. She had no choice but to stop and hid in the bush, just at the side of the pathway. Her sister was awake and started to cry. She had to shut her sister's mouth firmly with her hand, and she herself had to hold her breath. She was not dare to open her eyes. She said to me, she thought they would die that very night.
The most scary part was when she heard the creature's steps slowing down near where they hid. She could hear the creature's loud breath. It was looking around for them. After a few minutes, it made a loud sound, which according to my grandma was a horse sound, before it ran away. She dared not to open her eyes and look at the creature for herself...so based on the sound it made, she just assumed the last transformation was a horse.
She was still not dare to open her eyes, nor taking off her hand from her sister's mouth until she heard people's voice. She hoped it was the villagers who were coming back from the reception too. My grandma waited until she was sure they were 'human' by listening if they made constant 'human' noise/sound. When the noise came closer, she opened her eyes and peeped, ya, they were the villagers she knew. She took her sister out from their hiding spot and joined the people. The villagers then walked them home safely.
I personally think the story is beyond logical acceptance, but coming from my very own grandmother... I can't say she told me a lie. She was born during the period where there was no religion and Dusun people worshiped the stone, trees or any large objects found in the nature. Maybe it was different during those days. Maybe evil were really dared to show their shape to human. Old people (including my grandparents on my father's side) keep saying 'atalang neh meti tembiruo dit gulu-gulu po' (long time ago evil could be seen in their real form). Plus, my grandma was an honest person, she never made up 'true stories'. I knew this because every time she told me Dusun fairy tales like Yongkor-ongkor om Yanak-anak, she would start with "Long time ago in a very far village, tales have it that there were..."
She died at a very old age. I was not physically there with her on her last day but I knew and she knew it too, my love for her was with her. Until this moment, I still love her very much. I am sure I will continue loving her until the very last of my breath. This particular story was told to me when I was very little. Hence, I grew up adoring my grandma's braveness and love for her sister. We visited her only during the school holiday...and I remember every time I was near her, I thought I love her more than I love my mother. (Now, please don't tell that to my mother....)
Odu...may you rest in peace. See you again in the next life.
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