Saturday, December 31, 2005


I came across this image while surfing the Ministry of Education's website and I started to laugh quite uncontrollably! No, I wasn't laughing at the image, it was quite nicely done. Rather, I was laughing because it triggered something in my head. This comic strip I read years ago. I wished I have it right now so I can share it. Anyway...I have to get it out of my system. To the uninitiated...Sang Kancil is a Malay folklore. Kancil (pronounced as kahn-cheel, is a mouse-deer. Tales of Sang Kancil often portrayed how the seemingly small & fragile mouse-deer outwitted his natural enemies- Sang Rimau(tiger), Sang musang(fox), Sang Buaya(crocodile) and other predators.

Though I don't have the comic strip right now, I'll just put up the dialogue (sorry, can't translate everything. It'll kinda kill the whole thing if I did. Maybe rinaz can take up the challenge of illustrating this like she does about nimmo??!):-

Scene: A monkey swinging tree to tree in haste. Finally, he saw what he was looking for and dropped down to the earth. Cautiously approaching a seemingly very relaxed tiger under a tree.

Monkey: Hello...Rimau! Haven't you heard?? Sang Kancil diberitakan sudah mati!! I baru je dapat tau tadi!

Tiger: WHAT???!!! Kancil dah mati?? You cakap betulĀ² Monyet! If not, I siatĀ² kulit you, jual kat restaurant nanti!!!

Monkey: Betul! Tengok lah tu! Over there! (monkey points in a general direction)

(Seeing Sang Kancil on it's back motionless with tongue dramatically sticking out..)
Tiger: Oh my God!!! You mati kancil??
(Tiger suddenly roared out in agony...battling within himself a moral qustion? :P)
Tiger: Alamak...!!! Boleh ke aku makan daging Kancil yang dah mati ni???! Boleh ke tak boleh? Boleh ke cannot??

(Meanwhile, Sang Kancil, who wasn't realy dead...realized how his prank might just backfire on him...quickly signalled to the Monkey.)

Kancil: Bahaya ni..! Pssst! hey monyet! bak sini kayu tu cepat!
(Monkey handed over a piece of wood to Kancil. Without the tiger noticing, Kancil quickly replaced the piece of wood over where he'd been lying, playing dead all this while. And having resolved his own issues, the tiger went over to the spot where Kancil was supposedly dead.)
Tiger: What??!! Mayat Kancil betukar menjadi kayu...???! But...but camner??!

Elephant: For Heaven sake, Rimau! Pleeeease la..! Stop reading buku misteri tu lagi!!! It's sooo embarassing!
(The elephant had all this while been observing the jungle animals in their mindless pranks!)