Note 159 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature

“All trees,” according to Malay tradition, “were planted by ‘the Prophet Elias,’159 and are in the ‘Prophet Noah’s’ charge. In the days of King Solomon, trees could speak as well as birds and animals, and several of the trees now to be seen in the forest are really metamorphosed human beings. Such are the ‘Jĕlotong’ and the ‘Bĕrombong,’ which in the days of King Solomon were bosom friends, until there broke out between them an unfortunate quarrel, which terminated in ‘Si Jĕlotong’s’ lacing the skin of ‘Si Bĕrombong’ all over with stabs from his dagger, the effect of which stabs remains visible to this day. Si Bĕrombong, on the other hand, cursed Si Jĕlotong with his dying breath, praying that he might be turned into a tree without any buttresses to support his trunk, a prayer which was, of course, duly fulfilled. Thus originated the lack of buttresses at the base of the former tree, and the laced and slashed bark of the latter.”