HOME | DD

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

“Crazy Uncle! Crazy Uncle!”

The village children came running to join the others, laughing and pointing at the old man coming up the path to them. If he was related to anyone in the village, no one admitted it, but at the same time no one denied him when he came down off the mountains, part of the Backbone, where he lived.

“Now, who has been able to bring something for uncle to eat-lah?” he asked as he sat on the rock by the edge of the village. The younger children gathered around him on the logs arranged in a semi-circle around the rock where the caklempong would normally be played, while a few of the older children came up with satay and bowls of mee goreng mamak, rending, and nasi kandar as the sun was setting.

“Have any of you seen the fox near the village-lah?” he asked as he accepted the food.

“Crazy Uncle, there are no foxes here,” said one boy. “The closest thing we have to a fox is a dhole.”

“Ah, but foxes are everywhere-lah, and there is a special fox who has been here, not far from this very rock-lah. Listen while I tell his story, which goes back to the time before people came to live on the earth…”

Fox considered himself very fashionable, graceful, and very smart. He was proud of his long, wide tail, which many of the other animals admired. And he loved to play tricks. Nothing hurtful, mind you, but sometimes the other animals could find them annoying.

One time he played a series of tricks on Leopard, Bear, and Pangolin. The three were not happy with Fox, for his tricks this time were not the little ones that they could ignore, but much more permanent.

“Ah, do you see what Fox has done to my beautiful black fur-ah? Bear asked. “Ah, Fox drew an outline around my snout with his tail and the red from it transferred to my chest and will not go away-ah! It looks like a large smile, even though I feel angry about it–ah!”

“I thought you had a reflection of the sun on your chest-lah?” said Leopard. “But have you noticed what has happened to my spots-wei? Fox smeared them together in some places and changed their shape so they no longer match-wei. I cannot make them go back to the even pattern I once had, and there is a family reunion coming up; all of the other leopards will make fun of me-wei!”

“It’s not that bad-lah?” said Pangolin. The other two had purposely not been looking at her, and they carefully turned their heads so it would not look like they were staring. “Plain spots can be boring, and now you have interesting patterns that include spots, lines, and your sides now look like you have clouds dancing on them–lah! Fox told me he had something that would make my coat shine-wei. But it was the sap from the rubber tree and my fur has clumped together in all kinds of points-ah! Now it looks like I have scales-ah! I cannot get it back to how my fur was–wei!”

The other two could not think of anything to say to Pangolin to make her feel better about her scale-like fur. Then Bear said, “Ah-Fox thinks he is so smart-ah! We need to come up with something so he stops playing tricks like this-ah!”

“You are right-lah,” said Leopard. “We must come up with a trick to play on Fox so he knows how it feels-wei. Then perhaps he will stop being mean to us and others-wei.”

“What can we do-wei?” asked Pangolin. “He refuses to help fix what he has done-lah, and I have not been able to figure out how to get my fur back the way it was-wei. He is not as clever as he thinks he is-ah! It makes me mad-ah!”

Leopard and Bear turned away, for they had to agree that Pangolin had gotten the worst of Fox’s tricks, with her fur all matted and looking more like scales than fur. They both felt they did not have as much to complain about as she, but wanted to have Fox see how he had hurt them.

“Since he has ruined all of our coats-lah,” purred Leopard, “perhaps we should do something to his as well-lah?”

“The tip of his tail is now white-lah,” said Bear. “He lost the red when he painted my chest fur with it-lah.”

“He has always been proud of his long, wide tail-lah,” said Pangolin. “Perhaps he will want to make the tip red again-lah? What if we figure out how to ‘help’ him with that-lah?”

“Ah-why should we restore the red color to his tail when he has ruined our coats with his tricks-ah?” asked Bear.

“I think I understand Pangolin-lah,” responded Leopard. “What if we ‘help’ him fix the white by making it something other than red?”

“I can get some sap from the rubber tree like he got for me-lah,” said Pangolin. “But since his tail tip is already white it will only make it scaly like my fur, and he will recognize the liquid, since he used it to trick me-lah.”

“I know a way to keep the rubber sap from becoming hard-lah,” said Bear. “It will instead remain sticky and drippy when I mix it with some special honey-lah”

“Fox will never want to have a honey color on his tail-lah,” said Leopard. “But I know of a place in the forest where I can find some blue-green fire-lah.”

“Ah, Fox will not want his tail tip to be blue-green–ah!” said Bear.

“No,” said Leopard. “But if we convince him that the blue-green fire is opposite of red so when he cleans it off the blue-green will take all of the other colors out of the white so only the red will remain-lah, and his tail will go back to being red…”

“But really, it will be blue-green-lah!” said Bear.

“And gooey-lah,” said Leopard.

“Then when he tells us how to fix our fur, we can then tell him how to change his tail back-lah?” asked Pangolin, hoping that she could be rid of the scales she now had.

“We’ll just have to see if he can change us back-ah,” said Bear.

Now it was true that Fox was a little bit worried about the white tip of his tail, but not terribly, since it matched his chest fur and he felt it had been worth it for his trick on Bear. However, he did miss the lovely red that his long, wide tail had all the way to the tip.

He was thinking of this when he came upon Pangolin the next morning, who seemed nervous by his presence, but he figured she was still upset about her scaly fur (which she was).

“Good morning, Pangolin,” Fox said, bowing graciously with a smile. “You still have the shiniest fur of anyone in the jungle, I see.”

“Selamat Pagi, Fox,” responded Pangolin politely. “Yes, I am having trouble getting used to it-lah. It’s quite the change from what I had-wei. I see you are having some trouble with your fur as well-lah. Your tail is missing the red at its tip-lah?”

“Oh, think nothing of it, dear Pangolin,” said Fox, his smile slightly distressed. “I thought how my fur was not as shiny as yours, so have changed the tip to white so it would match the fur on my chest, and give it an added zing, although it cannot match the shine of yours.”

“Kind of you to say-lah,” said Pangolin. “I guess I have always been impressed by the red color of your long, wide tail when you held it up in the air-lah. The white seems to take something away from that-wei.”

If Fox was troubled by that (and he was), he didn’t show it to Pangolin, and continued on his way.

A short distance later he heard Leopard call out, “Selamat Pagi, Fox,” from the tree above.

“Good morning, Leopard,” responded Fox, looking up. “The beautiful cloud pattern of your fur blended in so well I did not see you in the tree.”

“I spotted you right away, Fox,” said Leopard. “Your tail’s white tip was dancing as you trotted through the brush, and stood out like a bright light in the shade-lah. I never used to see you first when it was all red-lah.”

“Ah, you see, I gave some of the red away to Bear,” answered Fox, “because he had such a drab, plain black coat. It’s just the cost of trying to help someone out; I guess I’ll have to live with it.”

“How generous of you-lah. Still, it’s a pity,” said Leopard. “You know, I heard that if you painted a white spot on your coat with blue-green fire-lah, when you remove it the only color that remains is red. You see-lah, the blue-green fire is the opposite of red fire-lah, and is cold instead of hot, and red is the only color it cannot remove-lah.”

“I have never heard of such a thing,” said Fox. “Why do you think blue-green is the opposite of red, and why would only red remain after your remove the blue-green fire from white?”

“I heard it from Sea Turtle-lah” said Leopard. “He has been under the blue-green sea, and says that it removes the color red before you get very deep in the water-lah. It only stands to reason that if you remove the blue-green you would be left with red alone-lah.”

“That is an interesting theory,” said Fox.

“Well,” said Leopard, “If you decide to try it, I know where to get the special blue-green fire. Once it has set on the white long enough, it will take all of the colors out of the white and only leave red behind-lah. However, I don’t know how to make it stick to your fur-wei.”

Fox thought to himself, “I could make it stick with the sap from the rubber tree, like I did with Pangolin’s fur, but there is no way to get that out afterwards.”

He responded to Leopard, “I shall have to think about it,” and he continued on his way.

A short time later, Fox came upon Bear. Knowing Bear was most likely still not happy with him, Fox called out from a distance, “Good Morning, Bear.”

“Selamat Pagi, Fox,” answered Bear.

“You seem in better spirits this morning, Bear,” said Fox, still keeping his distance.

“Oh, I am-lah,” said Bear. “The others said they like the red curve you gave me, and that it shines like the sun as it rises-lah. It is a shame I did not realize that you had given up the red from the tip of your tail for me to have such a decoration on my fur-wei. I do hope you can get the red back on all of your tail."

“Leopard told me of a way to do it just this morning,” said Fox. “She says blue-green fire will take all the colors from the white and leave behind only red when it is removed. But it has to stay on the white fur for quite a while, and the only thing I know of that will stick like that is sap from the rubber tree, but that will not come out once it is there.”

“I know how to keep the sap from the rubber tree from becoming hard-lah,” said Bear. “I have a special honey to mix with it. The honey will stop the sap from becoming solid and it will remain sticky until you wash it off-lah. And I’m sure the blue-green fire will overpower the color of the honey-lah.”

“That does seem like it could be a solution,” said Fox.

“If you want to try it, I will give you a pot of honey-lah,” said Bear. “It’s the least I can do in return for the red you gave me for my fur-lah”

“That’s very generous of you, Bear,” said Fox, for he knew how much Bear liked honey.

Bear gave him a large pot of the special honey. Fox met back up with Leopard, who gave him a good amount of the special blue-green fire. All he needed was sap from the rubber tree. He was having difficulty getting enough sap from the tree when Pangolin came by.

“Pangolin,” said Fox. “You have very long claws. Would you mind cutting into the bark of the rubber tree to get more sap to run out into this basin? I need to mix it with this blue-green fire and honey for an experiment.”

“Of course, Fox,” said Pangolin. “There are rubber trees all around here-lah. I can make grooves in several of them to get as much as you need-lah.”

Soon Fox had a large basin of rubber sap that he mixed with the special honey, and it did not become solid. Then he mixed in the special blue-green fire, and the color remained strong and dark, which did seem to be just the opposite of his red color.

He carefully dipped the white tip of his tail into the basin, drawing it in and out to make sure the fur was well coated with the blue-green mixture.

Just when it seemed to be exactly right, a branch fell from the trees and caused Fox to jump back as it almost hit his nose. He fell straight into the basin with the blue-green mixture. The blue-green got into every bit of his fur, soaking right into his skin. By the time he got out of the basin, he was completely covered with the gooey, sticky, blue-green mixture. But it did not harden. In fact, it began to make him gooey as he walked through the hot sun to find a stream or pond he could wash it all off with.

When he did finally find a clean pond, imagine his surprise when instead of washing off and leaving his fur all red, he instead remained remaining a gooey, blue-green mess. He was so embarrassed by this that he decided he must remain hidden until he could remove it and return to the way he was.

The three felt bad that Fox disappeared, and resolved to never try to change their coats so they would remember that their plot had resulted in the loss of their friend, Fox. Their even changed their names to Clouded Leopard, Sun Bear, and Sunda Pangolin. But Fox was not truly gone.

“Embarrassed by the loss of his fine coat and color, Fox still remains hidden, traveling all over the world in his search for a way to get his wide, long tail and himself back to the red it originally was. Occasionally, you may see signs of his passing, when his gooey tail leaves a trail on the ground or on a log. The trail makes the log rotten and the ground soft as it loses its sticky, gooey texture, but at night you can see the remaining tell-tale blue-green fire light, which people now call fox-fire.

“And that is how you can tell that Fox has been through here, even today-lah” said Crazy Uncle as he moved aside some large leaves to show a rotten log glowing in the dark with the blue-green fire.

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

“Crazy Uncle! Crazy Uncle!”

The village children came running to join the others, laughing and pointing at the old man coming up the path to them. If he was related to anyone in the village, no one admitted it, but at the same time no one denied him when he came down off the mountains, part of the Backbone, where he lived.

“Now, who has been able to bring something for uncle to eat-lah?” he asked as he sat on the rock by the edge of the village. The younger children gathered around him on the logs arranged in a semi-circle around the rock where the caklempong would normally be played, while a few of the older children came up with satay and bowls of mee goreng mamak, rending, and nasi kandar as the sun was setting.

“Have any of you seen the fox near the village-lah?” he asked as he accepted the food.

“Crazy Uncle, there are no foxes here,” said one boy. “The closest thing we have to a fox is a dhole.”

“Ah, but foxes are everywhere-lah, and there is a special fox who has been here, not far from this very rock-lah. Listen while I tell his story, which goes back to the time before people came to live on the earth…”

Fox considered himself very fashionable, graceful, and very smart. He was proud of his long, wide tail, which many of the other animals admired. And he loved to play tricks. Nothing hurtful, mind you, but sometimes the other animals could find them annoying.

One time he played a series of tricks on Leopard, Bear, and Pangolin. The three were not happy with Fox, for his tricks this time were not the little ones that they could ignore, but much more permanent.

“Ah, do you see what Fox has done to my beautiful black fur-ah? Bear asked. “Ah, Fox drew an outline around my snout with his tail and the red from it transferred to my chest and will not go away-ah! It looks like a large smile, even though I feel angry about it–ah!”

“I thought you had a reflection of the sun on your chest-lah?” said Leopard. “But have you noticed what has happened to my spots-wei? Fox smeared them together in some places and changed their shape so they no longer match-wei. I cannot make them go back to the even pattern I once had, and there is a family reunion coming up; all of the other leopards will make fun of me-wei!”

“It’s not that bad-lah?” said Pangolin. The other two had purposely not been looking at her, and they carefully turned their heads so it would not look like they were staring. “Plain spots can be boring, and now you have interesting patterns that include spots, lines, and your sides now look like you have clouds dancing on them–lah! Fox told me he had something that would make my coat shine-wei. But it was the sap from the rubber tree and my fur has clumped together in all kinds of points-ah! Now it looks like I have scales-ah! I cannot get it back to how my fur was–wei!”

The other two could not think of anything to say to Pangolin to make her feel better about her scale-like fur. Then Bear said, “Ah-Fox thinks he is so smart-ah! We need to come up with something so he stops playing tricks like this-ah!”

“You are right-lah,” said Leopard. “We must come up with a trick to play on Fox so he knows how it feels-wei. Then perhaps he will stop being mean to us and others-wei.”

“What can we do-wei?” asked Pangolin. “He refuses to help fix what he has done-lah, and I have not been able to figure out how to get my fur back the way it was-wei. He is not as clever as he thinks he is-ah! It makes me mad-ah!”

Leopard and Bear turned away, for they had to agree that Pangolin had gotten the worst of Fox’s tricks, with her fur all matted and looking more like scales than fur. They both felt they did not have as much to complain about as she, but wanted to have Fox see how he had hurt them.

“Since he has ruined all of our coats-lah,” purred Leopard, “perhaps we should do something to his as well-lah?”

“The tip of his tail is now white-lah,” said Bear. “He lost the red when he painted my chest fur with it-lah.”

“He has always been proud of his long, wide tail-lah,” said Pangolin. “Perhaps he will want to make the tip red again-lah? What if we figure out how to ‘help’ him with that-lah?”

“Ah-why should we restore the red color to his tail when he has ruined our coats with his tricks-ah?” asked Bear.

“I think I understand Pangolin-lah,” responded Leopard. “What if we ‘help’ him fix the white by making it something other than red?”

“I can get some sap from the rubber tree like he got for me-lah,” said Pangolin. “But since his tail tip is already white it will only make it scaly like my fur, and he will recognize the liquid, since he used it to trick me-lah.”

“I know a way to keep the rubber sap from becoming hard-lah,” said Bear. “It will instead remain sticky and drippy when I mix it with some special honey-lah”

“Fox will never want to have a honey color on his tail-lah,” said Leopard. “But I know of a place in the forest where I can find some blue-green fire-lah.”

“Ah, Fox will not want his tail tip to be blue-green–ah!” said Bear.

“No,” said Leopard. “But if we convince him that the blue-green fire is opposite of red so when he cleans it off the blue-green will take all of the other colors out of the white so only the red will remain-lah, and his tail will go back to being red…”

“But really, it will be blue-green-lah!” said Bear.

“And gooey-lah,” said Leopard.

“Then when he tells us how to fix our fur, we can then tell him how to change his tail back-lah?” asked Pangolin, hoping that she could be rid of the scales she now had.

“We’ll just have to see if he can change us back-ah,” said Bear.

Now it was true that Fox was a little bit worried about the white tip of his tail, but not terribly, since it matched his chest fur and he felt it had been worth it for his trick on Bear. However, he did miss the lovely red that his long, wide tail had all the way to the tip.

He was thinking of this when he came upon Pangolin the next morning, who seemed nervous by his presence, but he figured she was still upset about her scaly fur (which she was).

“Good morning, Pangolin,” Fox said, bowing graciously with a smile. “You still have the shiniest fur of anyone in the jungle, I see.”

“Selamat Pagi, Fox,” responded Pangolin politely. “Yes, I am having trouble getting used to it-lah. It’s quite the change from what I had-wei. I see you are having some trouble with your fur as well-lah. Your tail is missing the red at its tip-lah?”

“Oh, think nothing of it, dear Pangolin,” said Fox, his smile slightly distressed. “I thought how my fur was not as shiny as yours, so have changed the tip to white so it would match the fur on my chest, and give it an added zing, although it cannot match the shine of yours.”

“Kind of you to say-lah,” said Pangolin. “I guess I have always been impressed by the red color of your long, wide tail when you held it up in the air-lah. The white seems to take something away from that-wei.”

If Fox was troubled by that (and he was), he didn’t show it to Pangolin, and continued on his way.

A short distance later he heard Leopard call out, “Selamat Pagi, Fox,” from the tree above.

“Good morning, Leopard,” responded Fox, looking up. “The beautiful cloud pattern of your fur blended in so well I did not see you in the tree.”

“I spotted you right away, Fox,” said Leopard. “Your tail’s white tip was dancing as you trotted through the brush, and stood out like a bright light in the shade-lah. I never used to see you first when it was all red-lah.”

“Ah, you see, I gave some of the red away to Bear,” answered Fox, “because he had such a drab, plain black coat. It’s just the cost of trying to help someone out; I guess I’ll have to live with it.”

“How generous of you-lah. Still, it’s a pity,” said Leopard. “You know, I heard that if you painted a white spot on your coat with blue-green fire-lah, when you remove it the only color that remains is red. You see-lah, the blue-green fire is the opposite of red fire-lah, and is cold instead of hot, and red is the only color it cannot remove-lah.”

“I have never heard of such a thing,” said Fox. “Why do you think blue-green is the opposite of red, and why would only red remain after your remove the blue-green fire from white?”

“I heard it from Sea Turtle-lah” said Leopard. “He has been under the blue-green sea, and says that it removes the color red before you get very deep in the water-lah. It only stands to reason that if you remove the blue-green you would be left with red alone-lah.”

“That is an interesting theory,” said Fox.

“Well,” said Leopard, “If you decide to try it, I know where to get the special blue-green fire. Once it has set on the white long enough, it will take all of the colors out of the white and only leave red behind-lah. However, I don’t know how to make it stick to your fur-wei.”

Fox thought to himself, “I could make it stick with the sap from the rubber tree, like I did with Pangolin’s fur, but there is no way to get that out afterwards.”

He responded to Leopard, “I shall have to think about it,” and he continued on his way.

A short time later, Fox came upon Bear. Knowing Bear was most likely still not happy with him, Fox called out from a distance, “Good Morning, Bear.”

“Selamat Pagi, Fox,” answered Bear.

“You seem in better spirits this morning, Bear,” said Fox, still keeping his distance.

“Oh, I am-lah,” said Bear. “The others said they like the red curve you gave me, and that it shines like the sun as it rises-lah. It is a shame I did not realize that you had given up the red from the tip of your tail for me to have such a decoration on my fur-wei. I do hope you can get the red back on all of your tail."

“Leopard told me of a way to do it just this morning,” said Fox. “She says blue-green fire will take all the colors from the white and leave behind only red when it is removed. But it has to stay on the white fur for quite a while, and the only thing I know of that will stick like that is sap from the rubber tree, but that will not come out once it is there.”

“I know how to keep the sap from the rubber tree from becoming hard-lah,” said Bear. “I have a special honey to mix with it. The honey will stop the sap from becoming solid and it will remain sticky until you wash it off-lah. And I’m sure the blue-green fire will overpower the color of the honey-lah.”

“That does seem like it could be a solution,” said Fox.

“If you want to try it, I will give you a pot of honey-lah,” said Bear. “It’s the least I can do in return for the red you gave me for my fur-lah”

“That’s very generous of you, Bear,” said Fox, for he knew how much Bear liked honey.

Bear gave him a large pot of the special honey. Fox met back up with Leopard, who gave him a good amount of the special blue-green fire. All he needed was sap from the rubber tree. He was having difficulty getting enough sap from the tree when Pangolin came by.

“Pangolin,” said Fox. “You have very long claws. Would you mind cutting into the bark of the rubber tree to get more sap to run out into this basin? I need to mix it with this blue-green fire and honey for an experiment.”

“Of course, Fox,” said Pangolin. “There are rubber trees all around here-lah. I can make grooves in several of them to get as much as you need-lah.”

Soon Fox had a large basin of rubber sap that he mixed with the special honey, and it did not become solid. Then he mixed in the special blue-green fire, and the color remained strong and dark, which did seem to be just the opposite of his red color.

He carefully dipped the white tip of his tail into the basin, drawing it in and out to make sure the fur was well coated with the blue-green mixture.

Just when it seemed to be exactly right, a branch fell from the trees and caused Fox to jump back as it almost hit his nose. He fell straight into the basin with the blue-green mixture. The blue-green got into every bit of his fur, soaking right into his skin. By the time he got out of the basin, he was completely covered with the gooey, sticky, blue-green mixture. But it did not harden. In fact, it began to make him gooey as he walked through the hot sun to find a stream or pond he could wash it all off with.

When he did finally find a clean pond, imagine his surprise when instead of washing off and leaving his fur all red, he instead remained remaining a gooey, blue-green mess. He was so embarrassed by this that he decided he must remain hidden until he could remove it and return to the way he was.

The three felt bad that Fox disappeared, and resolved to never try to change their coats so they would remember that their plot had resulted in the loss of their friend, Fox. Their even changed their names to Clouded Leopard, Sun Bear, and Sunda Pangolin. But Fox was not truly gone.

“Embarrassed by the loss of his fine coat and color, Fox still remains hidden, traveling all over the world in his search for a way to get his wide, long tail and himself back to the red it originally was. Occasionally, you may see signs of his passing, when his gooey tail leaves a trail on the ground or on a log. The trail makes the log rotten and the ground soft as it loses its sticky, gooey texture, but at night you can see the remaining tell-tale blue-green fire light, which people now call fox-fire.

“And that is how you can tell that Fox has been through here, even today-lah” said Crazy Uncle as he moved aside some large leaves to show a rotten log glowing in the dark with the blue-green fire.