Tale
Hikayat Pelanduk Jenaka
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1650
Synopsis
The mouse-deer, small but very cunning, withdraws to meditate on a mound, then proclaims himself master of the forest. Feigning supernatural powers, he subdues the animals one after another, the tigers and goats first, then more powerful ones, the lion, the elephant, the crocodile, and settles their quarrels as a judge. A series of episodes shows his tricks and the credulity of those who follow him.
Context
The tale is old and circulated in manuscript before being printed. The Dutchman H. C. Klinkert published two quite different versions, in 1885 and then in 1893, and J. Brandes held the shorter one, the second, to be the oldest and the most important. A version in verse appeared in Singapore around 1883-1884. The meaning of the word jenaka remains disputed: it is linked to Sanskrit, or to the name given to the mound of his retreat. Ian Proudfoot reads in it a subversive tale, in which royal power rests on the credulity of the subjects.
Who it is for
Short, entertaining tales, easy to follow, which also shed light on how the Malay world thought about power; no French or English translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
The cunning mouse deer remains the most popular animal character in the tales of Malaysia and Indonesia.
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