By Maya Green
I get fascinated by nature in general and am always curious about the wild. The pristine nature and invigorating effects on the virgin wilderness are always breathtaking. In particular, I am immensely curious about the creatures, the real and the mysterious, that dwell therein.
I have seen different animals in their natural habitat deep in the rainforests on many hunting trips with my dad. He was the one who introduced me to this green wonderland. This narrative, however, is not about the wonders of the rainforest but about one specific and mysterious creature that dwells in it.
Most people know about the usual animals found in the rainforest like deer, bears, boars, porcupines, squirrels and monkeys. But many may not have heard about the Sasquatch in North America. Some may have read about Bigfoot, the Yeti or the abominable snowman. The term ‘Yeti’ is a Nepali word meaning ‘abominable snowman’. It is also called Meh-Teh in Tibetan folklore. According to urban legends, Yeti is a two-legged white, shaggy ape-like animal and is described to be 10 to 20 feet tall. Do you know that we have our version of the Yeti?
For the people who live in the jungles of Borneo, stories of mystical creatures, spirits and monsters abound, and they take these stories for granted. They are part of their folklore or traditional tales handed down the generations until they are forgotten as their narration dissipates over time. It’s therefore imperative to capture such stories in writing. For example, the Kelabit tribe has a version of the Yeti and Sasquatch or Jungle Yeti.
They have a few mysterious creatures that they believe inhabit the rainforests. The most common one is called ‘Pun Tumid’, which literally means, ‘Grandfather Heel’, a reference to that part of a man’s anatomy, namely the heel. And there’s an interesting story behind the name and origin of this Yeti-like creature. It goes something like this.
One day, two brothers went hunting in the jungles surrounding their village — a most ordinary and common endeavour for dwellers of the rainforests.
They walked quite far into the forest and despite their diligent efforts, they were not successful in their hunt. Still, they persisted and carried on, for they didn’t want to return home empty-handed. It would be a kind of dishonour to return with nothing in hand. So they went even deeper and further into the forests. To places, they have not been before.
After a long while, just as their sense of desperation was peaking, it started to rain and they became more and more tired from the endless trekking. So they decided to look for a place to rest and take refuge from the incessant rain. One of the brothers, the younger one, saw a huge boulder with a protruding part that created a natural shelter. So he told his elder brother that they should take refuge under the rock to let the storm pass. Soon enough they were seated and waiting patiently under the rock for the rain to subside.
After a while, instead of subsiding, the rain became even more intense, coming down in torrents — and soon it turned into a full-fledged massive thunderstorm (a phenomenon called “adtho masab”, in the Kelabit dialect, which translates into the ‘day has gone mad or crazy’). Trees were breaking up all around and some were being uprooted by the massive storm and, after a while, even the huge rock was shaking. The day has indeed gone “Adtho Masab!” and they were caught in the middle of it. They were both terrified of this sudden change of circumstances.
“Let’s get out of here!” said the elder one.
“It’s getting unsafe” he implored.
But the younger one was too scared to leave the safety of the rock and insisted that they stay put. The rain came incessantly down, the streams were rising, and the winds blew and beat against their rock shelter. Being a rock, they have hoped that it did not fall, because a rock is supposed to have a strong foundation.
After a while, the huge rock started shaking due to the force of the storm and was now clearly on the verge of toppling over. The elder one, sensing that the rock would turn over, pushed his younger brother out before he followed suit — trying to escape the topping rock. But it was a fraction too late for the elder brother — for when he stepped out, he could only go so far before the rock fell over and caught him in the heels. He was trapped and badly pinned down to the ground.
After a lot of effort, the younger one managed to extricate his elder brother from under the huge rock. But by then, his feet were twisted the other way round, with the heels in the front. Seeing this, the younger one was horrified and in total shock at what had happened and told his brother that they should go home as quickly as possible. Alas, the elder brother was unable to move with his heels in that bad shape. The elder one said to his brother, “No, I am not going home. Not like this!”, as he pointed to his twisted feet.
“Now, you have to go home on your own and leave me alone here. I can’t bear the shame of having such twisted feet. I will have to stay here, and the forest will be my home from now on”, he said. And as the younger one sadly turned away to leave, his elder brother said to him, “Brother, we will continue to hunt: you will be hunting the hairy animals as usual but as for me, I will be hunting the hairless ones!”. So they parted ways. The younger brother was puzzled as to what was meant by his elder brother. According to the folklore, the animals with hair referred to the ordinary wild animals in the forests such as the deer, wild boars, bears and monkeys. On the other hand, the hairless animals were human beings. Did the elder brother imply that from then on, the humans would be his enemies?
And so that was how ‘Grandfather Heels’ got his name “Pun Tumid”, our very own Borneo’s version of the Yeti or Sasquatch. Pun Tumid was once a human but after living in the forest for a long while, he had evolved from a man into a giant being with supernatural abilities and could, for example, walk in one step from one mountain to the next. And apparently, Pun Tumid is always on the hunt in the jungle. Being a super creature, his abilities are many times over that of an ordinary human, so the folklores narrate.
Yes, this version of the jungle Yeti is one powerful creature with some supernatural abilities.
I have gone on many hunting trips into the deep jungle, often sleeping overnight, but have not heard the sounds of this jungle dweller or encountered it. So, I cannot vouch for its existence. Others, however, swear that they have heard of the roar of the Pun Tumid or have even been disturbed or harassed by the creature while stopping by overnight in the rainforests. There are some taboos to be observed when one goes into the jungle. Ignoring these ‘norms’ would be courting trouble and a sure invitation for visitation by Pun Tumid.
From tales told, at times, when a man goes for a hunting trip into the jungle with hunting dogs, he may encounter some mysterious and huge dogs which will snatch away the quarry that the man’s own hunting dogs are chasing. When this happens, it’s better to stay clear and leave the vicinity immediately. Or else the hunter will become the hunted, namely the ‘hairless animal’ would become the prey. In other words, at such moments, it means that the Yeti creature is also on the prowl and doing hunting with his own giant dog creatures. So, if you happen to see some giant dogs in the jungle, remember to stay clear and bit compete in the hunt with Pun Tumid.
When you go into the jungles, you may encounter the Pun Tumid. Sometimes, you can only hear him shrieking or roaring, or hear the huge thuds of his massive feet walking nearby but then he is invisible. As alluded to earlier, there are some “Dos” and “Don’ts” for people in the know when they get into the jungles. If not, they could inadvertently become the hairless quarry for the Pun Tumid. Or suffer some kind of misfortune for ignoring the ‘proper ways of the jungle’.
On the other hand, there are accounts of people who are lucky enough to befriend these jungle dwellers, spirits though they may be. In fact, one of my classmates in upper secondary school told me of tales about how his own father somehow managed to befriend one of these creatures or spirits from the jungle. Or more accurately, he was ‘selected’ by the Pun Tumid who first appeared to him and befriended him when he was still a boy. The initiative came from the Pun Tumid. From that first encounter as a kid, the man became a friend to the spirit being well into his adult life.
The story went how as a boy, this individual was playing in the secondary jungles near his home one day when the spirit suddenly appeared before him. On that very first encounter they quickly became friends. The boy grew up into a fine young man and as was the custom, every young and able bodied man has to do his part to contribute to the wellbeing of his community such as by helping in the farm works or by going on hunting trips or fishing expeditions deep into the rainforests.
Every occasion that this young man went to the forest to hunt, he would never fail to return without any catch or a wild animal that he has hunted. Actually, it was not do much due to his own prowess but his Jungle Yeti friend who did the hunting. Being a denizen of the forests, hunting was just a simple task for the Pun Tumid. The lucky beneficiary was this real person who became the Pun Tumid’s friend.
Whenever the man went to the forest, his friend, the Pun Tumid, would inevitably come to meet him — coming in the form of a whirlwind. That was how fast the creature moved. They would converse and the Pun Tumid would then ask the man why was he in the forest for. Upon being told the reason for being there was on a hunting trip, the Pun Tumid would proceed to do the hunting for whatever the man wanted — be it a fat wild boar, a Sambar deer or a barking deer. He was the lucky and chosen one, this special friend of the invisible giant. He never returned from his hunting trips empty handed. Perhaps, the giant being was still looking for his long lost younger human brother from that long ago sojourn under the rock in the rainforest.
This is a story from the rainforests that was told to us by our old folks around the campfire or family hearth when we were kids. I guess we should take them as mere folklores in the same category as fairy tales for the sake of amusement and storytelling sessions. The moral of the story is to respect nature and the natural environment and not cause destruction, for there are creatures that dwell in the rainforests. Pun Tumid is a benign being who serves as a guardian of the rainforests. He can be a friend, or a foe — depending on what you do to the forests, his home and stewardship.
Despite such stories, I still love going into the rainforest.
Sometimes, I would go hunting alone at night, going deep into the forest. It’s a totally different and unique experience. You’ll need all your five senses to be at their peak or highest level of alertness. It’s a special and invigorating experience. We should therefore preserve and keep our rainforest intact to provide our much needed oxygen in an increasingly polluted and toxic environment. Maybe, other tribes may have their tales or version of the jungle yeti story. If that is true, it is something that would be interesting to hear, collate and record for posterity.
