Mountain God’s Escaped Bride (山神的准新娘)

This incident happened about a decade ago to a foreign model friend who almost became the bride of Maxwell Hill mountain spirit. Let us call this beautiful model Jessica. Jessica then was a fashion model from Australia and she just dropped by a friend’s place to have a short stay and have a look see about this Taiping town.  It was of Jessica’s interest to visit the WWII Commonwealth War Cemetery as her grandpa was buried there also.

Since Jessica is a nature lover, she won’t miss her chance to hike up the Maxwell Hill with her friends. I would have no story to tell should Jessica and her local friends just walk along the tarred road… Instead Jessica’s friends are fond of taking shortcuts that would shorten the route to hill top by 1/3; but the catch is that one may lost his/her ways  if he/she is not careful and familiar with the local landscapes.

So, after some preparations; off the group went up the hill and as usual they followed the more challenging and steeper uphill hike. For Jessica’s safety, her friends put Jessica in the middle of the row so that she would not be lost behind. All went well until they reached 3.5 miles and the group leader decided to take a rest.

At this point, Jessica need to relief herself so she moved behind a large tree to do her business. Her friends waited for Jessica for half an hour or so and Jessica still did not return to the group. So, they performed a manhunt but Jessica still nowhere to be found. They shouted for her name only answered by their own echo.

It was already way passed afternoon and it looked like rain would fall soon; so the group had to alert the authority and a rescue group was dispatched. However, the rain started to fall heavily and nothing could be done until the next morning.

Jessica’s friends didn’t want to just rest and do nothing… well as a matter of fact; they couldn’t sit still now that Jessica is missing. Instead of waiting, they went to seek the help of a spirit medium.

Pretty soon, the medium and the gang returned to the foot of Maxwell Hill and almost immediately the medium fell into trance:

Medium: “Rrrrr… Why do you all disturb my peace?”

Gang: “Who are you?”

Medium: “Rrrr… I am Pak Belang… I watch over this mountain…”

Gang: “We seek your help… Our friend Jessica is missing…”

Medium: “Rrrr… You mean the white girl? I want to make her my bride!”

Gang: “No can do… She needs to go back to her parents… What should we do to exchange?”

(The bargaining went on and on until a deal was struck.)

Medium: “Rrr… I want a feast… I have not eaten for a very long time… I want to eat curry mutton and yellow gluttonous rice…”

Gang: “Okay. We do that tomorrow afternoon…”

At this point, the medium trembled and then fell onto the ground. Apparently this Pak Belang has left the medium.

As promised, a food offering ceremony was carried out the next day. Strangely speaking, Jessica was found by the rescue team two days later sitting at the back of the huge tree where she done her business… Apparently, Jessica has never left the place!

Since Jessica wasn’t herself after the rescue, she was sent to hospital to recuperate for one day. This is when I was called to perform a smoke offering to the mountain spirit and learnt about Jessica’s story.

After the smoke offering, Jessica looked better. So, I asked her of her experiences. This was what she has said:

“I was in the midst of relieving myself… and my friends suddenly called my name; I responded as loud as I could but they just ignored me and left me alone. I dared not move so I just sat at the place… After a while, I thought I heard the roar of a tiger or something… An old man suddenly came to me and said that he wanted I to be his wife and the marriage would take place after 3 days… The next thing I know was that I was in the hospital. That’s what I could remember.”

Hmm… perhaps Jessica didn’t know that she was so close to be the bride of Maxwell Hill watcher! Incidentally, I have come across this mountain tiger spirit in several occasions which is still roaming the Maxwell Hill now days!