Honey Of Tualang Tree (III)

Pak Wan once told me that there are some taboos for tualang tree honey collectors to observe in old days so that no undesired incidents would occur during the honey collecting process.

If I still can remember, Pak Wan said that his method was to recite Al-Fatihah (first chapter of holy Quran) three times and then entered into the jungle quietly so as not to disturb those 'penunggu' (watchers) of the area.

Of course, in old days; people would burn coconut husks as an offerings to the spirits of the jungle. But this practice is discontinued due to religious reasons.

Jeff, is Pak Wan's eldest son and he is a modern young man who would scorn at the supernatural things. Pak Wan has time and again advised Jeff to heed those taboos of the old to avoid bumping into undesired problems but Jeff kept ignoring his old man until one night...

One night, Ali who was Pak Wan's helper fell sick and Pak Wan was urgently wanted to meet his old customers' orders. So, Jeff was coaxed to follow his old pa into the jungle to collect some tualang honey.

Reluctantly but Jeff wasn't ready to say 'no' to his father, so the father and son gang proceed into the jungle. Pak Wan again nagged about the taboos but Jeff thought his old man was somehow irritating and to counteracting his father's nagging, Jeff started to sing 'Billie Jean' while heading into the heart of the jungle.

Jeff was walking faster and ahead of Pak Wan. Perhaps he thought by keeping a distance away from his pa he could have a moment of quiet. He never knew that his action would gave him an unforgettable experience of his life...

 As Pak Wan was trying to keep his pace with his son, suddenly he heard Jeff's singing gotten louder and the song turned shrieking cacophony and ended up swearing and cursing. Strangely too that at the same time, Jeff started to dance 'moonwalk' stance...

The situation has gotten more bizarre when Pak Wan saw his son's head tilted 90 degrees resting on his right shoulder while performing the moonwalk. 

Feeling baffled, Pak Wan noticed that Jeff was actually 'gliding' about 3 feet above the ground...

At this point, Pak Wan realized something was wrong... Jeff could have been possessed by evil spirits! So, Pak Wan rushed to Jeff and pulled Jeff's legs so that his son could be held fast on the ground.

As soon as Pak Wan managed to catch hold of Jeff, he started the call for prayer azan near Jeff's ear. At first, Jeff just showed a numb facial expression with his gaze fixed in front. After Pak Wan repeated several calls for prayer, Jeff finally shivered and he turned his face to Pak Wan while asking: "Pa, what are you doing?"

Pak Wan just shook his head and urged Jeff to move forward as if nothing had happened. He didn't want to scare his son in the middle of the jungle. Jeff shrugged and continued to move on while Pak Wan followed behind his son.

A few minutes later, Pak Wan felt that someone or something was staring at him and he developed goosebumps all over his body. Instinctively, he turned his back and there he saw a creature about 10 feet tall with a pair of sharp pointed horns!

Needless to say, Pak Wan has no mood to continue with his honey hunt, he immediately summoned Jeff and they both returned home empty handed.

On hearing the story, I became interested in the 'creature with horns' as I have not heard of any supernatural creature with 'horns' locally...

After some sort of interrogations, Pak Wan finally laughed and said: "Come and think of it... it might be a deer! But I can't explain how can Jeff dance in the air though..."