From Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, Collected and Translated by Walter Skeat, M.A., Illustrated by F. H. Townsend; Cambridge: At the University Press; 1901; pp. 13-15, 81.
At this juncture the parties to the quarrel went before the Prophet Elias, who said, “This matter is too great for me, take ye it before Solomon.” And Solomon said, “Let them fight it out between them, that the rage of their hearts may be appeased.” Wherefore there was battle between them for twice seven days. Now Māta Lémbu the ‘Ox-eye’ Treeh stood nigh to watch the battle, and its skin was grazed by bullets (whereof its bark still shows the scars.). But the ‘Pĕrāchak’i Shrub on the other hand was filled with fear, and instead of drawing nearer, in order to see the battle, it stood upon tiptoe (wherefore it still grows long and lanky). But ‘Ándram’j the sedge was the most afraid and ran to a place afar off, but as it still heard the noise of battle it plunged into the river (wherefore to this day it grows over the surface of water).
15And when the twice seven days were ended, the battle being still undecided, the combatants were parted, and a space was set between them by Solomon. And Gādong the Yam made he to sit down, and Dāgun the Liane to lie down. But Jágong the Maize-plant and Káchang the Bean he made to stand together.
a A Vegetarian Dispute.
This story was taken down on the banks of the Upper Tĕmbĕling River, in the interior of Pahang. As the object of the last tale was to explain in a playful (semi-serious, semi-comic) vein the origin of the most striking characteristics of certain animals, so the present story attempts to account for the chief characteristics of certain objects in the vegetable world. 77 Unfortunately I have not, in two or three cases, been able to identify the plant, though the general tenour of the story is perfectly clear. The identifications which follow are taken from a list of Malay plants by H. N. Ridley in J. R. A. S., S. B. [No. 30], July, 1897.
b Jágong is the Malay name for Indian Corn or Maize, which is largely grown as a ‘catch’-crop in the Malay Peninsula.
c Dāgun is a Gnetum, probably edule.
d Gādong is Dioscorea dæmonum Roxb. (Dioscoreaceæ). It is a climber with large tubers, which are used in the manufacture of dart-poison, and also eaten after repeated washings to extract the narcotic properties which they contain.
e Káchang may here be any kind of cultivated bean, such as is grown (in company with maize) as a ‘catch’-crop.
f Libut, the tree so called in Pahang (also Bĕlibok in Ulu Kelantan), is almost certainly the “Kĕlĕbok” tree of the W. coast (Selangor &c.). It is a species of Ficus (? F. Roxburghii, Wall., Urticaceæ), a large ficus, “with clusters of big figs on the stem.” It is a light wood, used by the wild tribes for making the butts of their blow-gun darts.
g The Liane referred to is a kind of creeper called Wilang (unidentified).
h The “Ox-eye tree” (māta lémbu) is also unmentioned in the Dictionaries.
i The Pĕrāchak (also Pĕrachek and Pĕrachet) is Tabernæmontana Malaccensis, Hook. fil. (Apocynaceæ).
j “And’ram” is also unmentioned, but may probably be taken as a dialectal variation of mĕndĕrong, a common kind of sedge used in mat-making. (Scirpus grossus, Vahl. Cyperaceæ.)