Origin of the Iban Comic Hero Apai Aloi: A Saribas Saga Version.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Origin of the Iban Comic Hero Apai Aloi: A Saribas Saga Version. |
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Author :
Clifford Sather |
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Abstract:
To an Iban of traditional upbringing there is probably no imaginary character more famlliar than the comic hero Tambap or Apai Aloi. The present paper records a long Saribas saga, or ensera, concerned with the origin of Tambap and the events of his early life before he married and became the familiar Apai Aloi of Iban children’s fables1. The later exploits of Apai Aloi, his wife and children are the subject of a great body of Iban cautionary tales, told to youngsters by their elders, generally at bed time (Sandin 1960, 1965a, 1965b, 1965c, 1965d, 1965e, 1967a; Sather 1978). These tales contrast with the sagas of the equally mythologized Orang Panggau, the heroes and heroines of the Gellong and Panggau Libau spiritual worlds. To the Iban, the Orang Panggau, particularly Keling and Kumang, represent personifications of the ego-ideals of manly courage, resourcefulness, and womanly beauty. By contrast, Apai Aloi is a negative chastisement, the fool who forever suffers rebuke and disaster as a result of his own misdeeds, stupidity and greed. He represents a negative ideal of how not to behave. His relations with his wife, Indai Aloi, parody conjugal ideals. He is hen-pecked and cuckolded; he cheats his family of food and causes them to go destitute (Sandin 1960,1965c). His relations with his friend, Apai Sumang-Umang, similarly make mockery of friendship, as the two continually seek to take advantage of each other (cf. Sandin 1965a, 1965d). In all these tales Apai Aloi is ultimately the loser. In everyday speech, the terms aloi, saloi, sali-ali, or apaloi are used to describe a foolish or silly person, who, through avarice or lack of wit, brings about his own undoing.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Sather, C. (1981). Origin of the Iban Comic Hero Apai Aloi: A Saribas Saga Version. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XXIX (50): 73-96 |
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References
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