STORY TIME
GALAP
&
JOMO
By Sirhajwan Idek (Teacher, Keningau Vocational College, Sabah, Malaysia)
“My mother entrusted it to me, I must get it back,” asserted Anang. “It’s too dangerous, swimming closely to the coastal areas. You might get caught by those monsters that dwell on the land,” warned her friend. Anang jumped into the water and her brown skin immediately turned luminescent as her flesh seemingly dissolved into fluid while maintaining her humanoid form. There was a long rift between them, the dwellers of the fresh water known as galap and the monsters of the land that walked on their two feet that they referred to as “Jomo.” Their ancestors had told them numerous stories of how these monsters terrorized them and drove them away to the huge lake surrounded by mountains in the middle of the island, Borneo, home to one of the oldest rainforests filled with native mammals like Orangutans and Tapirs. Anang swam with a fluid grace through the large river heading towards the northeast as she saw the bird was flying in that direction. The pearl that the bird snatched from her hand was a gift from her mother during her 600th birthday. It was her responsibility to keep it safe and it was her fault that she lost it.
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SangSaeng
Her legs restlessly moved back and forth like a fish tail. The thought of those monsters of the land that had been relentlessly hunting them to near extinction flitted into her mind as she glided effortlessly in the water. Galap were elemental beings whose bodies were naturally water-like fluid when they were in water but they could take the solid form of two legged creatures with brown skin once they came up to the surface. Word had it that this ability was the only feature that distinguished them from the two legged monsters of the land that could not transform. The galap generally hated to be compared with the monsters that they deemed despicable and barbaric. “Is this the right direction to the northeast land?” Anang asked a school of tiger barbs passing by. “Yes, just go straight,” answered one of the slightly silvery yellow fish. “But you’re a galap, I thought you were not allowed to go there.” “I have to; I must find my mother’s pearl,” asserted Anang. “Just don’t let the “jomo” see you,” said the biggest tiger barb as they swam away in the opposite direction. “Are they that evil that even the fish warned her about
them?” a dozen questions triggered in Anang’s mind. Once she was near the river bank, she swam up to the surface and popped her head up slightly to check for any non-underwater living beings. Her fluid form quickly turned to flesh with brown colored skin. Anang was astonished by the scenery surrounding the river, swaying coconut trees across a field of low lying grass. She could hear the distinct sounds of the seagulls and the crashing ocean against rocks. “No wonder the water is slightly salty, I am close to the ocean,” thought Anang. She dove under the water and swam closer to one of the nearby rocks. Once she reached the bottom of the rock, she carefully rose to the surface while leaning her body against the rock to avoid being seen. She squinted her eyes to see if the pearl was somewhere on the shore. She looked at the ground and then up to the trees, she then tilted her head back and forth, trying to spot the bird that took the pearl. She was disappointed that she could not do much from there. “A galap! Unbelievable!” Anang heard a nasal voice speaking from behind.
