This story was first told by my grandmother to my father, who then passed the story on to me. Although this story involves mystic and paranormal details, it was said to be true and happened nearby my kampong/village, in Ranau, Sabah in the past.
In Ranau Sabah, 90% of the villagers are the Dusun people. They do farming and hunting for living. Over a hundred years ago in Ranau, the Dusun community usually have two houses in a family. One house is for the whole family to live, and the other as a stopping or resting place after a hard day's farming and hunting. Whichever houses the villager decided to stay, both houses can be treated as home.
From this Dusun community, there was this boy who was just as ordinary as everyone in the village. He farms, hunts and play just like the rest of the children during that time. One twilight, this boy decided to walk home from his stopping house. But, before he did so, he decided to bring along his nets to catch some frogs from the small stream on his way home. When he's all set, he began his journey home. When he reached the small stream, he saw a couple of frogs croaking, and spreads his nets as wide as he could. He had lots of fun capturing frogs for supper. The boy spreads his nets fervently for hours to the dark night.
While he was enjoying the moment of capturing the frogs, his ears caught the sound of a procession of people not far away from where he was standing. He then decided to look for the source without being seen by whatever that produces the sound. From where he was standing, he saw a group of people with torches walking from his village and towards him, so he quickly hide among the long grass. When the people were getting closer, he could see clearly that they were carrying what it seems to be a dead body covered by a piece of sarong/cloth. As they were getting closer, he tried to focus on their faces but he can't because of the dark night.
Instead of running away or giving polite greetings, this boy decided to play a prank on these people assuming that they are the people from his village. So he puts his frogs away and prepared his nets in a spot where the people will walk at. After few minutes of anxious waiting, the people were finally walking in the "special spot" and the boy quickly spreads his nets onto the people.
He was about to laugh when he realized that the people had vanished in thin air in just a second. Instead of freaking out, the boy quickly took his nets and checked out his catch. In his nets was something that felt like pieces of tree branches to him. Not sure what he had caught, he just puts it in his little pocket, took his frogs and continue his journey home.
When he reached his village, he saw people gathering at one of his neighbour's house. With high curiosity, he joined the gathering just to find out that his neighbour's wife had died earlier that evening. His mind quickly recalled the earlier incident happened nearby the stream. He wondered, "Could that possibly be....?"
He then took out his "catch" from his pocket, and it was pieces of tree branches as he suspected. He went closer to the the deceased, and placed his "catch" on the deceased chest. A few moments later, the deceased suddenly breathing and awake!
The story stops there and talked about for generations. No matter how long the incident had happened, it never stops people from speculating. One of the speculations was, the boy had captured the deceased soul before it was brought away from the world. Thus, this story is called "The Soul Catcher".
Whatever the explanations may be, I think it's one of the most interesting legend I've heard from my father. I hope you'll enjoy the story as much as I do.
Thank you for reading. :)
In Ranau Sabah, 90% of the villagers are the Dusun people. They do farming and hunting for living. Over a hundred years ago in Ranau, the Dusun community usually have two houses in a family. One house is for the whole family to live, and the other as a stopping or resting place after a hard day's farming and hunting. Whichever houses the villager decided to stay, both houses can be treated as home.
From this Dusun community, there was this boy who was just as ordinary as everyone in the village. He farms, hunts and play just like the rest of the children during that time. One twilight, this boy decided to walk home from his stopping house. But, before he did so, he decided to bring along his nets to catch some frogs from the small stream on his way home. When he's all set, he began his journey home. When he reached the small stream, he saw a couple of frogs croaking, and spreads his nets as wide as he could. He had lots of fun capturing frogs for supper. The boy spreads his nets fervently for hours to the dark night.While he was enjoying the moment of capturing the frogs, his ears caught the sound of a procession of people not far away from where he was standing. He then decided to look for the source without being seen by whatever that produces the sound. From where he was standing, he saw a group of people with torches walking from his village and towards him, so he quickly hide among the long grass. When the people were getting closer, he could see clearly that they were carrying what it seems to be a dead body covered by a piece of sarong/cloth. As they were getting closer, he tried to focus on their faces but he can't because of the dark night.
Instead of running away or giving polite greetings, this boy decided to play a prank on these people assuming that they are the people from his village. So he puts his frogs away and prepared his nets in a spot where the people will walk at. After few minutes of anxious waiting, the people were finally walking in the "special spot" and the boy quickly spreads his nets onto the people.
He was about to laugh when he realized that the people had vanished in thin air in just a second. Instead of freaking out, the boy quickly took his nets and checked out his catch. In his nets was something that felt like pieces of tree branches to him. Not sure what he had caught, he just puts it in his little pocket, took his frogs and continue his journey home.
When he reached his village, he saw people gathering at one of his neighbour's house. With high curiosity, he joined the gathering just to find out that his neighbour's wife had died earlier that evening. His mind quickly recalled the earlier incident happened nearby the stream. He wondered, "Could that possibly be....?"
The story stops there and talked about for generations. No matter how long the incident had happened, it never stops people from speculating. One of the speculations was, the boy had captured the deceased soul before it was brought away from the world. Thus, this story is called "The Soul Catcher".
Whatever the explanations may be, I think it's one of the most interesting legend I've heard from my father. I hope you'll enjoy the story as much as I do.
Thank you for reading. :)
Comments
Chell, me 2.. If it's recent, the family could get rich by filing a suit to whomever declare her death.