wayangkancil

For my playwriting class this semester, I’ve based a few pieces on existing children’s literature (e.g. The Three Little Pigs, The Little Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe). Drawing upon tales embedded in our collective consciousness seems to appeal to ‘audiences’ so far. For my most recent play, I chose the to use the folktale of Sang Kancil and the Buayas as a template for the story. You can read the full tale here.

Since the genre was musical comedy, I had a character tell this story through a song (click on the link to listen!):

Kancil and the Buayas

Verse 1

So there’s a Kancil, a skinny yellow mouse-deer

And he wants to cross the river but then he quickly stops

Because he sees a crocodile, a huge and ugly crocodile

With teeth so sharp and tears so large they might be twice his size

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, Kancil, oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 2

“I’m so hungry”, Buaya cries, “Yes I’m so hungry

Oh Kancil I haven’t eaten for days, please let me have a bite

Of you”. And of course Kancil, the smart and cunning Kancil

Says “Sorry Mr. Buaya, I think I’d better think twice”

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, Kancil, oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 3

So Kancil says “I know what I’ll do”

Buaya pleads: “Oh please won’t you let me eat you”

Kancil says, “Yes of course but you must help me cross the river first!”

And so Buaya, big and stupid buaya,

Calls his friends to come over, and help him cross the river

And Kancil disappears without a trace

Buaya, oh buaya, oh buaya, goodbye Buaya! oh buaya, buaya, buaya

Verse 4

Buaya – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Kancil outsmarts you ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Buaya – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha

Ha ha ha

It was a fun experiment in refashioning the Kancil story twice: as a song, and as the template upon which the story is constructed. It served as an effective medium for communicating the folktale too!

Other Adaptations

In addition to my own way of sharing knowledge of this folktale, I found two other mediums through which the story of Sang Kancil and the Buayas has been retold:

i. Wayang Rakyat (Kancil)

Below is a Wayang Rakyat (Folk Wayang) performance of the tale of Sang Kancil and the Buayas (The dhalang – puppeteer – is narrating in English! Not sure where it’s held though):

From the video above, we can see that Wayang Kancil preserves the content of the Kancil folktales through the form of Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry.

It also attempts to preserve the form of Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry through the more accessible (?) genre of Wayang Kancil.

It seems that it is only through continual innovation and reinvention that practitioners of Wayang are able to sustain traditional art forms.

In an interview with Mbah Ledjar Subroto conducted by Irene Ritchie and Endah Suseno, Ledjar states that he ‘wanted to revive [the Wayang Kancil] art form as people were losing interest in Wayang Kulit (leather puppet shows)’. He thought that the Wayang Kancil form would be an opener to reawaken people’s interest’. He chose to draw upon the folk story of the Wayang Kancil because it was already a part of their culture, and the people of Indonesia and Malaysia are already familiar with it.

ii. Animation

Because of their particular appeal to children, Kancil stories naturally lend themselves to animation.

It’s interesting how this cartoon is scored by a Western orchestra while being voiced completely in Indonesian. Nonetheless, it does not hinder the ‘Indonesian-ness / Malaysian-ness’ of the Kancil story that is told – I suppose that’s a testament to the universal appeal of (talking) animals.