Saaroa

(map)

The animal which succeeded in fetching fire is translated "mouse deer" by Ho Ting-jui, but it is more likely a Reeve's muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) or Formosan serow (Capricornis swinhoei), which are native to the area.

Once there was an old eel. He dammed up the water, creating a flood. People escaped to two high mountains: Mt. Lakurapa and Mt. Alippokkolu. But they had no fire.

They observed a fly rubbing its legs together. Imitating it with sticks, they made fire. People on the other mountain wanted fire and asked goat to get it. Goat went, but on the way back his horns got hot and painful, so he quenched them, and the fire went out. The mouse deer went next and was able to return with fire. Everyone patted him to congratulate him, and he became smaller.

"What should we do? Why won't the water go away?" everyone said. A wild boar said, "I will put away the water. As a reward, please let my children eat taros and bananas." The boar went and bit off the old eel, and the flood went away. The water washed away the boar.

All the birds and animals were happy. They planned to make a river, but a hawk refused to help them. "If you don't help," the animals said, "you can't drink from the river. If you do, you will die."

"I don't care," the hawk said. "I will drink water from the tree."

The hawk will die if it drinks water from the river.

Naoyoshi Ogawa and Erin Asai, Gengo ni yoru Taiwan Takasagozuku densets shu (The Myths and Traditions of the Formosan Native Tribes) (Tokyo: Toko Shoin, 1935), 702-703; variant, p. 704. Shorter version in English: Ho Ting-jui, A Comparative Study of the Myths and Legends of Formosan Aborigines, Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs, vol. 18 (Taipei: Orient Culture Service, 1971), 317; Paiwan variant, pp. 318-319.