A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Chenchawi the king-crow hears Siput’s loud river voice and at first expects a human. They wager a race: the bird risks becoming the snail’s servant, while the snail risks surrendering the river. During a fourteen-day delay Siput stations other snails to answer the bird’s challenges at successive reaches, then personally answers at the river-mouth. The defeated bird thereafter serves the snail. Apparent speed comes from coordinated substitutes, not magical movement or multiplied bodies. Skeat identifies Chenchawi as a racket-tailed drongo and records the regional name Siput; the bird is not automatically the Hantu Bĕlian spirit described elsewhere with a drongo comparison.

Bird and water-snail whose river race is won by a relay deceptionPublic traditional narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Malay Peninsula; Told on the Tĕmbĕling River by an unnamed Pahang Malay

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale and attached scholarly notes directly read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest

    Walter Skeat, collector and translator · 1901

    XIV, The King-crow and the Water-snail, pp. 33–35; note p. 80

  2. 02

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest — XIV The King-crow and the Water-snail

    Walter William Skeat, collector and translator; named or unnamed local Malay narrator as specified in source note · 1901

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, collected and translated by Walter Skeat; Cambridge: University Press, 1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked. Complete selected named tale, conclusion, footnotes and corresponding source notes read from Elfinspell historical transcription; individual page ranges in this batch are host body labels, not independently scan-collated. Introduction states collection during1899 expedition with some limitation of original phraseology; no unedited original-language transcript claimed.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Walter Skeat, Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (Cambridge: University Press, 1901)

XIV, The King-crow and the Water-snail. XIV, The King-crow and the Water-snail, pp. 33–35; note p. 80

Complete tale and associated notes directly read. Regional spellings and differing accounts retained; commentary does not establish present-day practice or biological facts. Individual teller not named here.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest

Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, collected and translated by Walter Skeat; Cambridge: University Press, 1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked. Complete selected named tale, conclusion, footnotes and corresponding source notes read from Elfinspell historical transcription; individual page ranges in this batch are host body labels, not independently scan-collated. Introduction states collection during1899 expedition with some limitation of original phraseology; no unedited original-language transcript claimed.

  1. Chenchawi hears Siput travelling upstream and initially thinks a human is calling. Discovering the snail, it proposes a race to the river mouth. The bird stakes service tending the snail’s food plants; the snail stakes control of the river. After securing fourteen days’ delay, Siput stations companions along the river to answer successive challenges. The bird flies through the reaches and hears apparent proof that the snail is already ahead, until Siput answers personally at the mouth. Defeated, the king-crow becomes the snail’s servant. Skeat credits a Pahang Malay on the Tĕmbĕling and glosses both names.

    XIV The King-crow and the Water-snail, complete hosted page labels 33–35; note80

CompleteXIV33–35 and note80 read. Relay of separate snails, not one snail’s impossible repeated speed. Online source header says33–37, but body ends35; chapter locator retained and hostbody pagination qualified pending exactscan check. Historical botanical and shellfish-sound remarks remain collector commentary.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical collected narrative with locality and editorial notesSkeat, Fables & Folk-Tales (Cambridge University Press, 1901), XIV, The King-crow and the Water-snail, pp. 33–35; note p. 80Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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