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

Overview

Rūan volunteers to obtain the egg prescribed for Tūpai’s wife, entering a bamboo water-tube as a woman fills it. Carried home, the fish creeps out at night, takes an egg from a nearby hen’s nest and returns to the tube. Next morning it swims free when the woman refills it, then delivers the egg. Tūpai later repays this service by securing a crocodile’s heart for Rūan’s own wife. Skeat identifies the fish broadly as an ophiocephalus and chooses creeping fish as an English label; this historical identification is not narrowed to an unverified modern species, and no legs or human shape are invented.

Fish who steals an egg to help a squirrel’s wifePublic traditional narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Malay Peninsula; Siong River village, interior Kedah; unnamed local Malay teller

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

    VI, The Friendship of Tūpai the Squirrel and Rūan the Creeping Fish, pp. 16–17; notes pp. 77–78

  2. 02

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest — VI The Friendship of the Squirrel and the Creeping Fish

    Unnamed Siong River Malay narrator; Walter William Skeat, collector · 1901

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, collected and translated Walter Skeat, Cambridge: University Press,1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked; selected complete tales and all accompanying notes read from historical transcription. Introduction states1899 Cambridge expedition collection and limitation of phraseology, not verbatim unedited speech. Original quoted folios visually checked in Archive fablesfolktalesf00skearich; IIIF canvas positions omit initial leaves, so exact original leaf number matched from image identifier, not array index.

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)

VI, The Friendship of Tūpai the Squirrel and Rūan the Creeping Fish. VI, The Friendship of Tūpai the Squirrel and Rūan the Creeping Fish, pp. 16–17; notes pp. 77–78

Complete tale and associated notes directly read. Regional spellings and differing accounts retained; commentary does not establish present-day practice or biological facts. Teller attribution retained where stated: Che Busu for I/II; unnamed Siong River villager for VI.

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 Walter Skeat, Cambridge: University Press,1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked; selected complete tales and all accompanying notes read from historical transcription. Introduction states1899 Cambridge expedition collection and limitation of phraseology, not verbatim unedited speech. Original quoted folios visually checked in Archive fablesfolktalesf00skearich; IIIF canvas positions omit initial leaves, so exact original leaf number matched from image identifier, not array index. These four tales’ host page labels have not been individually scan-collated; original title and other selected folios checked separately.

  1. Rūan, a creeping fish, obtains a hen’s egg to help the ill wife of his squirrel friend Tūpai. It rides unseen in a bamboo water container, leaves it at the household roost to collect an egg, and returns to the river when the woman refills it. The squirrel’s wife recovers. When Rūan’s own wife falls ill, the squirrel reciprocates by entering a coconut swallowed by a crocodile, removing the animal’s heart and escaping through its mouth after it dies ashore. Rūan receives the heart and his wife recovers. The collector records this account as an example of faithful friendship from an unnamed Siong River villager.

    VI The Friendship of the Squirrel and the Creeping Fish, complete hosted printed-page labels 16–17; notes77–78

CompleteVI16–17 and source notes77–78 read. CompanionVII uses the name Rūan too, but shared naming is not proof of a single continuous individual biography. Skeat identifies the fish only through an old generic label and observations; no precise modern species is asserted. Wives’ personal names and children absent here.

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), VI, The Friendship of Tūpai the Squirrel and Rūan the Creeping Fish, pp. 16–17; notes pp. 77–78Research 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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