The Clever Mouse Deer or De Slimme Kantjil:
A Collection of Old Javanese Stories
Written by Theresia de Vroom, Published by Tsehai Publishers, November 2020” As told by Raden S. Nipoeno. Translated by Theresia de Vroom.
The wonderful Javanese animal tales in this collection, translated here by Theresia de Vroom, usher us into the southeast Asian forest, the world of Kantjil, the clever mouse deer. There are several species of chevrotain or mouse deer endemic to the forests of Vietnam and neighboring countries. The more common, lesser chevrotain (Tragulus kanchil) shares its scientific name with the hero of these stories but it is the rarer member of this genus, the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor) that has its own dramatic story to add to those in this book. This tiny creature, no bigger than a rabbit, was thought likely to be extinct after dropping completely out of sight in 1990 only to be rediscovered using camera traps nearly thirty years later.
In these stories the clever Kantjil repeatedly outsmarts the most dangerous predators in the forest and even proves too cunning for his human enemies. Can our mouse deer continue to outsmart modern hunters as well as find a way to survive the extensive habitat destruction taking place in the forests in which he dwells? Only time will tell. It would seem to be unwise to underestimate the clever Kantjil . As the stories told here make abundantly clear, he always seems to come up with a plan to survive.
“The wonderful Javanese animal tales in the collection, translated here, usher us into the southeast Asian forest, the world of Kantjil, the clever mouse deer. In these stories the clever Kantijil repeatedly outsmarts the most dangerous predators in the forest and proves too cunning for his human enemies.”