The Mummy Returns (2001) was on TV, and I watched a part of it, and the similarity between the Pygmies in the film and the Austronesian legends of the “Little Black People.”
In the film these pygmies are short enough to be invisible when moving through shrubs, attack by grabbing people’s ankles, and use blow darts as weapons. They are wiped out in the end when they all rushed onto a fallen tree trunk spanning a valley and stick of dynamite thrown by O’Connell blows the tree trunk in half, sending the pygmies to fall to their deaths.
Compare that to a the main theme of Saisiyat’s Ta’ay legend. Ta’ays are short, impossible to spot in dense jungles, attacks people with blow darts, or dragging unsuspected people away by their ankles. When the Saisiyat finally decided to get rid of the Ta’ay, they booby-trapped a tree trunk spanning a valley, and when all the Ta’ay got on the trunk, the trunk broke off, sending all but two Ta’ays to fall to their deaths.
Did the writers of The Mummy Returns reference the Ta’ay legend? Or do cultures other than Austronesians also have legends with the same motif?
Ta’ay, a.k.a. the “Little Black People (矮黑人 or 矮靈)” are called “misinsigot” in Altayal, “susungut” in Seediq, “ngutol” in Rukai, “Ta’ay” in Saisiyat, “laikulun” or “satoso” or “takelili” or “tsalutso” in Bunun, “Sugudul” in Paiwan. Amis Pangcah, Ita Thaw, Tsou people also have the same legends but I can’t find the term in their languages.
There are similar legends throughout Austronesian islands, such as the duwende, Calanget, Nuno sa Punso, and Laman Lupa legends of the Philippines.
Some have suggested the prevalence of the myth in Taiwan means that there were once negritos living in Taiwan, like Aeta, Agta, Ati, and 30 other peoples of the Philippines and Semang people of Malaysia, however that is just a hypothesis.
Full Saisiyat Ta’ay legend goes:
[quote]A long time ago, a group of Ta’ay lived in a cave on Maybalay mountain (right bank of Wufeng’s Shangping river). Their adults are only around 90 cm tall, but they are physically strong and skilled in magic. They also moved very fast and stealthy in dense jungles, and expert tree climbers. They used poisonous blow darts to hunt.
The Saisiyat people at the time relied on hunting as the primary food source, and they were having a difficult time. One day the Saisiyat leader saw a bunch of Ta’ay in a circle chanting magic to ward away snakes. He figured if they know magic, perhaps he could ask them for help. The Ta’ay agreed to teach the Saisiyat people to grow grains, but required that they too receive a portion of the harvest.
The Saisiyat people’s lives were drastically improved with Ta’ay’s assistance. Each year, they would invite the Ta’ays over to share their harvest. However, with time they noticed the Ta’ay would also sexually harass Saisiyat women. Eventually they anger towards Ta’ay’s improper behaviors boiled over, and a began planning to put an end to to it.
They noticed the Ta’ays would cross the valley using the branches of a huge tree, and rest on the tree afterwards. So one year the Saisiyats chopped up the roots of the tree, and concealed the cut with moss. When the entire population of Ta’ays are done with the festivities, they all got on the tree to make the crossing. As the tree broke off, most Ta’ays fell to their death.
Only the Ta’ay leader and his wife survived as they crossed first. When they realized it was no accident, they were furious at the Saisiyat’s treachery after all that the Ta’ay has done for them. The Saisiyat said the Ta’ay’s indecency and molestation of women left them no choice. The Ta’ay couple cursed the Saisiyat to never have a good harvest again. For the next two years, Saisiyat harvests failed, and life was miserable.
One day the Ta’ay leader and his wife showed up and said now all their people are gone, they no longer wish to live here. Before they leave, they wanted to let by gone be by gone, and instructed the Saisiyat to perform a series of songs, dances, and enchantments to counter the effect of their curse. The Saisiyat people would commemorate Ta’ay’s legacy and feel remorseful for driving them away. That’s how the ritual of paSta’ay ceremony came about.[/quote]
Most Taiwan Aboriginal groups have their own “Little Black People” legends. The most famous being the ta’ay legends of Saisiyat, mainly due to their Pas-ta’ai ceremony. However, the main theme of the Saisiyat Ta’ay legends is common among all Austronesian legends, and some other groups actually have more “Little Black People” legends than the Saisiyat.
Most of Little Black People legends native to Taiwan are documented in Legends about pygmies among the Formosan natives, Proceedings of the Conference on Chinese Myth and Legend, 579-604, Li, 1996 (李壬癸:《台灣南島民族關於矮人的傳說》)
Sources:
facebook.com/AustronesiaFor … 45591292:0
w3.tkgsh.tn.edu.tw/mis/%AE%D5%A5 … %BB%A1.htm