Old Grandfather Stories

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Do you know that not all fishermen can swim? My 4th Granduncle was a fisherman who couldn’t swim. It seems to be a very natural thing for people living by the sea to sustain their lives with what the sea had to offer. Therefore many of them went to sea to fish for a living including my 外公 and his younger brother, my 4th Granduncle.

One fateful night, the two of them went out to sea in their small fishing boat. Having scattered the fishing net, they sat idling on the boat. When they weren’t paying attention, an oil steamer started to come their direction. As compared to the steamer, their boat was tiny.

How 外公 lost his 4th brother

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The oil steamer sailed by them, causing strong violent waves. The boat capsized and they were thrown into the water. The boat was swept away by the waves that followed.

Granduncle, who couldn’t swim, panicked and struggled in the dark waters. He tried to grab hold to 外公 who was swimming and trying to keep the both of them afloat. 外公 managed to grab hold of a lifebuoy that drifted away from the boat and handed it to Granduncle. Granduncle was frantic and tried to hoist himself on top the lifebuoy instead of putting the lifebuoy around him. Amidst the frenzy, the lifebuoy slipped and was quickly carried away by the waves.

Granduncle was anxious and his instincts to survive made him cling to 外公. Although 外公 knew how to swim, the extra load brought him underwater. It was an exhausting process and 外公 had to make a

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decision. If his brother continues pulling him down, they will die.

外公 made a critical and heartbreaking decision. He pried away Granduncle’s hands and started to swim away. He was devastated but he did not look back. He came upon a drifting piece of wood and he grabbed on to it for dear life.

Soon after, 外公 was rescued. Granduncle was lost at sea forever. My mother said that there were many scars Granduncle left on 外公 body while trying to hold on to him. My mother said the scars took a long time to heal.

I have never seen 外公 cry except when he is telling this story.

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After the Accident

After my granduncle passed away during the unfortunate incident at sea, finding his body became of utmost importance to his distressed family, especially my grandfather. He thought that he killed his brother. His widow had just given birth to a little girl when tragedy struck. Just like all the Chinese people at the time, his family was traditional and they were determined to find his body to give it a proper burial. So the men in the village set out to sea once again for the mission, but as hard as they searched, there was no sign of his body.

One night, Granduncle’s childhood friend had a strange dream. She dreamt that he was at Port

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Dickson, which was a state away from where they were living. She told 外公 about this and 外公, being impatient, set off immediately to look for his brother’s body. At daybreak, they arrived at Port Dickson and miraculously after one week of searching, they found Granduncle’s body floating face down on the water. There were three fishes constantly swimming around his body, as if protecting him.

Granduncle had a baby girl who was not even a month old when he passed. After his body was brought home, 外公 said that his baby girl was always happy and smiling. During her feeding time she couldn’t drink any of the milk they gave her, as she was bloated and looked like she was already full. 外公 liked to believe that Granduncle came home as a spirit and had a last look at his family before he moved off to wherever he should have been going.

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The Hungry Ghost

Rich families used to buy little girls from poor families to raise them to be their daughters-in-law in the future. However, these are usually being exploited to do domestic work for the families.

外公 told me the story of a young girl who was bought over by a rich family who was very stingy. They overworked the girl and didn’t give her much food during dinner. The poor girl finally died of malnutrition.

After she died, the family was disturbed by a nightly ruckus outside the house with sounds of someone fiddling with the buckets and pots.

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The ghost girl had return and she was searching for food.

The family began to leave a bowl of rice outside every night for the poor dead girl and the noise stopped.

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Pontianaks are female malay ghosts taking on the appearance of beautiful women. They lurk around trying to suck the souls of innocent passersby. 外公 taught me to identify them by bending down and looking through the gap of my legs. A Pontianak will reveal her true self when you do that, because they will be legless and floating in the air.

There was once 外公 was cycling along a long stretch of canal at night when he felt something tugging at his leg. “I just gave it a strong kick and it didn’t bother me any further,” he said confidently.

How to identify and avoid pontianaks?

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A story about unrequited love外公 fell very sick when he was in primary 3 and he missed his final examination that year. Thus he had to stay back in class. His results in school were still bad, and he didn’t particularly enjoyed studying. So he decided to quit school altogether. He started to work instead.

When he was seventeen, he was already going out to fish for a living. He worked very hard. 外公 must have been very good-looking when he was young. The daughter of the man he was working for fell in love with him. However, 外公 did not have any interest for the girl and so he did not reciprocate her feelings. One day, 外公 was handing to the girl the

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money he made from selling the harvest, for the girl to pass the money to her father. The girl’s brother entered the room and accused 外公 of molesting his sister. Unfortunately, they had been alone in the room and there was no one to prove 外公’s innocence. The brother wanted 外公 to bear the responsibility of his actions and marry the girl. 外公 had no intention of doing that of course. He quitted his job shortly after this incident.

However, the girl must have loved him very deeply, for after he left their family, she was still asking around for updates in his life. Even until recently, she still visited 外公 every Chinese New Year without fail. She is still single now.

I jokingly asked 外公, “Why didn’t you go with that girl?” To that he replied, “Because I met your 外婆.”