Many aspiring writers and newbies in other fields might perhaps see themselves in the titular character of “Little Tiger Crosses the River”, one of three stories in Nadine Aisha Abdullah’s debut collection, Forests, Rivers and Jungles.

Standing before a wide and seemingly deep and fast-flowing on a quest to find food for his mother and younger siblings, the tiger cub is daunted by the possibility of failure: In his case, failing to cross the river.

“He was too afraid to cross [the river] by himself. If it is too deep, he will surely drown,” said author Nadine Aisha Abdullah. “If there are snakes in the water, he will surely be bitten. He does not know how to get across the [river].”

The advice from other animals does not help. An elephant says the stream “is not deep. I just walk across the river to arrive at the other side”, while a mouse recommends jumping “on the branches and lily pads”.

Eventually, Little Tiger realizes that their advice does not apply to him, and that he can get across the river through his own strength and natural ability to swim.

Mundane beginnings

Forests, Rivers and Jungles features original fables in English and Mandarin by its 16-year-old author. While writing is no mean feat, her fables have a modest and mundane inception.

“It originated as a class assignment last year. The book is particularly influenced by Aesop’s Fables, as well as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vladimir Nabokov,” Nadine, a 10th grader at Mentari Intercultural School (MIS) Jakarta, said during a virtual book launch via Zoom on July 24.

“Most of all, Forests, Rivers and Jungles particularly emphasizes the folly of human nature,” she told the audience.

This is particularly highlighted in “The Cat and the Owl”.

Written in a guileless yet deft prose, the story touches on the main characters’ selfishness, self-interest and their superficial desire for short-term gains.

“The Cat and the Owl argue nonstop, arguing over everything. They keep on arguing, even if it is about something that never happened,” Nadine noted of the pair’s increasingly nihilistic efforts to dominate Grandfather Tree, the resource they are fighting over.

“They argue about who gets to own the Grandfather Tree [and] the fish in the lake”, even about “who gets to sleep under the Grandfather Tree”, she explained.

The fable seems to reflect the day-to-day reality in the wider world, such as how countries and corporations around the world prioritize short-term national and business interests, in spite of urgent, long-term issues like fossil fuel dependency, global warming and climate change. Above all, “The Cat and the Owl” warns that ongoing exploitation and monopolization of natural resources will adversely affect all parties involved as well as the environment.

The third story, “The Cowardly Fox in Borrowed Fur”, illustrates the risk of pretending to be someone other than oneself and the breach of trust it entails. While ostensibly similar to Aesop’s “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” or the British fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, Nadine’s fable takes a more conciliatory tone, with the Fox making peaceful amends for deceiving the Bears.

Allusions to Taoism

It is all too easy to view Forests, Rivers and Jungles as rehashing old fables, but Nadine is quick to refute this view.

“The thinking behind [the book] was partially driven by Taoist, Confucian and Buddhist thinking from China. That is why the book is written in Mandarin,” she explained, pointing out that the stories focus on restoring the natural order of the universe and using intuition to gain wisdom.

“But since it is not my first language, the research took longer than the actual writing process,” she added.

Nadine’s entrepreneur father Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, who is also a published author, agrees.

“I knew [Nadine] was on to something when she asked me to buy books on Confucian and Taoist philosophy. I managed to help her with the English part of Forests, Rivers and Jungles and to a limited extent, with the Mandarin,” recalled Edwin, whose Keajaiban Silat (The magic of silat, 2013) touches on applying the Indonesian martial art to business management.

“The fables reflect the precept that ‘If one knows everything, they are smart. But if they know themselves, they gain true wisdom,’” he noted.

Triawan Munaf, former chairman of the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), is upbeat that Forests, Rivers and Jungles will show that “literature can hold its own against increasing digitalization”.

While he noted Nadine’s precocity, the use of animals in her stories had struck a chord with the entertainment stalwart’s childhood experience of visiting zoos as a child.

“I always wanted to let the animals go free out of their cages back to where they belong in the forest nearby. So that they can be with their families like I always was when I went home,” he says as quoted in the testimonials section in Forests, Rivers and Jungles.

Nadine’s mother Sitta Abdullah also notes her daughter’s use of animals in conveying very human messages.

“Nadine has always been an animal lover, [which] she proved by keeping Scottish [folds] and stray cats alike, or going to the zoo in every city we [visited],” Sitta said.

“Most of all, Forests, Rivers and Jungles is inspired by her observation of wild animals in their natural habitat, whether they were in national parks like Baluran National Park in Banyuwangi, East Java, or whale watching off Boston” in the United States, she said.

How far Nadine goes with her literary career and how much of an impact Forests, Rivers and Jungles will make remains to be seen. What is certain is that the book offers food for thought and a surefire way to rediscover fables that are tailored to the world we live in today.

Forests, Rivers and Jungles

By Nadine Aisha Abdullah

With illustrations by Oom Bowo

Hardcover, 58 pages

Published on March 24, 2022 by Tiong Gie Publisher

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales