The Night Tiger

by Yangsze Choo

A keramat animal is a sacred beast, a creature with the ability to come and go like a phantom, trampling sugarcane or raiding livestock with impunity. It’s always distinguished by some peculiarity, such as a missing tusk or a rare albino color. But the most common indicator is a withered or maimed foot.

Stories of ghostly or sacred animals are common in Malaysia. In fact, the elephant referred to as Gajah Kramat that Ren mentions in the book was actually a real elephant who was famous for eluding hunters and committing all sorts of mischief as he wandered around. I was actually doing research about rogue elephants for the first book I tried to write about an elephant detective, which was how I came across this information (for more about spending 8 years on terrible first novels, read my blog post here: https://yschoo.com/2014/02/26/my-ill-fated-elephant-novel/). There are also tales of keramat tigers, the most famous being the white tiger of Putri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount Ledang), who behaved more like a familiar guardian spirit. When you live close to the jungle, which is both dense from the outside yet can be surprisingly clear of undergrowth within, as the large trees block out sunlight, you can easily imagine all sorts of mysterious animals carrying on their own secret lives within.