M5D. Squirrel and fish. .24.

Showing dexterity and ingenuity, the squirrel and the fish get medicine for each other.

Malays, Lampung, Nias, Batak, Minangkabau.

Malaysia – Indonesia. Malays [a squirrel and a creeping fish are friends; the squirrel's wife is sick, a hen's egg will cure her; the fish swims into a bamboo vessel with which the woman came to fetch water; in the woman's yard he gets out, takes out the egg, returns to the vessel, the woman goes again to fetch water, the fish gives the egg to the squirrel; the fish's wife is sick, she needs a crocodile's heart; the squirrel makes a hole in a coconut, gnaws through the stem, the coconut falls into the river, the squirrel is inside, the crocodile swallows the coconut, the squirrel crawls out of the shell, gnaws through his heart, he dies, the fish's wife is cured]: Skeat 1901: 16-17; lampung [a squirrel and a creeping fish are friends (both male); the squirrel is sick, a hen's egg will cure her; the fish swims into a bamboo vessel with which the woman came to fetch water; in the woman's yard he gets out of it, takes out an egg, returns to the vessel, the woman goes for water again, the fish gives the egg to the squirrel; now the fish is sick, it needs the liver of the crocodile; the squirrel makes a hole in the coconut, gnaws through the stem, the coconut falls into the water, the squirrel is inside, the crocodile swallows the coconut, the squirrel crawls out of the shell, gnaws off his liver, he dies, the fish is cured]: Skeat 1901: 16-17; Batak , Nias , Minangkabau [same story as Lampung and Malay]: Vries 1926: 379.