As Sarawakian, most of us know Fairy Caves. Fairy Caves is one of the main attractions in the Bau area, located approximately forty kilometres from Kuching city, seven kilometres from Bau town.
What is not known to many, there are a couple of legends that ties to this cave.
Inside the Fairy Cave, Bau
The Legend of Bau's Fairy Cave - Bidayuh Community
The legend starts from a poor boy and his mother who lived in Kampung Kapur, a Bidayuh kampung near Fairy Cave.
One day, a Gawai celebration was held in of the kampung houses. The little boy was curious, so he went to peep at the festival. This anger the owner. The mean-spirited owner collected some sugarcane waste and gave it to the boy, telling him there was pork inside.
The boy went home, excited and happy. He shared the "gift" with his mother, but the mother found nothing but just sugarcane waste instead. She felt so humiliated and angry, so she decided to revenge.
The mother took a cat, dressed it in a beautiful dress and threw the cat into the middle of her neighbour's celebration. The guests began to laugh at the sight.
Their laughter brought on a storm, and the sky began to darken, followed by thunder and lighting. After the storm subsided, all the villagers have turned into stone - which forms the stalagmites and stalactites inside Fairy Cave.
Another version of the legend is that the boy threw the cat in the middle of the celebration and after that cover his head with a chicken basket so that the curse would not touch him.
Can you see the 'deity' formation here? Image source via theborneopost.com
The Bau's Fairy Cave According To The Chinese Community
The Chinese community believed that Fairy Cave is the home for Chinese god and goddess. Some of the rock formations were named after Chinese deities, Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy. There is one that even looked like the Buddha. Therefore, the local Chinese have built several shrines inside the caves.
The giant footprint of a yeti or some other colossal creature. It seems the fairies in this cave are very large and heavy-footed! Image source via malaysia-traveller.com
There is a shaped like the giant footprint of big creatures on the cave floor, believed to have inhabited in the cave thousands of years ago. Perhaps, the legendary resident fairies were very large and heavy-footed.
The Bau's Fairy Cave In Japanese
It is believed that Fairy Caves is used as a shelter for Japanese forces during World War II. You can see the remnants of fortresses built by the Japanese army during its occupation of the state in 1941.
In the 60s, the communist fighters used it for shelter too.
Fairy Cave: A Nature Reserve
Fairy cave and Wind Cave is the home of the slipper orchid Paphiopedilum stonei, highly prized orchids, palms such as Arenga pinnata and Arenga undulatifolia. There are also 14 different bat species, 12 species of snails and black-nest swiftlets found there. Sarawak government gazetted Wind Cave and Fairy Cave as a nature reserve to protect the caves and the biodiversities.
