This painting illustrates a segment an old folktale called “Hikayat Sang Kancil” (Tales of the Mouse Deer) from the state of Malacca.

In this part of the story, the wise mouse deer’s leg was caught in the mouth of the crocodile when he was drinking from the river. Cleverly, the mouse deer tricked the crocodile into believing he only caught a tree branch instead of his leg, and that he should try again. The dull-witted crocodile opened his mouth for another attempt, and immediately the mouse deer sprung loose and kept his distance…