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Once upon a time, an old blind man lived on Pulau Timbum Mata (Shut-eye Island) in Sabah. Every day he sat in the sun outside his house looking after padi which his son had placed there to dry. Whenever chickens came to eat the padi, he used to bang a long stick on the ground to chase them away.

One day, his grandson played a trick on him. He caught a couple of crabs on the beach and placed them on the padi. They made a noise just like chickens eating padi. "Tick, tick, tick!"

"What's that?" asked the old man.

"Don't you know?" his grandson said. "Some chickens are eating the padi."

The old man banged his stick on the ground. But the crabs were not frightened. They continued to eat the padi.

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the boy.

Suddenly, there was a terrible roar like the firing of cannons. An old man with a long white beard appeard in the cloud of smoke. He pointed a wand at the boy. "You should never laugh at your grandfather," he said, "especially because he is blind."

Before the boy could answer, a strong wind started to blow and the sky became black. A cloud of red smoke shot out from the top of a hill in the center of the island. Tons of rock and boiling mud were thrown high into the air. All the houses on the island were destroyed and everyone living on the island was turned into stone.

Even till today, if you happen to visit the island, you can still see some strange-looking rocks which resemble people.


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