Keling is the greatest of the heroes of Panggau Libau, the invisible otherworld whose inhabitants embody the Iban ideal of the brave, handsome and accomplished person. Headman of that shining longhouse and its foremost warrior, he is the husband of the peerless Kumang. The Panggau Libau beings occupy a middle station between gods and living humans: unseen, deathless, and closely engaged with human affairs, they are believed to accompany and protect Iban warriors and to descend as honoured guests when summoned by the great invocatory chants (timang). Keling is the central figure of a vast body of oral epic, celebrated in the timang gawai for his valour, his cunning and his exploits in love and war.