Malayan Literature | Page 4

at hand,?Care-worn and troubled, and the moon shone bright.
SONG II
I sing in this song of a merchant great?And of his wealth. His goods and treasures were?Beyond all count, his happiness without?Alloy. In Indrapura town there was?No equal to his fortune. He possessed?A thousand slaves, both old and young, who came?From Java and from other lands. His rank?Was higher than Pangawa's. Wives he had?In goodly numbers. But he lacked one thing?That weighed upon his heart--he had no child.?Now, by the will of God, the merchant great?Came very early from the palace gates,?And sought the river-bank, attended by?His favorite wife. Lila Djouhara was?The merchant's name. He heard a feeble voice?As of an infant crying, like the shrill?Tones of a flute, and from a boat it seemed?To come. Then toward the wondrous boat he went?And saw an infant with a pretty face.?His heart was overjoyed as if he had?A mine of diamonds found. The spouses said:?"Whose child is this? It surely must belong?To one of highest rank. Some cause he had?To leave her here." The merchant's heart was glad?To see the bright eyes of the little one.?He raised her in his arms and took her home.?Four waiting-maids and nurses two he gave?The pretty child. The palace rooms were all?Adorned anew, with rugs and curtains soft,?And tapestries of orange hue were hung.?The princess rested on a couch inlaid with gold,?A splendid couch, with lanterns softly bright?And tapers burning with a gentle ray.?The merchant and his wife with all their hearts?Adored the child, as if it were their own.?She looked like Mindoudari, and received?The name of Bidasari. Then they took?A little fish and changing vital spirits?They put it in a golden box, then placed?The box within a casket rich and rare.?The merchant made a garden, with all sorts?Of vases filled with flowers, and bowers of green?And trellised vines. A little pond made glad?The eyes, with the precious stones and topaz set?Alternately, in fashion of the land?Of Pellanggam, a charm for all. The sand?Was purest gold, with alabaster fine?All mixed with red pearls and with sapphires blue.?And in the water deep and clear they kept?The casket. Since they had the infant found,?Sweet Bidasari, all the house was filled?With joy. The merchant and his wife did naught?But feast and clap their hands and dance. They watched?The infant night and day. They gave to her?Garments of gold, with necklaces and gems,?With rings and girdles, and quaint boxes, too,?Of perfume rare, and crescent pins and flowers?Of gold to nestle in the hair, and shoes?Embroidered in the fashion of Sourat.?By day and night the merchant guarded her.?So while sweet Bidasari grew, her lovely face?Increased in beauty. Her soft skin was white?And yellow, and she was most beautiful.?Her ear-rings and her bracelets made her look?Like some rare gem imprisoned in a glass.?Her beauty had no equal, and her face?Was like a nymph's celestial. She had gowns?As many as she wished, as many as?A princess fair of Java. There was not?A second Bidasari in the land.
I'll tell about Djouhan Mengindra now,?Sultan of Indrapura. Very wide?His kingdom was, with ministers of state?And officers, and regiments of picked?Young warriors, the bulwark of the throne.?This most illustrious prince had only been?Two years the husband of fair Lila Sari,?A princess lovable and kind. The King?Was deemed most handsome. And there was within?All Indrapura none to equal him.?His education was what it should be,?His conversation very affable.?He loved the princess Lila Sari well.?He gave her everything, and she in turn?Was good to him, but yet she was so vain.?"There is no one so beautiful as I,"?She said. They were united like unto?The soul and body. And the good King thought?There could not be another like his wife.?One day they were together, and the Queen?Began to sing: "Oh, come, my well-beloved,?And listen to my words. Thou tellst me oft?Thou lovest me. But I know not thy heart.?If some misfortune were to overwhelm?Wouldst thou be true to me?" He smiled and said:?"No harm can touch thee, dear. But should it come,?Whenever thou art 'whelmed I'll perish too."?With joy the princess said: "My noble prince,?If there were found a woman whose flower face?Were fairer than all others in the world,?Say, wouldst thou wed her?" And the King replied:?"My friend, my fairest, who is like to thee??My soul, my princess, of a noble race,?Thou'rt sweet and wise and good and beautiful.?Thou'rt welded to my heart. No thought of mine?Is separate from thee."
The princess smiled;?Her face was all transfigured with her joy.?But suddenly the thought came to her mind,?"Who knows there is none more fair than I?"?And then she cried: "Now hear me, O my love!?Were there a woman with an angel-face,?Wouldst them make her thy wife? If she appeared?Unto thine eyes more beautiful than I,?Then would thy heart not burn for her?"
The prince?But smiled, and answered not. She also smiled,?But said,