Malayan Literature | Page 4

some charitable heart, my child,

Discover thee!" The prince essayed to dry
Her tears. "Now come
away, my dearest love.
Soon day will dawn." The prince in grief set
out,
But ever turned and wanted to go back.
They walked along
together, man and wife
All solitary, with no friends 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