Malayan literature; comprising romantic tales, epic poetry and royal ...

SPECIAL INTRODUCTION
accuracy, and promising them for faithfulness a passport to the
glories of heaven. This shows that the author at least took
the work seriously. That there is not a trace of humor in the
book would doubtless recommend it to the dignified and lethar-
gic orientals for whom it was written. Bokhari seemed to
consider himself prophet, priest, and poet-laureate in one. The
work has a high position in the Malayan Peninsula, where it
is read by young and old. The " Crown of Kings " is written
in the court language of Djohore. The author was a Mohammedan
mendicant monk. He called the book the Crown of
Kings because ''
every king who read and followed its precepts
would be a perfect king, and thus only would his crown sit
well on his head, and the book itself will be for him a true
crown."
La Fontaine and Lamartine loved stories.
of the latter called the latter
The schoolmates
" story-lover." They would have
loved the story of the Princess Djouher Manikam, which is
written in a simple and natural style and is celebrated in the
East, or, as the Malays say, in the **
country between windward
and leeward."
From the " Sedjaret Malayou," worthless as it is as history,
one may obtain side lights upon oriental life. Manners are
portrayed in vivid colors, so that one may come to have a very
accurate knowledge of them. Customs are depicted from
which one may learn of the formality and regard for precedents
which is a perspicuous trait of oriental character. The rig^d
etiquette of court and home may be remarked. From the
view of morals here described, one may appreciate how far we
have progressed in ethical culture from that prevailing in
former times i
among the children of these winterless lands.
The readers of this series are to be congratulated in that they
are here placed in possession of a unique and invaluable source
of information concerning the life and literature of the far-away
people of the Indian archipelago. To these pages an added
interest accrues from the fact that the Philippines are now pro-
tected by our flag.
The name Malay signifies a wanderer. As a people they are
passionate, vain, susceptible, and endowed with a reckless
bravery and contempt of death. The Malays have considerable
originality in versification. The pantoum is particularly theirs
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