Malayan literature; comprising romantic tales, epic poetry and royal ...
Malayan literature; comprising romantic tales, epic poetry and royal ...
Malayan literature; comprising romantic tales, epic poetry and royal ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
THE PRINCESS DJOUHER-MANIKAM 131<br />
Then the princess asked him, " What is your desire in coming<br />
here to my dwelHng?"<br />
Asraf-el-Kaum answered, " I have come here to ask you<br />
for water, for I have lost my way."<br />
"<br />
The princess said, Take water, lord."<br />
Asraf-el-Kaum plunged the emerald pitcher into the pond,<br />
<strong>and</strong> filled it with water. Then he asked permission to re-<br />
turn.<br />
Arriving near the King Chah Djouhou he presented the<br />
pitcher to the prince, who seized it quickly <strong>and</strong> drank.<br />
" "<br />
Asraf-el-Kaum," said the prince, where did you find<br />
such fresh <strong>and</strong> dehcious water?<br />
drunk the like."<br />
Asraf-el-Kaum answered :<br />
In all my life I have never<br />
" O my lord, sovereign<br />
of the<br />
world, there is a garden in the middle of the plain, <strong>and</strong> in this<br />
garden there is a very large <strong>and</strong> bushy fig-tree, <strong>and</strong> at the<br />
foot of this tree there is a pond, <strong>and</strong> near this pond there is<br />
an oratory. At this oratory there was a woman who was<br />
reading the Koran. This charmingly beautiful woman has<br />
no equal in this world. I saluted her <strong>and</strong> then returned to<br />
the presence of the sovereign of the world. That is what I<br />
saw, my lord."<br />
^*<br />
Conduct me to this place," said the King.<br />
" O sovereign of the world, if your Majesty wishes to go<br />
thither, let it be with me alone. Let not my lord take his<br />
people with him, for it is a woman, <strong>and</strong> naturally she would<br />
be ashamed."<br />
The prince set out then on horseback with Asraf-el-Kaum.<br />
The princess Djouher-Manikam, seeing two cavaliers ap-<br />
"<br />
proach, thought in her heart : I must hide myself, so that<br />
I may not be seen." So she left the oratory <strong>and</strong> went toward<br />
the fig-tree. She addressed a prayer to God the most high<br />
<strong>and</strong> worthy of all praise, in these terms:<br />
" O God, I beseech thee, give me a refuge in this tree, for<br />
the faces of these<br />
thy servant, O Lord, is ashamed to look upon<br />
infidels."<br />
Then by the will of God the most high, the tree opened in<br />
two <strong>and</strong> the princess Djouher-Manikam entered by the split,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the tree closed <strong>and</strong> became as it was before. The King<br />
Chah Djouhou <strong>and</strong> Asraf-el-Kaum arrived at the oratory, but
Change language