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

I40
MALAYAN LITERATURE
have fallen into the hands of an ^Ethiopian robber. It is by
the will of God that this has happened to his servant." The
.Ethiopian robber was bent on having the marriage celebrated
at once, but the princess said :
'*
I cannot be married now, for
I have made a vow to God the most high not to see the face
of a man for three days."
The Ethiopian robber desired to drink, and said :
" Come,
let us drink together."
" In my opinion," observed the princess, " if we begin to
drink both together you will become heavy with wine, and
I, too. Then they will take me far from you and kill you.
shall drink first. When
Come, I will fill your cup and you
you have drunk enough, then I will drink in my turn, and you
shall fill my cup."
The ^Ethiopian robber was very joyful at these words of
" What you say is true," said he. He received
the princess.
with great pleasure the cup from the hands of the princess
and drank. After emptying the cup many times he fell down
in the stupor of intoxication, losing his senses and becoming
like a dead man. The princess Djouher-Manikam put on a
magnificent costume of a man, and adding a weapon some-
thing like a kandjar, went out of the house. Then mounting
her horse she rode forward quickly and came to the foot of
the hill. She directed her course toward the country of Roum,
and continuing her journey from forest to forest, and from
plain to plain, she reached the gate of the fortifications of the
city of Roum at the moment when the King of that country
had just died.
When the princess Djouher-Manikam had arrived outside
the fortifications of Roum, she sat down in the baley, near the
fort. She was marvellously beautiful, and her vestments, all
sparkling with gold, were adorned with precious stones,
pearls, and rubies. A man happening to pass by saw her, and
was seized with astonishment and admiration. For in the
country of Roum there was nobody who could compare with
this young man, so handsome and so magnificently attired.
He asked:
" Whence come you and why did you come here ? "
The princess answered :
" I know not the place where I
am at this moment. I came from the city of Damas."