UC-NRLF $B 7bT 3b7 h^ \i-j^ :w* .Mr Jj:- .L r ,:/l/. L.yM/r^ia^' c^^^5fe/^v?«?^/^ ^'5^-j:. Vy 4J / ^^1^ ^xV C^-K--^ C-v -^ efritspir6mniturpom$ umnDiiigr Homuuo$rubpnjnftann ^tfimimrm T loniun: 1)1(6 (|i«^«*"^ Diunpiopofimmiwm ife: \ " ^^lafl fflnmowfupoi */ iuouimfrwiimaam >moram(vn(|xttudm RrfiPiiCoimm. 15 anoplDtta iikmilommfxanff y lutmmtisftmtmtmo aus.wrqmmislrnm ctiulhiiUttiJunogRB ^ ImiuwroSPir _ fagroJW ^ bitg fttfontummt o lftnmn (wnwjtfuimriuwaipte np!mn Aimn»wmcm oomminctrimumtpai litstRmmiUumtirmm .•^ *?S CHOICE EXAMPLES OF BOOK ILLUMINATION. Fac-similes from Illuminated Manuscripts and Illustrated Books of Early Date. A PAGE FROM A TOULOUSE BREVIARY. This is a fine example from a breviary with a miniature of St. George, written in Southern France about 1400. It is written on vellum, and is generally considered to represent the perfection of French art. In delicacy and oeauty it is not surpassed by any other illustration in Biblical and liturgical manuscripts. THE v:^^^^.^^^.^.:^..^..^ Copyright, 1901, By the colonial press. SPECIAL INTRODUCTION the most charming poem of Malayan Literature EASILYis the Epic of Bidasari. It has all the absorbing fascination of a fairy tale. We are led into the dreamy atmosphere of haunted palace and beauteous plaisance: we glide in the picturesque imaginings of the oriental poet from the charm of all that is languorously seductive in nature into the shadowy realms of the supernatural. At one moment the sturdy bowman or lithe and agile lancer is before us in hurry- ing column, and at another we are told of mystic sentinels from another world, of Djinns and demons and spirit-princes. All seems shadowy, vague, mysterious, entrancing. In this tale there is a wealth of imagery, a luxury of pictur- esqueness, together with that straightforward simplicity so al- luring in the story-teller. Not only is our attention so capti- vated that we seem under a spell, but our sympathy is invoked and retained. We actually wince before the cruel blows of the wicked queen. And the hot tears of Bidasari move us to living pity. In the poetic justice that punishes the queen and rewards the heroine we take a childish delight. In other words, the oriental poet is simple, sensuous, passionate, thus achieving Milton's ideal of poetic excellence. We hope that no philoso- pher, philologist, or ethnologist will persist in demonstrating the sun-myth or any other allegory from this beautiful poem. It is a story, a charming tale, to while away an idle hour, and nothing more. All lovers of the simple, the beautiful, the pict- uresque should say to such learned peepers and botanizers, " " Hands off ! Let no learned theories rule here. Leave this beautiful tale for artists and lovers of the story pure and simple. Seek no more moral here than you would in a rose or a lily or a graceful palm. Light, love, color, beauty, sympathy, en- gaging fascination—these may be found alike by philosopher iii iv SPECIAL INTRODUCTION and winsome youth. The story is no more immoral than a a lotus bloom as to in the drop of dew or ; and, interest, land of the improviser and the story-teller one is obliged to be inter- esting. For there the audience is either spellbound, or quickly fades away and leaves the poet to realize that he must attempt better things. We think that these folk-stories have, indeed, a common origin, but that it is in the human heart. We do not look for a Sigurd or Siegfried on every page. Imagine a nation spring- ing from an ignorant couple on a sea-girt isle, in a few generations they would have evolved their Sleeping Beauty and their Prince Charming, their enchanted castles, and their Djinns and fairies. These are as indigenous to the human heart as the cradle-song or the battle-cry. We do not find our- selves siding with those who would trace everything to a first exemplar. Children have played, and men have loved, and poets have sung from the beginning, and we need not run to Asia for the source of everything. Universal human nature has a certain spontaneity. The translator has tried to reproduce the faithfulness and, in some measure, to indicate the graceful phrases of the original poem. The author of Bidasari is unknown, and the date of the poem is a matter of the utmost uncertainty. Some have attributed to it a Javanese origin, but upon very slight evidence. The best authorities place its scene in the country of Palem- bang, and its time after the arrival of the Europeans in the Indian archipelago, but suggest that the legend must be much older than the poem. " " The Makota Radja-Radja is one of the most remarkable books of oriental literature. According to M. Aristide Marre, who translated it into French, its date is 1603. Its author was Bokhari, and he lived at Djohore. It contains extracts from more than fifty Arab and Persian authors. It treats of the duties of man to God, to himself and to society, and of the obli- gations of sovereigns, subjects, ministers, and officers. Ex- amples are taken from the lives of kings in Asia. The author has not the worst opinion of his work, saying distinctly that it is a complete guide to happiness in this world and the next. He is particularly copious in his warnings to copyists and trans- lators, cautioning them against the slightest negligence or in- SPECIAL INTRODUCTION V 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 Moham- medan 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. The schoolmates " of the latter called the latter 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 winterless lands. i former times among the children of these 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 vi SPECIAL INTRODUCTION —a form arising from their habits of improvisation and compet- itive versifying. They have also the epic or sjair, generally a pure romance, with much naive simplicity and natural feeling. And finally, they have the popular song, enigma, and fable. And so we leave the reader to his pleasant journey to the lands of Djinns and Mantris and spells and mystic talismans. the of Bokhari he will He will be entertained by chrestomathy ; be entranced by the story of the winsome and dainty Bidasari. ^jCUc/I/cAjujfujLUyK..^jLa U>, Ai/SAjC^J»^^Xkjtj\ CONTENTS BiDASARI : 9AQB Song I 3 Song II 7 Song III 33 Song IV 55 Song V 68 Song VI 72 Sedjaret Malayou 91 The Princess Djouher-Manikam 123 Makota Radja-Radja 157 aomimos fuo pniimann a)num:I;i|8qmfmm i*^J duinp^oinrmunitom ^ Mnirrd-KefpitOmu.- L'fnofaJiirtn(|xttuOm, LMpuriijmm. KeloMJijnmM \\\axmmmumt y lunnmnsfrmtmrmo iifflommnspranu^ i, |nmtRtrO(0lJ»ftr BE^n?nfiffrout?vcrupm TiorasR)2jn oomuunamaumipai n?iTuntmtpnmo'<iD wm^. litstRmmiUiuiiTflfmm •^^ -^ CHOICE EXAMPLES OF BOOK ILLUMINATION. Fac-similes from Illuminated Manuscripts and Illustrated Books of Early Date. A PAGE FROM A TOULOUSE BREVIARY. This is a fine example from a breviary with a miniature of St. George, written in Southern France about 1400. It is written on vellum, and Is generally, qansidefcd to represent the perfection of French art. In delicacy and oeauty it is noV sjftrpassed by any other ilhistration in Biblical .ind liturs^ical manuscripts. **m^' 1^ 1 H t COLONIAL S^^2^LONDON '^^^^*'^'^*'^**^-—/S^S^SS^-— v^ PRESS <gro mu^g^ Copyright, 1901. By the colonial press. ILLUSTRATION A Page from a Toulouse Breviary . Frontispiece Fac-simile illumination of the Fourteenth Century ILLUSTRATION A Page from a Toulouse Breviary . Frontispiece Fac-siraile illumination of the Fourteenth Century THE EPIC OF BIDASARI {^Metrical Translation by Chauncey C Starkweather, A.B., LL.B,"] BIDASARI SONG I now the song I sing about a king HEAROf Kembajat.