Produced by Eric Eldred, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
MALAYAN LITERATURE
Comprising
Romantic Tales, Epic Poetry
And
Royal Chronicles
Translated Into English For The First Time
With A Special Introduction By
CHAUNCEY C. STARKWEATHER, A.B., LL.B.
SPECIAL INTRODUCTION
Easily the most charming poem of Malayan Literature is the Epic ofBidasari. It has all the absorbing fascination of a fairy tale. We areled into the dreamy atmosphere of haunted palace and beauteousplaisance: we glide in the picturesque imaginings of the oriental poetfrom the charm of all that is languorously seductive in nature into theshadowy realms of the supernatural. At one moment the sturdy bowman orlithe and agile lancer is before us in hurrying column, and at anotherwe are told of mystic sentinels from another world, of Djinns anddemons and spirit-princes. All seems shadowy, vague, mysterious,entrancing.
In this tale there is a wealth of imagery, a luxury of picturesqueness,together with that straightforward simplicity so alluring in the story-teller. Not only is our attention so captivated that we seem under aspell, but our sympathy is invoked and retained. We actually wincebefore the cruel blows of the wicked queen. And the hot tears ofBidasari move us to living pity. In the poetic justice that punishesthe queen and rewards the heroine we take a childish delight. In otherwords, the oriental poet is simple, sensuous, passionate, thusachieving Milton's ideal of poetic excellence. We hope that nophilosopher, philologist, or ethnologist will persist in demonstratingthe sun-myth or any other allegory from this beautiful poem. It is astory, a charming tale, to while away an idle hour, and nothing more.All lovers of the simple, the beautiful, the picturesque should say tosuch learned peepers and botanizers, "Hands off!" Let no learnedtheories rule here. Leave this beautiful tale for artists and lovers ofthe story pure and simple. Seek no more moral here than you would in arose or a lily or a graceful palm. Light, love, color, beauty,sympathy, engaging fascination—these may be found alike by philosopherand winsome youth. The story is no more immoral than a drop of dew or alotus bloom; and, as to interest, in the land of the improviser and thestory-teller one is obliged to be interesting. For there the audienceis either spellbound, or quickly fades away and leaves the poet torealize that he must attempt better things.
We think that these folk-stories have, indeed, a common origin, butthat it is in the human heart. We do not look for a Sigurd or Siegfriedon every page. Imagine a nation springing from an ignorant couple on asea-girt isle, in a few generations they would have evolved theirSleeping Beauty and their Prince Charming, their enchanted castles, andtheir Djinns and fairies. These are as indigenous to the human heart asthe cradle-song or the battle-cry. We do not find ourselves siding withthose who would trace everything to a first exemplar. Children haveplayed, and men have loved, and poets have sung from the beginning, andwe need not run to Asia for the source of everything. Universal humannature has a certain spontaneity.
The translator has tried to reproduce the faithfulness and, in somemeasure, to indicate the graceful phrases of the original poem. Theauthor of Bidasari is unknown, and the date of the poem is a matter ofthe utmost uncertainty. Some have attributed to it a Javanese origi