236 IN MALAY FORESTS. 



"of many devices" and "rich in counsel," which 

 throughout the Odyssey are applied to its hero, 

 exactly fit, not the mouse-deer in his role of 

 champion, but the mouse-deer of the first and second 

 divisions that I have attempted to make. 



I must repeat that the division between the three 

 classes of story is not clearly defined. Some stories 

 fall half-way between one and the other ; and the 

 difficulty of attempting to classify them is added to 

 in no inconsiderable measure by the fact that the 

 Malays love the title of " Sir Peace of the Forest," 

 which is appropriate only to the "counsellor" class 

 of story, but at the same time prefer the simpler 

 stories of the " wily mouse-deer " type, and the result 

 is that, whether the story be of the trickster, the 

 counsellor, or the champion, the little mouse-deer 

 generally bears his whimsical title of Sir Peace of 

 the Forest. 



When you have a few minutes or half an hour to 

 spare ; on a river-bank, while you wait for a dug-out 

 to convey you across to a teal pond or to a place 

 where the green pigeons are flighting; under the 

 shade of fruit-trees, beside the snipe-fields, while a 

 boy climbs to get you green cocoanuts ; in some way- 

 side shelter from the heat of the sun, while some 

 one runs to call the dog-cart that is waiting farther 

 down the road, it is easy, if you go the right way 

 about it, to bring into the conversation some allusion 

 to Sir Peace of the Forest, and then, when you have 

 either made some one tell the story or have told 

 it yourself, nothing is easier than to get another man 

 to cap it. 



