DIXON— SWAN-MAIDEN THEME 



in their literature in the Hikayat of Malim Dima. ' This hero, in the 

 form of a fish, was swimming about in the waters whither Putroe' 

 Bungan and her sisters had come down to bathe. By stealing her 

 winged dress, he prevented her from flying back to her father's aerial 

 kingdom, and so secured her as a wife. One day, during Malim Dima's 

 absence, the child which had been born to him, discovered his mother's 

 bird garment, which had been carefully hidden away. Her power of 

 flight being now renewed, Putroe Bungan flew back to the sky-land, 

 taking her child with her. Her husband was inconsolable, and deter- 

 mined to seek her. After a number of episodes which are unimportant 

 in connection with the tale under consideration, he ascended to the 

 upper world on a "buraq" 2 and rejoined his wife and child. From the 

 Battak two versions are given. 3 In the first, the hero bears the same 

 name as in the tale just given. The chief differences, apart from a 

 greater elaboration, are that the cause of the wife's departure was the 

 unkindness of her mother-in-law; that Malin Deman reached the sky- 

 land by the way of a mountain whose summit touched the clouds; 

 and that after discovering his wife in the upper world, he returns 

 with her and the child to earth. The second Battak version is told 

 of another hero, the details being almost identical, however. 



From the Menangkabau Malay no full version of the tale is avail- 

 able to me, but the whole story is said to be well known among them* 

 and attributed to a hero bearing the same name as in the Achinese 

 and Battak versions. The tale also occurs among the people of the 

 Mentawei islands. 5 The close agreement of the various Sumatran 

 stories, extending even to the name of the hero, argues their common 

 origin, and indeed some are declared to be directly derived from the 

 Malay forms. As the story is stated 6 to date among them from the 

 period prior to their conversion to Islam, it would seem that we must 

 seek its origin, or at least the development of its present form, in a 

 relatively early period. 



In Java the Swan-maiden story is widely known, occurring both 

 among the present population 7 and in the older literature 8 of pre- 

 Islamic times. The Javanese versions are distinguished at the outset, 

 from those just considered, by the name Widadari given to the bird- 

 maidens. This is clearly only a modification of the Sanskrit term Vid- 



1 Hurgronje, The Achinese, vol. II, pp. 125 sq. 



2 The mythical winged beast on which Mohammed was carried to heaven. 



3 Pleyte, Bataksche Vertellingen, pp. 117 sq., 223 sq. 



4 Pleyte, op. cit., p. 291, note 26. 



5 Morris, Mentawei Sprache, p. 56. 

 9 Pleyte, loc. cit. 



7 Bezemer, Volksdichtung aus Indonesien, pp. 46 sq. 



* van Herwerden, Verh. Bat. Gen. v. K. en W., vol. xx, pp. 91 sq. 



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