100 SRI RAMA. 



unwelcome piece of news to a Raja : — " Ampun, Tuanku, 

 be-ribu-ribu ampun sembah patek ka-bawah duli yang maha- 

 mulia patek hamba tua ma f alum-kan sembah apa-lah hal jika 

 tidak di-sembah-kan mati ibu dan handak di-sembah-kan mati 

 bapa sangat-lah hamba tua ini takut-nia handak meniembah- 

 kan ka-bawah duli tuanku kalau jangan men-jadi ka-salah-an 

 patek ma f alum-kan-lah sembah patek ini, jikalau menanggong 

 murka tuanku akan patek, patek menampun-lah, kalau men-jadi 

 benar kapada tuanku patek meniembah-kan." " Pardon, my 

 Lord, a thousand pardons, I prostrate myself in the dust 

 before your Highness' feet. I, your old servant, would make 

 known that there is a matter which it is difficult either to 

 impart or to withhold ;* I am fearful of mentioning it to 

 your Highness, but if it shall not be imputed to me as a 

 fault, I will do so ; if I am to incur your Highness' wrath by 

 informing you, I ask permission to retire, but if you approve, 

 I will speak." 



Of course the King commanded her to speak ; on hearing the 

 news he said nothing, but left the naming of his first-born to 

 the old woman, who accordingly called him " Kra Kechil Imam 

 Tergangga. " In seven days the monkey was able to go alone 

 to the great hall to play, and when he was forty-four days old 

 he was strong enough to roam about the country from hamlet 

 to hamlet amusing himself. He used to absent himself all 

 day, and returned home in the evening. His father sat at home 

 alone, overcome with grief and shame at the thought of the 

 nature of his offspring. For three months and ten days he 

 sat pondering in this way, and then again he summoned his 

 Chiefs and people to hear a plan which he had resolved on. 

 He had decided to rid himself of the animal which was a stand- 

 ing source of shame to the kingdom, and to banish him to a 

 remote part of the forest where human foot had never yet 

 trod. The Tumonggong and Laksamana received orders to 



* Lit. " if one withholds it one's mother must die, if one com- 

 municates it one's father must die," idiomatic way of describing a 

 dilemma. See Malay Proverbs, Journal, Straits Branch, Koya] 

 Asiatic Society, No. 2, p. 125. 



