RAJA DO NAN. 



[The Malay text of the following story, which is printed in the vernacu- 

 lar in this No. of the Journal, has never before been committed to writing. 

 It is one of the cheritras which have been taken down verbatim, from the lips 

 of Mir Hassan. See Journal No. 17, p. 87. — Ed.] 



NCE upon a time, there was a very powerful King who 

 !was called Raja BESAR ; his consort was called Princess 

 LlNDONGAN BuLAN, and the name of his kingdom was 

 Mandi Angin. He had all that the monarch of a great kingdom 

 ought to have — chiefs and ministers, warriors, soldiers and 

 subjects, a fortified capital with a palace in it, and inside the 

 palace a complete array of attendants, maids of honour, and 

 officers in waiting. He was unfortunately childless, and so, of 

 course, the one desire of himself and the Princess was to have a 

 son and heir. They made vows at shrines and gave alms to the 

 poor and presents to religious men, but it was not until the 

 King had been on the throne for seven years and nine months 

 that, to his great joy, it became apparent that the Princess 

 was enceinte. She was three months advanced in her preg- 

 nancy when the King summoned his astrologers, seven bro- 

 thers, to divine whether the unborn infant would be a boy or 

 a girl and whether it would be fortunate or unfortunate. The 

 attendants got everything ready for the ceremony — a large wax 

 candle, holy water, parched rice, yellow rice, white cloth, and 

 a small platform, sitting on which the diviners would become 

 entranced. This done, the astrologers performed their incan- 

 tations, commencing in the evening and going on until day- 

 break, when they emerged from the coverings with which 

 they had enveloped themselves. By this time, they had 

 become aware, through their mysterious art, and by indications 

 the secrets of which had come down to them from their fore- 

 fathers, that the expected infant would be a prince, and that 

 he would be possessed of extraordinary qualities (ter-lalu 

 besar tuah-nia menurus sampei ha langit yang ka-tujoh lapis 

 dan ter-sendam ka bawah sampei ka bat 11 hampar tuah-nia). 



