HIKAYAT SERI RAMA. 23 
self of the skin and burned it.* The smoke which arose from 
it turned into white cloth, and the ashes which were left were 
found to be gold. 
The Prince thenceforward appears in the story under the 
name of Mambang Bongsu. There was, of course, great re- 
joicing in the two capitals in consequence of his transformation. 
The Téménggong was sent off to carry the good news to Séri 
Rama and his wife, who come at once to Bandar Tahwil to 
see their son. ‘There was a second wedding, and three months 
were devoted to festivities. Buffaloes, oxen, goats, ducks and 
fowls were killed by the hundred thousand, and some idea of 
the magnitude of the preparations may be formed from the 
fact that the scrapings of the rice-pots made hillocks, the blood 
of the slaughtered animals formed a lake, and the hot water 
poured away in cooking flowed continuously like a rivulet ! 
Soon after this Raja Shah Kobad abdicated in favour of 
his son-in-law Mambang Bongsu, who thenceforth reigned as 
Raja of Bandar Tahwil. 
The only remaining episode is the advent of the Jin with 
seven heads, who, ignorant of all that had occurred, came with 
an army to demand the Princess Renek Jintan in marriage, 
threatening war in case of refusal. Mambang Bongsu did 
not wish to injure his old friend, so he made an enormous 
quantity of paper birds, which, by prayer to the Dewatas, he 
caused to be made instinct with life. These he let loose 
among the hosts of the Jin with seven heads, and the latter 
could do nothing, for as fast as one was warded off ten more 
came. He inyoked the help of the monkey-troops by aid 
of the charm which Kéra Kéchil had given him on Mount 
Inggil-béringgil when they swore an oath of brotherhood, 
but though the monkeys arrived in thousands, they only jump- 
ed upon him and gambolled about, embarrassing him more 
than ever. Then Mambang Bongsu appeared, and the birds 
+-Compare this with the incident of the burning of the enchanted 
Rajah’s jakal-skin in the story of ‘‘ The Brahman, the Jackal and the 
Barber.” Frere’s Old Deccan Days Cox finds a parallel between 
this and the lion-skin of Herakles, Myth. Aryan Nations I, 315. 
R. A, Soc., No, 55, 1909. 
