106 
HIKAYAT NAKHODA MUDA. 
she is impersonating sleeps with the king and finally still unre- 
cognized returns him his mare and his ring and departs. She 
bears a son . The mare foals. The princess has ful- 
filled her lord’s seemingly impossible conditions that on his return 
he shall find a son, a foal by his mare, and his ring on his own 
finger. This recension as outlined in van Ronkel’s catalogue, is 
closer to Shakespeare’s version than the two former in that the 
episode of the ring is mentioned though apparently bungled. 
Yet another Version of the tale is given in van Ophuijsen’s 
Maleisch Leesbock, No. 52. Sultan Mansur Shah ruler of ‘ Aznawi 
dreams of a girl standing at a door, holding a fried sheep’s liver 
and dressed in red cloth ( gerim ). The sons of his vizier, Husain 
Mandari and Husain Mandi, go in quest of her. Like the youth 
in my version of Musang Berjanggut (J. R. A. S., S. B., No. 52, 
p. 122) they enquire of an old rustic for the house that has no 
kitchen, call a railless bridge a monkey’s bridge, put on their shoes 
when passing through a stream and open their umbrellas in the 
.forest shade. The rustic’s daughter Siti Sarah explains their 
strange conduct and sends them for several days, by her maid Si- 
Delima, thirty cakes, seven bowls of palm-sugar, and a vessel of 
water, always giving the same message, “ The month has thirty 
days, the week seven days and the tide is full and not ebbing.” 
One day Si-Delima meets a lover, gives him four of the cakes, a 
bowl of sugar and a drink of water. The sons of the vizier send 
a return message, “ The month lacked four days, the week lacked 
a day and the tide ebbed before its time.” The maid’s pilfering is 
thus revealed bv parable to her mistress. Exactly the same episode, 
with 31 loaves a whole cheese a stuffed cock and a skin of wine 
instead of the Eastern fare, occurs in a modern Greek tale of a 
prince who marries a clever village girl skilled in figurative speech. 
(E. Legrand’s “ Receuil de Contes Populaires Grecs, Tale IV, 
Paris 1881, quoted on pp. 276-7 Clouston’s “ Flowers from a 
Persian Garden”; c-f. Parker op. cit., vol. Ill, pp. 112-114 for a 
clever girl solving enigmas). One day Siti Sarah invites the sons 
of the vizier to a meal and awaits them at the door clothed in red 
cloth, with a fried sheep’s liver in her hand. They recognize her 
as the dream princess and despatch her picture to their king, who 
sends his vizier to Betalawi to fetch her. He marries her, but one 
day killing a fawn thinks of his childlessness and sails to Langkawi, 
swearing he will not return till his consort has born a sol, his 
treasuries are full, his mare has foaled and the ring he always wears 
is found in the palace where he leaves his consort. As in the other 
versions she follows him, disguised as Xakhoda Muda (from the 
land of Ardap) and fulfils the hard conditions. In this excellent 
little version of the tale the parallel with Shakespeare’s plot is 
exact. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
