The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-04-29

She SAID thar tie power Of Arjuno. tie Goddess
OF the royal Malay race. called her away. mot
YET! not YETI erred the wcepin. Peus. Have
Courage and we will yet carry the 6r-t-boTn Of
the noble Lakas 70 his arms "Ah, no. weep
ingly laid the prDstTate mother, "AriunO will not
have IL 50. | mey not 70. bot YOU and my boy
will return 70 Menangkahau. All! see the blood
mark OF his grandfather. Sri PATTI. on his neck.
Ny iather Will weep when be sees IL; he vii
recognize his own blood and his heart will turn
To me when | am waited on by the -Widadui.'
The good Peng sOOthIn2ly demonstrated with
the despair Of her mistress but while she spoke
she noted the paling cheeks and the glaring eye
Of the Princess, and after a slight struggle Of
the hapless lady, Peng was alone with the baby.
tOF a while the poor woman gave way TO a
elamor Of grief but looking at the silent form
OF her once beautiful and beloved mistress, she
though; with horror Of the beasts that might
come to tear and disfgure it and she felt that
she would b tormented by tie rakshashas, the
monster giant women under the power Of Arjuno.
IT she did not save the body Of the roval KOmala
from observation. She had no implement with
which TO make an excavation but she observed
that there were many large stones near by
the mouth OF a small cave IN the forest. After a
time, when the body was stiff and cold, she laid
1t gently in the cave on II bed Of the fresh leaves
OF the fragrant ohdmpakd. Then sue covered
the body with more leaves Of the odorous plant.
and then she laid the stones in such quantity in
the mouth Of the cave that it was completely
closed, and the body covered up from sight. and
secured so that il could not he disturbed By any
marauding animal.
And now the wall Of the babe touched the
motheriy heart of Peng. All what could she get
Tor the nOurIshment of the little Prince But she
must go in quest Of something and she felt that
surely the celestial m~nidens, the WidadIri of the
forest, would help her To- save the life Of the
royal blood Of Menangkabau. She proceeded to
search for the pulpy duku fruit. whose delicate
juice would sOOthc the little throat; and she hoped
to ind a pungent DURAN with which to satisfy
her own hunger.
She placed the babe high up in n spacious hol-
low Of a large tree, upon a little couch of dry
grass, and with piteOus tears and moaning pray
ers, she FASTENED IN quest of some food. As she
WANDERED in the depths Of the forest, she was
terrified by the grunts and screams Of great apes,
called Orang Outang. or wild men, by the
Malays. They clambered up the lofty trees. and
stared grinning at the brave, slave woman. And
alter long search she found the fruits she hoped
for, and hastened back TO nouIish the little
Prince. But all was silent, as she returned to
the tree where she had left the baby. Its cry
was hushed. ALL Could It be dead She
rushed to the place v here she had left her charge,
but no babe was there She cried out with the
agoniZed feeling of a bereaved mother-but there
was no response to her wall, except the grunt Of
a great Orang, who was leaping from limb to
limb. amid the dense foliage OF a Sumatran
jungle.
After vain search and lamentation for the lost
child. the poor woman set out in search of some
human habitation, and to get away from the
gloomy and dangerous forest. She had not gone
far when she heard the cutlery Of men and the
tramp OF advancing horses. and in a little while
she recognized some OF the retainers of the Court
of Menangkabau. followed by the great Emperor
himself. The poor woman fell PROSTATE at the
approach of the cavalcade and when the mon
arch. Sri Patti, cried out in an anxious tone Of
voice Where is the Princess Komala - the
---- - -
pl%enteOus tears oh, dread Son of Heaven.
the Princess and a newborn Prince have been
called away by ArjunO - Never-Never -
cried the remorseful monarch. Stay the slave
who says the Princess is dead. Oh Komala
Komala How could my heart be so hard
But say quickly. slave. what has happened to
the Princess?' And, Peng being entreated,
rose up and led the way to the cave. where the
cold, yet beautiful. corpse OF the Princess Ko-
mala was found.
The griefstricken monarch, now deeply an
guished by remorse, walled over his lost daugh-
ter. He cried out: " Oh. Arjuno thou that
rulest the spirits-thou did'st well to take the
unhappy daughter away from the cruel father.
| sent her to sleep with the tigers. Let them
tear me. Oh, Spirits of the forest, hear me, and
let my cry reach my child" But the sOrrowing
King poured out his repentance in vain. No
voice came back from the daughter, that he drove
away from her royal and parental home and no
trace was found of the lost babe.
After much search, in vain, this was said by
som forest men consulted by the King, that
SOME great ape, or orang, and no doubt. a female
one, had carried off the babe. They told how it
had happened that a crying child in a Malay
hut had often attracted the attention of the
female semi-human orangs, and they had in some
cases seized such n child and carried it Off
not to injure it, but To nurse il with their own
human-like breasts. And cases were told of
children that had been recovered alive. after be-
ing in the hands Of Orangs for some length of
time. which, indeed. has happened in modern
times. And the foresters went on to say, in
order to comfort the King, that as there was no
trace of blood about the tree, it was evident that
the tabe had been carried off alive, by some of
the great Orangs that abOunded in the forest, and
that the illustrious Sri Patti might hope, if dill
gent search were made, to find his noble grand
son alive in the forest.
Then the King offered a great reward of dia-
monds and firearms to all the foresters for the
recovery of the baby Prince; and he returned in
sorrow with his followers, bearing the body Of
the dead Princess Komala back to Menang-
kabau. the Palace of the Forty Towers, to place
her body in a crypt of ivory and gold.
The widadiri were exquisitely beautiful celestial
uvmuhs who r To this dav the good suirifs. or fairies.