Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/151

 Banta Beuransah (XVIII).

Jamishah, king of Aramiah, had three sons; Banta Beusiah and Keureutaïh by his first, Banta Barausah or Beuransah by his second wife.

He dreams of a beautiful princess Ruhōn Apenlah who possesses a miraculous bird called Malaʾōn Dirin and dwells in the land of Gulita Ebeuram, of which her father Maléʾ Sarah is ruler. Jamishah sends his three sons forth to seek this princess of his dream and her magic belongings.

Presently the sons come to a place where three ways meet. Those whom they question describe the two side roads as easy but leading nowhere in particular, the middle one as fraught with danger but rich in promise. The two eldest choose each one of the easy paths, while Beuransah defies the difficulties of the middle one, keeping his eyes fixed on the future.

The two elder brothers are soon reduced to beggary; one falls into the hands of gamblers, the other is despoiled by thieves.

Banta Beuransah at the beginning of his journey encounters many strange things all of which have a symbolic meaning, which is later on explained to him by an èëlia (holy man or saint). He sees a tree full of fruits each one of which beseeches him to pluck it, as being the best of all; three barrels of water the middle one of which is empty, the other two full; men eagerly employed in collecting wood-shavings, an unborn goat which bleats in its mother's womb; a great tree in which there is a small hole, whence issues to view a mosquito which gradually increases in size until it is as big as a mountain; people carrying loads of wood, who when they find their burden too heavy, keep on adding to, in place of lightening it; two hind quarters of a slaughtered buffalo fighting with one another; and a number of men gathering the leaves of trees.

The saint, who expounds to him the meaning of all these symbols,