Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/154

 tries to kidnap Beuransah's wife and after a destructive war, succeeds in carrying her off to his own kingdom in a crystal chest.

Avery prolix account of the war which Beuransah then wages against China and from which he at length returns home victorious, forms the end of the tedious sequel of this hikayat the earlier part of which is composed with care and skill.

Certain places on the West Coast are indicated by oral tradition as the scene of Beuransah's deeds. In the edition with which I am acquainted no such localization appears, except in the episode of the war waged by the king of China. His expedition by sea is described at length. The poet makes him touch successively at almost all the harbours of the East, West and North Coasts of Acheh and its dependencies, and finally arrive in Aramiah "at the source of the river of Singké (Singkel)".

Malém Diwandaʾ (XIX).

The adventures of Malém Diwandaʾ, son of Sulutan Rōïh (Sultan Rus) of Panjalarah, are just like those of the majority of hikayat heroes. Having won his wife Siti Chahya after overcoming many obstacles and enjoyed a brief period of wedded bless, he finds her guilty of adultery and has her trampled to death by horses. A well-disposed buliadari (= bidadari) named Mandé Rubiah restores her to life without the knowledge of Diwandaʾ and gives her a palace with all its accessories in the midst of the forest; here bring already with child by Diwandaʾ, she bears a son who is named Malém or Banta Sidi.

M. Diwandaʾ, mad with grief after the execution of the sentence goes forth as a wanderer, and is re-united to his wife and child after sundry adventures. Not till after a protracted conflict with Raja Sara who tries to rob him of Siti, does he possess her undisturbed; he establishes himself with her in the country of Shahkubat whom he succeeds on the throne after his death.

Eager to behold his native land once more, he sets out on a journey thither. On the way he cures of a sickness the princess Santan Meu-