Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/156

 the prince of the giants, is however so benevolent as to charm up before him an image which resembles his wife in all respects. This shadow undergoes the death sentence; and when afterwards Banta Sidi makes acquaintance with a beautiful young widow of royal lineage under the name of Keumalahari and espouses her, he never suspects that this marriage is no more than a re-union with his now repentant wife. A son, Diu Kaʾindran is born to them.

A dream leads Banta Sidi to go and visit his father, and all his household accompanies him. Finally Malém Diwandaʾ vacates the throne in his favour, while his son Diu Kaʾindran becomes the successor of the man-eater Diu Keureuma.

Gajah tujōh ulèë (XX).

In this story of the "seven-headed elephant" it is Saʾdōymanan, son of Tō Sulòyman, Raja of Teuleukin, that wins his four princesses in succession.

The first of these fair ladies is made known to him in a dream. She is called Meureudum Bunga and owing to a careless vow of her father; Sulutan Sab, she has to be sacrificed to a seven-headed elephant, which roams solitary in the forest. Seated among these seven heads she awaits her deliverer. After a protracted combat, in the course of which Saʾdōymanan is once killed, but having been restored to life again through the benevolence of an ascetic pair of eungkòngs (cocoanut monkeys) the prince slays the elephant.

But then his own pahlawan plays him false; having cut off his master's hands and feet, he bears to his father the tale that he is dead, hoping thereby to win for himself the princess' hand.

Saʾdōy, however, recovers his hands and feet through the aid of the eungkòngs and marries the celestial (adara) princess Meulu China. The king of China comes with a great army to take the princess from him, but Saʾdōy and his allies entirely frustrate his designs. Habib Nada the daughter of the king of China is the sole survivor of her father's defeat, and takes the third place in Saʾdōy's affections.

By the aid of the aged Ni, a lonely widow, the prince on returning to his native land, recovers his first love.

After all these adventures Saʾdōy completes the tale of four by a marriage with princess Malòyri. Finally the poet makes these princesses entertain their lord with five witty tales.