Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/269

Rh warning to other stepmothers as cruelly inclined.

"For some time Amman lived on quietly in his home, waited on by the faithful Sumarr; but the news of his sorrows and his exploits reaching the ears of the King of Java, he invited the daring boy—now grown a fine youth—to live in his palace. There, to his great astonishment, he again beheld the lovely vision he had seen in the forest, in the person of the king's only daughter, whom he subsequently married; and his baboo, Sumarr, became nurse to his children.

"The king did not live long, and at his death appointed Amman as his successor. The latter reigned long and happily, waging war with other nations, and, like all Javanese heroes, always coming off conqueror. lie is the idol of the people, and therefore all bow before him."

The story of Amman is a favourite tale among the Javanese, and is often represented in their wyangs, a kind of puppet-show, of which the