Page:Malay Sketches.pdf/189

 found no more favour in the sight of the King. But there were many who said:

"They are like Râja Nasrûan and his minister Bahtek; their union brought ruin, their divorce solace." Indeed, it was the opportunity of the proverb-monger, and such sayings as, "It is sometimes one's own forefinger which pokes one in the eye," and, "While you carry the Râja's business on your head, don't forget to keep your own under your arm," were heard on all sides.

The King had a clerk who had served him faithfully for twenty years or more. The clerk had a wife, and the King's eye fell upon her approvingly; so the King sent the clerk into a far country to chase a wild bird, and bestowed his favour upon the wife who remained under his care. The King also bestowed upon the lady sundry jewels of price, things that please poor heathen women with hardly any moral character and no education to speak of.

By-and-by the King got tired of the woman, as unprincipled Eastern kings will do, and he sought about for some means, not to rid himself of her,