His name he now changed into Să-kambar.
The princess was greatly delighted, and laughed.
He tended her herds without losing any.
The sons of the kings of the nine countries[1]
Came and presented themselves,
Hoping each one to win the princess.
They talked very boldly of slaying the griffin.
The princess was now very ill with her eyes,
And many doctors were called in by the king,
Who agreed that the only cure for the princess
Was the milk of a tigress newly with young.
Then spake the sons of the rajas of the nine countries:
"The servants of my lord will go and seek."
They enter the forest full of briars and thorns.
They meet with a tiger and forthwith they flee.
Now when Să-kambar hears their talk
He milks his goats, and taking the milk,
In the midst of the plain he hangs it up;
The sons of the rajas come and enquire,
"This milk we certainly mean to buy."
But Indra Bangsāwan would not agree.
"I have to be very hard with my lords,
"The price is that each one must be branded."
They take the milk to the king.
"This is the milk from a tigress with young."
But when the physician has examined it,
"Behold, this is nothing but goat's milk."
Să-kambar now comes, laughing the while;
The king asks him what he has brought.
He replies, "It was hanging from an old tree by the wayside,
"Thy servant took it with good intention."
The physician having examined this time again,
"Behold now, this of a surety is tigress' milk!"
Into the eyes of the princess it is carefully instilled.
From that time forth she began to recover.
Now after very many days
The griffin was due to come and take the princess.
The rajas' sons talk, but yet they keep still;
Within their hearts they are sorely afraid.
The king is sad and wishful to delay,
He orders his people to build a palace.
"Fill," said he, "a vessel with water
"So that the griffin may drink there."
The princess sets out, weeping the while.
- ↑ Negri Sembilan, or the "Nine States," is the name of a small confederation of states in the Malay Peninsula.
