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Malayan Literature by Various
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promising them for faithfulness a passport to the glories of heaven.
This shows that the author at least took the work seriously. That there
is not a trace of humor in the book would doubtless recommend it to the
dignified and lethargic orientals for whom it was written. Bokhari
seemed to consider himself prophet, priest, and poet-laureate in one.
The work has a high position in the Malayan Peninsula, where it is read
by young and old. The "Crown of Kings" is written in the court language
of Djohore. The author was a Mohammedan mendicant monk. He called the
book the Crown of Kings because "every king who read and followed its
precepts would be a perfect king, and thus only would his crown sit
well on his head, and the book itself will be for him a true crown."

La Fontaine and Lamartine loved stories. The schoolmates of the latter
called the latter "story-lover." They would have loved the story of the
Princess Djouher Manikam, which is written in a simple and natural
style and is celebrated in the East, or, as the Malays say, in the
"country between windward and leeward."

From the "Sedjaret Malayou," worthless as it is as history, one may
obtain side lights upon oriental life. Manners are portrayed in vivid
colors, so that one may come to have a very accurate knowledge of them.
Customs are depicted from which one may learn of the formality and
regard for precedents which is a perspicuous trait of oriental
character. The rigid etiquette of court and home may be remarked. From
the view of morals here described, one may appreciate how far we have
progressed in ethical culture from that prevailing in former times
among the children of these winterless lands.

The readers of this series are to be congratulated in that they are
here placed in possession of a unique and invaluable source of
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