Wayang dancers.
To a Javanese, these endless plays hardly seem long enough. He never wearies of the innumerable adventures of these innumerable heroes. Titans, queens, and gods, though he has seen them represented ever since he was a child, and probably knows them by heart, almost as well as the "dalang" himself. He has no prejudice in favour of any regular intrigue, with beginning, catastrophe, and end. And, as for improbabilities, many strange things happen, day by day. And, as for time, was not the Prophet carried up to Heaven to sojourn among the blessed for a thousand years, whence returning to Mecca, and entering his chamber, he found the pitcher, which he had upset in his heavenward flight, not yet emptied of its contents? Such considerations cannot spoil his enjoyment of the wayang. Night after night, the Javanese sit, listening to the grandiloquent speeches of the heroes and their courting of queens and nymphs; discussing their opinions and principles, moral and otherwise; and, amid bursts of laughter, applauding any witticism, with which the "dalang" may enliven his somewhat monotonous text. And as, at last, they regretfully rise in the reddening dawn that causes the wayang lights to pale, visions of that heroic and beautiful world accompany them on their homeward way. The maidens would hardly be amazed to behold Ardjuna slumbering under the blossoming citron bush. And the young men think of Palosara, who, by his unassisted arm, won a royal bride and the kingdom of Ngastina.
[A] Ancient Javanese.
[B] The wayang-screen is erected in the open air, in front of the house.
[C] A fragrant yellow unguent.