A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

While hunting, Rāja Siung hears an infant and finds a boy inside a large bamboo stem split by wind. He adopts him alongside Princess Nang Cháyang. Each child later pulls two tusks from the ruler while playing on his knees. The boy becomes the ancestor of Rāman rulers, whose avoidance of young bamboo shoots is explained by his origin before their entry into Islam. The narrator supplies no personal name. The collector’s proposed totemic interpretation is an inference; neither it nor the royal genealogy is established as independently verified history.

Bamboo-born foster child and dynastic ancestorPublic traditional narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Malay Peninsula; Rāman/Patāni narrative, told by an unnamed Malay in Patāni Town

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale and attached scholarly notes directly read.

In the literature

“This infant he adopted also,”
Unnamed Malay narrator; Walter William Skeat, collector · Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest — XXII The Legend of Patāni
XXII The Legend of Patāni, printed 61 · Walter William Skeat

Siung hears a child while hunting and finds a male infant inside a large bamboo stem split by wind. He adopts him alongside Nang Cháyang, the rescued foam princess. During childhood play, each foundling accidentally removes one pair of his tusks. Nang Cháyang marries Samura Muda in the main tale; the unnamed bamboo child becomes ancestor of Raman rulers. The account explains their avoidance of young bamboo shoots by this origin before their adoption of Islam. Skeat’s notes separately mention foundling-marriage versions and cautiously propose a totemic reading.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest

    Walter Skeat, collector and translator · 1901

    XXII, The Legend of Patāni, pp. 59–61; notes pp. 83–84

  2. 02

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest — XXII The Legend of Patāni

    Walter William Skeat, collector; unnamed Malay narrator · 1901

    Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, collected and translated Walter Skeat, Cambridge: University Press,1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked; selected complete tales and all accompanying notes read from historical transcription. Introduction states1899 Cambridge expedition collection and limitation of phraseology, not verbatim unedited speech. Original quoted folios visually checked in Archive fablesfolktalesf00skearich; IIIF canvas positions omit initial leaves, so exact original leaf number matched from image identifier, not array index.

Family, evolution & connections

Rāja Siung’s foster household — Patāni telling

The two rescued children raised together, distinguished from biological parentage.

Rescue, upbringing and explicit adoption in tale XXII. These are foster-care branches, not a shared biological ancestor. Nang Cháyang’s birth father is the unnamed fairy king; the bamboo boy’s parents are not supplied. The main telling marries the princess to Samura Muda; the foundlings’ marriage occurs only in the variant note. The narrator is identified only as a Malay in Patāni Town. Descendant and taboo claims remain this tale’s origin explanation, not a verified modern pedigree.

Skeat, Fables and Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (1901), XXII, pp. 59–61, notes 83–84

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Walter Skeat, Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest (Cambridge: University Press, 1901)

XXII, The Legend of Patāni. XXII, The Legend of Patāni, pp. 59–61; notes pp. 83–84

Complete tale and associated notes directly read. Regional spellings and differing accounts retained; commentary does not establish present-day practice or biological facts. Individual teller not named here.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest

Fables & Folk-Tales from an Eastern Forest, collected and translated Walter Skeat, Cambridge: University Press,1901. Original title leaf13 visually checked; selected complete tales and all accompanying notes read from historical transcription. Introduction states1899 Cambridge expedition collection and limitation of phraseology, not verbatim unedited speech. Original quoted folios visually checked in Archive fablesfolktalesf00skearich; IIIF canvas positions omit initial leaves, so exact original leaf number matched from image identifier, not array index.

  1. Siung hears a child while hunting and finds a male infant inside a large bamboo stem split by wind. He adopts him alongside Nang Cháyang, the rescued foam princess. During childhood play, each foundling accidentally removes one pair of his tusks. Nang Cháyang marries Samura Muda in the main tale; the unnamed bamboo child becomes ancestor of Raman rulers. The account explains their avoidance of young bamboo shoots by this origin before their adoption of Islam. Skeat’s notes separately mention foundling-marriage versions and cautiously propose a totemic reading.

    XXII The Legend of Patāni, complete printed 59–61; notes83–84

Complete XXII59–61 and notes83–84 read. Biological parents and a personal name are absent. Adoption is explicit, not genealogical birth from Siung. Food prohibition is narrated provenance; no instruction to undertake a ritual. Totem identification is Skeat’s tentative inference.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical collected narrative with locality and editorial notesSkeat, Fables & Folk-Tales (Cambridge University Press, 1901), XXII, The Legend of Patāni, pp. 59–61; notes pp. 83–84Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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