262

Kancil stories mentioned under the preceding head, folk-tales, in Javanese called dov,'ew,s, for a very long time were only orally trans mitted. Probably many folk-tales contain elements of ancient myths referring to the origin of cosmic and social order. The interrelationship of folk-tales and wayai} plays has been mentioned before (see 31.080). A considerable number of folk-tales was never written down in a literary form before the middle of the nineteenth century, the time of the growing interest of Dutch scholars in Javanese folklore. Just aS' in the case of the local legends (see 48.500), the first collections of dotyerp were made by Javanese writers who were prompted to do so by Dutch teachers and missionaries. In the first decades of the twentieth cen tury collections of Javanese dot^'e^s, folk tales mixed with local legends, were published by local printers in Java in order to meet the demand for easy reading-matter in prose, especially for the schools (see 46.750). Between 1930 and 1942 Mr Moens invited some dalai} s of Yogyakarta to write down

a considerable number of folk-tales current in the remote Gunut} Kidul districts. For folklorists this collection is very interesting. Similar collections made by Mr Moens re ferring to popular wayai} plays and popular customs have been registered under other heads (31.103—31.107). 31.421 Dot}èi}S, folk-tales in prose, collec tions : cod. 6436 (121 tales, collection Brandes), 6510 (5 tales, collection Kiliaan), 10.821 (collection Kraemer). 31.422 Doit}èt} Rëmbulan tuwin Lintat}- lintat}, folk-tales: cod. 8984. 31.423 Dot}èt} Kina, humoristic, erotic folk tales : cod. 8985 no 2. 31.424 Doi}èi} cariyosipun tiyai} sëpuh, anecdote of Mai}ku Nagara IV, Surakarta. cod. 6497. 31.425 Popular stories and folktales from Gunut} Kidul, collections Moens: cod. 10.943—10.964, cod. 10.965—10.966.

31.440 Novellistic Literature.

In the second half of the nineteenth cen tury more and more Javanese authors fol lowed the advice of Dutch scholars to write belletristic novellistic books not exclusively based on wayait} tales. Surya Wijaya was one of the first. Of Surakarta origin, he lived for years in Batavia as a secretary in the employment of the Dutch orientalist Dr Cohen Stuart (died 1876). Most of his tales are written in verse in the style of wayat}

romances. In a later period of his career he was persuaded to write occasionally in prose. The Surya Balam and Sëca Wardaya tales by Surya Wijaya seem to be connected with Javanese law (see 47.440). Part of the con tents turns upon lawsuits. Equally on the suggestion of Dutch schol ars and officials were written the remarkable travels of Soma Reja and the autobiography of Suradipura. They have been registered