A Malay poem relates how once upon a time in the city of Indrapoora
there was a certain merchant who was rich and prosperous, but he had
no children. One day as he walked with his wife by the river they
found a baby girl, fair as an angel. So they adopted the child and
called her Bidasari. The merchant caused a golden fish to be made,
and into this fish he transferred the soul of his adopted daughter.
Then he put the golden fish in a golden box full of water, and hid
it in a pond in the midst of his garden. In time the girl grew to be
a lovely woman. Now the King of Indrapoora had a fair young queen,
who lived in fear that the king might take to himself a second wife.
So, hearing of the charms of Bidasari, the queen resolved to put her
out of the way. She lured the girl to the palace and tortured her
cruelly; but Bidasari could not die, because her soul was not in
her. At last she could stand the torture no longer and said to the
queen, "If you wish me to die, you must bring the box which is in
the pond in my father's garden.
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