Malay nursery rhymes
This document is a collection of Malay nursery rhymes and cradle-songs compiled by R. O. Winstedt, published in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 77 (1917).
Summary
The text presents a series of short Malay verse pieces, most of which are traditional nursery rhymes characterised by playful rhyme and rhythmic repetition. Winstedt notes that many of the lines are in baby-language and some are probably nonsense (p. 186). A distinct section of cradle-songs follows, including lullabies addressed to a child (e.g., “Che Busu jangan mēnangis”) and a longer piece incorporating the name “Maulud” and imagery of bamboo and moonlight (p. 186). The rhymes cover a range of domestic and natural imagery — food, animals, household objects, and village life — typical of oral folk verse collected in early colonial-era linguistic documentation.