Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
© yeowatzup, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.
Abdullah Abdul Kadir gives us his first-hand impressions of the Founder of Singapore and of his first wife, Olivia.
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© Mshahrazif, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
The busy trading hub of Malacca was to be consigned to history, until Stamford Raffles saw that history was one of its assets.
© Georgid, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
In 1274, the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople signed a historic reunion, but there were some formidable dissenters.
Morgan Library & Museum, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
An aristocratic widow advertises for a husband, and among the line-up of natty and noble suitors is a rough-and-ready Olaf Tryggvason.
Anonymous photo circa 1870, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
In an enduring fable from the Kathasaritsagara, an Indian merchant explains how he acquired his nickname.
By Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The lovely Shakuntala is wooed by a great King, but almost at once he forgets her.