Don Hiyala and Alifulhu
Among the stories in which the spirit and sorcery theme are not essential, the most significant is perhaps Don Hiyalā and Alifulhu. This story about two good-looking lovers is a much distorted Maldivian version of the Rāmāyana. Despite the apparent dissimilarities, the common sequential structure linking the elements of the Maldivian story with the Indian epic (the heroic married couple, the wicked and powerful king, the kidnapping of the beautiful heroine, etc.) is obvious. This parallelism between Don Hiyalā and Alifulhu and the Rāmāyana is hardly unexpected, for all South and Southeast Asian countries have local Rāmayāna variations and the Maldives is definitely part of the South Asian cultural sphere.
Read more about this topic: Maldivian Folklore
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“Rather would I have the love songs of romantic ages, rather Don Juan and Madame Venus, rather an elopement by ladder and rope on a moonlight night, followed by the father’s curse, mother’s moans, and the moral comments of neighbors, than correctness and propriety measured by yardsticks.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)