In all Eastern countries the people usually prefer flat shadow figures to round marionettes. Such shadow figures are made from the carefully prepared skin of a goat or buffalo. After it has been stretched and dried, a clever artist takes the translucent skin and cuts out from it figures which represent the gods and heroes of the people. The illustration shows a characteristic Javanese shadow figure. The elaborate pattern is made by means of many small holes of different shapes and sizes. This figure is further enriched with transparent colors and gold. The arms are jointed at the shoulder and the elbow. Slender rods of wood, bone, or ivory are then fastened to the body and arms. The puppeteer manipulates the figure by means of these rods which extend below the figure. The shapes of the figures are most interesting, as you can see, with their strange headdresses, long noses, thin arms and legs. Their gestures are so grotesque and fascinating that they are like the strange people one meets only in dreams. The theaters in which these shadow figures are shown are often no more than an angle of two walls before which is hung an opaque curtain in which there is a small opening with a bit of very fine linen stretched over it. This is lighted from behind. Here the showman sits with his figures all about him. And a very clever fellow he must be! Think of all the things he must do. First, he must know by heart all the stories that the people may wish to see acted, then he must know how to make the proper speech for each of his puppets, as well as how to make it act its part with the proper feeling and gestures. Further, he must be able to direct the orchestra of several men playing tomtoms, to manage his lights, and to shuffle his feet when that is necessary. Can you guess how many puppets belong to his set? Count the characters in your favorite plays. If you take a long play like Shakespeare’s _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, and include a great band of fairies, there will scarcely be more than fifty characters. This showman has from sixty to one hundred and twenty shadows in his set. He must know just where every one is placed so that he can put his hand upon it the moment it is needed. He must also please people of many different tastes, therefore he must be able to give serious plays; plays about the gods, about giants and dragons, elves and fairies. Besides all of this he must know a great many hero plays, for it is through his art that the great heroes are kept alive. Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, compared life itself to a shadow-show. For in and out, above, about, below, Life’s nothing but a Magic Shadow-show. Play’d in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.