Jone Surang (โจรสุหรั่ง)

Thai. ‘Bandit Surang’. Name of the legendary British pirate who appears in the epic story Phra Aphaimanih by Sunthorn Phu. He is described as sailing a 20 sen, i.e. 800 meter, long ship topped with a tall building that contained vegetable gardens and cattle that were used as food. One day, when Surang was sailing the sea in order to rob other boats he came across a remote island where he stumbled on Nang Suwanna Malih (fig.) and Prince Sin Samut, whom he took on board. Later, Surang liquored up Sin Samut until the latter fell asleep drunk, after which the bandit went over to flirt with Nang Suwanna Malih and harass her. When Sin Samut eventually regained consciousness and found out what had happened, he became so enraged that he killed the pirate. The other bandits, who had witnessed the event, became afraid of Sin Samut and submitted to him, making him the new commander of the ship. 回