Note 92 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

A similar charm runs, “Madam Ugly is the name of your mother, Sir Stripes the name of your body. I fold up your tongue and muzzle your mouth; -wig -eak [stands for] let the twig break—break with the weight of this well-fed wild goose. Be (your mouth) shut fast and locked. If a bachelor loses his vocation, it does not matter.” (Here follow a few words of Arabic.) On reaching home you must never forget to unlock the tiger’s jaws, or “he will certainly bear a grudge against you!” To do this you must repeat the Arabic words with which the charm (just quoted) concluded, and then pronounce the Malay word buka, which means “open.” The Malays are fond of enigmatical expressions, in which the part of a word is made to stand for the whole. Cp. infra “Teng [stands for] the Satengteng flower.” Sometimes these expressions are propounded as riddles, e.g. “Ti tiong kalau kalau,” out of which the guesser was supposed to make “Banyak-banyak bĕSI, bĕLIONG ta’mĕmBALAU.” ↑