Note 151 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature

Once upon a time a married couple fell out, and the husband surreptitiously introduced stones into the cooking-pot in place of the yams which his wife was cooking. Then he went off to climb for a cocoa-nut, and as he climbed, he mocked her by calling out “Masak bĕlum? Masak bĕlum?” (“Are they cooked yet? Are they cooked yet?”). What she did by way of retaliation is not clear, but as he climbed and mocked her, she is said to have retorted, “Panjat bĕlum? Panjat bĕlum?” (“Have you climbed it yet? Have you climbed it yet?”), a reply which clearly shows that her woman’s wit had been at work, and that she was not going to allow her husband to get the better of her.151 However this may be, a deadlock ensued, the result of which was that both parties were transformed into stick-insects, but were yet condemned to mock each other as they had done during the period of their human existence.