FOLKLORE OF TPIE MALAYS. 27 



If rainfalls on a wedding day, Malays in some districts say that 

 either the bride or bridegroom must have been eating out of the 

 stewpan ( mahan dalam huali ). When a Malay dinner is served, 

 the younger members of the family sometimes amuse themselves 

 by throwing rice into the pan from which the curry has just been 

 taken, stirring it round in the gravy that remains, and then eating- 

 it. This is not permitted when one of them is to be married on the 

 following day, as it would be sure to bring rainy weather. 



It is unlucky for a child to lie on his face (menyehrapj and 

 kick his feet together in the air (menyabong kalci). It betokens 

 that either his father or mother will die. A child seen doing this 

 is instantly rebuked and stopped. 



"When a star is seen in apparent proximity to the moon, old 

 people say there will be a wedding shortly. The wide-spread 

 superstition about the man in the moon is found among the Malay-. 

 They discover in the moon an old man sitting under a beringin 

 (the banyan, ficus indica). 



The entrance into a house of an animal which does not generally 

 seek to share the abode of man, is regarded by the Malays as omin- 

 ous of misfortune. If a wild bird flies into a house, it must be care- 

 fully caught and smeared with oil, and must then be released in 

 the open air, a formula being recited hi which it is bidden to ify 

 away with all the ill-luck and misfortunes (sial jambalang) of the 

 occupier. An iguana, a tortoise, and a snake are perhaps the most 

 dreaded of these unnatural visitors. They are sprinkled with 

 ashes, if possible, to counteract their evil influence. 



A swarm of bees settling near a house is an unlucky omen and 

 prognosticates misfortune. 



The evil eye is dreaded by Malays. Not only are particular 

 persons supposed to be possessed of a quality which causes ill-luck 

 to accompany their glance (the maVoccMo of the Italians), but the 

 influence of the evil eye is often supposed to affect children, who 

 are taken notice of by people kindly disposed towards them. For 

 instance, it is unlucky to remark on the fatness and healthiness of 



* See Lane's Modern Egyptians', I, 77 ; also the same author's translation of 

 the Thousand and One Nights, Chapter TV., notes 24 and 44, where, in evidence 

 of the antiquity of this superstition, he quotes a well-known line of Yirgil : — 



" Nescio quis teneros oculis mihi fascinat agi 



gnos. 



