RECORDS OF MALAY MAGIC. a7 
13 
Bey Bo AES KS see, Wecraary Vee =\ 9) 
Fada Pus a Sis +o | us Og ygwo 09>») se 
eax BE Cy!2 O98, 
Orang sa manda ber-tompat sa-manda ° 
lika cherdek teman be-eunding. 
lika bodok di suroh dia arah; 
Tinggi baneh tompat ber-lindong, 
Rimbun down tompat ber-na’ung. 
The married man shall be subservient to his mother-in-law : 
If he is clever J will try to cajole him, 
If he is stupid I will see that he works; 
Like the buttresses of a big tree he shall shelter me. 
Like the thick foliage he shall shade me. 
One can imagine the satisfactiona Malay mother derives 
from thinking over this saying, and reciting it to her cronies and 
her daughter when she has made up her mind to receive a son- 
in-law into her family; be he sharp or slow, clever or stupid, 
either way the cannot be a loser. Her daughter’s house will be 
built behind her own; if the man is clever he will get enough 
money to build the house by easy means; if he if stupid she 
will so bully him that the poor man will be glad to labour with 
his hands at her bidding ; it would seem to the anxious mother 
that she and her daughter cannot but be gainers by the contract ; 
perhaps they forget for the time that there is another side to 
the question, namely that they may have to pay his gambling 
debts. 
