SPELLS AND SOOTHSAYING 105 



and wish.*' These words should be repeated on three 

 consecutive nights. Regrettably, however, it appears 

 that this invocation is not irrevocable, for it may be 

 undone thus : " Take a cup of cold water and recite 

 over it certam passages from the Koran, thirty times, 

 and then give it to her to drink/* 



(2) " Recite the following over her thrice when she 

 slumbers : — 



Kum fihm / when yon sit talk of me only, 

 Kumfikum / when you sleep, let me only be the breath of your 

 me, 



Else shall yoiir body be as a pillar of the firmament. 

 These words of mine are the, words of the True God. 



Now slap her so as to awaken her ; then question 

 her." 



Mr. W. W. Skeat tells me that the Arabic words 

 contained in the first formula are corrupt beyond all 

 possibility of recognition. He says that, although the 

 manuscript is evidently based on Arabic, the charms, 

 so far as they can be made out, are so corrupt that one 

 wonders if they were copied by a Malay enthusiast who 

 did not really know Arabic grammar (as the mistakes 

 are in some cases quite childish) or the real meaning of 

 what he heard. 



The wiles of a would-be evil-doer may be nonplussed 

 by the foUowmg spell which is to " prevent people doing 

 mischief to us," but which is too crude for repetition in 

 a Hteral translation. Draw the figure of a man on the 

 ground vnth the toe. Vilify it both at mouth and on 

 breast. Both feet should be placed on the figure's 

 shoulders. Having done this, stand up and announce 

 in detail how you have besmirched the figm-e. This is 

 to be done every day for seven days. [A diagram of the 

 figure mterposed here forms the tail-piece of this 



