Grant this, Joseph!
Grant this, David!
Grant me, from God (the opening of) all the doors of my daily bread, on earth,
and in heaven.”
This prayer completed,^215 she dug up with the great toe of the left foot a small
lump of soil, and picking it up, deposited it in the centre of the sheaf.
Next she took the contents of the soul-basket (the egg and stone, candle-nut and
shell as before), and after anointing them with oil and fumigating them, replaced
them in the basket; then taking the pĕnuwei sulong (“Eldest Rice-cutter”),
anointed the blade with the oil of frankincense, and inserting the thumb of the
right hand into her mouth, pressed it for several moments against the roof of her
palate. On withdrawing it she proceeded to cut the first seven “heads” of rice,
repeating “the Ten Prayers” as she did so. Then she put the seven “heads”
together, and kissed them; turned up the whites of her eyes thrice, and thrice
contracting the muscles of her throat with a sort of “click,” swallowed the water
in her mouth.^216 Next she drew the small white cloth which she took from the
soul-basket for the purpose across her lap, and laying the little bundle of seven
ears in it, anointed them with oil and tied them round with parti-coloured thread
(bĕnang panchawarna), after which she fumigated them with the incense, and
strewing rice of each kind over them, folded the ends of the cloth over them, and
deposited them as before in the basket, which was handed to the first bearer.
Then standing up, she strewed more rice over the sheaf, and tossing some
backwards over her head, threw the remainder over the rest of the party, saying
“tabek” (“pardon”) as she did so, and exclaiming “kur sĕmangat, kur sĕmangat,
kur sĕmangat!” (“cluck, cluck, soul!”) in a loud voice. Next she pushed the
cocoa-nut shell (which had contained the tĕpong tawar) into the middle of the
sheaf, and removed all traces of the lane which had been trodden round the sheaf
(to make it accessible) by bending down the surrounding ears of rice until the
gap was concealed.
Then the First Bearer, slinging the basket of the Rice-child about her neck (by
means of the red cloth before referred to), took an umbrella^217 from one of the
party, and opened it to shield the Rice-child from the effects of the sun, and
when the Pawang had reseated herself and repeated an Arabic prayer (standing
erect again at the end of it with her hands clasped above her head), this part of