Come and sit with me,
Come and sleep with me, and share my pillow.”^70It would probably be wrong to assume the foregoing expressions to have always
been merely figurative. Rather, perhaps, we should consider them as part of a
singularly complete and consistent animistic system formerly invented and still
held by the Malays. Again, from the above ideas it follows that if you call a soul
in the right way it will hear and obey you, and you will thus be able either to
recall to its owner’s body a soul which is escaping (riang sĕmangat), or to
abduct the soul of a person whom you may wish to get into your power
(mĕngambil sĕmangat orang), and induce it to take up its residence in a specially
prepared receptacle, such as (a) a lump of earth which has been sympathetically
connected by direct contact with the body of the soul’s owner, or (b) a wax
mannikin so connected by indirect means, or even (c) a cloth which has had no
such connection whatever. And when you have succeeded in getting it into your
power the abducted and now imprisoned soul will naturally enjoy any latitude
allowed to (and suffer from any mutilation of) its temporary domicile or
embodiment.^71
Every man is supposed (it would appear from Malay charms) to possess seven
souls^72 in all, or, perhaps, I should more accurately say, a sevenfold soul.^73 This
“septenity in unity” may perhaps be held to explain the remarkable importance
and persistency of the number seven in Malay magic, as for instance the seven
twigs of the birch, and the seven repetitions of the charm (in Soul-abduction^74 ),
the seven betel leaves, the seven nights’ duration of the ceremony, the seven
blows administered to the soul (in other magical and medical ceremonies), and
the seven ears cut for the Rice-soul in reaping.^75
And, finally, it might explain why the lime-branch which is hung up in the
mosquito-curtain (in another form of soul-abduction^76 ) is required to possess
seven fruits on a single stalk, i.e. to ensure there being a separate receptacle for
each one of the seven souls.
At the present day the ordinary Malay talks usually of only a single soul,
although he still keeps up the old phraseology in his charms and charm-books.
For the rest, it would appear that there may be some method in the selection and
arrangement of colours.