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Here is Ketut Liyer’s life story pretty much as he tells it:
“It is nine generations that my family is a medicine man. My father, my grandfather, my
great-grandfather, all of them is a medicine man. They all want me to be medicine man be-
cause they see I have light. They see I have beautiful and I have intelligent. But I do not want
to be medicine man. Too much study! Too much information! And I don’t believe in medicine
man! I want to be painter! I want to be artist! I have good talent with this.
“When I was still young man, I meet American man, very rich, maybe even New York City
person like you. He like my painting. He wants to buy big painting from me, maybe one meter
big, for lot of money. Enough money to be rich. So I start to painting this picture for him. Every
day I painting, painting, painting. Even in night I painting. In this day, long time ago, no electric
lightbulb like today, so I have lamp. Oil lamp, you understand? Pump lamp, have to pump it to
make oil come. And I always make painting every night with oil lamp.
“One night, oil lamp is dark, so I pumping, pumping, pumping and it explode! Makes my
arm on fire! I go to hospital for one month with burned arm, it make infection. Infection goes
all the way to my heart. The doctor say I must to go to Singapore for cut off my arm, for ampu-
tation. This is not my cup of tea. But doctor says I must go to Singapore, have operation to cut
arm off. I tell doctor—first I go home to my village.
“That night in village, I got dream. Father, grandfather, great-grandfather—all they come in
my dream to my house together and tell me how to heal my burned arm. They tell me make
juice from saffron and sandalwood. Put this juice on burn. Then make powder from saffron
and sandalwood. Rub this powder on burn. They tell me I must do this, then I not lose my
arm. So real this dream, like they in house with me, all of they together.
“I wake up. I don’t know what to do, because sometimes dreams are just joking, you un-
derstand? But I make back to my home and I put this saffron and sandalwood juice on my
arm. And then I put this saffron and sandalwood powder on my arm. My arm very infected,
very ache, made big, very swell. But after juice and powder, become very cool. Became very
cold. Start to feel better. In ten days, my arm is good. All heal.