whose spittle is brine!^187 Oh, because thou, my Grandsire, art a man of magic,
whose prayers are answered, whose desires come to pass, do not, O Grandsire,
show cruelty, or afflict with poverty or with punishment any of the actors or
actresses, the musicians and bridegrooms, and the buffoons both young and old!
And I pray thee, O Grandsire, to stretch forth thy feet—the feet at which I
prostrate myself; and thy hands—the hands which I take in salutation. And I beg
from thee, O Grandsire, the white charm (antidote), the mĕdong bĕr-sîla; cause
to descend upon me three drops thereof together with thy magic, O Grandsire; I
wish to sprinkle therewith all the actors and actresses, the buffoons both young
and old, together with all the musicians and bridegrooms, and suffer them not to
be destroyed or injured, and let them not be laid open or exposed to any evil
influence; I pray thee not to suffer them to be injured, maimed, or battered. And
now I will arouse all the actors and actresses from within the seven Chambers of
the seven Palaces, the seven Pavilions—the Palaces which are on high, the
Palaces which were from the beginning, which in the beginning came into being
in their entirety.^188 I am about to open the portals of the seven Chambers of the
seven Palaces; I am about to open the closed doors from the exterior even unto
the inner portals of the seven chambers of the seven Palaces. Let them be opened
together with the Gates of Lusts and Passion, together with the Gate of Desire
and Faith, together with the Gates of Longing and Supreme Desire. The Longing
which lasts from Dawn unto Dawn, which causes food to cease to satisfy, and
renders sleep uneasy, which remembering causes to remember unceasingly,
hearing to hear, seeing to see! I will awake all from the exterior even unto the
inner Chambers of the seven Apartments of the seven Palaces! remain not
plunged in slumber, but awake! One and all awake and hear my tidings and my
words! Awake and hearken unto my words, for they vanish not, neither are my
senses slumbering, nor is my memory a blank! Awake, O actors and actresses,
and await one upon another! Awake, O buffoons, together awake! Awake, ye
drummers, together awake! Awake, ye gong-smiters, together awake! Awake, ye
bridegrooms, together awake! Be not removed far from your means of
livelihood, nor destroyed or injured! Oh, suffer them not to be hurt or damaged
—all this company of actors and actresses, all this company of players who sit
within this shed!’
“When this incantation is finished the player, whose turn it is to begin the
performance, prostrates himself before the Hĕrbab, or large Malay fiddle,
washes his face in some imaginary essence which the gong is supposed to