A Pattern of Islands by Arthur Grimble

Author:Arthur Grimble [Arthur Grimble]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780600260
Publisher: Eland Publishing
Published: 2012-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

‘And when I had said it three times,’ said Katutu, ‘the ill wind dropped its wings, the sea fell, a fair wind blew, and I came safe home.’

Katutu like Tabenea was a professional sorcerer who dealt only in the magic of kindness. His sort brought nothing but help to villagers nominally Christian yet still far less confident than pagan Katutu of the love of their accepted God. But there were few professionals like him; the majority were sinister beings; curses intended to bring madness, disease and death were their common stock-in-trade, and the terror of their works hung like a black cloud over the villages. Here are the words of a curse upon a cooking-oven. The sorcerer is to be imagined squatting naked in the dark before dawn over his enemy’s fireplace and stabbing it with a stick as he mutters –

Spirit of madness, Nei Terang!

Spirit of excrement, Nei Tebutae!

Spirit of eating alive, Nei Mataora!

Spirits of rottenness, Maauere, Maauere–o–o!

I stab the fire of his food, the fire of that man Naewa.

Strike west of him, you! Strike east of him, you!

Strike as I stab, strike death!

Strangle him, madden him, shame him with rottenness!

His liver heaves, it heaves, it is overturned and torn apart.

His bowels heave, they heave, they are torn apart and gnawed.

He is black mad, he is dead.

It is finished: he is dead, dead, dead. He rots.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.