Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/210

 The iron foundry owner is afraid of the word ma (麻) as this indicates that his iron will not weld together properly. Barbers fear the words ya pa (芽杷), that is, cutting their customers, who will then not come back. The butcher fears the two words ko ch‘i (擱起), which means that his meat may be left unsold. Carpenters and masons have a superstitious dread of the two characters tao fan, empty out rice; lost the job. The rice shops dread the two characters t‘ing shih, a stoppage of food, or indigestion. Tea and wine shop masters are afraid of the three characters mai pu t‘o (賣不脫), can't sell it, and shih pên (十本), ten copies, which is the same sound as shih pên (失本), to become bankrupt. Boatmen are afraid of such words as fan tao, turn over; tao, to empty out, also k‘o ch‘i, to stick on mud; and tang tao, stopped. Hewers of wood have a dread of such words as the following: ta tao, struck, also ch‘ang shên, to stretch out, and pu tung, inanimate. The pig dealer dreads the words pu tui ts‘ao (槽), that is, the pig will not settle to eat; or the words pu tui foil, unsuitable. This is shown by the pig's tendency to whine and dig up the pig-sty.

The traveller dreads the words pu hui lai, not to return, just as he is about to start on a journey from home. The servant dreads the words pu yao, or we don't want you.

If a family has been robbed the people of the house, when filling up the hole made by the thieves in the wall, will bury some fan, rice, and some fa, hair, at the bottom of the hole in the wall, believing that the thief will fan fa, or break the law, the play being on the sound of the characters.

Woodmen are afraid of the following: ho ch‘a, drink tea, as tea is the first thing offered to a swooning man; ho t‘ang, drink soup, also tao, to upset, and fên k‘ai, to separate, ta p‘o, to split up, also ch‘ai p‘o, to tread to pieces, for fear one of their number should be killed.

In the paper factory the owner is in constant dread of the water being let off from the vats before the paper is ready to come out. He also fears the water getting sour; this is called ma (麻) shui, spoiled water. He also dreads tuan pu ch‘i lai, or it cannot be lifted up, also lan kao, rotten in the