Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/346

 the occasion. This tune is changed when the party enters the gampōng road or rather the path which leads past the entrances of the enclosures within the gampōng.

Amid re-iterated cries of salawalééé! they at length arrive at the enclosure of the bride's parents, where the people of the latters' gampōng stand drawn up in rows ready to receive the guests. The new comers form up in line opposite to their hosts but the bridegroom is kept entirely in the background and as it were concealed from view.

There now begins another curious colloquy. An elder of the bride's gampōng asks: "Are ye all come, oh Teukus (i. e. gentlemen)", and those addressed reply in chorus, "We are here to serve your will". The questioner resumes, "Have ye all directed your steps hither, oh Teukus?" which question receives the same reply as the last, and finally the chorus of guests give a like answer to the question "Have ye all walked hither, oh Teukus?"

The three questions are then repeated in turn by all the principal personages of the bride's gampōng. When this child's-play has lasted long enough in the opinion of the master of the ceremonies, it is thought time to offer sirih and its accessories to the guests, who all this time remain outside the house. This civility is introduced by an elder of the bride's party in the following words:

"Your servant desires to speak a few words, for which he invokes the permission of you all, oh Teukus. Be it known unto you then, illustrious Teukus, that my brothers here desire, if Allah the Exalted so will, to go into your midst (i.e. in order to present the sirih); should they in so doing crowd or incommode you through predestined fate (God forbid that they should do so on purpose), then, oh Teukus, we humbly crave your forgiveness".

An elder among the guests replies as follows in behalf of all: "Good, be it according to the words of the Teuku (the last speaker) to us all. What says the Teuku? He says that his people wish to come amongst us. As regards crowding or pushing that is pre-ordained by God, if it be not done with the feet, we shall gladly submit to it . It matters not; we agree with great pleasure (lit. "on our head") that the Teukus come among us".

This Arabic formula "in shāʾllah" is very frequently used by the Achehnese in connections which would sound incorrect to Arab ears.