Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/211

Rh 3. These combinations are subjected to the following rules:

A glance at the diagram here given will show that all the eight figures below have actually been formed according to these rules. If we, for instance, compare Talé and Harèna, from which Làlana is to be formed, we get dissimilar numbers all the way, as all the pairs of squares have one and two, and consequently Làlana gets only one bean in all its squares. Exactly the same procedure—mutatis mutandis—takes place in the filling in of the remaining seven columns below.

V.——When the sikìdy is "erected" or arranged in the manner just described, the question arises: What is to be done with it? How to work it so as to get an answer to your questions, a medicine for your sickness, or a charm against the evils of which you may be apprehensive, etc.?

Let it be remarked at the outset, that the sikìdy properly deals with questions put to it. To answer these is its proper function. But if you ask what is the root of an evil, or the means of removing or averting it, etc., the answer will of course point out to you the cure of your evils, as well, and so far, appear as ars medica. There are, however, kinds of sikìdy in which no question is put, but the remedy for the evil is prescribed at once. But as these are rather different from the ordinary sikìdy-process, they will be noticed in a separate section. What concerns us now is,