Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/266

248 and fleshless jaws, making it look a very ghastly object. The witch then took up small pebbles, with which she pelted the skull. As these pebbles fell to the ground, they became dwarf warriors, who, with headless bodies, danced round and round the altar, until they fell down exhausted.

"By the side of one of these prostrate warriors, appeared the form of a young girl, beautiful as a bida-darie, or angel. Aruman gazed on this vision with astonishment and admiration, but as he looked the whole vanished from his sight, leaving him in complete darkness. Trying to grope his way out of these haunted regions, his foot slipped on the marshy ground, became entangled amidst thorny bushes, or stumbled over rocks and stones; but this ordeal did not last long, for the weird woman, who, unseen, watched him, satisfied that he was a bold boy, despatched two tigers to walk on each side of him, and by the light of their eyes,