Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/318

 olden days have decreed that women with child should behave in this manner when the moon is in trouble, and the consequences of neglect are far too serious to be risked; so Sělěma and Ûmat acted ac- cordingly to their simple faith.

Later came a day when Sělěma nearly lost her life by reason of the barbarities which Malayan science holds to be necessary if a woman is to live through her confinement without mishap. Great bands of linen were passed around her body, and the ends were pulled at, tug-of-war fashion, by rival knots of aged crones. She was roasted over a charcoal brazier till her skin was blistered and she was well-nigh suffocated. She was made the victim of other in- describable horrors, and tortured in divers ways. Umat's brown face was gray with fear and anxiety. and drawn and aged with pain. He paced rest- lessly between his hut and my study, retailing to me realistic details of the enormities being perpetrated by the midwife and her assistants, and he poured the tale of his suspense into my ears, and wet the floor mats with his great beady tears. Hours passed, and at last a feeble cry came from Umat's house, a thin wailing which brought with it such relief that I, too, found the apple lumping in my throat. Ümat, beside himself with delight and almost delirious with joy at Sělěma's trial being over, rushed to me with the news that a man-child had been born to him, and that his wife was doing well. He was like a mad thing, laugh- ing through his tears and sobbing in his laughter, the most triumphant parent that I have ever seen.