"Ho (ye Spirits) turn back my Deer! If you do not turn them back, At sea ye shall get no drink, Ashore ye shall find no food. By virtue of the word of God," etc. I will conclude with the following charm, believed to be a means of bringing the stag low:-- "Measure off three sticks (probably dead wood taken from the slot of the deer, as in the case of the elephant), their length being measured by the distance from the roof of your mouth to the teeth of the lower jaw. Lay these sticks in a triangular form inside the slot of the stag, press the left thumb downwards in the centre of the triangle, and humble your heart. This will humble the deer's heart too." The Mouse-deer or chevrotin is the "Brer Rabbit" of the Malays. It figures in many proverbial sayings and romances, in which it is credited with extraordinary sagacity, and is honoured by the title of "Mentri B'lukar," the "Vizier of the (secondary) Forest-Growth." [319] It is generally taken by means of a snare called tapah pelandok, but sometimes by tapping on the ground with sticks (mengetok pelandok), the sound of which is supposed to imitate the drumming of the buck's fore-feet upon the ground in rutting-time, by which the attention of the doe is attracted. Whatever the reason may be, there is no doubt that the method is often successful. When this "tapping" method is adopted, the charms used are similar to those used for calling the big deer, e.g.-- "Arak-arak iring-iring Kembang bunga si Panggil-Panggil, Datang berarak, datang beriring, Raja Suleiman datang memanggil. Follow in procession, follow in succession, The Assembly-flower has opened its petals. Come in procession, come in succession, King Solomon comes to summon you." But at the end of the charm is added, "Ini-lah gong-nya," i.e. "This is his (King Solomon's) gong." The stick which is used may be of any kind of wood except a creeper, and the best place for the operation is where the ground sounds hollow when tapped. Either three, five, or seven leaves must, however, be laid on the spot before the tapping is commenced. The directions for setting the snare (jerat or tapah pelandok) were taken down by me as follows:-- First look for a tree whose sap is viscid, and chop at it thrice (with a cutlass). If the splinters fall, one the right and the other the wrong way up (lit. one prone and the other supine), it is a bad sign (though it is a good sign when one is setting a trap); for in the case of a snare they must fall the wrong way up (supine). When this is done, commence to set the snare near the foot of a tree, at about a fathom's distance, and say:-- "As a cocoa-nut shell rocks to and fro When filled with clay, Avaunt ye, Jembalang and Badi, That I may set this snare." Next you say:--