《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 81 (185):巴厘島診所
This is a good start . . . but is there no more information than that? A Thursday in what month? In what year? No telling. Anyway, the day of the week that you were born is more important in Bali than the year, which is why, even though Ketut doesn't know how old he is, he was able to tell me that the patron god of children born on Thursdays is Shiva the Destroyer, and that the day has two guiding animal spirits—the lion and the tiger. The official tree of children born on Thursday is the banyan. The official bird is the peacock. A person born on Thursday is always talking first, interrupting everyone else, can be a little aggressive, tends to be handsome ("a playboy or playgirl," in Ketut's words) but has a decent overall character, with an excellent memory and a desire to help other people.
這是好的開始……但除此之外別無其他資訊。哪個月的禮拜四？哪一年？誰也不知道。無論如何，在巴厘島，禮拜幾齣生比哪一年出生更重要，因此儘管賴爺不清楚自己幾歲，卻有辦法告訴我禮拜四出生的小孩，守護神是破壞者溼婆，這一天由兩個動物神靈所引導——獅與虎。禮拜四出生的孩子，代表樹木是榕樹，代表鳥類是孔雀。禮拜四出生的人總是先講話，打斷其他人，有點好鬥，偏向俊俏（以賴爺的話來說，"是花花公子或花花女郎"），但整體品格親切，記憶力佳，有幫助他人的慾望。When his Balinese patients come to Ketut with serious health or economic or relationship problems, he always asks on which day of the week they were born, in order to concoct the correct prayers and medicines to help them. Because sometimes, Ketut says, "people are sick in the birthday," and they need a little astrological adjustment in order to set them in bal-ance again. A local family brought their youngest son to see Ketut the other day. The child was maybe four years old. I asked what the problem was and Ketut translated that the family was concerned about "problems with very aggressive this boy. This boy not take orders. Bad behave. Not pay attention. Everyone in house tired from the boy. Also, sometimes this boy too dizzy."
他的巴厘島病患帶着健康、財務或感情問題來找他時，他總是問他們禮拜幾齣生，以便調配正確的禱文與藥方幫助他們。賴爺說，因爲有時候"人們的生日出了毛病"，須做些占星上的調整，以便讓他們迴歸平衡狀態。一戶當地人家有天帶了小兒子來看賴爺。孩子大約四歲。我問出了什麼問題，賴爺翻譯說，這家人擔心"小男孩有好鬥逞強的問題。小男孩不聽話，舉止不良，注意力不集中。家裏每個人都被小男孩搞得很累。還有，小男孩有時會頭暈。"Ketut asked the parents if he could hold the child for a moment. They put their son in Ketut's lap and the boy leaned back against the old medicine man's chest, relaxed and unafraid. Ketut held him tenderly, placed a palm on the child's forehead, shut his eyes. He then placed a palm on the boy's belly, shut his eyes again. He was smiling and speaking gently to the child the whole time. The examination was quickly over. Ketut handed the boy back to his parents, and the people left soon after with a prescription and some holy water. Ketut told me he'd asked the parents about the circumstances of the boy's birth and had discovered the child had been born under a bad star and on a Saturday—a day of birth which contains elements of potentially bad spirits, like crow spirit, owl spirit, rooster spirit (this is what makes the child a fighter) and puppet spirit (this is what's causing his dizziness). But it was not all bad news. Being born on Saturday, the boy's body also contained rainbow spirit and butterfly spirit, and these could be strengthened. A series of offerings would have to be made and the child would be brought into balance once more.
賴爺問父母能否抱孩子一會兒。他們把自己的兒子放在賴爺的大腿上，男孩向後靠在老藥師的胸膛上，輕鬆悠閒，毫不怕羞。賴爺溫柔地抱着他，一隻手掌擱在男孩的額頭，讓他閉上眼睛。而後一隻手掌放在男孩的肚子上，再一次讓他閉上眼睛。他從頭到尾對男孩微笑、輕聲說話。檢查很快結束。賴爺把男孩交還給父母，而後一家人帶着處方和聖水離去。賴爺跟我說他問了孩子的父母有關男孩的出生狀況，發現這孩子在邪星之日出生，而且是禮拜六——在這天出生，會有邪惡鬼魂的干擾因素，比方烏鴉鬼魂、貓頭鷹鬼魂、公雞鬼魂（使這孩子好鬥）、玩偶鬼魂（造成他的暈眩）。但並非都是壞消息。在禮拜六出生，男孩的身體也包含彩虹魂魄和蝴蝶魂魄，可予以強化，必須舉行一系列奉獻儀式，才能使孩子再次平衡。
