《美食祈禱和戀愛》Chapter 77 (174):慈祥的賴爺
Ketut is relaxed and gracious with his company. He listens to the parents explain their baby's troubles. Then he digs through a small trunk on his porch and pulls out an ancient ledger filled with tiny writing in Balinese Sanskrit. He consults this book like a scholar, looking for some combination of words that will suit him, talking and laughing with the parents the whole time. Then he takes a blank page from a notebook with a picture of Kermit the Frog on it, and writes what he tells me is "a prescription" for the little girl. The child is being tormented by a minor demon, he diagnoses, in addition to the physical discomforts of teething. For the teething, he advises the parents to simply rub the baby's gums with pressed red onion juice. To appease the demon, they must make an offering of a small killed chicken and a small pig, along with a little bit of cake, mixed with special herbs which their grandmother should defin-itely have access to from her own medicine garden. (This food won't be wasted; after the of-fering ceremony, Balinese families are always allowed to eat their own donations to the gods, since the offering is more metaphysical than literal. The way the Balinese see it, God takes what belongs to God—the gesture—while man takes what belongs to man—the food itself.)
賴爺對待他的客人隨和親切。他聆聽這對父母說明孩子的問題，而後他從陽臺的小箱子裏掏出一本古賬本，裏頭以巴釐梵語寫滿小字。他像學者般參考這本冊子，尋找合適的文字組合，自始至終與這對父母說說笑笑。然後他從一本上面有隻克米蛙的筆記簿上取下一頁，爲小女娃寫下"藥方"。他診斷這名孩子除了長牙的身體不適外，還受到小惡魔侵擾。對於長牙問題，他建議父母以紅洋蔥汁塗抹女娃的牙齦。至於安撫惡魔，則必須殺雞宰豬獻祭，連同一小塊糕餅——用他們的祖母從自己的草藥花園採摘下來的特殊藥草混合製成（這些食物不會白費；獻祭儀式過後，巴釐人家總是允許食用自己獻給神的供品，因爲祭品的象徵意義大過實質。巴釐人的看法是，神取用屬於自己的東西——人的心意；人取用屬於自己的東西——食物本身。）After writing the prescription, Ketut turns his back to us, fills a bowl with water, and keens a spectacular, quietly chilling mantra above it. Then Ketut blesses the baby with the water he has just infused with sacred power. Even at one year old, the child already knows how to re-ceive a holy blessing in the traditional Balinese manner. Her mother holds her, and the baby puts out her little plummy paws to receive the water, sips it once, sips it again and splashes the rest on top of her head—a perfectly executed ritual. She could not be less frightened of this toothless old man who is chanting at her. Then Ketut takes the rest of the holy water and pours it into a small plastic sandwich bag, ties the bag at the top and gives it to the family to use later. The mother carries this plastic bag of water away with her as she leaves; it looks like she has just won a goldfish at the state fair, only she forgot to take the goldfish with her.
寫完藥方後，賴爺轉過身去，盛了一碗水，在其上方唱了一首精彩、冷森森的咒語。而後賴爺用他剛剛賦予神聖力量的水祝福女娃。即使年紀才一歲，這孩子已經知道如何接受巴釐傳統的神聖祝福。母親抱着女娃，女娃伸出圓潤的手接受聖水，啜飲一口，再啜飲一口，把剩餘的水灑在自己頭上——完美的儀式。她絲毫不怕對她吟唱的無牙老頭。隨後賴爺將剩餘的聖水倒入小塑膠袋內，紮起來，給這家人之後使用。母親拿着盛在塑膠袋裏的水離去，好似剛剛在嘉年華會贏得一條金魚，卻忘了帶走金魚一般。Ketut Liyer has given this family about forty minutes of his undivided attention, for the fee of about twenty-five cents. If they hadn't any money at all, he would have done the same; this is his duty as a healer. He may turn nobody away, or the gods will remove his talent for healing. Ketut gets about ten visitors a day like this, Balinese who need his help or advice on some holy or medical matter. On highly auspicious days, when everyone wants a special blessing, he might have over one hundred visitors.
老四賴爺給這家人四十分鐘的全心關懷，收費二十五美分。他們若沒有錢，他也會做同樣的事情；這是身爲治療師分內之事。他不能拒絕任何人，否則神明將解除他的治療天分。賴爺每天約有十名巴釐訪客，全需要他幫忙或詢問有關神明或醫療之事。在喜慶佳節，人人都想要特殊的祝福時，訪客人數可能過百。
