ed
to separate the young couple by "working the works of Satan" over them,
which in plain English means, exercising sorcery. But I will tell the
story as I heard it from the mother.

Five weeks after the wedding the old woman contrived to steal secretly
into the bride's room and sprinkle over it a powder possessing the power
of casting an evil spell over those she wished to injure, and, to make
her work more efficacious, she further wrapped a knife with evil charms
and hid it amongst the bridegroom's clothes. Shortly after she met the
young man, and clutching him by the arm, her sharp eyes gleaming from
between the folds of her veil, she hissed: "Know, O man, that I have
bewitched thee and ere long thou shalt be separated from thy bride!" On
entering the house that evening, he complained that he felt as though in
a furnace. It was a cold night and the family were shivering, but he
kept casting off one garment after another, exclaiming that the awful
heat was unendurable and that he was surely bewitched.

This went on evening after evening for a whole week until he declared
that he could stand it no longer, and could only rid himself of his
sufferings by a divorce. Before the kadi he explained that he had
nothing against the girl nor their family, who had always treated him
with great kindness, but he was under the influence of sorcery and must
be divorced. And this statement was accepted as perfectly reasonable.
What astonished me the most was, that the bride's parents exonerated him
from all blame. As the mother said, "I loved him as my own son, but he
could not help it." The old woman had worked the works of Satan over
him, and how could he escape?

This incident shows not only the slender nature of the marriage ties but
also the immense power which _superstition_ exercises over the mind. It
seems to be part of a Moslem woman's very nature, and largely influences
all her life from the cradle to the grave.

Beware, when visiting an Arab woman, of too greatly admiring her tiny
baby, however engaging it may be! Such admiration would surely attract
"the evil eye," and then woe to the little one! The safest course of an
ignorant Roumi (Christian) is merely to glance at her little child and
say, "Mabrouk" (May it be blest).

Is there illness in the house, a message is first sent to the "degaz"
(soothsayer), who writes a magic paper, encloses it in a leather case,
and sends it to the sick one with directions to fasten i