Much
plague and sickness and fevers are coming upon all the earth,
upon men and upon horses and upon cattle; but as you and your
people have obeyed me and have come up to my great mountain, I
will teach you how you and all the people of Lombock may escape
this plague." And all waited anxiously, to hear how they were to
be saved from so fearful a calamity. And after a short silence
the Rajah spoke again and told them, that the great spirit had
commanded that twelve sacred krisses should be made, and that to
make them every village and every district must send a bundle of
needles - a needle for every head in the village. And when any
grievous disease appeared in any village, one of the sacred
krisses should be sent there; and if every house in that village
had sent the right number of needles, the disease would
immediately cease; but if the number of needles sent had not been
exact, the kris would have no virtue.
So the princes and chiefs sent to all their villages and
communicated the wonderful news; and all made haste to collect
the needles with the greatest accuracy, for they feared that if
but one were wanting, the whole village would suffer. So one by
one the head men of the villages brought in their bundles of
needles; those who were near Mataram came first, and those who
were far off came last; and the Rajah received them with his own
hands and put them away carefully in an inner chamber, in a
camphor-wood chest whose hinges and clasps were of silver; and on
every bundle was marked the name of the village and the district
from whence it came, so that it might be known that all had heard
and obeyed the commands of the great spirit.
And when it was quite certain that every village had sent in its
bundle, the Rajah divided the needles into twelve equal parts,
and ordered the best steelworker in Mataram to bring his forge
and his bellows and his hammers to the palace, and to make the
twelve krisses under the Rajah's eye, and in the sight of all men
who chose to see it. And when they were finished, they were
wrapped up in new silk and put away carefully until they might be
wanted.
Now the journey to the mountain was in the time of the east wind
when no rain falls in Lombock. And soon after the krisses were
made it was the time of the rice harvest, and the chiefs of
districts and of villages brought their tax to the Rajah
according to the number heads in their villages.
