“I was told,” the man continued, “to make another lesong for my wife. This I obediently did, but I did not succeed in pleasing her with my second attempt any better than I did with my first. I was told to go into the jungle and make her a third mortar. This I refused to do. I said that evidently I could not make a wooden mortar to her satisfaction, and the best thing to do was for us to get someone else to make one, and pay him for it. She was very angry at my refusal, and said that when she married she did not expect to have to buy things which other husbands made for their wives.
A Dyak Bride
She wears a silver filigree comb in her hair and a necklace of brass or silver buttons. Round her body is the brass corset worn by the women and three belts of silver coins. She has bangles on her wrists and earrings in her ears. Her jacket is slung over her right shoulder.
A Dyak Girl
Round her body is the brass corset the women wear, and she has a necklace made of large buttons of brass or silver.
“In all this,” he said, “my wife was backed up by her mother, who, in many ways, had been making mischief, and was often criticizing my work. I said little, but when she called me the ‘dead body of a man’ (bangkai orang) it was more than I could stand, and when she went on to say that I might just as well return to my people if I was not going to work, I packed up my clothes and returned to my parents.
“After a few days my mother-in-law came to the house of my parents to ask me to return with her. I refused to do so, because, I said, I was not sure what sort of reception I should get from my wife. She said that she had been sent by my wife, and that I need not fear that there would be any unpleasantness. Still I refused to return, and I told my mother-in-law that I would not return unless my wife came herself to ask me.”
(I may remark that it is a very unusual thing for a man to speak in this way to his mother-in-law. She is treated with so much respect that it is very seldom a Dyak dares to oppose her wishes.)