We all heard our fair share of old wives’ tales from our family seniors. Stories to make us behave properly and not do stupid things. Some of them don’t even make sense but heck, we buy into it anyway. I myself believed in many of them as a boy. Here are three which stand out the most in my mind.
An angmoh tale about some chick (or dude) with wings and a sack full of coins and teeth who will pay you for your baby teeth. Place it under your pillow and voila! One dollar coin the next day. So that’s exactly what I did, and it worked every single time. Mind you a dollar was all I needed to eat back then in school. Imagine the glee I got to be a dollar richer for once. I was truly disappointed when I realised that actually it was my parents being awesome by chipping in a dollar for my every tooth. If she was real, I would bait the tooth fairy and rob her clean of her bling.
“Do not point at the moon or the moon goddess will cut your ear, she finds it very rude.” Like all foolish young kids with a lion’s bravery, I pointed. It was pretty damn ridiculous considering I could not even point a laser pointer straight back then. I did and sure enough morning came in with a small cut on my ear. I fell for it immediately and became exceptionally mindful of my fingers every full moon. Later on I dismissed my “cut” as being a small unfortunate scratch and the moon goddess seemed perfectly chill with me flipping it off every once in a while. I may not have gotten cut on my ear anymore, but the moon goddess probably returned the favour every time I flipped her off.
My mama told me that if I do not finish every grain in my plate or bowl, each grain will come back to haunt me in the form of a pimple or a rash. My grandmamma also told me the same thing except this time it will be on my future girlfriend/ boyfriend. Needless to say, I believed both accounts (well could not disbelieve either of them, so both must be true lor!) I became damn serious about my food. I didn’t want to be Pimple Boyfriend with his Pimple Girlfriend. Diligently and faithfully I finished my meals cleanly (exceptionally clean when it came to fried food). Still I had pimples and rashes and I used to think, “Damn my younger wasteful self”. Then I realised every one of my pubescent schoolmates had pimples and rashes. Wow.
