ABSTRACT
Field research, clinical data, and child observation show a certain uniformity in the dynamic reaction of the viewer to an encounter with a false face. While false face is a fitting characterization, any disguise is deceptive and is meant to be so, regardless of its kind or genre, be it the threatening mask of an ogre or the clownish appearance of a circus performer. The masker plays his role, and it remains for the onlooker to conceptualize and react to the encounter. The various narratives as well as careful child observation show certain elementary correlations in the initial reaction of many people to maskers as well as strangers. The vast majority of the tribal traditions records actual fright. The essential part of Balinese tradition is under the sway of Hindu-Buddhist ideology. The legends, the Balinese example, and the behavioral response of many children show notable and, for our purposes, salient parallels.
