ABSTRACT
BESIDES the jnun the evil eye is a very frequent cause of misfortune. It is said that “ the evil eye owns two-thirds of the graveyard ” — L -a in landa fu lfa y in fe l-mqabar ; 1 or that “ one half of mankind dies from the evil eye ” — N-ntiss f e bnadem ka im uf be l-a in ; or that at any rate one-third of all living beings are killed by the same enemy. There is another saying, that “ the evil eye empties the castles (or ‘ houses ’) and fills the graves ” — L -a in tS/dhli l-qosdr wa ts7%1 ammir l-qobdr (Fez), or L -a in tsh li d-duydr wa f i t1 ammir l-qobor (Tangier). So firmly is the evil eye believed in, that if some accident happens at a wedding or any other feast where a person reputed to have an evil eye is present, it is attributed to him and he may have to pay damages ; and if such a person looks at another’s animal and it shortly after wards dies, he is likewise held responsible for the loss.
