Sungei Merah Tales : Stone Mill Pressing on the Chest

 There is a Foochow saying that says "Stone Mill pressing on the chest" for a long time I did not understand the actual meaning of the metaphor.

It means "Rest assured, All is well."

Here is a story that tells the real thing and the meaning is exactly the opposite.

In the lunar month of the 8th moon, the Foochows in Sg. Merah would be catching a lot of small crabs to make the tiny crab sauce called pangi cheong, a delicacy sauce which goes with meat. It is very very delicious and very well loved. Today it is a precious commodity selling at about 40 ringgit a 750 ml bottle.

Pangi is a tiny crab that lives in the swamps and they come out to mate in the 8th month. Thousands will gather together and it was fun watching them crossing the road sometimes when they mate they would hide under the newly cut grass (the time for cutting and burning of grass for the planting season to begin). After the 8th month the rain will set in and it would be just nice for padi to grow.

My friend who shared with me this story was my school mate. He told me this almost tragic story which happened when he was about 5 years old.

A very rustic stone mill on a wooden stand.

His father had rented one small room for the whole family in this huge rental house which had a court yard in the middle. The house is U shaped, with rooms all around the courtyard where people work, do stuff, quarrel or even have time to gossip.

There was a huge wooden stand for a gian sized stone mill which every one could use to grind rice flour to make cakes, or to grind soy beans to make soy bean milk. It was used to grind the little pangi to make fermented pangi sauce.

And one day for some reason, the wooden stand collapse and a woman who was preparing the sauce was trapped under the heavy stone mill. She did not know that she was not strong enough to hold up the stone mill. In the end, the stone mill was on top of her chest because she slipped on the sauce and she ended up all covered with the red sauce, with the stone mill on top of her chest.

She was covered by the Pangi sauce and it looked like she was having blood all over her body and the yard.

People could not forget the horrible sight. And they thought that she was killed by the stone mill.

The stone mill was literally pressing on her chest. And no, not all was well with her.

a dish of pangi sauce, and some jelly fish. These two go very well together.

My friend who told me the story said that Sg. Merah would always bring a lot of sad memories to him because he and his family had to struggle very hard to keep themselves alive. But now, he is doing well. I am happy for him.