ana PN šālšu liqbakka

Ask PN, he should tell you.

ríʔišk ṭad ʕag ŝíbɛb ʕámok yeʕúmor énne íno ḳábe be-ʔέʔɛfo ḥa fɔ́ne ʕö́mor íno aḷ-šέʔmonk toy ʕö́mor ḷaḷ yeʕúmor ʕáže ḳábe bes zúʕa di-ʕamḳ di-rénhem wa-bóuḷog ʕes tri óbni ṭey ḷe-dέfɛ wa-ṭey ḷe-dέfɛ ke aʕmɛyréro šeṭóubob ʕes wa-kaḷ aʕmɛyréro wa-sebóḥo yeʕúmor ɛ ḳábe bes ʕámok ken aḷ-šέʔmonk ber ḳábe bes ʕámok hey wa-ʔɛ šέʔmonk ʕö́mor aḷ-šέʔmonk

“I asked one old man: “They say that in the old days some people owned ḳábe?” He replied, "Yes, it is." But I didn't believe him. Then he told me: “If about some the woman was told that she had ḳábe, she was taken out to the open sea, tied two stones to her, one on one side, the other on the other one. If she started to sink, they pulled her out, but if she did not, and floated, people said: ‘Aha! She definitely has ḳábe’”. I replied: "No I believe that she had some kind of ḳábe”. And then he asked the old man: “Do you yourself believe?” He said, "No, I don't believe."

In Soq. the term ḳábe means ‘clairvoyance; supernatural, magical  powers’. It is a very crucil concept becuase people of Soqotra believe a lot in witchcraft, magic and clairvoyance, and it constitutes the real essence of their religion and faith. A woman who has ḳábe is called meḳtɛbóʔo, and she is considered to be a 'good sorceress' (gütige Fee). She can accompany evil magicians, but when they are going to 'eat' a person (i.e. to bewitch him), she could inform him about their intentions, and thus, save him. 

But, there is the contradictory attitude towards ḳábe in Soqotra society. On the one hand, people are very much afraid of it, so trying not to talk about holders of ḳábe, even in their absence. On the other hand, they can be useful if needed, for example, to establish the nature of an unknown disease (“spoilage”) and its trigger. Clairvoyance is considered to be a phenomenon which is fading away nowadays: érem šin έʔɛfo di-béyhen ḳábe tóʔo ʕad yenófeʕ nö́foy súwa wa-ḥer aḷ-kin kaḷ ṭad di-ʕúmor ínoʔš bey wa-ľáken aḷ-šébtet 'We used to have people who had ḳábe – until  they behaved themselves properly. Today, there are few such people. It happens that they say: “He has (ḳábe)!”, but it's not really obvious.'

yiqqǝḇūhū ˀōrǝrē yōm hā-ˁăṯīdīm ˁōrēr liwyāṯān (Job 3:8)

May those who curse the day curse it, those who are ready (= skilful) to arouse Leviathan (and then, call forth from his hiding place)

(i.e. a kind of enchanters who were supposed to render days unfortunate by their imprecations).