Browse:"CHANNEL DE WORLD" (Volume 5, entries 10604–13458)/Part 29
"CHANNEL DE WORLD"
Volume 5, entries 10604–13458. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
1 listed entry is unavailable here.
Entries
Entry 12844
Protect yourself against evil work by bathing with red pepper and fish brine. [Richmond 325:10.]
Entry 12845
Put salt in foot tracks to keep person from harming you. [Memphis 1550:2.]
Entry 12846
Throw salt down and sweep it behind unwelcome visitor. [Memphis 1572:9.]
Entry 12847
They'd sprinkle some salt aroun' house an' sulphur, an' they kin git choo that way. An' you walk into that, why it'll stick to your feet. They say that'll make sick - that sulphur would make you sick an' cause your bones to achin'. [Wilmington 250:1+85.]
Entry 12848
Salt and sulphur can be burned against any type of evil. [Fredicks- burg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 12849
To protect yourself against cunjure, wear salt and pepper in both shoes. [Wilmington 254:1+85.]
Entry 12850
Salt and sulphur in left shoe keeps away cunjure. [Wilmington 163:14+85.]
Entry 12851
Salt at door and sulphur burned guards against evil to house. [Wil- mington 116:2+85.]
Entry 12852
Burn salt and sulphur on stove to drive away any evil. [Norfolk 49 493:8.]
Entry 12853
Keep cunjure away by wearing salt and sulphur in a bag round waist or neck. [Wilmington 171:5+85.]
Entry 12854
Mix salt, sulphur and lard and wear it in a bag about your neck to protect against cunjure. [Fredericksburg, by Ediphone.]
Entry 12855
They will lay salt and sulphur on a pan lid or top, set it under your bed, and burn it to run you away from the house. [Memphis 1553:9.]
Entry 12856
To rid yourself of an unwanted visitor, keep mixed salt and pepper handy and throw it after him or her on 3 successive visits. [Wilmington 220:7+85.]
Entry 12857
You can rid yourself permanently of an undesirable guest by throwing salt, pepper and sulphur behind him, saying, Go you son-of-a-bitch. [Newport News 512:5.]
Entry 12858
An enemy can run you out of your house, permanently by burning in it salt, cayenne pepper, and sulphur. [Richmond 374:11.]
Entry 12859
Dig a hole on each side of the gate and into them bury salt, soda and sulphur, calling the Lord's Name 3 times. This keeps any person with evil against you off the property. [Wilmington 205:3+85.]
Entry 12860
You can protect yourself against roots or root work by wearing salt, black pepper and sulphur in your right shoe. [Wilmington 138:1+85.]
Entry 12861
Wear salt, red pepper and sulphur in both shoes as a protection against evil work. [Wilmington 208:2+85; Newport News 506:4.]
Entry 12862
As an unusual method of protecting yourself against conjuration, wear salt, pepper and sulphur on top of your head. [A note of mine reads: This is used in one cure story. Which?] [Wilmington 119:6+85.]
Entry 12863
To protect yourself against walking over roots or anything planted for you, grease the soles of your feet [this for persons walking barefoot] with a mixture of salt, red pepper, sulphur and Innocent Oil [for latter see 486:2, wherever that is] and grease soles of feet. [Norfolk 488:5.]
Entry 12864
You spect [suspect] somebody put somepin around fer you, or give you to wear, sprinkle salt and pepper in this sulphir...wear it in your shoes fer 9 mornin's. [Jacksonville 701:11.]
Entry 12865
Sprinkle salt, pepper and vinegar in your house and on the doorsteps to prevent people from giving you bad luck. [Washington, D. C. 822:2a.]
Entry 12866
I know an old woman that said if a man kept on living on the place and got disagreeable, she said she used to go out in the morning before day and walk backwards and throw that saltpeter in his path in [the form of] a cross and wish him bad luck and he would leave that farm. They say saltpeter is a great hand to destory any- thing you don't like. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Ediphone.]
Entry 12867
Now, yo' kin take for instance in yore clothes or in yore shoes, if dey's tryin' tuh git chew tricked. Yo' wear saltpeter in yore shoes - either shoe you put in - dat saltpeter in your shoes. An' whenever yo' go out yo' got dat in. Then you kin put a pod of garlic - garlic. They don't nevah beat the garlic. They cain't nevah do you nothin' atall.
(Where do you keep that?)
Anywhere about. Anywhere you go be sure yo' got dat garlic. Morning and night you keep it on yore person - de pod of garlic. An' dat saltpeter in de bottom of your shoe - any shoe. Jes' go an' sprinkle de bottom of yore shoe with saltpeter.
Entry 12868
An' dey say yo' kin take bluestone an' saltpeter, beat it up an' make yo' a kine [kind] of a little sack yo' know lak [sack-lak yo' know] an' wear it in yore shoe an' dat'll keep yo' from ketching dis stuff.
(Anything that anybody puts down for you.)
Yes sir.
Entry 12869
"Get your [bath] water and bathe in it, and put a certain 'mount of saltpeter in it, and bathe in it, and throw it out at [towards] sunrise. Take a spell off you." [Mobile 978:2.]
Entry 12870
Saltpeter in bottom of shoes, "keep 'em from harming you." [Mobile 944:8.]
Entry 12872
"Anybody tryin' to harm you...carry a lump of saltpeter...let it dis- solve in your mouth and swallow it." [Mobile 901:6.]
Entry 12874
Mix a tablespoonful of saltpeter with Jockey Club perfume an' rub over hands for luck in gambling. The saltpeter kills any cunjure and Jockey Club sweetens the luck.
Entry 12875
Well, dey got a root dey call de Sampson Giant root.
(Sampson what?)
Sampson Giant root. It's a root, it's impossible almost to break it. Well, it would, could stand a tremendous pressure to break it, but jis' hand it to a person ordinarily, they can't do anything with it. An' they call it the Samp- son Giant root. And they claim that you kin take it and by using it through a perfume, or else using a piece of gum, and you apply for a job, that nine times out of ten, whoever you ask for a job, he will write you up to go to work or give you a proposition to come back at another time. That there's no way to refuse you as long as you got a piece of it, and kin get around him so as to encircle him. Why you got him under your influence during that time.
(You have to go and circle around him?)
Circle and naturally he'll stop. And you tell him your business, that you come to apply for a job. And of course he's more 'an apt to look over and give you somepin to do. That's known as the Sampson Giant root.
Entry 12876
Chew Sampson snakeroot and spit 3 times in front of boss when asking for job. [Memphis 1561:5.]
Entry 12877
Ah've heard a person kin steal yore scissors an' put chew in bad luck, take yore luck from yo'.
(How do they do that?)
Ah don't know how they do that!
Entry 12878
Yo' take dem scissors, a brand-new pair of scissors an' yo' put 'em undah yore bed, but chew open 'em an' put 'em next tuh where yo' lay, an' open 'em an' them scissors will bring anything back to yo' dat chew Want [that was taken from you]: money or a woman or a man, anything yo' want back to yo'.
[Algiers 2994:12.]
Entry 12879
Take de scissors an' don' close 'em up, open dem out yo' know, an' stick dem [them] down jes' undahneath yore bed. Stick de points up lak dat [demonstrates]. Keep yo' in good luck.
(Have the scissors open and the points sticking up under your bed?)
Yes. Yo' know, jes' lak de scissors open dis way, an' jes' stick dem down dat way [demonstrates]. [Points of scissors stick down into floor.] Or eithah a glass of watah. Yo' see, dat glass of watah, jes' have enough watah in it to know dere's watah in de glass undah yore bed. Dat's for luck.
(The points of the scissors are sticking down to the floor under the bed.)
Entry 12880
Dey take dese redhead scorpion. Ah know of a woman blind her husband dataway. Take a redhead scorpion an' git rid of yo' dataway, too. Take a red- head scorpion an' kill it. Put him out, yo' know, in de sun an' let hi git good an' dry. Dat head'll dry yo' know, it will git hard an' dry. Take an' beat it up fine an' it be like powder. Yo' know, mash it up. Den put it in de band of dere hat, like chew know around.
(Inside the band of the hat?)
Yes, dats right, an' yo' see dat sweat run down in dere eye. Blind 'en jes' as when yo' come in dis world.
Entry 12881
Why yo' take dis scorpion an' kill him an' care [carry]'in tuh a... Jes' lak if yo' wanted tuh kill a person, take dat scorpion an' some black guml powder an' Bone red pep per an' some graveyard dirt an' tie it dere. Put it on - git a chance tuh git inside his house an' let him sleep on it, an' he commence failing. De doctors [H. D.'s] couldn't do anything - ain't nuthin de doctors could do - unlessen be [patient] goes tuh a man dat knows somepin about it.
Entry 12882
Scrub your home with sugar, cinnamon and wintergreen and you mop that out. Don't put no soap or no powder, just mop the place in. Always start at de sill of the door, mop it in. Then after that, take you some cinnamon and steel dust and sprin- kle all around into the home, just sprinkle it into the place - the four corners of the house. And that draws openers for you for business.
Entry 12883
You can go to that same drug store and you can buy some dust they call gavan dust. You take this gavan dust and you - with your overnight urine - a whole bucketful of overnight urine. An' yo' mix this gavan in the overnight urine and you stir it up. And you put that all round the ban- quette at your place. You scrub with it. And every customer that passes, and if they smell it, it attracts big attention. Catch them and they come right on into the place where you is. And if they got a nickel or dime, they is going to spend it.
(You mean van-van or...)
Gavan. They got van-van and gavan, but van-van is red and gavan is black. [My transcriber heard this word as Gagan, which may be the original.]
Entry 12884
Scrub it out good with Red Seal Lye, got the red seal [trademark] on it...an' yo' wrench [rinse] it good this day - like today - and tomorrow you go there and you use nine buckets of water. And the ninth bucket of water you put sugar and cinnamon and Burben fast luck in it, and it'll be lucky and you'll, can rent the house.
(What kind of fast luck?)
Berb - bur - I believe - Burbeans - you know that spells beans.
(Burbean's?)
Yeah, Burbean's Fast Luck.
(What is it, an oil or a powder?)
It's a oil-like. You gets that outa the drug store.
Entry 12885
Now, if you bottleggin', you want trade. Now you go to your drug store. You buy you a pound of that brown sugah, you understand. You get choo a codfish ball - you know what dat codfish, big O [ole] codfish! You get that and get you a nickel's worth of pahsley [parsley]. Now, you gona take dat pahsley, codfish ball, the sugar. You take your water, about 2 quarts or quart an' a half. Fix what you want, any kind of water. An' yo' put it in a pot or bucket, or whatsomever will hold it. And put all that stuff into the water and let it boil. Let it boil down to one quart [the magic of diminishing amount]. An' use your pot every morning, like Friday's, that myst be your busy day for Saturday. Like Wednesday you wan'a take that day for cleaning up. Well, you take that water and git you someone to go out to clean up your place for you - just sprinkle that water - go to the front - come to the front like this [demon- strates], you see, an' come right on in [from the front door, leading future customers in]. Now, I don't tell you that people will spend their money there, but I'll guarantee you'll have a crowd there an' you won't have standing room. But somebody will spend money. You understand how that is? That'll square you. I do that.
Entry 12886
To keep the laws away, stick that lye and keep scrubbing lye - chan- ber-lye [urine] - use that and scrub well with it, all around the door place, the doors and on the porch where they go backwards and forwards at. And then you - you get some oil of bergamine [bergamot].
(Oil of what?)
Oil of bergamine.
(Berg...)
Bergumine - oil of bergumine.
(What's that?)
[Here may be the first time I ever heard this troublesome word bergamine. Other hearings of the word followed. The long process by which I came up with bergamot I no longer remember. Many words gave me trouble.] That's a oil jest like oil of cinnamon. It's got a scent, only de scent is different. See. And you put that in your bath water and bathe with it.
(What do you do that for?)
What do you do that for? Well, anytime you come in contact with the law, you kin almost - always square 'em up.
(I see.)
Entry 12887
In de business line - fo' customers, if yo' runnin' dis place of busi- ness. Now, yo' kin take when yo' knock off [close] dis place at night, put some of dis Hearts Cologne in de water an' mop dis buildin' out dat night. An' don't sweep none of yore dirt out at night after six a'clock, outa yore front atall. Dat'll make business an' yo'll prosper mo'.
(Brings customers in.)
Entry 12888
The word seal in HOODOO means a small slip of paper on which a design or message is printed or written. Some hoodoo shops during the Great Depression sold a printed seal for a feu pennies to entice custoaers into the shop, where they also sold salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, etc., all of them considered purer and nore power- ful than in an ordinary food shop. Some doctors made their own seal for clients or patients. And finally the seal degenerated [if that is the word] to a point where anyone could design or write his own seal! This latter word, seal, had become somewhat holy because of its use in The Revelation of John, last book of of the Bible. As I said elsewhere, seals are hands, see No.2279, p.643, v.1.] A seal - get you some. I've had one myself.
(A what?)
A seal.
(A seal?)
Yes, sir.
(You buy these?)
You buy de seal. Use'ly kin buy one out here at New Orleans [what a strange expression for a person in Vicksburg to use!]. And after getting this seal, it's not suppose to be - it supposed to be wore on you. You just wear that yourself - [protection against] the law...
[I turn off machine too quickly and must repeat informant's words.]
(It's a white piece of paper?)
Yes, sir. It's got a seal [a design] on it, but it's sompin that you gets out chere at New Orleans.
Entry 12889
Seal ovah de do'. (What kind of a seal? A seal from the Sixth and Seventh books of Moses?)
[Since these were considered by Moses, they also added to the holiness of seals.]
Yeah. No. De Lawd is mah shepherd. Ah shall not want.
(You write that on a piece of paper?)
Dat's right. He made me de light. Ah'm in green pasture. He anoint mah head wit oil.
(And that will keep the law away, if you are bootlegging or anything.)
Dat's right.
Entry 12890
You kin take three mens.
(What?)
Mens, like you and I.
(Oh, take three men. Yes?)
Three men and in between these men you can just say that you wanta take one of them mens as a trap. You wanta take this man here and trap these two men. Well, you kin give that man there anything that you wanta eat [or drink]. Take a bottle of whiskey that's never been used and you take your hand and play with yourself until you discharge. [Human semen is common in HOODOO.] You put it in this whiskey and you stop it up and you turn that down like that and leave it for nine days.
(So that it is leaning against something?)
Yes, in the corner of the house - in the left hand corner of the house. [This is a cornering rite, very common. The left-hand corner is to the left as you enter house or room.]
(All right.)
All right, in 9 days you take this whiskey up. At 9 o'clock you meet this party and you ask him if he wants a drink. You gotta be sure that he do's drink, and you take some and give it to him. And then you leave him with the bottle. They drink it all up. Whatever they do with it, you see 'em drink some before you leave 'em. If they got one or two men, they'll finely wean away from them men and crave to you.
(You do this to a woman?)
Yes.
Entry 12891
I tell you how that is did. She takes some of his discharge, and use some kind of solution on it, and use it like dat and have you [a man] so you can't have no ambitions for her or no other woman. (What would she do with that?) Just take it and there some kind of solution that made up with some kind of root, some kind of root you go out and get. I know a old man out chere got some of it. And when she gets up she shake dat bottle.
(She puts the solution together?)
Puts the solution in with the urinate, and with this root and stop it up, and shake dat bottle every morning for nine mornings. And the tenth morning, instead of her shaking it, she throws it over her right shoulder and breaks the bottle. Then as she turns around, she turns to the right.
(She turns to the right?)
Turn to the right when she turns, and pick that up. Just pick up what's left, the roots and things of that kind, and takes 'em and wraps 'em up and places 'em away to some safe place.
(And what will that do to him?)
That will keep him from having anything to do with anybody. His use goes entirely away.
Entry 12892
I've heard of a case of that kind, where he runs around and she don't want him to run around. You go to the drug store and get you some sterile cot- ton. When you go to bed at night, and if you have connection With him, you give him a towel to use on himself, and after you have connection with him, let him do everything, don't you do nothing. And when you have finished, you use that cotton, and give him a towel to use. You take that and get you a man's pocket handkerchief. You take and tie it up in the middle of that handkerchief, the cotton that I've used. [A quincunx rite, the center of 4 corners ] I've used the cotton myself. He'll never know the difference you see. I'll tie it up in that handkerchief like this [demonstrates]. Be sure it's linen. Get a brand-new handkerchief and tie in there, and cut the ends of that handkerchief off, open my mattress and put it in that mattress, and he'll never run around no more.
Entry 12893
[These two separate rites I have left together for the sake of the reference; the first rite being somewhat special, the second fairly common:] Dey'll take de bottom, jes' lak yo' got a ole piece of stockin' an' take de bottom out of a stockin'. Cut it off an' let it be dirty. It can't do yo' no harm unless it's dirty. Dey take de bottom of dat stockin' an' cut it out - cut de bottom of dat stockin' out - an' takes it an' stops it m. If dey kin git a chance, yo' know, when dey make connection, dey kin use dat. Stop it up, jes' continue - continue - continue. Well, jes' lak if yo' wus a man, wus comin' to mah house, an' wus goin' into anything wit me, yo' know, an' ah'd git chew sometime. Dere's de bucket right dere. Make yore connection [urine] right dere in dat bucket. Well, ah'm not goin' make none in dere. Ah'm puttin' yo' up to make it. [Then I] stop it up.
Entry 12894
If a man have a lady out dere whut he consumin' his time wit an' she devoted to him, well if it ever come a time when he can find no sensation wit her, well it isn't but one thing that she had to do. Well, that nature that flows, jes' put it on a rag or somepin like that an' put it away in de bed under de mattress jes' so he don' know it - under his head. Well quite natural he won't have no feeling fo' no one else but her. [Recording bad, I evidently ask whose nature.] Both of 'ems.
Entry 12895
If a man has a discharge with me, why ah take mine and his both to- gether an' put it on cotton an' stop it up, why he'll nevah bother with nobody but jes' me. [This woman takes the man's discharge, semen; but what does she take from herself? I mean, what does she think she takes? There is evidence in HOODOO to indicate that some of these women had no idea of ovulation, that she like animals lays eggs; that that egg is not laid (or propelled) at the moment of orgasm. I leave this complicated business to the medical experts.]
Entry 12896
Now, if you want to divorce her - if you want to break this up - if you get on to [suspect] her - you are suspicious. [If you suspect she had you tied up, has made you sexually impotent.] Jis' go on, put you on you some clean socks, walk on to a beer joint - some place. (To a beer joint?) Yeah. Get you a bottle of beer and go on walking. Walk far enough where you begin to perspire and when your feet get hot and you perspire, stop and sit down. Take the left shoe off. Pour this bottle of beer in that left shoe. Drink the beer out of the shoe instead of the bottle. Close the bottle. Stand this way [demonstrates] and turn your hands [this way] and throw it [bottle] straight out in front of you, with your wish [that your impotence leaves]. It [potency] comes back again.
(I see.)
Yes, all the affection is taken away from her. (I see. Take this beer bottle in the left hand, then, you bring it around to the back of your neck.) Yes, that's right. And take that [bottle] in your right hand and throw right directly in front of you.)
(I see. And that breaks the spell of that string around her waist.)
Sure. Yes, sir. [My preceding comment is a good example of my using in- formation informant had given before researching began. Woman had "tied him up by measuring him with a string and tying it about her waist.]
(It should do it?)
Sure. I've seen it do it.
(I see, I see.) [The wish is the power!]
Entry 12897
Well, if de [= dey = they] want make him stay home, it's a little blue blossom grows in de woods jes' lak de blossom in a woman's [something], yo' know, dat little nest of hern - fes' lak dat. Yo' kin take dat [blossom] an' steep dat [in water] an' make him stay home. Yo' kin steep dat - say if he's a coffee drinker - an' sweeten it round de home. Sprinkle it round. It's a little vine wit a blue blossom on it. Steep it an' put a little of dat in his cup. Man, he couldn't put a collah an' chain round his laig an' pull him 'way from home.
(What do they call that vine, do you know?)
Dey call [it] a true vine. true vine. Hit's wit a blue blossom like dat blossom be's on a woman, yo' know. [Even Shakespeare in Hamlet was concerned with a similar plant.]
Entry 12898
Woman's drawers, why you gotta tie nine knots in them.
(How do they do that?)
How would jew do it? Jes' take a cord, you know jes' like dis is heah [electric cord from my machine to floor plug]. You see, dat cord. An' tie it round dere nine times. Take it down, see, and you measure it up side wit sompin of yours, and then put 'em back. Well, she'll go out. She can't sleep with no man, she's gotta come back.[ The magic here is simple and direct, the woman is unable to stretch her legs apart!]
Entry 12899
Well, you take flour dough. Understand, take flour dough - take a little urinate tha' choo use [to work the dough]. An' let that dough dry out whare [where] you kin grind it into a powder-like. Then after you are outside [your house], gone away from your home - do you know the dog burs? Have you ever heard tell of dog burs? It's a little sharp bur.
(A little bur that sticks in you?)
[Dog bur is the hounds-tongue, "a coarse weed (Cynoglossum officinale)having tongue shaped leaves and reddish flowers succeeded by nutlets covered with barb- ed prickles."] That's right. Put 5 burs inside of that dough with that [urine] and then when you go out, why you gon'a take that [dough] and lay it under the bottom of your steps. There's no man will fool wit your woman while you're gone.
The informant says 'a little urinate tha' choo use'; [urine] is a separate editorial identification. The preparation and control outcome remain source claims.
Entry 12900
[These following rites, excepting a few new locations of beliefs and a detail or two, add little to the dog rites in volume 3, numbers 2408-2419.] Dey tell me, dat if you having trouble in yore home with your family, dat if yo' wanta ketch 'em so dat yo' know who it is yo' havin' trouble with, dey tell De to takes yo' a piece of dog liver an' give it to yore wife, an' whenever dis fellah come back in dere, why he'll be fastened dere an' stay until yo' come.
[W11son 2647:16.]
Entry 12901
If man and woman stuck [together], rub between them with dog liver [to loosen them]. [This is a sort of hair of the dog that bit you remedy, pre- suming the trouble had started with dog liver.] [Charleston 593:3.]
Entry 12902
If man and woman stuck from eating dog liver, never get them apart because the dog has been killed; it kills them. [To use the dog's liver the animal had to be killed. The purpose of this rite is to be rid of both per- sons - murder without discovery!] [Mobile 942:4.]
Entry 12903
To make the man stick, use liver from male dog; to catch woman, use liver from female dog. [Charleston 612:3.]
The item distinguishes male-dog liver for one stated aim and female-dog liver for another; neither claimed result is established.
Entry 12904
Use male dog liver to catch man. [Mt. Vernon (on Eastern Shore), Md., by hand.] [Presumably the woman Was not caught by female liver or I was too inexperienced or too much of a doubter about these unusual beliefs. Even the folklore world had never heard of them!]
The short instruction states catching a man as its aim; the following bracketed doubts are editorial commentary rather than informant evidence.
Entry 12905
"Use a black dog wit a woman; a cur wit a man. Kill black dog after that [dog] has copulated, bury liver under leak of house; ' woman and other man tied. [That word copulated looks like my substitution for a more usual word. The remaining part of the liver used is buried under the drainspot from the roof.] [Charleston 629:9.]
The opening instruction names a black dog and a cur; the editor later flags a probable word substitution in the same item.
Entry 12906
The term proudin' used and liver fed etc. [Vicksburg 997:5.]
The short note names liver and says it was fed; the species, recipient, procedure and omitted details are not supplied.
Entry 12907
Kill slut when she's proudin, cook her liver, give it to a person, causes P. Cap. [Washington, D. C. 826:2.]
The item describes cooking liver and states a later abbreviated consequence; the source terms and abbreviation remain unresolved.
Entry 12908
Wife puts dog dung [not liver] on rag, wipes husband after inter- course; when he goes with another woman they get stuck. [Richmond 333:8, from Johnson the Indian-blackman root doctor of Richmond, a friendly person who gave me root I carried in my recording machine as long as I used it. Superstitions? Not all all. I could always pull out the root to show other doctors, all of them skeptical about its worth! Richmond 333:8.]
Entry 12909
Dog liver baked to a powder and rubber on woman's vagina. [Norfolk 483:1.]
Entry 12912
Liver must come from bitch in heat. [Richmond 288:2.]
The printed statement specifies liver from a 'bitch in heat' and gives no further procedure or purpose.
Entry 12913
Well dey say dey take de snail an' yo' boil him - de woman do - an' soak it in a rag, Boil him up good an' den put de rag in a, a nice clean rag, in dere, den wring it out an' let it dry. An' den let de man wipe wit dat rag after dey have intercourse, an' dat will take away his nature. [Snail rite were also given in No.2458-2470, in v.3, and there are probably a number in interviews.]
Entry 12914
Yo' kin take a snail an' put it with fresh hog lard an' stew it down an' grease a man's privates with that an' that'll keep him from havin' any nature. [Waycross 191:6.]
Entry 12915
Drag snail across stroud of underwear, cross it [make a cross mark on stroud with snail] [victim] can't have anything to do [no sexual relations] with anyone. Take snail and put in bottle and bury until dead. [The preceding stroud is certainly not a course garment on blanket (probably made in Stroud, England) and once used in North American Indian trade.] The meaning of the word is clear, the spelling is the problem. Yes, I frequently asked for spell- ings.
Entry 12916
Snail into cup with fresh lard, boil down, use as salve, cure for impotence. [Memphis 1561:2.]
Entry 12917
Snail, yolk of egg, sugar, close up, in 3 days snail dies, use for impotence. [Memphis 1564:3.]
Entry 12918
If yo' had a sweetheart an' wanted tuh be in love, yo' could have dealin's with chure husban' an' yo' kin put dat in a bottle an' yo' kin put dat up ovah de top of yore do' an' he'll always be crazy 'bout chew.
(Your husband will?)
Yessuh. [Surely the lover!]
The husband/lover referent remains unsettled; the editorial comment is separate from the interviewer question and informant answer.
Entry 12919
[Woman mixes man's nature [semen] with peach tree sap and ties it up [in a piece of cloth] to tie him up - to make him impotent with other women. [The magic here is probably based upon the fact that peach-tree sap can harden into a gum.] [Richmond 326:2.]
Entry 12920
His come [semen] beat up with banana [phallic symbol] and toenail dirt, give to woman. [Memphis 1572:8.]
Entry 12921
(They shoot the shadow, you say?)
Yeah. Well, dey do dat to harm a pusson, get him into trouble - harm 'em. Yo' be up dere - standin' dere - of co's [course] dis de individual, yo' understand. Yo' have a walkin' stick, see. While he standin' up, yo' be mark- in' in de ground. Yo' mark where his shadah is, yo' know. Well, after he go yo' know, yo' shoot dat shadow an' yo' shoot right in de heart. See, wheah yo' heart is, yo' know.
(And what will that do to them?)
Dat give dem heart trouble.
Entry 12922
Jis' take a [gun] shell an' cut it open, an' take a silvah dime shō [sure] it be a silvah dime. Cut it up an' put it back in de shell an' shet it back up. An' yo' shadah...an' he shot at yo' shadah, he'd hi' cheh [hit you]. Dat jes' kill a person.
Entry 12923
They take the measure of your shadow and bury this measure: "Yo' begin to lingah an' drindle away." [Washington, D. C., 824:1.]
The account describes burying a measure of a shadow, followed by an attributed lingering and dwindling consequence.