Browse:Adam-and-Eve (Volume 1, entries 1708)
Adam-and-Eve
Volume 1, entries 1708. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1708
[Informant tells this story backwards - first part being "de ole folks would say," and second part his own experience. This sort of thing happened often (see No. 10, p.7). Sometimes the impersonal or anonymous part containing no essential information could be omitted. Here the first part has important details, which show what retelling a story does to it. The identity of Adam-and-Eve root is discussed in No. 1092, p.410.] De ole folks would say yo' would take a Adam-an'-Eve root - dat's whut ah understand yo' gotta have. Yo' take a Adam-an'-Eve root if he had a girl an' he want her. An' he would take that root - one is name Adam an' de flat one is name Eve, an' de roun' one is Adam. An' he would take that an' he would wear it on him fo' three mawnin's an' he go tuh runnin' watah. An' he would put Eve in runnin' watah an' put Adam in runnin' watah up above Eve. Den he gin tuh talk to it an' tell Adam whut he wants Eve tuh do. An' he would take that back out aftah he stays there three hours, an' he would take that an' get it back on his person, an' that would control her. [This is one of many, many love hands.] One time dere wus a fellah said his wife left home an' co'se he went to a fellah an' ah carried him to him, an' de fellah told him, says, "Well, yo' have to git some of her clothes dat she wearin' next to her body." So he went an' he got a piece of garment dat she wear next to her body, co'se he carried it right to him. An' he says, "Now," he says, "ah'm goin' tuh take dis heah an' ah wants a piece of yores. An' he tuk dat an' he tuk de Adam-an'-Eve root, an' den he Wrapped one up in Adam, [I mean] dat Eve in her garment. An' tuk his'n an' put dat in his garment.
(Put Adam in his garment.)
Put Adam in runnin' watah up above that, an' he put Eve down below that. An' he tole him tuh carry it tuh runnin' watah that would nevah go dry, an' tie a weight to it an' jes' let it stay there until it rots away, an' she would come an' nevah go away.
(Now, he put Adam in his garment.)
An' put Eve in her garment, an' put Adam in his garment an' put it up above dat, an' made his wishes.
(Where did he put the man's garment?)
[These tiresome repetitions when everything is quite clear often produce the added detail, as here; also show my deep concern - see Introduction.] Put de man garment up above in de runnin' watah, so it wus runnin' down on the othah, where he would control her. An' dat woman come back to him an' dey livin' together today. Dat's de facts."