Browse:Author Sees Hand (Volume 1, entries 1706–1707)
Author Sees Hand
Volume 1, entries 1706–1707. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1706
An' ah got somepin right chere now in mah pocket - course ah'll show it to yo'. [He shows it.] (What do you call that?) Ah couldn't tell you exactly. (It's wrapped up in a piece of cloth with rubber [elastic band] around it - like a little bag.) Yes sir, an' yo' tote that in yore right pocket an' anything yo' go in you will be successful - 'fore yo' git there yo'll know it: if it on yore mind to don't do that, don't do it; if it on yore mind to do it, go ahead an' do it an' yo'll be successful.
(Do you know what's in the bag?)
No sir, ah don't know.
(You bought it from somebody?)
Yes sir.
Bag is the interviewer description; the informant says he cannot name the object exactly or identify its contents.
Entry 1707
You take an old toadfrog and you gut him and you spread him on top of a house and you let him dry, and then you take him and grind him, mash him up real fine, and then you sew that in a little sack about this size, sew it up good. If anybody tries to harm you, all you do is put this in your pocket and tote this here along in your pocket and then that will drive the enemy away. He can't harm you at all.
[Informant shows small bag.]
(What is in that sack there? What is that for?)
That is dried frog feet.
(What is that for?)
That is to keep all enemies down.
(You have that in the shape of a triangle.)
No, that's in the shape of a heart. [See margin-title Heart-Shaped Hand.]