Browse:Bandage Disposal (Volume 1, entries 1084–1086)
Bandage Disposal
Volume 1, entries 1084–1086. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → FOLK MEDICINE (1) PRINCIPLES OF HEALING. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1084
Dey walk to de spring an' turn dere back. Whutevah dey scrape off where dey hurt at, even to de piece of cloth [bandage] from where it hurted, throw it ovah de left shouldah. Don't look back but keep agoin'. An' when it hit de runnin' stream it's goin' away from 'em an' whoevah dat did it, dey'll follah behind.
Entry 1085
[This rite and the next one, which are the same, come from Pinewood, South Carolina, original home of the persons telling.them. Although informants were interviewed separately, they probably knew each other. For another example of two persons with the same story, see Nos. 73-74, pp.30-31.] It wus a woman had a aunt who's hurt in 'er feet an' it broke out, an' dey git anothah man or woman - git a man I think it wus - to work on 'er. An' he take 10 ten-penny nail an' put it in a tin can, an' some brimstone an' some bluestone an' sulphah, an' buried it in de chimley feh nine mawnin'. An' ev'ry mawnin' he'd take dat can up an' rin' [rind = peel] de scuff [dead skin] offa it - you know, pick it offa dis wound - an' put it in dis can. [Then the can was replaced in the chimney until next morning.] Dey did dat fer nine mawnin'. Dat turn it back on someone who had it fixed like dat. Den dis woman commence gittin' bettah.
Entry 1086
[Comment at beginning of preceding rite applies here:]
They say if anyone hurt choo, that you'd take twelve ten-penny: nails an' put it in a open can, an' nine new needles, an' sulphah an' brimstone. An' you put it [can] in your fireplace, in back of de fiahplace, an' fer nine mawnin' when you dress that place [where you are hurt], you take that, whutsomevah you take offa you [the wound] an' put it in that can; an' jis' let it stay there an' burn until you git well, an' then the spell'll go back on the person.