Browse:Bat (Volume 1, entries 1714–1717)
Bat
Volume 1, entries 1714–1717. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1714
Ah've heard - course ah've had a lotta dealings wit root peoples yo' know, ah kin boast jes' as well. Yo' kin see why ah knows as much as ah know. Ah jes tellin' yo' zactly whut ah know from mah brains, yo' know. If ah didn't know it ah couldn't set chere an' tell yo'. Now yo' kin take a bat - dey says de leatherwing bat. [A bat is often called a leatherwing.] Yo've seen dem ah guess - dey kin' dat brings bed- bugs in yore house. [It is sometimes believed "bats are full of bedbugs" (FACI, 2ed., No. 2007, p.79).] Yo' kin ketch one of dem an' git de heart of him. Jes' take de heart of him an' jes' wrap it up in a little somepin - let nobody see it vo' understand - an' jes' put it right round yore wrist wit a string an' wear it dere. Dat's successful in gamblin'.
Entry 1715
Yo' take an' kill yo' a bull [male?] bat an' yo' take him an' cut him Open. Git his heart an' yo' git dis bluestone an' salt an' put it in a new piece of cloth an' sew it up, an' yo' tote it in yore pocket, if yo' gamblin' an' yo'll win.
Entry 1716
Some peoples ketch one dese flyin' bats yo' know, one dese leather bats an' cut him an' take his heart out 'fore it - yo' know, while he's warm - while his blood is warm an' wrap it up in a piece of cloth an' den put a needle in dere - git three needles, cross 'em. Den sew that up in anothah bag an' - den git chew a piece of cotton ah mean, an' wrap it round dere an' den sew it all up together. Ah know dat's good cause [I] see dat used wit success.
Entry 1717
Well, yo' kin - yo' ain't gotta keep de whole bat. Yo' kin git jes' even de two right wing off it, yo' see, an' yo' jes' kin sew it up. Keep it yo' see an' use dis same Heart Cologne.
(What is that good for?)
Good fo' luck - good fo' gamblin' - good fo' success in work an' all lak dat.
(Just the wing?)
Yes sir - de right wing - or yo' kin git two or three of dem, yo' see, jes' enough tuh make a little package yo' know - dey ain't large nohow. [Brunswick, Ga., (1249), 2123:7.] [These bat hands with many variations are everywhere and too numerous to catalogue here.]