Browse:Blind or Invisible without Mirror (Volume 1, entries 301–305)
Blind or Invisible without Mirror
Volume 1, entries 301–305. Source context: SPIRITS → BLACK CAT BONE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 301
Dey takes a black cat an' gits his bone out dere tuh de fo'ks of de road. Dat make yo' become wise to anything. (Do you know what they do to get that bone?) Yessuh, dey draw each bone 'cross dere mouth till dey become blind, an' de right bone will natchly run yo' blind. An' yo' be wise tuh doin' anything; jis' lak ah wanta take dis suit- case, yo' nevah will discover ah'm takin' until ah'd be gone - see, out de way wit it. [This may be the only recorded reference to my specially-made suitcase for carrying fifty cylinders - see Introduction.
Entry 302
Well, dat's if yo' wanta sell yo'self to de devil an' do anything in de world. Well, yo' kin take a black cat an' tie his fo' futs [foots] togethah lak yo' would a hog [the verb for this act is hogtie]. Have yo' on a boilin' pot of watah an' throw him into de watah until all de meat boils off his bones. Then aftah de meat boils off his bones, let it git cold. Yo' take each one those bones an' draw 'em 'cross yore mouth that way [demonstrates], until when yo' git to the right one yo' will know it - yo'll come blind as a bat an' somepin will tetch yo' an' says, "Meet me at de fo'ks of de road an' ah will talk wit joo." But when yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road - yo' jes' go tuh any fo'ks of de road at twelve o'clock at night an' de devil will be dere wit chew. An' anything dat chew start he'll back yo' up in it.
(You can't go to the forks of the road until you get that bone?)
No suh, yo' cain't go there until yo' git that black cat bone. Then yo' kin do anything dat chure big enough tuh do.
Entry 303
Jes' lak yo' spot a cat, yo' know, a black cat in yore neighborhood. Perhaps, at twelve a'clock in de night, yo' go git dat cat. Yo'd have yore watah boilin' an' yo'd set down aftah it boil an' den git him 'mersed down. Yo'd first repeat de Lord's Prayer. Close yore eyes an' repeat the Lord's Prayers ovah that hot kittle of watah. Den yo' would take it off an' let it cool. Put it in some watah, yo' know, an' git it cool. Then yo'd set down an' right near dat pan. Yo' might say yo'd have a - yo'd set there aftah yo' repeat de Lord's Prayer an' yo' take bone by bone an' draw it across yore mouth an' yo' lay it down, bone by bone. Well, when yo' git to de right bone, yo'd lose sight on [of] 'em, an' den dat'd be de right bone. Yo' would take that bone then an' put it in yore han' or pocket, an' go in any othah place an' the people that are in there, they would lose sight on yo' as yo' are sighted.
Entry 304
Why yo' kin take a cat an' kill him yo' know an' cook him whole an' take all de bones out. (You said the bones of that black cat will do what? After you boil him you do what with them?) You put everyone dem little piece of bone in yore mouth until yo' find one fit yore mouth, yes.
(Like what - you said like what?)
Jes' like a false teeth - yo' understand, jes' somepin fit round dere like dat. An' dat's de bone fo' yo' tuh keep tuh puts across whatsomevah yo' wanta go ovah.
Entry 305
Ah heerd mah people talk about a black cat. Dey said if yo' wanta be lucky, yo' go ahead an' yo' cook dis cat, see. An' yo' would take ev'ry bone an' pull it through yore mouth until yo' git to de right one an' when yo' git to de right one, dat right one would drop out chure mouth - dis black cat bone. Yo' would have to pull ev'ry one through dere till yo' git to de right - den de right one, when yo' git to de right one, dat right one would fall out chure mouth.
(Well, you would be holding it - how could it drop if you are holding it?)
Well, yo' draw it through see - one will go one way and de other ones will go de other, an' dat main bone would fall out. Dat s de way yo' finds de luckiest. [This is the magic rite of alternation - draw a bone right to left across your mouth, then the next bone left to right, and keep repeating this alternate process.]