Browse:CROSSED HER BREAST WITH LOCUST TREE ROOT (Volume 4, entries 7200)
CROSSED HER BREAST WITH LOCUST TREE ROOT
Volume 4, entries 7200. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE → A FEW MORE DOCTORS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 7200
[Informant says something about a locust tree.] (What do they say about the locust tree?) Ah heard dat de locust tree wuz a tree - de ole lady tole me dis - IT'S A TREE DAT CHEW READ IN DE BIBLE AN' IT WUZ HANDED DOWN FROM GOD. IT'S A HERB YO' GIT FROM DE LOCUST TREE DAT NOBODY KIN CONKAH BUT GOD. An' she give me dat herb.. "An' dis herb," she say, "ah'm not chargin' anythin' fo' it, but yo' a man ah lak." Ah loaned her ten dollahs Once. An' SHE CROSSED HER BREAST [with this herb]. [Somewhere in Hoodoo I tell the story about my contact man Edward Bufford, while we. were working in Savannah, Georgia. He had sealed some money in a letter to send home to his wife but feared she might not receive it. His landlady, where I interviewed during the day, took the sealed envelope and crossing it over her breast, said to him, "Mail it, now your wife will get the money." The money ar- rived safely.] Ah asked, "Whut kinda herb dis?" She said, "Dis is a herb from de locust tree, " an' she say, "ah want chew tuh keep dis herb fo' as long as yo' kin."
(Is this for luck or something?)
Fo' luck.