Browse:Diabolic Music (Volume 1, entries 362–373)
Diabolic Music
Volume 1, entries 362–373. Source context: SPIRITS → SELL SELF TO THE DEVIL. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 362
Dey go to de fo'k of de road if yo' wanta learn to do any trick or to have people, or to win some goal or 'nothah. Yo' go to de road an' lay flat on yore back on a Sunday mawnin', an' anything dat yo' wish fo, it would appear, an' yo' could perform de action whut chew wish fo'. Ah heard that once there was a man he wanted tuh learn jes' tuh be a banjo picker, an' he undertake to try dat same trick at de fo'k of de road. He went tuh de road undah a tree an' he lied flat on his back, an' fin'lly he got so he could pick a tune on his banjo. An' de folks didn't wanta believe it dat he had learnt that way, so he made de second trip in order to prove it, an' his han' become tied to his banjo at de fo'k of de road on a Sunday mawnin'. [Tied to log, see No.75.]
The informant reports lying at road forks on Sunday morning to gain abilities, with a hearsay story of a banjo learner returning to prove it and becoming tied to the banjo. Hyatt cross-references a log account; the differing object is not reconciled into this story.
Entry 363
You go out there [to the forks of a road] aroun' about four a'clock - jis' commence dawnin' day, jis' about crack of day - an' start a-pickin' at de guitar. You go jis' onest. An' they says de devil came out an' take it - jis' somepin will pull it from you, you jis' give up to it. An' he'll tune up an' hand it back to you and you start to play. You can pick any song you want to pick.
Entry 364
There was a man who wanted to play an accordion and he didn't know how to play it. And someone told him that if he would go to the forks of a road nine Sunday mornings in succession, one after the other, at four o'clock, and on the ninth morning if he could stand what he saw, he would be a musician. So he went those periods of time and the last morning as he went across the field he heard a noise. When he was sitting in the forks of the road he heard an accordion playing a long time before it got to him. He said the accordion was about the size of a horsecart body. He was coming across the field playing the accordion. And just a little before he got to him, he began to sing Darling, where have you been? Where have you been so long? I'm on my way to the Old Shell Road. Then when he got to this man he clicked his tail on the ground, the same as a whip, and presented him that accordion. The man couldn't stand for it and jumped up and run. [old Point Comfort, Va., (27), Ed.; happened in Elizabeth City Co. Va.,1918, so informant says.]
Entry 365
Now a man kin get about as high as he wants to by going to de forks of de road. You kin go to de forks of de road, if you wanta do anything - you wanta become a professional musician or a man to do slight of hand or anything or walk out of people's sight. You kin go to de forks of de road and instead of praying to de Lord like most de people pray dey sins away, you pray to de devil. Well, de first morning you is there, it prob'bly may get a little windy. You do that for nine mornings. The next morning you may meet a bunch of birds, chickens or something like that. And the ninth morning you go there, you'll meet the devil himself. Well, if you got guts enough to stay dere and face what he's going to tell you, you'll be all right - you kin do anything you wanta do.
Entry 366
If you want to learn to play music or a fiddle, a man told a fellow what to do. He told him to go down to two roads [crossroad or fork of road] before sunup and turn his back to the sunrise and lay on his face, and no matter what noise he heard, never to turn around, never to raise his head and look at it. If you can stand that you can learn to play music. The fellow was laying down. He heard something, he was laying there, the sun was rising, and he looked behind him. It was a big blacksnake. He jumped up and lit out. He didn't learn how to play the music. Then he went back to the man that was learning him and he told him he couldn't learn him. So he went there again the next morning, real early, with the sunrise on him. He was laying there and something run out of the pasture, it was a big black bull, and run directly at him, and he jumped up and run. And he couldn't play the music. He didn't try to do it any more.
Entry 367
The piece he wanted to play was called The Fisherman's Hornpipe - seeming that he couldn't git right on his wyolin. So an' ole feller' tole him one time, he said, he says, "You go to a crossroad at twelve o'clock at night" - it's a road goin' that way and one goin' that way direction - and he said, "Take your wyolin wid jeh." And he says, "It will be a man will come. You set there and play till twelve o'clock. It will be a man will come," he said, "but don't chew mind," he said, "that." He was supposed to go nine nights. The ninth night the devil would come and start to play. He could play anything he wanted after the ninth night. Of course, he said he went. He set there and played this wyolin till twelve. He said he thought a man, but it was a bull come. No, it was a lamb. The first thing come was a lamb, the first night. He said, he passing along wery carefully, this lamb. The next night, the second night, he goes back again, sets and plays till twelve o'clock at this crossroad. The second night, he said, there was a breeze, and wind come as though the whole woods was falling, every tree was falling. And he goes back the third night and plays. The third night, he said there was a bull come through a-slinging fire, wid eyes just as red as could be. And he still set there and played. The fourth night he go back again. He said it was a band of six men come up with a coffun, set this coffun down, begin to take the leads off. Well, he couldn't stand that. He said he had to leave.
Entry 368
Go out to de fo'ks of de road an' stand when yo' git to the fo'ks of de road. Yo' goes out there an' meets - somepin comes to 'im. Dey say somepin comes tuh yo' an' tells yo' to come to de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's an' meet jes' whatevah he wants done. Jes' lak if he wants tuh be a musician. Well, yo' take an' go to de fo'ks of de road fo' nine mawnin's, if yo' wants tuh be a piano player or guitar player, yo' take that guitar an' go to the road fo'ks fo' nine mawnin's. When yo' git there then start tuh playin'. Well, dere somepin comes up 'cross de field behin' yo' lookin' jes' lak a cow. Well, maybe it have great big eyes when it git there. Why heah come snakes - a snake will come up there. Heah'll come a cat up. Heah'll come a dog up. Heah come a lion. Heah come a beah. Maybe a big smoke drop down ovah yo - drop right down ovah yo' an' yo' stand there an' meet that fo' nine mawnin's an' aftah de nine mawnin's, yo' supposed tuh leave an' go play any kind of music dat chew wanta.[ Fayetteville, N. Car., (1422), 2562:5.]
Entry 369
He [informant's father] was a great violin player - guess he wasn't a violin player, he was a fiddler in them days, you see. So he was a great fiddler and he fiddled and he was de best dey was around in de neighborhood where he was. I think it was in Westmoreland County, Virginia. So, after awhile another fellah come aroun' dere, could fiddle as good as him and he didn't want dat; he wanted to be de king bee, he wanted to be de best one. So he heard de ole people speak, you understand, dat if he went to work and went to de crossroad, you see - either crossroad or three forks of de road - twelve a'clock on a Sunday night, and take his violin and set down there and play, why de devil would come and learn him how to play. He made up his mind he was goin' to do it. So he said one Sunday night he takes his violin and goes to - he didn't go to the three forks, he went to de crossroads, one way go here and one go here. He said there was a big line- stone [boundary stone], so he set on this linestone and begin to play his violin. And de first he heard was. a - it sound like to him that it Was someone coming down de road on a horseback, coming like somebody galloping on a horse, you know. So he set there and he begin to play right smart. So dis horse kept comin' and gallopin'. De horse don't git no closeter. Well, he was setting on this line- stone, you understand, with his back to some little bushes. So after awhile dis man stopped on dis horse, he don't hear him no more. He kept playing, wondering why dis man don't come up, and there was a noise in the bushes behind him. He turned around and looked. My father said there was a black dog. The way he said it was half tall as a man. He said when he turned around the dog looked him in the face with great big eyes. He looked at it. He said he believed if de dog come up even [in front of] him he could have made it, but this dog come up behind him. He didn't like that. Of course he got up and left. But he told me, 'If you don't believe it, you try it."
Entry 370
If a man wants to sell hisself to the devil, why - if he wants to play a banjah [banjo] good, he's to go to a four-corner road [crossroad] nine mornings. You go ever' morning till the ninth morning. He sets along there playing de banjah until after awhile a lot of things would come up. They'll go around him nine times. And after awhile the last one behin'll ast him what would he rather do, do what dey doin' or serve de Lord. The man said do what they're doin'. He can bang his banjah up and he'll play on de ball anywhere.
Entry 371
Dey goes to de fo'k of de road to learn how to pick a guitar, an' dey goes to de fo'k of de road to do all diff'rent works.
(Do you know what they do when they get out there?)
Yes sir, dey goes to de fo'ks of de road - on de guitar pickin', now, ah'm goin' give yo' first on dat. When dey goes down to de fo'k of de road fo' guitar pickin', dey take a guitar - dat's a person nevah have know how to pick a guitar. Well, in goin' tuh de fo'k of de road at twelve 'clock at night wit a fifty-cent piece in yore hand, wit de guitar in yore hand - well, de devil walks up dere an' takes dis guitar outa yore hand an' picks a piece, de piece dat dey's tryin' tuh pick yo' know fo' months or somepin like dat. An' then dey lays de fifty-cent piece down an' he picks it up, an' after he picks de fifty-cent piece up, den he picks de guitar up an' he picks de same piece dat dey been tryin' tuh learn. Den dey [pupil] - de devil supposed to be backin' his life - den he [pupil] picks de box up himself an' after picking de box up, he'll pick dat same piece an' any other piece dat he wants tuh play. Ah knows a fellow right chere now done de same identical thing, in Waycross.
Entry 372
This man came out on the little end of this one. He sold himself to the devil. This happened right here in Snow Hill. I heard a man say that he wanted to play a banjo better than anybody in Snow Hill. A man came to him who could beat him playing a banjo and he went to see a man to see what he could do to learn how to play a banjo better than this other fellow. The man told him to go and get himself two tin plates, and go in the woods eight mornings straight and kneel between two tall oak trees, and rub these tin plates together, to sell himself to the devil, and pray to the devil that his heart would be as free of Jesus Christ as these tin plates are of rust - brand-new tin plates, too. And he did that thing. He got so he could play a guitar [banjo]. He done it seven mornings. And the eighth morning he went out there with these two bright shiny tin plates, playing a guitar, to be as free of Jesus Christ as these two tin plates were of rust, and one of these tall oak trees started to twisting around, you know, and moving. And he jumped. And the time he jumped, one of the limbs fell off. He left there - and the guitar, too.
Entry 373
Ah've heard dat yo' go to de fo'k of de road between midnight an' day an' yo' take with yo' a violin, an' whatevah de person wants tuh do at de fo'k of de road between twelve an' one a'clock in de night, dey say they will play that violin an' whatevah evil dey wants done, why that evil spirit will come tuh dem. An' dey will have a conversation wit de evil spirit an' dey kin call dat evil spirit to dwell around an' aggravate de person dat dey want dis evil thing done to. An' will cause dis person, yo' know, to lose his mind like yo' know, an holler things in de night.