Browse:Dice (Volume 1, entries 354–355)
Dice
Volume 1, entries 354–355. Source context: SPIRITS → SELL SELF TO THE DEVIL. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 354
If ah want tuh go gamblin', go to a crossroads 'fore de sunup an' have de dice in yore han's, an' look at de sun when she start tuh peepin' up, an' yo' stay dere an' shook dem dice at dat crossroads until de sun gits up where yo' kin see it. Ah'll do this - thrown 'em out, thrown 'em out. Ah'll do this In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost. An' ev'ry time yo' throw 'em out Pop yo' fingers - "Dat ah may be lucky in my travels [quotation?]." Ev'r time yo' throw 'em out pop yore fingers an' aftah while yo' see de sun rise. It will rise jes' a little bit up, after yo' done say de names - yo' see, it will rise jes' a little bit up. Ah used to be a gambler but ah quit it.
(That will teach you how to be a good gambler?)
Yes.
Entry 355
He wanted to become a dice-shooter, an' he was to go to dis holly [tree] nine mornings an' play, you know, [with] whatever come. An' I think prob'ly de firs' mornin' come was - prob'ly - I think it was a rooster, a big dark rooster. Well he played craps with him. An' then the nex' [second] Sunday come - why a -
(He had to go nine Sunday mornings?)
Nine Sunday mornings.
(Any particular time?)
I think it was nine o'clock. An' de nex' [third] Sunday mornin' he played with a drake. See, wouldn't be no females; always be males there they played with - would come to him. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' 'twas - it went up a little from a fowl and went to - a dog come. An' at de fo'th Sunday mornin' he says a - it went a little futher - he said a bull come. An' he said he played with him an' he was gittin' along good; said he won all - they played craps. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' he said a white horse come with no head, an' eyes at de shoulders. He said he hadn't got scared yet. An' he said he played craps with him. An' de nex' [sixth] Sunday mornin' he says a - I don't know - he says de image of a man came but he jes' couldn't zackly figure out. But anyhow, he jes' took a chance an' played right on' an' he said he beat him. An' he said he played on an' on till de ninth Sunday mornin' an' when de devil came hisself, he didn't git scared. He said he heerd a great - act like de win', you know, comin' in a whurl [whirlwind]. He says, "I know," he says, "that mus be de Ole Man hisself." Well, then [he] shuck his dice an' throwed eleven - that was a winnin' pint [point]. An' when he got there, he said, played craps with de devil; said he was a lucky man gamblin' ever since. [For devil in whirlwind, see Nos. 167-183, and No.361.]