Browse:FATHER GRAYBEARD (Volume 4, entries 7026)
FATHER GRAYBEARD
Volume 4, entries 7026. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE → ALCOHOLICS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 7026
Fathah Graybeard. Yes sir, it's a tree grows an' have a beard jis' lak a man. Yo' go dere an' dig dat tree up an' git de very top of de roots. But chew cain't take it off from de end, yo' gotta go up in de - where it grow up in de big part of de tree. An' git de chips outa dat an' put in de whiskey. It'll make dem sick dey lak tuh kill demself.
(You put this root in the whiskey to make a man stop drinking?)
Yes sir.
(You get the root just as it goes into the trunk of the tree.)
[The graybeard tree in the southern states of the United States of America is the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginica), a small tree with clusters of white flowers. The dried root bark is used as an aperient and diuretic. Whether this is the Father Graybeard of the present rite I do not know.]