Browse:FOLK MEDICINE (Volume 1, entries 963–1706)/Part 3
FOLK MEDICINE
Volume 1, entries 963–1706. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
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Entries
Entry 1124
My father was sick and we had the doctor come attend him and the doctor tended him and he couldn't diagnose his case. So we changed doctors and the [second] doctor waited on him about two weeks or more. He didn't seem to do any good and we changed to another [third] doctor. And we got him and he said, "Well, I don't see I kin do any good for him, becuz I think he's poisoned." [Would a Doctor of Medicine say this? See my comments in Introduction.] So a ole lady told me to go an' see a ole man by the name of Simmons. And I went and got a ole man by the name of Simmons and he came there and he talked to my father and he told me, he said, "Come on boy and go in the woods with me." And he got some whut they call blackroot - that's a weed that grows in the woods, a round root, right black, something like a little potato - and red oak bark. [For oak, see No. 1060, p.402, also margin-title OAK later, and Index. Black- root is a name for a number of plants, the present one probably being Chaenolobus undulatus, indigenous to Southern U. S. A., and having black tuberlike rootstocks.] And he sent me to the drug store while he's boilin' them to get him five cents Worth of bluestone and alum mixed. And he boil that and he made a tea out of that and he strained it, let it cook and he told him to take two swallahs of it three times a day. And the first swallahs - the first two swallahs - that my father taken of it he vomit somepin jis' as green as grass [a usual expression for vomit caused by inside cunjuration]. Then he got kin'a relief on the nex dose he taken. He didn't vomit. But on the third one he vomit again. Then [this third time] he vomit up somepin there - it look somepin like jelly. Then he commence to gettin' a little better and finally he kept on takin' it until he did get so he could get out.
Entry 1125
An' dere's a root dey call de blacksnake root. Yo' kin carry dat in yore pocket an' dere can't anything harm yo'. (Nothing could hurt you?) By walkin' ovah it.
Entry 1126
Heard dem say yo' go in de woods like dat an' git yo' some rattlesnake marster or blacksnake root, an' git a string an' tie it tight in so many knots.
(How many knots?)
About six knots - dat's a long string. Well, yo' wear that round yo'. If yo' don't yo' have to, yo' know, keep it in yore pocketbook - or either wear it round yo'. Dey say yo' holdin' dem den.
(By wearing that root - that's the way you do it?)
Yes sir, that's, yo' know, he pin de othah fellow. Yo' know, lak somebody wus goin' hurt chew an' yo' git dat root, why yo tyin' 'em up. See, yo' jes' tie dem knots - jes' as many kmots - why yo' tyin' den up.
(You don't mention anybody's name or anything?)
No sir, yo' jes' tyin' 'em up.
Entry 1127
[In the two preceding beliefs blacksnake root was a protection; here it is a crippling poison, which reminds us again that everything depends upon intention.1 My mother's sister was fixed like that. This guy went out in de woods and he got some blacksnake root, and he went and killed a rattlesnake and he got some blood off it and he cut off de rattlesnake's head, and buried it underneath the doorstep and de next morning when she step out - you know, she had to step right over it, her foot fastened up in her back and she still go about in dat position.
(It still fastened in her back?)
It still fastened in de back and she walk on crutches. (He got the rattlesnake and caught the blood and cut it up with this black- snake root.) With the blacksnake root and buried it under de steps. De first person that steps over that, that's the one goin' get it, see. [The first person that steps over that is sometimes heard, but it violates the widely accepted safety rule of It Warn't Put There For You, No. 653, p.220.]
Entry 1128
I tell yuh I heard 'em say where - say dey go up de street and get ten cent worth - dey say dey get de bloodroot. (The bloodroot.) I hear 'em say de bloodroot and High John de Conquer. I hear 'em tell dat. And dey say dey take dat and make a tea of it. And put table salt with it dey says and dey take it and make a salve of it, and rubs deyself down good wid it, dey says, and dey can become so dat people can't do anything with 'em. I heard dat.
(Well, where would they rub this salve?)
Dey say dey rub from dere neck to de feet.
(From the neck all the way down to the feet.)
And say you rub your hands just like dat [demonstrates], and say dey rubs 'em right on out, and dey can't do nothing with 'em.
(That's to throw the spell off you.)
Throw de spell off. Dey say that throws de spell off.
(Oh, that is used when-the spell is on, already?)
Yes, sir, and to fix it so dey can't put de spell on you.
Entry 1129
Well, you've gotta go to work then to get you some - you kin dress your home, you have to dress your home with bluestone water to keep down all danger, you see. You sprinkles with that every morning - you sprinkle your home with bluestone water. You have a sprinkler, you know, and you go round and you sprinkle all around your steps and everything like that. That kills out the power of everything. Bluestone is the strongest thing in the world that you could use.
Entry 1130
Wear powdered bluestone in both shoes; change bluestone once a week. [Wilmington, N. Car., (?), 233:1.] Bluestone worn in bag round neck. [Richmond, Va., (?), 336:1.] If feet swollen from walking over something [surface or buried hoodoo object], bathe with bluestone and sulphur and throw some [of this water] about door. [Norfolk, Va., (?), 530:6.] Burn bluestone in house; kills evil and cun, juration. [Charleston, S. Car., (502), 546:10.]
Entry 1131
Ef anybody got de bad disease, yo' kin take shoe sole an burn it [and take these ashes] an' bluestone an' alum [and] bram- booberry [brambleberry] root an' boil it an' mix it together an' give him. Let dem take a tablespoonful ev'ry three times a day an' mix physic salts in it, an' spit some on dose sores. Dat's a solid cure fo' dat, 'cause ah've cured many people wit dat. [Here are combined the magic rite spitting (see No. 1057, p.401) - often to show contempt for spirit causing trouble - and the magic healing substance saliva (see Index).]
Entry 1132
Git yo'self some 20 mule borax and bathe yo'self in it - in luke- Warm Water and if anythin' went wrong, why you bathe yo'self all ovah and dey won't hurt chew.
Entry 1133
If yo' think dat chew got something in yo', yo' know, poison; then if yo' take a dose of brimstone, it couldn't stay in yo' - yo'd have to throw it up. (What kind of poison do you mean?) Ah mean ordinary poison - ah don't mean drug poison. [He means cunjure or hoodoo poison, as drug poison and brimstone show. Since brimstone comes from the devil it is often used against his work.]
Entry 1134
Burn a broomstraw if a chile won't walk [and with the charred end] put some cross marks 'gin [against] de bottom of each one of his feet and he'll walk in eight or nine days.
Entry 1135
Yo' takes de broomstraw [from a used broom], dey says, an' boil it an' boil it in watah till it comes right yellah - hit'll come yellah. Dey say yo' kin drink dat; cure any kinda cold.
Entry 1136
Dey take two broomstraws an' wear it right in de mole [mold] of dey haid. Well, dat's jes' only a little simple remedy fo' headaches - lak if some people got a headache, well dat broomstraw is fo' dat purpose. It's no evil purpose in that.
Entry 1137
If somebody have come to yore house an' yo' don't want them come there agin or somethin' lak that, take three straws out chure broom an' put 'em up ovah yore do' there an' name one of 'em, "Name de Father, Name of de Son an' Name of de Holy Spirit," an' den yo' put a little sulphur an' salt on it an' tell it whut chew want it tuh do. Tell it, "Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost, ah don't Want 'em tuh come back heah no mo', ah don't want 'em return." Let them straws stay up there an' don't take 'em down.
Entry 1138
I have heard that sometimes, if they die dissatisfied about something and they will keep coming back until they tell somebody, if the ghost comes in the door annoying you about midnight, that is the time they usually come, put nine broomstraws across the door so they join together, and they can't cross it. A broom sweeps out. That will sweep the spirit out.
Entry 1139
Jes' lak if somebody goin' come to yore house an' - yo' take the nine straws out de broom an' you set those straws - lak if yo' have a piece of cloth, yo' set those straws an' yo' take nine needles an' stick in those straws into the [cloth] piece, an' yo' put it up ovah yore do' where dose peoples comes in, an put dere name behin' de [cloth] piece lak dis, "In de Name of de Father an' de Son, ah want chew tuh stay 'way." Dey come all in at one time an' dey goin' out de back do' an' dey won't come in no mo'.
Entry 1140
Heard of 'em usin' a broom string - dey use dat fo' cramps. If someone have tricked yo', yo' take a broom string. First yo' take it from de opposite end an' den dip it in some vinegar, an' den take it an' bring it roun' yore waist an' tie it in nine knots all de way. An' dat drives de cramps away. (You said, when you have cramps you tie this string, from the broom, round your waist, and tie nine knots in it and let the knots stay over your navel.) Let it hang ovah de navel. [You unwind the string backwards from the broom, beginning at de opposite end, the last part of the string sewed to the broom. This is a backwards rite, one of many reversing actions in magicl]
Entry 1141
Ah heard dat yo' kin take a broom an' put it 'cross de do' an' if it's a person dat has bad wishes against yo' or any evil against yo', dey wouldn't walk ovah it.
Entry 1142
You can take a broom and take two straws out of that broom - of course, jis' like I'm sitting here - when I git ready to go out I wouldn't pay attention what's on this floor. You take those two straws and you cross them, just like I would put one here and one there and put 'em any place she have to go and sit down." Just put them where she gotta walk over to go and sit down. But you gotta cross 'em - well, I say just like that [she shows how]. Now, if she walk over them straws - or either you can put a broom down somewhere and if she make a mistake and walks over that broom - or if she makes a mistake where you put a, tie a horse or anything and she walk over that rope - well, she'll never be delivered of it.
(She'll never deliver that child.)
No000. Just an ordinary broom, and either walk over a rope tied to a horse.
Entry 1143
Yo' take broom sage [broom sedge = broom grass]; de ole-time broom sage whut people used tuh sweep flo's wit. Dat whut yo' speakin' of [not of the modern broom].
(Yes.)
All right. Yo' go to de - if yo' got any ole smokehouse or wherevah yo' keep it an' yo' take this broom sage an' make yo' a tea off it an' drink it. Dat will break up de croup. (Break up the croup. You mean this old-fashioned home-made broom? What they made out of broom sedge?) Yes, but chew go an' break it lak dat. [Fayetteville, N. C., (1397), 2516:4.]
[Broom rites are many - see Sweeping, No. 1061, p.402, and Index.]
Entry 1144
In cases if a person is down sick wit de rheumatic rheumatism and it seems dat yo' go to de doctor - seem like dey can't cure it, yo wanta walk out in de woods and git chew two buckeye balls an' put in each pocket and wear 'em in yore pocket until de hull comes off of 'em. An' you gits rid of de rheumatism.
Entry 1145
Bull nettle. Well, yo' make a tea out of that. Yo' make a tea outa bull nettle an' drink it an' at least thirty days or a little mo', it'll cure de worse case syphilis. [Bull nettle, also known as horse nettle, is a short prickly weed (Solanun carolinense), a pasture or lawn nuisance with purplish flower and small yellow fruit, common in eastern and southern U. S. A., and once used for epilepsy.
Entry 1146
Well, in another case of my mother's, they used on her a root called Bull of de Woods, and black snake root, and made a tea for her and gave her dat. Well, dat brought it out of her. And she used to low jest like a cow - she was turrble bad off. [The doctor gave her bull of the woods because she low jest like a cow - similia similibus curantur, see Like Cures Like, p.394, and Index.1
(Well, what did they give her to make her that way?)
They fixed her in a fresh fish. She was very fond of fresh fish and they had stayed at my home. So this lady's husband used to go fishing - set traps for de fish, you know. So she fixed de fish. But my mother suffered turrible.
(What did they put in that fish, then? You know?)
Uh-huh, they put snake dust in it. [The connection between snake dust and low like a cow is not so remote if the snake had recently sucked a cow. For this belief see FACI,2ed., Nos. 1567-1574, Pp.62-63. As near as I can come to a cow lowing for a snake instead of a calf is the following: "A cow will become so attached to this snake that she will hold back her milk at night... The cows do like the snakes to suck them; would rather have a snake any day than a calf to suck" No. 1567, p.62.]
(Where did that happen?)
It happened at her home in Warren County, North Carolina.
Entry 1147
Well, there's a little willow that grows about that big [demonstrates height] and it spreads all out - it's called button willow. [Cephalanthus occidentalis L. Probably button bush - unrelated to true willows.] (It grows about four or five feet tall?) That's all.
(Grows by the river? Water?)
Yes, sir, many thousands of 'em - look white - looks like a stone mountain flower when you off a distance - only this one is white. But when you get to it, ain't nothing to it - it ain't no flower. You take that and you get two or three limbs and break it up - small enough to get it into a vessel and boil it in a gallon of water down to a half gallon of water. And you kin take that and get you some grain alcohol and put you - well in that quart of water you put in about a half of a half pint and you sweeten it. You take a half of a half of a pint of grain alcohol, you understand, and you pour that into that half a gallon of button-willow water that you boil down, and then you sweeten it. And then you put you about - well, somewhere around about two tablespoonsful of sweet spirits of niter into that, and you let her take a tablespoonful of it about every three and a half hours. And them chills is going to leave her. Same thing with the typhoid fever. Hit'll sweat her and hit'll work her just the same as any other kind of medicine or purgative medicine that you kin give her - something like them - pills or calomel or something like that. Hit'll clean her system up ~ do away with those chills - yes, sir.
Entry 1148
Say, if yo' ketch a buzzard an' kill 'im an' boil 'im an' git de grease out of 'im an' rub yo'self with it right good, dey say yo' lucky an' prosperous in all whut yo' goin' undertake. Jes' rub it on yore hands. It 'vaporates right in. It's got a bad odor, but as it 'vaporate in yo', continue in yo' - if the job gives out, kill another buzzard an' git his grease. Dey say it's good fo' yo' - it keeps yo' jints [joints] loosened, it's good for rheumatism.
Entry 1149
Take de buzzard an' cook 'im up an' let de oil - git dat oil from 'im, git dat oil from 'im whut chew call grease, yo' know, suh, an' you kin rub in it ev'ry mawnin' or ev'ry night whenevah yo' bathe off. Yo' git so limber you can't walk, if you use too much of it - it make active.
Entry 1150
Ah've heard talk of a buzzard. Now, yo' take a buzzard - jes' lak a person is whut we might call rheumatism or somepin lak dat, stiff-jointed. Yo' take a buzzard an' kill 'im - take a buzzard an' kill it an' pick 'im. Yo' lay 'im up somewhere an' let 'im dry. Yo' put a pan under 'im an' ketch dat grease. Take dat buzzard grease an' rub wit it - makes it [joints] jes' as slick an' limber. Now, dat's whut chew call - yo' kin take dat grease an' go through a keyhole in a do'. [This sounds like the witch oil (see No. 456; cf.440-441, 445, 451) used by witches to go through keyholes (see 429,445,455).]
Entry 1151
De buzzard, yo' use him fo' his grease fo' a chile dat is born an' nevah walks - yo' grease with it. An' a person dat is stiff-limbed an' a person dat has rheumatism uses his grease - de red-head one, de buzzard.
Entry 1152
Brimstone an' fat-lighter [pine] splinters an' feathers an' tar - jes' burn round yore place. Dat'll kill all poison - all ever'thin' yo' [someone] got down dere, can't nobody do nuthin to yo'.
(What kind of feathers would they be?)
Buzzard feathers.
Entry 1153
Heard of 'em takin' buzzard feathers an' runnin' people off - fixin' 'em [as a protective device]. Yo' take dem feathers an' yo' carry it home an' yo' burn dat feather till yo' burn it in a ashes. An' put it in any kinda little can an' set it afire - let it burn into ashes. Yo' take dat feather [ashes] an yo' put it in some vinegar - put it in some vinegar an' let it set fo' three mornin's. An' when yo' set it fo' three mornin's yo' kin take dat vinegar [and ashes] an' sprinkle it either on de steps or any porch - on de back porch or de front. If anybody yo' had dat yo' don't want 'em round yo', yo' sprinkle it - an' yo' see 'em comin' yo' sprinkle it. When dey git dere dey'll turn round an' go back. Dey can't come no further den de steps - wit de buzzard feathers.
(You burn that buzzard feather and then put the ashes in the vinegar?)
Yes - de ashes in vinegar.
Entry 1154
Now yo' take a buzzard, long [about] - yo' know dere's a time of de year dat de buzzards are nestin', if yo' kin git chew a buzzard alive an' carry him to some secret place where nobody knows nuthin about it. Well, yo' know a buzzard is a kinda funny thing. Yo' feed him diff'rent things an' some he vomit some an' some might come out de othah way. Well, yo' take some of both an' put it together an' put it in a sack of some sort to where yo' kin tie it. Maybe some of yore people long ago had some of these things did to 'em - de tricks yo' know, had 'em walkin' like a frog or hoppin'. Jest keep it, yo' know, where he [patient] kin sleep on it fo' several days an' he not knowin' anything about it. An' den yo' take it an' make him a belt of some sort where he kin wear it round his waist until dat stuff became hard - jest hard like a brick, hard jest like a brick. An' de thing dat dey have did to him dat causin' him tuh be dat way will go up in dat bag where dat stuff is.
(That is to cure him.)
Dat's tuh cure him.
Entry 1155
A buzzard lays twelve eggs, you see, just like twelve and - and all of the eggs hatches. Now, it got a buzzard test - that's for a man to do anything, but you gotta make the buzzard get the test. Now, the buzzard, she sets on her eggs and after she sets on her eggs, she goes off to feed exactly thirty minutes. You gotta go to the nest and take one of them eggs out of the nest when she go off the nest feeding. You know she feeds thirty minutes, [therefore] you boil the egg about fifteen minutes and then you slip back there and put that egg in the nest. Now she going to hatch all them buzzards but that one egg, and she going to sit on that one egg nine days. After she see that egg don't hatch, she going off and get something and put on [test] the egg. Then she see that egg was not good. And then, when she see that egg was not good, she going to take all her young ones away from there and she going to leave that test there. What she left there - a little rock or something and you going to get that little rock. You take that little rock and do anything in the world with it, but you gotta make the buzzard get it though.
(You mean she goes away to feed herself for thirty minutes?)
Yeah, goes feeds herself and that's the time you get the egg out of that nest and you get that buzzard test. If you get that, why you kin go any place without being seen.
(I see. They can't see you.)
They can't see you.
(This egg that isn't any good - it turns to a rock?)
No, the egg don't turn to a rock. She goes off and gets something - we li'ble be walking over it but you don't know what it is. She goes gets it. You gotta make her go get it. And she put it on her egg to see was the egg good, and after she find out the egg was no good and it didn't hatch, then she going to leave there, but [before the test] she going to sit on the egg nine days. (After she finds out that egg is no good with that rock - she tests that egg with the rock?) Yeah, she tests that - we call it a buzzard test.
(A buzzard test. And she finds out that that egg is no good.)
No good.
(Then she just goes on away.)
She go on away.
(And she leaves both the egg and the rock in the nest?)
Leaves the egg and the rock and you goes there and gets that.
(You just take the rock - you don't get the egg?)
You don't get the egg, just get the rock. [There are similar stories of the raven.]
Entry 1156
Go to a buzzard. Well, now ah have heard of a lotta people dat seen it but ah have nevah seen it done yet. Dey tell me dat chew kin go to a buzzard nest when dis hen is on her nest layin' - ready fo' hatchin'. Dey tell me dat a buzzard nest is made on de ground, not built up high in de trees. Yo' go to dis nest an' yo' takes yo' a stick - a long stick dat chew kin stand about five feet from dis nest - an' yo' push de aigs out dis nest. An' she has one big aig in de middle - a large aig in de middle. See, yo' take dat stick an' yo' rake dat aig to you, an' yo' puts dat aig in yore pocket. Den yo' takes dose othah aigs an' yo' takes yore han' an' put 'em back in dere. Don't put 'em back with de stick, jes' put 'em back wit chure han'. Now when she come to git on dis nest, yo' see, she ain't gon'a git on dis nest 'fore she know dat somethin' wrong 'cause dat big aig not dere. An' after she git on de nest, [if she doesn't see the big aig], she gon'a git off an' she gon'a fly away, an' when she come back she gon'a bring whut dey call a male or man buzzard back with her. An' after she bring him back he gon'a have a root. Dey tell me he gon'a have a root in his mouth an' he gon'a test de aigs by dis root. Now, if anybody put dey hands on dose aigs, dat root is to let him know and he ain't gon'a let 'er git on de nest. Well, now dey tell me if yo' kin git a chance to hit 'im hard enough to git dat root dat he put down dere, dey says dat root's good fo' diff rent othah things. But ah don't see how it could be good fo' somethin'- - yo' don't put nuthin with it, jest a lucky root. Jt jes' lak a person use a black cat bone or lak dat - if yo' don't put nuthin on it, dey tell it's better luck wit hit.
Entry 1157
I have a sister and she was hurt and she jis' started to screamin' an' hollerin' and we didn't know exactly what was wrong with her. And so we jis' run aroun' and ast diff'rent ones. And so they told us to get some caraway seed and bluestone and salt [three things] and rub her wit it; and ever time we rub her with it, that we must say, "In the Name of the Lord and the Holy Ghost," and rub her down; and give her brimstone in water - yo' know, the water drunkt off of that. Let her drink it. Of course we had to do other things. We used sulphur. We rub her with some of it and then let her eat some of it.
Entry 1158
Well, if anybody - now mostly ah nuse [use] dat to break - lak if dysente'y or somepin lak dat, yo' know. Or if yo' believed yo're poisoned or somepin of de kind lak dat. Well, den yo' git, yo' see, de bark off de tree on de sundown side, an' chip it sundown side, an' yo'll boil dat an' when yo' boil it, yo'll put a piece of gumbo wax in it. Ah guess yo' know dat. An' yo' make dat up as a powder an' let it resolve [dissolve] an' yo' kin use dat.
(What tree do you take that bark from?)
Yo' kin take dat from either a cedar tree or short-leaf [pine] or a black gum or sweet gum; either one of dem trees - short-leaf pine, or rosemary-leaf [pine] or( de thing dat chew call long-leaf [pine]. Yo' use either one of dem. [Since I did not ask about giobo wax, I must have assumed she was talking about the mucilaginous substance of boiled gumbo (okra). I did not ask which of the three so-called cedars or two black gums she used. Rosemary-leaf was unusual for rosemary pine (= loblolly = old-field).]
Entry 1159
De yallah jander [= janders = jaundice], anything lak dat, yo' git a yallah hen an' cook it an' if yo' can't eat it all at one time, jes' eat till yo' eat it all yoreself - it'll cure dat.
Entry 1160
Take a black hen an' bury it alive. (Where?) Bury it under de steps an' that will stop everything.
(What do you mean - stop what?)
Stop 'em if a person wanted tuh harm yo' - dey couldn't git up to yo'.
Entry 1161
Go in the fowl coop - you know, go in backwards while the chickens are in there, an' as the chickens start to flyin' out, why you come out an' let them fly over you one by one as they comin' out. You jis' come from the back of the coop, an' comin' out like that an' let them fly over you, an' that care [carry] the chickenpox away.
Entry 1162
My uncle was fixed oncest and they took a chicken, a black hen - he had a black snake in his arm.
(He had a black snake in his arm?)
Yes, sir - lady that had 'em [him] fixed put it there, and when the snake came out - when the hoodoo had the snake to come out, she say, "You kill a black chicken' - we had a black-feathered chicken - 'and take that blood and cook it and put over dat place. It healed dat - where dat snake had came out. Jest take and use it as a salve, you know.
Entry 1163
Then ah've used a black hen's blood fo' dat - like dat. Jes' cut de hen's haid off. Ah jes' took de hen up an' jes' let it bled on it, an' it killed de shingles.
Entry 1164
A black hen, now, dat's for when anything - a snake or rattlesnake bites you. Wanta see what a rattlesnake is, you jes' go out here in de woods. If you is goin' huntin' purtty soon you see a rattlesnake down here [in this part of the South]. You know a rattlesnake look green-grayish; you know you can't hardly know it's a rattlesnake lessen you look down good. Well, if he bites you, if you kin git to a frog or a black hen and cut him open while he is alive - cut him open and put him on dat, it will draw all dat pizen out. [The blood is the essential element in these split live-animal rites, which cure just about everything.]
Entry 1165
We had [here in the neighborhood] once [about 1886] a sick boy and they said somebody hurt him and he was very low. Someone told him to get a black chicken and cut that chicken open - don't kill it, and bind it alive to his feet. They say that cured him of cunjuration. They said it would draw it out [through the feet]. [Boxiron, Md., by hand; my note "old cunjure-woman" in parentheses indicates she handled the case.]
Entry 1166
Ah've heard dat chew could take a black hen's aig an' it would cure a hunyun [hernia] on a baby's navel. Yo' know, jes' like a baby have a large navel an' dey wear a bandage around it - dat chew could take a black hen's aig, a fresh hen aig soon as she lay it an' take it an' rub it on a baby's navel. Rub down his navel three times an' bury it under de do'step, an' it will carry dat away.
(You mean that big bump on the navel?)
Yes sir - it would carry it away.
Entry 1167
Yo' kin take a chicken aig - if yo' have a young child born, take a fresh chicken aig an' tie it up ovah de do' an' he cut all his teeth an' yo' won't know when he cut 'em.
Entry 1168
Whenevah yo' have a snake bite, yo' jes' take [a] black chicken dat, chew know, her aig an' bust it an' put it in - plaster [broken egg] anywheres on yo'[!] an' band it tight dere an' it draw de poison good out - de black chicken aig.
The instruction specifies a black chicken's egg; its claimed effect on snakebite is unverified.
Entry 1169
De aig of a black hen is fo' de smallpox [probably means chickenpox]. Take an' boil de aig - boil de aig an' drink de watah of a black hen [egg] fo' de smallpox.
The item instructs boiling a black hen's egg; its stated medicinal use remains unverified.
Entry 1170
They say if you've got a spell on you, you take a black hen egg - jis' wear it in your bosom for three days. Then, at night, take it out an' put it under your bed, under your bed on the floor [each night during the three days]. They say that spell'll leave right on you an' go into that egg. Go out in the morning [of fourth day] and put it in de runnin' water - break it.
Entry 1171
A fresh aig an' git to de middle of dem steps an' dig yo' a hole an' turn de sharp end of it up an' cover it up wit salt - cover it up an' all de roots an' things dey put down can't hurt me. Dat fresh aig an' salt sucks it all up.
Entry 1172
Anybody would be botherin' yo', git chew two aigs, yessuh, an' have some of yore fren's tuh throw 'em at chew. Yo' walk from yore place yo' see, an' have dem jes' throw dose aigs in yore back an' vo' feel dey bust, an' den dere's nobody kin trouble yo' or nobody will bother yo' atall.
(They just have to break these eggs on your own back.)
Jes'- no suh, don't break 'em on yore back, jes' throw 'em right tuh yore feet chew know.
(Break them behind you?)
Right behin' yo' at chure feet - any kinda chicken aigs. (Two of them. That'll keep the law away or anybody that is trying to disturb you?) Yes, dey even cain't fin' yo' wheresomevah yo's at.
Entry 1173
Kin take dem chicken feathers - oh, prob'bly six or eight, ah've been told and burn 'em together; see, an' enhale dat smoke and that will heal yore misery in de head.
Entry 1174
A black hen's feathah is good fo' dizziness, if a person has a fit. An' yo' git de feathahs off dat black hen an' yo' keep her in yore home, an' when he go tuh have one of these fits yo' git these feathahs an' yo' burn 'em. Jis' as yo' set 'em afire an' dey start tuh burn, yo' blow de fire out an' let de smoke escape up dere nose an' dat'll surely cure 'em.
Entry 1175
Black chicken feathers, they burn them tuh drive evil spirits, dey say.
(Drive them away?)
Yes sir - tuh drive them away.
Entry 1176
If yo' have a lotta ghosts an' things, or yore house is hanted, well, at night yo' take a pan of chicken feathers an' sulphur an' put it in a pan an burn it. Dat'll [also] keep all de insex [insects] from round yore house.
(All these ghosts and things?)
Yessuh - dat'll shore keep dem away.
Entry 1177
When yo' think anybody has done anything to yore home, yo' burn chicken feathers and sulphur there.
(What will that do?)
Say that wards off what they have did. (You mean if they are trying to plant anything around there or sprinkle anything?) You set, yo' know, jest like if yo' were going to fumigate the house and burn that; yo' put pepper, sulphur and chicken feathers together - rather, to get black feathers is the best feathers.
Entry 1178
Well, yo' jes' have to strip up necked an' light de fire an' burn her feathers - stan' ovah it an' burn dat [bad] luck off her.
(What do you burn?)
Black hen an' sulphur.
(Black hen what?)
Feathers.
(And she stands in that smoke - that is just to give her luck?)
Luck an' successful.
Entry 1179
Well, yo' kin put dat in hot water, yo' know, an' den let de patient sit ovah dat to draw down dat afterbirth. Yo' know, when yo' find a woman dat can't pass dat afterbirth, yo' kin take those chicken feathers an' make a hot bath out of 'em an' put it in dat hot water an' let her jest sit right ovah dat pan an' dat'll jes' clear her right up.
(Any kind of chicken feathers?)
Yes sir.
Entry 1180
Heard of 'em using chicken feathers fo' trouble round de home. Dey take de feathers of a black hen an' saturate it wit sulphur an' yo' bury dat under yore do'step. Dat will run off all de trouble an' harm round yore home.
Entry 1181
Dey use chicken feathers, dey say to take spells off people - dappled. dese speckled feathers. Yo' take 'em an' yo' put 'em in a pot or a pan an' yo' fry 'em down to a medicine lak, an' if dere anybody dat swole up or root worked or somethin' lak dat, yo' bathe 'em down with that. Yo' cook dat [feathers] down in pure lard.
Entry 1182
(These fingernails and toenails?)
Toenails an' parch 'em - put 'em in de stove an' parch 'em - cut 'em up real fine befo' yo' parch 'em an' then yo' take an' put 'em in de stove. An' they'll put i-dene [iodine] on 'em - i-dene - aftah dey done dried out. Jis' sew 'em in a red flannel an' then git a little piece of feather from a chicken an' put that in there with it.
(What will that do?)
Dat will keep dem from harmin' yo'. [This is a protective hand - see next subsection Hands.]
Entry 1183
Yo' git de inside of de chicken gizzard, see - yo' know when yo' clean a chicken, yo' got a skin yo' pulls out dat gizzard. Well, dat's de part yo' Want - dat skin. Yo' keep dat. Well, yo' pound dat up an' if yo' were doctorin' on anybody dat had any kinda poison in 'em, yo' jes' pound it up an' put it in his medicine or in water, whatsomevah yo' givin' 'im, an' let him drink dat an' yo' would see dat poison leave.
Entry 1184
Any chicken that you kill, they say burn the head of it. They say, but I don't know - this what they call hoodooism - couldn't bother you or nothin'.
Entry 1185
Heard of 'em usin' chicken dirt - it's good take hives offa babies, or eithah nuse [use] for jis' any kinda, yo' know, bumps that chew break out with. Yo' kin take that an' give hot tea an' it will break 'em out on 'em.
Entry 1186
(How do you handle chickenpox?)
Well, yo' boil this tea - yo' kin make it outa hen manure. Git dat white - dat little white speck on dere an' yo' make tea outa it an' den yo' give it tuh de individual. Dat breaks it out an' also dey begin tuh dry up.
Entry 1187
All you have to do is go to the henhouse and get some of that white hen manure. Jes' take and rub it on your forehead and stroke your jaws with it, and they can't do a thing in the world to you.
Entry 1188
You take a snake bite - and if a snake bite you, you can take chicken manure and make a poultice out of it, you understand. See, like you got a sore in amongst there and the doctors can't cure that sore, take chicken manure and put it on that sore. You understand. And it'll draw that sore and take all the inflammation out of it and heal it up.
Entry 1189
Chicken manure? They use that to rot people teeth out.
(How would they do it?)
Well if, a person bite another person, they get just enough for 'em to do that.
(What do they do?)
Rub 'em - like chicken manure and sugar. You burn that sugar till it turn a dark brown, mix it with that chicken manure and rub it on that sore, and it rot that person's teeth out sure as hell.
(You mean. if they bite you?)
If they bite you. [The story told by Vander's wife is surely an unsurpassable account for this rite - see No. 888, p.319.]
Entry 1190
Yo' bite 'em [he bites you] like tonight and dey [you] got a nice bunch of chickens - jest any kind of chicken, you know. Ever' mornin' fer about nine mornin's yo' go out and you says yore prayers right at the chicken coop and jest as yo' go - jest as yo' say de last prayer, last work in de prayer, say, "Lord have mercy, ' you rub some of dat chicken manure over dere - right fresh chicken stuff and dat will rot yore [his] teeth out.
Entry 1191
If a person should bite chew, go tuh de (dere)[transcriber's comment] chicken coop on a dark night an' git some chicken dung an' put on it an' dere teeth will rotten out.
(Must.it be on a dark night?)
Yes.
(Any kind of chicken manure?)
Any kinda chicken manure. [De and dere meaning the and their or there are occasionally so much alike it is impossible to distinguish them. Neither transcriber nor I was certain whether the bitten victim went to his own or the biter's chicken coop. Dark night looks like biter's - if so, it is unusual.]
The informant specifies chicken manure in a bite-related account; the location of the chicken coop is explicitly uncertain.
Entry 1192
Dey say dey take chicken manure. Dey take it and dey mix some of it with anything dat chew drink - take and mix it up and you drink it. If you ever drink any of it all yore teeth will fall out chure haid. A lotta people do's it fer revenge.
Entry 1193
[The preceding teeth rites using chicken manure are usual; not so usual are teeth rites using chicken eggs that follow:] A black hen egg is for to rot your teeth out, something like that if a person bites cha.
(How would you do that?)
Well, if I'd bite you and put a bad bite on you, you would take a black hen's egg: You'd take that egg and break the egg and rubs it on this place. When this place gets well your teeth gon'a fall out. But you gotta shorely get a black hen's egg.
Entry 1194
If yo' happen to kiss her - if you kiss a woman and she happen to love you so hard and another woman got de best right of her, she [first woman] kin take and kiss you and den go and take a black hen egg and wash her mouth wit it and you kiss again and yo' lose yore teeth.
(Take a black hen egg and wash her mouth with it. You mean with that yolk?)
No, de white.
(Oh, the white of the egg. And you kiss her again, you'll lose your teeth.)
You'll lose all your teeth - they will rot down all one by one.
Entry 1195
[Oil of cinnamon is usually confined to compounded ingredients.]
Now yo' go - ah go to de drug sto'. Yo' know oil of cinnamon? Ah go git dat. Dat cost a dime, oil of cinnamon - ten cents. An' ah go, ah'll git de oil of cinnamon, yo' see, an' yo' takes dat an' rub it on yore hands all de time. Well, dat will keep yo' out all de trouble in de world. [After this informant leaves I comment to Telediphone:] (End of 1250. That fellow was a fortune-teller. He didn't seem to know very much about my particular work.) [This means his unrecorded conversation lacked interest or was too diffuse. I probably appointed him an assistant contact man. For both of these See Introduction.]
Entry 1196
If lightnin' would hit a house an' whenevah dey would swallah some of dat flame or smoke dataway an' dey take de black cow's milk an' give 'em a drink of it, dat de only thing will revive him, yo' see, cause aftah yo' git hit by lightnin' or ketch smoke or anything dataway, it ketch yo' wit a sharp disease. If yo' kin git pure black cow's milk an' drink about a quart, dat will ease yo'. Dat de only thing would do yo' any good. It bettah den any medicine dat de physician give yo'.
Entry 1197
Use it fo' shingles. Yo' evah hear 'em tell of people usin' it fo' havin' shingles?
(No, tell me all about it.)
Yo' take that black cow's milk an' yo' wash dat whole place wit it. Yo' know de shingles starts in a patch an' yo' jes' keep it, yo' know, saturated wit dat black cow's milk.
Entry 1198
Well, ah've heard of 'em gittin' de blood of a snake, a poison snake, an' put it into whiskey an' give a person an' that will grow snakes in them, so ah've heard. When the snakes grow in a person, they kin take sweet milk an' mix it with the grease, which would be lard or somethin' - make a salve an' grease the intestines wit dat chew know, with this grease an' it will draw the snakes because milk will draw a snake, an' it will draw dem from 'em.
(What do you mean grease the intestines?)
Ah don't mean de intestines, ah mean de rectum.
(And the snake would come out that way?)
He come tuh git dat milk - vo' see, he git de scent of dat milk an' he'll gradually git so far he has tuh come on out.
Entry 1199
If a person comes back, they get some new lumber, put an addition to the house with the new lumber. And if that don't stop them [ghost], you get sweet milk and dress all the rooms with the sweet milk. You take the sweet milk and put it on and boil. Then you take something like a little broom, something that will sprinkle, and sprinkle all the rooms good with milk. That's supposed to stop 'em.
Entry 1200
Well, ah know de woman. Once dey had a woman fren', supposed to be, an' she wus jealous of her an' de boy fren'. So in comin' to dis woman's house she tried to break 'em up by talkin' to her an' she couldn't. So den she dressed de do'knob, dressed her do'knob fo' dis woman. An' dis woman dat wus dressed, it started from one finger as a red spot an' den dis red spot grew cross from finger to finger, every finger excepting de thumb. So dis woman's han' swole clean down to dis finger, an' got to de place where she couldn't open it, couldn't git it up ovah her haid, an' she re'lly didn't know whut tuh do. She did things an' did things an' fin'lly she wus told to git her chamber lye an' to put fresh salt in it an' to wash de do'knob with it, an' it would turn white, an' to do dat fo' nine days. An' den she tole 'er to go to a cow lot an' git dis hot passage from de cow an' put a plaster in her han' dat night an' de nex' mawnin' her han' would be as white as a piece of cloth, an' it would rid her of ever'thing. An' she did dat an' dat cured it. (She wiped off that doorknob each day for nine days. She didn't put any chamber lye on her hand or anything?) No - jes' de do'knob.
(All she put on her hand was this cow manure?)
Dat's it - one time. [For interesting story of cow manure on head, see No.967, p.362.]
Entry 1201
And there was another fellow here. His wife had his skin, his urine, his action and everything, she had it all in a bottle and had it buried an' that poor fellow - he was all he could do to walk, he could not straighten up and he bend that way for eleven months. And he couldn't eat anything but a little crackers, a little sweet milk. He came down there one evening dragging - he came in. She [doctor] went back in there - she had been out in the country and she got a big old cow turd and she tied it up in a rag and made him a big cup of tea. He drank that - he drank it, ever bit of it. She said, "Now lay down." " And he slept for about three or four hours and when he got up from there could stand straight. She give him 15c worth of castor oil and about half of a bottle of Sal Hepatica. That is what he needed and it cleaned him out. And she gave him mounds [incense molded into small conical mounds] to take home and watch his wife to burn. [While he burned the mounds, his wife was burning.] And I mean it took every bit off him, put it right back on her. She gave him the brown and black mounds to burn. He burnt these while his wife was gone and threw it right back on her. Just lighted them and burn them in the house where him and her stayed and slept.
Entry 1202
My mother, she was hoodooed at Miss S's house. I guess, if you ever been up on Cherry Street to old S's - they Was Jews - but she had a woman there named Tuley[?] S. Well, my mother was a pastry cook - she was making twelve dollars a week, but this other woman she didn't like that 'cause she wasn't getting the money. But if she got rid of my mother that would be her job. She hoodoo her in her shoe. She put somethin' in her shoe - just poisoned her same as a rattlesnake. She was a hoodoo. And her [mother's] feet come to bothering her and was swollen. Doc come to my mother.
(Doctor Robey?) [Informant had mentioned him in another story.]
Doctor Robey, and told her to go out in the pasture and get some cow manure where it's done got brown just like - just done caked up, and make a tea out of it. Get her a beef gall and -
(What was that - a beef gall?)
A beef gall, and take that beef gall and squeeze a little of that syrup from out of there - whatever it is - squeeze it into that tea and drink it. That stuff come out of her black as your hair - from out of - you know, black as your hair. And she before that - she didn't die neither. That ole man cured her. [My hair was dark brown. Usually informants said, "As black as your hat," referring to an old black hat concealing a microphone on the table - see Intro- duction and in Index, Author, black hat of.]
(Just put the beef gall into this cow manure tea?)
Into the cow manure tea. Boil this cow manure.
Entry 1203
In some parts of the South they claim, if you get some dirt from the cemetery and put it in a box and place it under the steps of your enemy, it will cause trouble in their home. And oft times they sought a cunjure man and he in turn gives them a piece of rawhide and tells them at intervals to tie a knot till that string is exhausted. That will do away with the evil spirit. [See Spirit Caught in Knot, p.389.]