Browse:Frog (Volume 1, entries 1263–1288)
Frog
Volume 1, entries 1263–1288. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1263
[Three men together are talking about two absent men:]
Ah've [informant] seen a [doctor] man take a [culprit] man's shoes an' seen 'im, you know, dressin' dem. An' so dis [third] man axed 'im [doctor], say, "Whut chew goin' do wit dis fellah [culprit]?" An' he say, "Well, he [culprit] been givin' de man [doctor's client] trouble to 'is house 'bout 'is wife." See. An' dis [client] man had hired dis [doctor] man to fix dis [culprit] man up. An' so dis happened, you know, up de country. The three men are in town.] An' so dis [third or objector] man tole 'im, say, "Ah wouldn't do dat." He say, "Yes, dat's mah job." An' so he [doctor continues] says, "Yo' ain't got nuthin to do wit it." So he went to work and he dressed dis [culprit] fellah. He say, "Ah'm goin' have to fix dis shoe and den ah have tuh [fix] dat pedal, ' say, "if ah can't git tuh fix his shoe lak ah wanta." See, he [culprit] was a truckdriver. He say, "Ah go an' dress dat dere clutch' - yo' know, where yo' have tuh put in clutch, yo' know, tuh change gears. "Ah kin git 'im good on dat." So he fixed up de shoe and dis fellah, yo' know, jes' lak ah say ah'm gon'a.
(How did he dress the shoe?)
Well, he took dat shoe and he took two toadyfrogs - see, took two toadyfrogs and he cut dat toadyfrog wide open live, see, an' got dat blood and put it down in dat man's shoe, spread it down in dere. [A frog for each shoe.] An' den he put somethin' else in dere. Whut it was ah don't know, but he put something else in dere. An' dis heah [objector] fellah heah, tole 'im, say, "Would it hurt me now if ah wear his shoes back to 'im? See, 'cause ah jes' borrowed his shoes playing partner wit 'im, see, 'cause make out lak mine was too little and want 'im to break 'em out. Ah swap wit him tull I git a chance tuh fix 'em?" He [doctor] says, "No, it ain't goin' hurt chew. It jes' goin' hurt de one hit was fixed fo'."
[Why objector borrowed shoes and then objected, I do not know.]
An' so dis fellah wears de shoes back an' so dis [culprit] man den puts on his shoes, see. Well, he goes down de next morning tuh git his truck. Well, dey got 'is clutch fixed on 'is truck. Well, when he went an' got on de truck, well dat night he wasn't able to walk home. He was hoppin'. His laig was hurtin' all up, clean up tuh 'is knee. An' yo' kin hear 'im hollerin'. Ah heard 'im my ownself. You could hear 'im hollerin' two blocks. De doctor he come. De doctor couldn't do no good. Dey had to go git another hoodoo woman - big hoodoo woman stay out from Bergen Junction, back out dere - ole lady Rivers [Ridders?]. Well, she goes tuh work an' she come dere an' she lays her han' on 'im jes' lak dis heah [demonstrates] an' drag it over 'is face - we was all standin' dere lookin' at 'em - bring 'er han' right down ovah his face jes' lak dat an' carried it straight on down, right ovah dat laig. An' she done dat three times, an' when she done dat three times, two toadyfrogs hopped outa dat man's laig, an' dat man got all right. Come out back dere where de two places 'bout tuh come to a haid - where it done, you know, formed a corruption.
(What was this woman's name?)
Rivah - Ridder.
(Is she near St. Petersburg?)
No sir, she stay right up 'cross de rivah from Rocky Ford, Georgia. [Speaker is from Georgia.]
Entry 1264
If you'd git a toadfrog - if you swole up in your joints or something like that and you can't git it 'way, and if somebody tricked you. Well, you git you a toadfrog and cut him open, put it right on that place until that will come out, and jest whatever it is - if it is yellow or green or whatever it is - makes it come out in dat frog.
Entry 1265
Jes' lak ah could take a frog right now - yo' supposed to be plagued with spasm or fits. Jes' ketch a live frog an' split 'im open - slap it right on dere an' tie it an' dat'll kill de fits.
Entry 1266
If somebody poisoned yo' in yore laig or yore feet or anywhere yo' poisoned - paralyzed poisoned [paralyzed by poison] - yo' git chew a green - don't git nuthin but a green one, green toadfrog, an' rub him - rub him until he dies. Be sure yo' rub him till he dies.
(Where do you rub him?)
Jes' take him in yore hand an' rub him right down de back till he die - rub him right down his back till he die an' den split him open. After yo' split him open git chew a flannel - a white flannel string [strip about dat wide an' put it in dere an' sew hit back together so hit won't come out dere, an' bind him on dat place an' it will turn black. Dat's de poison.
Entry 1267
Dey'd use a toadfrog - if yo' kin git a toadfrog - if a snake wus tuh bite chew - most any kinda snake - if yo' kin git de frog at de time an' split him open an' tie him on dat particular place why yo' would git to some doctor or 'nother, see.
Entry 1268
These things on yore neck whut chew call a wart [goiter?], take a frog an' rub on dere till he dies - rub him jes' as hard as yo' could. Ah be dogged if it don't go.
The instruction describes rubbing a frog on the neck, with its death as the endpoint; no therapeutic effect is verified.
Entry 1269
Well, my daddy know whut de matter. My daddy was a riverside man. I ain't born by de riverside but I'm 69 years old right now. My daddy was a man, you know, he was purtty wise. And he says, "Well, I don't [do] know what to do with my Charlie." He went to work and takes [four] live toadfrogs and cut it open, and like he [the frog] is in dere [the raw inside], you know, git some sulphur and you fix like a batter for to fry bread - he daubed the [inside of] the frog with that red peppah and sulphur, and he bind dis one here and bind the other one here [but by action he indicated four frogs - one at the front of Charlie's head, one on each side, and one at the back]. And he done that fer nine days. And my brother commence to come back to us. My brother - I'm a year older than him. He is dead now. Tie 'em with a new bandaging of cloth that never was used - homespun. And he bind 'im with that and my brother lay there fer nine days. He stunk like a buzzard.
Entry 1270
I've heard they use a frog, but it must be a toadfrog. You know what a toadfrog is?
(No, what is a toadfrog?)
Well, he's a thing he abides on dry land. He's not a water animal. Course he kin swim but he abides on dry land, see. And now, I've heard that you gets the toadfrog but you don't get him dead - don't let him be dead. You wants to let the toadfrog be alive and when you get him, you take him and you puts him - well, you may have you a little box made. You put him in this box and you go get you some salt and you sprinkle that on him. You goes and you gets you some baking powder and you sprinkle that over him, and after you sprinkle that over this frog you don't want - don't kill him, you may be hurt. You bind this frog to the place where you hurted and just leave him lie there, see, with that pepper and baking powder on him, but brang him to the place where you hurted, and in seven days that place will come to a head and whatever in that place it will run out. Where doctors have failed to do you any good, well, that frog will kill it.
Entry 1271
Well, dey use toadfrogs for fitses. Well, someone might put a fit on yo' - on anyone. Dey takes de toadfrog - takes de toadfrog 'live an' take an' tie him right round yore neck an' yo' worry de frog an' de fits will go right out of yo'into de frog an' it'll run him crazy an' he kill himself.
Entry 1272
Take a toadfrog an' tote him in yore pocket 'live fo' chills.
(Just put him alive?)
Yes, put him in yore pocket 'live.
Entry 1273
Dey tell me dat yo' kin take a frog an' wrop him up in a silk pocket han'chief an' take jes' dis common bread an' salt. Give him de bread an' put salt in yore shoes, an' have dis frog in yore pocket han'chief an' wear him dere in yore pockets, an' yo' kin walk ovah anything dat dey put down fo' yo' an' it's no harm dey kin do.
(This frog, do you keep it alive?)
Yes.
Entry 1274
All right, she had me - ah did it mahself. Ah went an' caught a bull- frog, not a bullfrog but a toadfrog, up heah in de yard. After I caught dis toadfrog, she took dis frog an' put him in a little cloth like an' put dis frog right on her side an' wore him dere fo' a few days until dat frog died. After dat frog died den dis pain left her jes' on account of wearing dat frog dere.
Entry 1275
(How do they cure the whooping cough?)
Well, dey jes' take a toadfrog an' kill him an' make a soup an' cure de whoopin' cough.
(What do they do with that soup?)
Give it to the child to drink.
Entry 1276
Jes' lak if a person have any kinda - been tricked in any kinda whiskey or been hurt by a person by puttin' down somepin, yo' kin take dat frog. Yo' kin cut him wide open an' take an' put him in some boilin' hot water an' let him boil down. Take an' strain dat water out an' give it to a person tuh drink, let him drink de water - jes' put it in a bottle an' jes' give it to 'em to drink.
Entry 1277
And then you kin take a toadfrog - you know these toadfrogs. Well, just like person got rheumatism - I don't tell nobody this one, though. That's one I made plenty money on. Just like a person got rheumatism.
(Yes.)
You know these toadfrogs that hop around at night. You kin take - you gather them and stew 'em down and take that grease and grease people. Ah'm de only one in dis town kin cure rheumatism. I've cure many people round here of rheumatism.
Entry 1278
If a fellah put a spell on yo', yo' make watah and bath in it fer nine mawnin's an' po' dat watah toward de sunset. And den yo' kin take nine toadfrogs and put 'em into a pot alive an' cook 'em down - put nuthin in 'em but a little watah an' a little grease, an' grease wit de grease from dem fer nine mawnin's. Dat will break up anything that dey try to put on yo'. (These are different ways of doing this - one is you use the urine and the other way is you use the frogs. You don't use both of them together?) No, don't use both of them together - use either one of them.
Entry 1279
This is by experience. I seed my mother do this. She made us boys ketch her nine toadfrogs. And we caught 'em and we brought 'em in the house and she got a skillet of red hot grease and the lid ready to place on it. And she'd taken them frogs one by one and put them in that skillet - one by one - one by one - and put 'em in that skillet and fried 'em down to where dey was crisp. She'd taken that grease and she put it up, till it congeal - that is, you know, until it got cold and thick, and she used it as a hair dressing and give it to her friends. Well, my mother, her hair -
(She what?)
Used it for a hair dressing. She had hair that long. She Was mulatto and she used to make it all the time.
(That will make your hair grow?)
Yes, sir, it make the hair grow - you know, turn it straight. That's what she would get out of it.
Entry 1280
(Tell it again now, the whole thing from the beginning.)
You take you a frog - what I mean, them old frogs. Now, this is the truth from here to heaven. You take you a frog - one of them old hoppy frogs, rainy frogs, you know, be's hopping after de rain in the country. Well, it be night - you know, dark, up there [in the country]. Well, you just take you a yeast [something] can and just let it run up in there, you know, alive. Stop him up while he alive - stop him up there tight and put him over a door, over your door there. And he'll [you'll] pass the door - he's [you're] going to pass all the time, back and forth, back and forth. And when you passes that door about nine morning, your piles is cured and you go up there and you look at it and open it, you won't see nothing but brown ashes. You won't see no bones or nothing from that frog - nothing but brown ashes. And you leave it there and that's just going to molt away and you'll never have the piles on you long as you live.
Entry 1281
If any harm done to a person in de bed, yo' put dis frog in dere 'live an' when de frog dies, dat disease dere he would have consumed dat - whatevah dey have spread in de mattress fo' yo', fo' tuh make yo' sick or tuh make yo' in bad luck. Den dat's all ovah. When he dies he supposed tuh carry it away with him. Yo' put him alive yo' see.
Entry 1282
Jes' lak a person got de asthma - he ketches a frog an' take an' ketch him 'live an' take an' hold his mouth open an' blow de breath in his mouth three times, an' she give dat asthma to de frog, she won't have it any mo'.
Entry 1283
An' then yo' kin cure disease with that frog. A frog is wonderful tuh take off spells.
(How would they do that?)
Well, now, yo' kin ketch a frog an' yo' kin let the party that has the spell Spit three times into that frog's mouth an' blow their breath three times in it an' then yo' kin - when they do that yo' read the 23rd Psalms. See, read the 23rd Psalms an' after yo' read de 23rd Psalms, yo' let them take that frog an' throw it ovah dere shoulder jest as hard as they kin an' don't let that frog come back towards where that sick person is standing - keep that frog off from that sick person. An' that frog will carrv that disease off. Yo' kin take off witchcraft fo' anybody wit dat.
Entry 1284
Jes' lak if a person have whoopin' cough, take de frog an' cough in his mouth three times an' roll him in yore han's three times an' bury it undah yore do steps. De next mawnin' yore whoopin cough will be gone.
Entry 1285
Jes' ketch him an' tie him up some place in yo' fiahplace an' if it's a enemy somewhere about chew he'll leave - de law will git atter him an' run him away from dere.
[As frog in fireplace becomes hot, so it becomes too hot for enemy.]
(This toadfrog?)
Yes.
Entry 1286
If anyone has a high fever - any kind of a fever - yo' goes to de swamp an' ketch yo' a swamp toad outa de watah an' cut off his tongue an' name dat toad aftah de one who had de fever. Throw it back in dis watah an' why his fever will become perfectly all right. He'll be all right in a few days.
(What do you do with that tongue out of that toad, then?)
Jes' throw it back into de watah.
Entry 1287
Yo' take dis frog an' yo' bake [dry] him in de sunshine an' when he become old - dry-like, yo' powder dat up an' yo' sprinkle dat on dis man when he come 'way.
(Where do you sprinkle it on him?)
Down on his privates - down dere an' when he have connection wit dis woman, well dat dust will git on her an' it will carry her ovahtime. (The wife would do this if this other woman was going to have a child by her husband?) Dat's right.