Browse:Gourd (Volume 1, entries 576–577)
Gourd
Volume 1, entries 576–577. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → DIAGNOSIS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 576
I know a fellow, a schoolmate of mine down in King George [County, Virginia], he worked in New Jersey years ago and most everyone took him to be a cunjure and fortune-teller, which he was not. But his father was a Southerner from Louisiana and he [the son] also believed in cunjuration. And while he worked in New Jersey, it was an old colored family and the old man was sick, and someone told him about this man that came from Virginia who was supposed to be a cunjure. And this [supposed] cunjure didn't like to work hard and he thought he would make some easy money. So he went to the home of this old family and had a talk with the old man, and he was convinced that he also believed in cunjuration. And after he talked with them awhile, he said he could cure the old man. The old man was sick. After he found out they believed in him, he went to work and he said he could cure him for fifty dollars and put the spell back on the woman who put it on him. So he went away that night and came back another dark night. Being very late at night, he planted a bottle under the doorsill containing button hooks [hooks and eyes] and needles and pins, and he had a coloring, some liquid in a bottle. He hid it under the doorsill and came back another night. So the next night he brought with him a simlin [or simling] gourd [= simnel, a squash in U. S. A.] which he had sawed in two and sealed up with a live frog inside. And then he told the man he would tell him in a few moments what was wrong. If no one hadn't thrown a hand [Throw for, in Indexl at him, he did not want his money. So the old map was satisfied. Then he laid the gourd before the fireplace with the live frog inside and says, "Gourd, gourd, you have never lied to me, and don't lie to me tonight." Then he put his hand acrost his eyes and he said, "If anything is wrong, move, move, move," three times, of [on] which the frog began to get warm. He [the frog] was a little slow in moving so he [conjurer] stood up [closer to the fire]. And he knew the gourd was going to move because the frog was inside. By that time the gourd got hot and the frog made one jump. And he said, "Move again." And the gourd moved. And said, "Move again." The gourd moved off the fireplace between the old man's legs that was sick. He was setting in a chair. And he says, "Mister, I told my wife I was cunjured. Now I know it and you know it." So he told the cunjure the money was ready whenever he would cure him. So the cunjure said it would take about three weeks, because the person that put the spell on him was a far off. So the cunjure went home that night knowing that he had some easy money coming. He went in the woods the next day and got some pokeberry roots and red oak bark and saxafras [sassafras] roots and cooked it together and made a tea, which is got for rheumatism, [I] don't care how [long] standing, because his father cured himself with the very same remedy. So he came back three days later to the old man's home and brought a pint of this tea that he had made, and told him to take a tablespoonful three times a day before each meal, which he did. And inside of one week he was feeling much better. And the following Sunday this cunjure came back to see how the old man was. And the old man said, "Boy, I'm feeling fine. Come over one night next week and I will give you half of the money." The cunjure didn't wait a week. He came back the third day with another pint and told him to double the dose, which the old man did. And at the end of the second week the old man's rheumatism was gone. And instead of giving him twenty-five dollars he gave him fifty and just spread his name abroad. And the cunjure still lives today and said he made over three-hundred dollars just for this good remedy which his father cured himself. And lots of other people that don't know him go and see him today, for he still lives. He still lives in King George as a cunjure, of which he knows nothing about.
Entry 577
Wal, ah'll tell yo' a incident 'bout where a cunjuration did good. Ah came heah and ah knew an ole party dat came from out in Ohio somewhere - moved right down in de same place called Hick's Bottom right heah in Richmond. An' those people - a man [old man from Ohio] an' his nephew came an' dey were nice to me when ah wus a boy an' ah nevah fo'got 'em. So when ah went in de Navy an' came back heah agin, why, ah found out that de old man wus very ill, an' mah grandmothah tole me dat de only trouble wit de old man wus dat he believed dat he wus cunjured. An' he stayed in de house, he didn't git any de fresh air, he didn't git any exercise. Now, she say, all he needed wus a bath, some exercise, fresh air an' some good food. So ah went tuh a friend of mine wus in de racket - wus a root doctor an' one thing anothah yo' know." But he knew dat ah'ad onlv but so much belief. vo' know, in it. So, he consented to come an' help de ole man out from it. But ah had tuh work on de old man's superstitions to do him any good. So ah tole him dat ah wus goin' bring him a papa loi - a good cunjure doctor, yo' understand. (A papa loi - it used to be down in Haiti they called them that, a papa loi or a mama loi?) Yeah.
(How did you get that word - have you been down in Haiti?)
Yes - ah been in Haiti but ah've been roun' wit so many West Indians in New Yawk, see, an' we all talk it ovah, yo' know, sometime. An' sometime ah kinda believe mahself, but - ah don' know. Anyway, we'll skip dat. So, dis ole man - we'll omit his name. An' aftah mama, mah grandmothah, tole me whut wus whut, ah talked to dis friend of mine who dabbled in de stuff, an' he say he had de han' an' all dat kinda stuff, see. An' he had a black cat bone himself, see, tied aroun' his neck. But, anyway, he goes tuh de ole man an' de ole man had confidence in me, so he put hisself in de han's of dis man - see, dis cunjure doctor. So when ah explain to dis cunjure doctor jes' whut wus whut.
(Did you tell the cunjure doctor that he wasn't hurt or that he was?)
Ah tole him jes' whut wus whut. Well, he tole me dat he wus goin' take de spell off him. Dis cunjure doctor had a gourd - yo' know whut a gourd is, a small gourd - dat yo' use tuh drink outa, but a small one. He had put a hole in his gourd an' he had put in dis gourd, woodbugs an' worms an' things lak dat, an' he sealed it back up again. Well, he tole de ole man dat he had tuh have a tub of hot watah, twelve 'clock at night but not at de full moon - when de moon wus goin' off. Well, dat's when yo' git de fifth moon - de [something?] moon. [His fifth moon = dark of the moon, the few days interval between full and new moon.] So he had tuh have dis hot watah at midnight an' it must be midnight when de Cycle is changin' - well, ever' man know whut a cycle means - an' dat he had tuh have moon soap: In dose days yo' sold soap called moon soap, but it jes dat Octagon soap [trade name] dat had a [picture of the] moon on it. An' it didn't have a full moon either - it had a moon jes' about de size of a moon when it's fulla watah. [Evidently I comment "a crescent while my machine is stopped.] Dat's it - a crescent. So, he had tuh have this soap. So, in de meantime he gits a pastebo'd pillbox - dat is de cunjure doctor - an' he puts a few grubworms an' bugs in dere, an' rock salt, an' so forth, an' he puts that in his pocket. Well, at sharp twelve a'clock he puts de ole man in de tin tub, yo' know, a regular washtub. See. An' he begin tuh give de ole man a bath. Well, plenty dirt wus comin' off. So, in de meantime, he put de gourd on de table. He puts his pipe near de gourd. So, he says, "Spirits, tell me, hokus-pocus or some kinda words or ritual he used, yo' know, an' he grabbed de ole man an' he pinch him [see Pinch in Index] - pinched de ole man. He says, Have ah got im, have ah got 'im, spirits, have ah got 'im?" But in de meantime he push his pipe close up tuh de gourd. Well, de heat from his pipe goes tuh de gourd an' dat makes de worms move - de heat makes de worms move. Well, de gourd would move. Well, den, de ole man's eyes would git big as dat [demonstrates with his eyes] yo' know. When he see de gourd he figured de spirits wus in dat gourd showin' off. Well, when he pinch him an' do dat, an' de gourd roll, he would reach in his pocket an' drop in de tub a bug or a worm, see. Well, he kept dat up - see, continuously an' he give de ole man a hot bath. He give him a good rubdown. It wus whut de ole man really needed, ah guess. He tole de ole man not to empty that tub until de sun wus directly ovahhead de next day, an' he wus tuh keep it covered, an' when he empty it out, empty it out so he see it an' he would see jes' whut was in it, that he had re'lly gotten it out of him. An' he tole de ole man dat he wus bein' hoodooed, yo' understan', between de hours of five an' six a'clock, an' fo' him tuh git out ever' mawnin' at quarter tuh five, so dat when dis cunjure person dat wus puttin' dis trick on 'im - when he sprinkle down dis goofer dust so it wud make him have itchin' fut an' run hisself tuh death - see, so dat he wouldn't be dere [in the house] an' it wouldn't work on 'im. An' then [after six o'clock when he reentered the house] he could keep his do' open. [See subsection Time.] So de next day at twelve noon when de sun wus ovahhead, de ole man empties his tub an' he finds dis rock salt, worms - grubworms an' bugs, an' de ole man swoah [swore] dat dis cunjure doctor had taken de spell off him. So de ole man would take his bath - he tole him tuh take his bath every Sunday befo' de week change, befo' de Sabbath change into de workday. De ole man had so much belief, he followed dem instructions. Every mawnin' at quartah tuh five yo' would fin' dat ole man goin' up de railroad track, walkin' - an' he wus supposed tuh walk out into de country. An' he'd git back at six a'clock. Den, whoevah wus sprinklin' dis goofer dust down fo' him, see, wouldn't harm him. Dat ole man followed those instructions - an' he wus tole not tuh eat any fried food, see - nuthin' but boiled food - dat de steam an' de moisture would carry 'way all de goofer dust an' cunjure an' so forth - de steam would carry it away - nuthin' but boiled food. An' dat ole man followed dem instructions an' when ah came through heah five yeahs latah, he wus workin' in de Tredical works where dey handle iron.
(Where was he working?)
In de Treadical works - Treadical[?] Iron Works, an' dat jes' build him up by havin' de belief an' confidence. Now, dat's a incidence where it did good. Dere's one ah fo'got tuh tell while ah wus tellin' dis. Now, yo' want me tuh tell vo' dat about it?
[I probably nodded, yes.]
He wus told - he made de ole man trim his corns an' trim his toenails. He tole him tuh keep his toenails short because de goofer dust would git undah his toenails an' it wus harder an' cost him mo' to git it out - to git de spell off him if it got undah his toenails. An' dat ole man followed those instructions. Of co'se, de ole man had tuh give him money - see, he had tuh give him money. An' ah think de ole man give him a coupla dollahs, but it wus bettah den a doctor's prescription.