Browse:Hitting Remedy (Volume 1, entries 1052)
Hitting Remedy
Volume 1, entries 1052. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → FOLK MEDICINE (1) PRINCIPLES OF HEALING. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1052
[This story could have gone under margin-title Whipping, p.388, but I found it too late to include in the closed text. Besides, the hitting here is a little different from the whipping there - the doctor does the knocking.] She married a man - some root vorkah maked 'em [or make dem] marry. An' aftah dey married, de woman had been [become sick], take pain in 'uh side an' dey had to care 'uh to a root vorkah. An' when she valked in dis root vorkah say, "Ah don't put 'em togethah" - you know, put 'em togethah an' make 'em marry. An' when de woman valk in de room he say - he look in de woman eye an' ast 'uh why did she marry dis man. She say, "I mare 'im cus it vus love." He say, "No, it vusn't no love; it vus a hand put on yah to make yah mare dis man." An' de woman had a pain in 'uh side. She couldn't, you know, half valk. [Word woman is also heard as 'uman.] An' he tell all to go out de room. Jis' de woman an' dis root doctah vus in de room. An' aftah dat he make de woman stand up. De woman couldn't har'ly valk when she vent [to the doctor]. An' he vent out in anothah room an' came back wit medicine, an' he po'd some up in de top huh haid. An' he knock 'uh t'ree time on 'uh haid wit 'is fis' an' evah time he knock huh he jis' shut 'is eyes lak dat an'jis' blow. An' aftah doin' lak dat he tell 'uh to straighten up. An' de woman straighten up. An' when she straighten up jis' lak dat, he knock 'uh t'ree time in de back - fust [time] he knock 'uh in de haid. An' aftah dat he tell de woman, he say, "Now, yo' valk. Don't valk scared," he sayes, "yo' jis' pick up yo' feet - joo kin valk." An' de woman could valk good jis' lak she vusn't sick. An' he tell 'uh to valk on out in de po'ch [porch] an' come back. [She did.] An' he tells 'uh to lay down. He had a long chair in de room an' he tell 'uh to lay down in de chair. An' she, you know, laid down in de chair. An' he tell de woman to get up an' go on [home] but not in barefoot - she vus [had been] verkin' aroun' in barefoot. [This medical advice was to protect her against sprinkled or buried cunjuration, not against hookworm.] An' he tell 'uh, he says dat vus dis husban'. He say uh husban' had consult a root vorkah fer to put 'em togethah, jis' cus dey [cunjures] had powah 'nuff to put 'em togethah. Dat vus a woman cunjure [who put them together]. An' de woman vent back home bettah an' nevah did been sick no more wit pains in 'uh side. [Long chair is the only time I heard this expression. Since the informant surely knew the words couch and sofa, I am guessing the long chair was some type of deck chair - perhaps a Morris chair which has a bar and slots so that the back of the chair can be lowered or raised.]