Browse:Knife (Volume 1, entries 1364–1366)
Knife
Volume 1, entries 1364–1366. 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 1364
If a spirit-lak worryin' yo', well yo' kin open a pocketknife an' put it in yore pocket an' no spirit can't harm yo' - any kind of pocket- knife an' put it in yore pocket an' walk off.
[See jack-o'-lantern, No. 136, p.46.]
Entry 1365
A root fellah tole me de way he done tuh keep 'em off him. Ah axed him, 'How come, '' ah said, "dey don't bother you?" He showed me, he said, "Yo' see dat knife sticking up dere on dat tree - sticking right opposite to de way dey come?" See, he had a pocketknife sticking right up in de tree, de forks of 'em. An' he say dat pocketknife is to keep dem offa him. An' ah axed him what did he do wit dat pocketknife. He say he had written de name down on a bar of soap - Oxol Soap, an' den he take dat bar of Oxol Soap an' go to de washstand and wash it away, and dat mean dat wash dem peoples, if dere's any of 'em his enemies jes' clean away from 'im. He can't be bothered about 'em.
(What kind of soap? What color is it?)
Brown Oxol [Oxydol] Soap. Lak if ah don't want tuh be bothered wit a person an' ah know he worrying me, ah write his name wit a piece of - take a match stem, anything, an' jes' write his name on dat bar of soap and go out dere to de washstand and jes' wash your hands till yo' wash it aways. Dat gits rid of dat.
Entry 1366
Yo' take yore knife an' [from your tooth] git a drop or two of blood on dat knife, an' den yo' take it to dat tree, de black gum tree. Yo' git dat blood outa dere an' den take dat knife an' go dere an' chip dat tree, an' stick dat knife in dere an' den put de chip back ovah it an' leave it there. Dat cure yore toothache.