Browse:LIVE THINGS IN YOU (Volume 4, entries 6524–6688)/Part 3
LIVE THINGS IN YOU
Volume 4, entries 6524–6688. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 6684
chamber lye or 'is urine - well, dey kin take dat an' dey'll [a woman vill] mix dat wit yo' [a man's] food. Dat comes tuh yo' be vury weak. Normal [normally] yo'll have haidaches, yo'll have all kinda pains. Dat's when dey take an' dey'll go out an' git some earthworms. Dey take de earthworms an' den mix dat wit fresh lahd [lard], an' fry it up an' make a salve. An' dey rub dat intuh de man's skin. Dat'll form 'im tuh have earthworms in de skin. He is no good fer nobody an' den de woman leaves 'im den.
Entry 6685
Yo' take dat an' yo' ketch dem little worms an' yo' dry 'em. Yo' got'a dry 'em an' yo' put 'em in watah, whutsomevah anybody whare [where] dey drinkin'. Yo' put dat in de watah an' dat'll turn tuh little worms in dey belly.
The account names water as the medium. The claimed bodily consequence is reported belief; the bracketed wording remains editorial.
Entry 6686
De worm, de frog, yo' poun' dat up, some people do, an' dey sprinkle dat ovah de food. It will take effect on a woman more, becuz she will breed, yo' see, in a length of time it will form de form of a snake [worm or frog] inside de woman.
Entry 6687
They tell me that if you can get a hold of dog's hair and cat hair, and fix it so that it can get into the food of an individual, that after they eat it, if it stays in 'em for nine days, it turns to worms. And those worms get in their body on the inside and they finally die from the effect of it. [Elizabeth City, N. Car., (182), 554:9.] [Readers will notice I have changed the title of this subsection from the one originally given in volume 3 under CONTENTS FOR VOLUMES 3 AND 4. This change perely returns to my original title CURE AND PROTECTION in volume 1, pages 410- 519, emphasizing once again, as in the introductory comment that folk medicine in hoodoo or witchcraft has a protective or preventive side (p.3077). A com- plete list of cures and prevention of ailments and disease cannot be known until the completion of the INDEX to occupy all of volume 5.]
Entry 6688
Yo' kin take a penny an' if yo' havin' a intahco'se wit a woman an' if yo' don' wants 'er no mo', don' cä' [care] fo' her no mo', an' jis' wants tuh see her blat up, why yo' put dat penny in yore mout' an' put it undah yore tongue an' have intahco'se wit 'er, an' den yo'll give her some disease dat she nevah kin git rid of. Dat's whut chew kin do wit a penny. [The preceding word blat used only here in Hoodoo, is a variant of bleat, which means to cry out, as calf or sheep. Colloquially, blat could signify to utter loudly and indiscretly, or to be loud- mouthed. Perhaps the meaning in the present instance could be loud-mouthed or to blow her top. Or does informant intend to say she will bloat from the disease he gives her? As a matter of fact (hoodoo pathology says so), diseases are given by holding a penny in the mouth or under tongue during coitus: a woman holding the penny causes a stroke in the man (No.3240); prevents veneral disease (3241); makes a disease stronger (No.3242); etc.]