Browse:Lucky Bone will Swim (Volume 1, entries 253–255)
Lucky Bone will Swim
Volume 1, entries 253–255. Source context: SPIRITS → BLACK CAT BONE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 253
Well, de tell me dat chew kin go out in de woods an' git chew a black cat, solid black cat, an' yo' kill him. An' yo' boil him till yo' boil all de bones - boil all de meat off de bones. Take to a runnin' branch an' po' dem bones in dat watah, an' de lucky bone will swim, an' de bone dat no good - de bones whut no good will stay on de bottom of de watah. An' yo' take dat bone an' bring it on back home, an' yo' say three words an' de Lord's Prayer. Den yo' take an' sew it up in yo' sack an' tote it - wear it [this hand] in de right hand of yore pocket an' yo'll have all de luck in de world dat chew want.
(You say three words - what are those words?)
"Lord have Mercy."
(And then you say the Lord's Prayer after that?)
Yes sir.
Entry 254
I git me a black cat. I'll take this black cat. I'll put dis cat on alive. I boil this black cat an' whutevah bone comes to the top of dat, that's called, they say, sellin' yerself to the devil. All right. I kin take that bone but I got to go to a house by mahself. An' in boilin' that cat I got to put a top on that cat an' boil this cat alive. An' I got to stand zamination between de devil an' his imps. It'll come a great many things. They come a whole gang of little people in there to dance with me. I've got to do this in the dahk. But when they git in they'll bring their own light, de own music an' ever'thing An' if I kin go through that zamination, an' that cat gits done - the meat boil offen that cat bone, the very bone that I want, the black cat's bone, is comin' to the top. Well, I kin git that an' tote it. Jis' as long as I kin tote it, I can go in your house or I kin walk up to you, take money out of yer pocket; or I kin go in amongs' a sto'keeper an' go behind the counter an' git the money out. They kin't see me come out. They may shoot at me an' can't hit me a' [or] nothin' as long as I keep that black cat's bone. I've sold mahself to the devil.
Entry 255
De way ah know it or de way ah've heard it - ah have nevah had any personal experience about it, but de way ah've heard it is dat yo' ketch de cat an' keep the cat nine days. An' in de ninth day yo' throw de cat into it - jis' as he is, life an' all - into a boilin' pot of watah, an' de bone dat bristles up out of his back aftah de boilin' is de bone which yo' want.
(Then what do you do with that bone?)
Yo' wear that bone on yore person. Dat's de lucky bone.