Browse:MEASURING - TO DELAY BIRTH OF BABY (Volume 4, entries 6885)
MEASURING - TO DELAY BIRTH OF BABY
Volume 4, entries 6885. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE → CURES FOR AND PROTECTION AGAINST AILMENT AND DISEASE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 6885
Yo' takes an' yo' git chew a spool of thread, white thread, an' yo'll measure from de length of where she walks at, an' in de ninth day she'll delivah dis baby. Dat chile will grow in 'er an' be almos'roun' about dis high, when it will delivah. She wouldn't be able tuh delivah it.
(All you have to do is to measure her what?)
[I now have quite a time learning what is measured, despite my knowing the answer.] Git a white spool of thread, No.8.
(Yes.)
An' yo' take dat thread an' wheresomevah yo' know she passes, always take de length.
(The length of what?)
De length wit de thread, jis' lak yo'd have a measure fo' twine, yo' know, an' yo'd be takin' a stretch.
(Well, what do you measure?)
Yo' measure where she walks at.
(What do you mean 'where she walks at?")
[I stop recording machine, she answered!]
(Well now, that's what I want to know. You measure her footsteps.)
Yo' measure her footsteps.
(All right.)
Now, wherevah yo' know she's stayin', yo'll come dere lak nuthin an' yo' jis' take de length of it an' den, as she go on, wherevah she makes [a track], yo' stop an' take de measure of it.
(Then what do you do with that?)
Yo' ties dat up, yo' ties dat thread up in knots. Yo'll count how many knots, intuh nine knots. An' de measure of 'er, all de steps dat yo' takes from 'er, if she stand - don' care how [many steps].