Browse:Pay off Fo' Dat Root (Volume 1, entries 1083)
Pay off Fo' Dat Root
Volume 1, entries 1083. 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 1083
[Many examples have been given of payment to the dead for their grave- yard dirt. Here, a doctor, a man offers a rare healing principle about roots:] De dime - some people uses a dime an' wears it around dere laig, so if dey walk ovah anything it'll turn black an' hit'll take it. An' den take a person, dey take a dime - same as if like if dey in de woods diggin'a root. Well, yo' supposed tuh pay off fo' dat root; if yo' don't pay off fo' it, it ain't goin' do yo' no good. When yo' diggin' John de Conker or de chew root - see, hit's a root dat grows in de woods dey call de chew root. Well, yo' kin take dat an' yo' kin chew an' go befo' co't. Why anywhere yo' wanta borrow anything, why jes' go ahead an' chew it an' spit it round dere and dey'll take sides wit chew. But when yo' diggin' dese roots an' things yo' should pay off in silver.
(Why is that?)
Well, dat's de sacrifice.