Browse:Potato (Volume 1, entries 1422–1425)
Potato
Volume 1, entries 1422–1425. 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 1422
Fo' rheumatism in de laig, all ovah yore laigs dere in yore laig, dese bones, yo' know - well, yo' kin take a Irish potato dey calls it an' tote it in yore pocket. Hit'll be evah so large, but chew tote it in yore pocket till it come to be 'bout big as a marble. Well, dat'll cure de rheumatism out yore joints. [Waycross, Ga., (1136), 1850:7.].
Entry 1423
Pain such as rheumatism and things like that, he kin do somepin simple to get rid of that. He kin pass some grocery store, any kind, or in his home if it's your brother and he's in your home and you got de Irish potato - natch'ly you have one in your kitchen or in your pantry or some place in your house - not ask you for it but they call it stealin' - and jes' put it in your [his] pocket, any pocket you [he] got and jes' wrap it so it won't soil his clothes too much. Keep in there and let it ferment and that kill any rheumatic pain he has in his body.
Entry 1424
If anybody have tricked yo' any way, in a case like dat yo' kin git chew one. Go in a store an' steal it, a Irish potato. Don't let 'em give it. Jest steal it an' put it in yore pocket an' when it gits hard - it git hard jest lak a brick - an' whenevah it gits hard, why yo' take it out an' eat it. It be hard but eat it, an' whatevah is wrong with yo' why it will kill it.
(That would kill any poison that anybody has got in me in any way?)
Yes.
Entry 1425
A woman lived aroun' heah on - been about ten yeahs ago [1927] - lived aroun' heah on McCreary Street, on de cornah of McCreary an' Campbell Street. De nex'-doah neighbah an' huh fell out. An' she comence hangin' de clothes on de line, on de clothesline, an' de woman tole 'uh not tuh hang on theah. But she said it wus much hern as it wus hern becus she had put 'em up dere. Well, dis woman when she hung 'uh clothes out dis veek, she [other woman] didn't do nuthin to 'uh, but de nex' veek befo' she hung de clothes out dere, she [other woman], had dressed de line. An' when she hanged de wash up, done huh washin' an' hung 'uh clothes out - an' de nex' veek huh han's commence swellin' an' huh han's swelled clear up troo 'uh ahms - so [until they was] outa shape. An' all dis troo heah wus jis' as sore as it could be. An' you know, dat han' it turned black an' it look like scales of a fish [see No. 1000, p.384] - scale all on huh ahms an' 'long heah. An' den dere come a sore on 'uh laig - come den. An' she didn't know whut to do. She went to a doctah. She spent ovah $40 on it tryin to git some salve or somepin or othah to cure it. She couldn't git it. An' den she git on de train an' vent down tuh Florence. Looked lak dat de haidquartahs [for root doctahs]. She vent tuh Florence, South Ca'lina. De ole man tole 'uh whut tuh do. He said, "Lookee heah, you don't know how tuh git rid of dat complaint choo got. It's somepin someone have put it on yuh. Yuh eat de same thing ev'ry day, ev'ry day yuh eat de stuff dat yuh have tuh git tuh cure dat han' an' dat laig. He said, "Yuh go git choo a big I'sh potato an' yuh cut off each side of it an' make it kinda flat. Den yuh take a knife an' cut all aroun' in it, leave a hole so da' choo tie a string troo dat hole. An' tie de string tuh de ten-penny nail an' let it hang dere till it jis' git dry up. An' den yuh git choo a potato an' scrape it - git choo anothah potato - an' make it a salve an' den bind it on a new piece of cloth, an' put it round dat sore on your laig an' dat'll cure dat. Den you go git yuh some alum an' burn it till it quit blubblin' an' den burn yuh some bluestone until it would turn kinda whitish, so you kin mash it all up into powdah. An' den you git some gourds an' some vaseline an' make a salve out it, an' den you rub dat on wit dat salve vaseline. An' let dat potatoes stay up dere till it gits dry an' yuh take dat potato down an' mash it all up an' make it a powdah, an' yuh take dat powders an' anoint dat laig where yuh had de plaster on it. Yuh take dis salve - you take de [second] potato off den, yuh put de [first] potato on dis new piece of cloth an' bind it aroun' dat sore on de laig, an' den you let it stay on theah nine veeks. Den yuh take it off an' put de salve - jis' wash wit dat salve an' dat'll cure it."
The selected instruction is quoted as another speaker’s words inside the informant’s narrative.