Browse:Rattlesnake (Volume 1, entries 1433–1435)
Rattlesnake
Volume 1, entries 1433–1435. 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 1433
She got holt of a thing - some kind of a snake got in her - de rattle- snake, de rattles of a snake. An' when she drink de watah from it she went blind an' she sent fo' mah mothah an' mah mothah had tuh go to her. She went an' she went an' she carried her fifteen miles from Danville, Virginia, to [somewhere] Virginia, to a man. Den he went out an' got a rattlesnake an' put him in a bottle, put him in dis thing alive an' po' s whiskey on him. See, dat cooked him an' den dey taken de whiskey an' fed mah aunty on it fo' nine days - give her nine drops, give her nine drops fo' three times a day fo' nine days, an' de ninth day she come back to her sight. An' some of these bells [buttons or rattles] wus undah her do'step an' some wus found in de spring. Dis man found 'em afterwards[!!!]. Her sight come back to her. She got well. [This is a remarkable example of like cures like (see p.394); it is also an original and brilliant piece of therapeutic thinking by a master of his craft!l (Now, what did they do with these drops? Did she drink them or put them on her eyes or what?) She drink them, she drink nine drops fo' nine days.
(Who was this?)
This mah aunty.
(And what was the name of the town?)
Danville, Virginia.
Entry 1434
Ah heard of 'em usin' de rattlesnake rattles fo' a hemorrhage. Well, yo' only Wet it - dip it in watah an' stick it to de place where yo' hemorrhage. Even if it in yore nostrils, yo' jes' stick it inside of yore nostrils; an' if it yore bowels, yo' stick it down yore lower part an' hit'll stop it right away. Ah used to tote one all de time.
Entry 1435
Yo' kin kill a rattlesnake an' kill him an' take de three buttons off him an' - after dey corner de rattlesnake, yo' know. Yo' take dem rattlesnake buttons an' sew it together an' make a belt an' put it round yore waist. Ain't no one can't do nuthin to yo'.
(They can't harm you in any way?)
No sir, can't harm you. Ah weared one a good while mahself. Ah got 'long purtty well. Well [why I don't wear one now], why ah never done no great novelty dat anyone would hate me so much, but den [in my younger days]. [St. Petersburg, Fla., (1021), 1652:6.}