Browse:Roots (Volume 1, entries 2254–2256)
Roots
Volume 1, entries 2254–2256. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2254
Ah told him [my contact man Edward] absolutely dat ah believed in dese things an' dey could do - dese things could be done. Dere is roots dat ah know of dat ah've got faith in. Yo' take de rattlesnake marster, dat's one of de wonderfulest roots dat will bring luck an' carry it fo' yo' - keep yo'. Ah have experienced whut ah'm tellin' yo'. Yo' take it - yo' kin an' have it round yo' an' yo' kin hold a job. Ah know that - ah believe it - got faith in it. Yo' take de blacksnake root - dat's a good root an' in usin' it with whiskey yo' kin keep love. Yo' kin love them.... Then there's a root dey calls de shoestring - devil's shoestring. Yo' kin wear it - dat'll keep luck. Dat's good fo' luck. Den yo' take the - ah've got faith in it 'cause ah've tried it. Yo' take - dere's a bull nettle. Well, whenevah a man an' a woman - a woman kin fix a man so dat he kin have nuthin tuh do with othah women.
(How would she do that?)
How she do it - dey tell me dey take worms, these earthworms, an' fry 'em an' git de grease an' rub it on him. He can't have nuthin else to do with no othah - take it an' use de grease an' he can't have nuthin tuh do wit a woman. But now, if he take dat bull nettle, he kin overcome it. Nuse [use] it by puttin' it on whiskey, gin whiskey [= white whiskey, either gin or moonshine (uncolored) whiskeyl, puttin' it on gin whiskey an' drink it. He'd overcome it. Well, dere's a butterfly root. Now dat's a wonderful root tuh keep a woman with yo' jes' as long as yo' want her.
(How would you do that?)
Yo' kin use de root dis way. Take hit an' boil it, git all de suction [juice] out of it, an' put it in a vial an' keep it with yo' all de time in that vial - a small vial, jest as small as yo' kin git it. Keep it with yo' all de time an' she nevah will leave yo'.
(You don't use it?)
Don't use it - jest keep it with you....
(What is the name of the root?)
Shoemake root. Dey tell me if yo' take hit an' git tuh de person an' git it somewhere dat dey have tuh step ovah it - they will have tuh come back. Dey tell me if yo' take dis heah thing - ah calls it [Graney?] Greybeard.
(Graney Greybeard.)
Take hit an' use it or wear it. Soak it ovah night de first night yo' git it an' use it gamblin'. Ah tried dat. Ah know dat. Soak it ovah night in some kinda cheap cologne - perfume it an' use it. Do dat once a month an' ah believe it's luck. Ah tried it.
(You just wear that thwn you go to - )
Wear it dat way - soak it once a month.
Entry 2255
Go and git some alligator beans and break them up - git nine of 'em - they'll be dried hard, and you will go where they live early in the morning be- fore they git up, and throw that whole bean all broke up into their door or under their steps or into their hallways, and call their name and walk away, for nine mornings.
(You throw a different bean each morning.)
They'd only be about that long - jest break 'em up, you know. And that will make 'em move.
(What is an alligator bean?)
Hit's - it look somethin' like a horse bean.
(Like a horse bean. Is it something to eat?)
No, yo' can't eat that thing - that will kill you.
(Do they grow on a tree?)
To tell de truth ah never seen how they grow, but I get dem from Palestine. [Informant probably means he bought his alligator beans from a root or hoodoo merchant, who said they came from Palestine. Are they holy beans? At least horse bean is a variety of the common broad bean (Vicia faba) grown in Palestine from biblical times. A poisonous alligator bean I do not know, unless this is a disguised castor bean. The beans may not have been holy but this informant, my first in Washington, was: "Washington, D. C., Thurs., July 29, 1937 - beginning record 961 - No. 62la - Rev. A. C. Foster" - Numbers Book 62la-646.]
Entry 2256
De blacksnake root - an' yo' kin take it an' dig it up - it's a kind of a big ole red root done has a blue flower. Well, yo' kin dig dat up an' yo' kin tote it in yore pocket all de time, an' when yo' go tuh git a job yo' kin keep feelin' dat in yore pocket, until dat gits on de boss's mind hard an' den he'll give yo' a job dataway.