Browse:SUNKEN GRAVE (Volume 4, entries 7539)
SUNKEN GRAVE
Volume 4, entries 7539. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → DEATH AND BURIAL AND GRAVEYARD → HOW TO OBTAIN GRAVEYARD DIRT → DIRT FROM WHAT TYPE OF GRAVE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 7539
Well, lak if a man bustes [busts up] wit 'is wife an' she wants tuh git 'im back. Well, she go to de graveyard an' she gits some graveyard dirt from de top of a daid man's haid. Jes' lak a ole grave dat fell in, well, she go dere an' git some of dat dirt. Well, she take dat dirt an' she bury it undah de bottom of 'er first do'step, an' aftah she bury dat stuff undah de bottom of her first do'step, if she kin git 'im back an' git 'im tuh step ovah dis dirt, den dat's where she got 'im.
(He will come back and stay with her.)
The informant's conditional account requires bringing the man back and having him step over the dirt. '[busts up]' is an editorial gloss; the final parenthetical statement is the interviewer's, without another printed answer.