Browse:Shoe (Volume 1, entries 2295–2300)
Shoe
Volume 1, entries 2295–2300. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2295
When I was a boy I was hunting a job here [at the Chamberlain Hotel] as bellboy and I had my mother to see a so-called fortune teller. And he told her to burn some shoes and to get a few of the ashes and sprinkle some of these ashes around Richmond's feet, he was the manager, when I came to apply for the job. [The informant, headwaiter, began as bellboy at old Chamberlain; I interviewed him,1936 at new Chamberlain.]
Entry 2296
Ah say ah has learnt dis. If ah go to a man today fo' a job an' he turn me back an' he didn't need anyone, to go back agin tomorrow an' gwine with him agin. Well, he may turn me down dat time. Well, dey said if ah had a old pair of shoes dat ah wusn't wearin', to change mah luck tuh come back home an' git some sulphur an' take 'em to de back yard an' burn 'em an' it would change mah luck. [The third time succeeds.]
(Then you would go down and see him again to get a job?)
Dat's right.
Entry 2297
Yo' kin take an' take a person's shoe, if yo' wanted 'em tuh leave from home, an' burn it an' take dat an' throw it in de rivah. Jes' take an' carry it tuh de rivah an' throw it, say, "Yo' go." Jes' lak yo' throw it, holler, "Go." Dat person will have tuh go.
(You take either shoe?)
De left foot.
(And you burn it to ashes or just burn part of it?)
Yes, burn it up into ashes - de sole of it, not de whole shoe, jes' de sole into ashes. An' jes' git de ashes dust.
Entry 2298
To sober drunken man take off his shoe and rub it on the bottom of his feet. [I forgot to put this under Shoes (p.481), though it can be considered here a hand.]
Entry 2299
A woman had a 'fliction on her right side - would constantly 'flict her an' she thinks somebody had throwed after - whut de' called throwed after yo' - throwed a shoe after her or done something like dat. [This rite - with graveyard dirt, anything - is usually throw for.]
Entry 2300
Tuh make a man stay home, dat is, like women gen'rally do to make men stay home, all yo' gotta do is jes' blow yore breath in de right shoe three times an' turn it up, put it undah de bed.
(He'll stay at home?)
Tuh make him stay home - yeah, dat runs about at night.