Browse:Taken Internally (Volume 1, entries 1610–1615)
Taken Internally
Volume 1, entries 1610–1615. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION → Urine. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1610
A girl wanted me an' ah'm always mighty pertic'l'r 'bout goin' round girls an' ah nevah want nobody to see me hug or play wit 'em. Well, she went to a ole man tuh do somepin fo' her. Whut she done ah don't know - what he done. But he took somepin - he knowed ah 'us comin' dere dat night. He put somepin up ovah head de do' an' when ah walked in she was setting round ovah dere, an' ah walked - tried to hug an' kiss 'er right in company, somepin ah nevah done befo' an' ah caught mahself. Ah stepped.right back out de do' an' drawed watah an' took a swallah an' that thing left me.
(What did you drink water for?)
Mah own watah.
(What did you do that for?)
Ah always heerd if de woman - if yo' took - always take that watah, take yo' own watah.
(Oh, that would kill the spell. She had this thing dressed?)
Yes, sir. In a month or two.... (You drank this water. Then how long was it after that that you had this dream?) Ah think it was about the next week maybe or earlier.
(Tell me the dream - tell me the whole story.)
Ah dreamed dat right ovah mah head hit wus a rag in de home fo' me. That jes' what ah dreamed.
(In her house or your house?)
In her house. An' it wus on mah mind all dat day. Well, soon as ah knocked off mah work - ah wus on de farm - ah goes ovah an' she wus up to de white folks house an' ah'd gone roun' to where she stopped at. An' after while she come an' made up a little fire. It wus in April an' ah pulled off mah clothes an' got into bed. Mah mind told me tuh git into bed 'fore she did. Time ah got into bed ah reached up at it an' she looked back an' seed me. She jumped up an' run up thare tuh me an' ah knocked her down. That night goin' home. (Wait a minute - you pulled it out of that hole and left her?) [He is retell- ing a story I missed while Telediphone turned off.] Yes sir.
(What did it look like?)
Ah nevah looked at [into] it - little package wrahpped up. An' ah went on back home dat night and ah had tuh cross de branch of a running watah, yo' know, an' ah turned mah back as de ole saying used tuh say an' ah believe it, made mah wish dat mah mind would leave her an' throwed it in de watah. Mah mind left her jes' like dat.
Entry 1611
( chamber lye cure de cold - give it to yo' tuh drink in watah. Yeah, specially if ah wus sick an' had a cold or somepin, ah'd drink mah own chamber lye, see. Dat wus good fo' a cold.
Entry 1612
Dey kin take yore chamber lye - jes' lak anybody go tuh work an' poison yo' or anything, yo' see. Well, yo' kin git some sweet milk, yo' see, an' honey, yo' understan', an' a lil' likker an' mix dat chamber lye - jes' a little, yo know - an' likker an' honey an' vinegar. Well, yo' take dat yo' see an' dat would make yo' vomit it up yo' see.
Entry 1613
If you kin get 'em [sick person] to urinate, then you take - yo' ketch de urinate, you take a dropper and pick up some of that urinate in a teacup or glass but not let it be in no tin or zinc or 'luminum. You drop nine drops of that urinate into that sweet milk and give it to them to drink.
(Whose urine do you use?)
De sick one. That will bring those things out [wasps and ants] and then after that why give them couple doses of castor oil to clear their system out.
Entry 1614
Whenevah yo' think that you have got the wrong thing inside of yo', see, fo' three mornin's yo' take three swallows of yore own urine.
(Your own chamber lye.)
Yes, take three swallows for three mornin's - see, dat's nine swallows of it.
(What will that do for me?)
Well, that will take all the infection out.
(If anybody has put anything in you.)
If anyone has give yo' anything to make yo' love them, don't chew know, an' yo' don't wanta love them, yo' take this yo' see an' that will kill it out. Dere won't be no mo' tuh dat.
Entry 1615
You take a ten-cent piece an' you file it down to nuthin but dust. You take a pinch of sulphur, about a halfa teaspoonful of sulphur, an' you take this on your tongue. An' you take a swallow of your own water. Whoever the person is, now, they got to have their own water - you know, whoever it is urination, just enough to swallow. An' I'll guarantee that ever'thing you eat, that'll come right up, an' it'll come these little ants or anything. While that silver's in you, you never git nuthin - won't nobody kin ever put nuthin in you.