Browse:Two Bones (Volume 1, entries 289–291)
Two Bones
Volume 1, entries 289–291. Source context: SPIRITS → BLACK CAT BONE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 289
Well, tuh git a black cat lucky bone is to take a cat an' - don't put him in de watah no sooner den yo' kill him an' don't throw him in dere alive. Yo' take a cat an' walk by him three times 'fore yo' kill him, an' say, "Ah kill dis cat in de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost," an' on de last word kill him - mash his haid an' then throw him in de pot an' let him boil thoroughly. Den aftah dis cat is boiled, yo' see de first bone dat sticks up, yo' reach in dat pot of hot watah an' snatch it up an' spit on it an' rub it in yore hands - rub it all ovah yuh.
(Rub it in your hand and rub it all over you?)
All ovah yo' - jes' rub it in yore han' an' rub it all ovah yo'. An' let de cat boil dere fo' a few minutes. An' den take dat cat an' go to a rivah or a creek, anything [where water runs] an' chunk him in dere an' yo' jes' stand in de one place right where yo' are - jes' stand dere. One of those bones will settle right back to the bank of the watah. Ah don' care how fast de watah is runnin', dat bone's comin' back to de bank. Well, den, co'se yo' jes' reach right in de watah an' pick it up. Yo' take dat - dem two bones yo' got from dat black cat. That will give yo' all de luck in de worl' - all de luck yo' want - it runs contin'lly - dat will give yo' all de luck in de world. Yo'll git in trouble but chew'll git out.
(That's the lucky bone?)
Dat's right.
Entry 290
They tell me the most lucky thing a person can get to guide him for one's life or luck or love is to take the bones from the carcass of a black cat. Now, the way to find this bone is simply to get a solid black cat, a cat that hasn't a particle of white about it, not even a strand of white hair. Take a boiling pot of water and put the cat in alive until all the flesh is boiled off the bones. Then take the bones and carry them in front of a mirror and look in that mirror, and put a bone in your mouth until it comes that you are invisible in the mirror, then you put that bone aside. Then you put all the bones back and start to putting them in your mouth again until you can see yourself again reflected in the mirror. Then take those two bones and carry them to a stream of running Water, and throw them over your left shoulder and run down the stream and catch them. Just where you catch them you take them and mark them, and carry them to a clear pool of deep water. And when you see yourself reflected in the Water, you put the bone in your mouth until you can't see yourself. Put that bone in one pocket - either pocket. And put the other bone in your mouth, and when you come back visible again, you have the two lucky bones. And you can do anything you want with them. You can walk right into a bank and they can't see you and you can take the money out. I know a boy that tried that at home and they put him in jail. I don't think he waited long enough until he found the bones.
Entry 291
Ah heah talk of 'em sellin' deyself to de devil. Well, dey take a black cat an' dey carries him - dey builds a fiah to de pot an' dey boils de cat 'live. Dey boils him till all de meat comes off his bones: Den dey take all dem bones out an' carry dem tuh runnin' watah. See, de two bones dat go up de stream, dey gits dem two an' dey worries 'em in dey mouth, an' dey go tuh de lookin' glass an' stan' befo' de glass an' try demselves, an' whenevah dey go out of sight dey knows dey's workin' den. An' dey goes on de ninth mawnin' aftah dey do dat an' dey meets de devil - to de fo'k of de road jes' at sunrise, an' dey meet de devil an' he tell 'em whatso- mevah art dey wanta take, he tells 'em whut tuh do.