Browse:Urine (Volume 1, entries 2356–2367)
Urine
Volume 1, entries 2356–2367. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2356
I heerd tell of de banana boat an' ah had nevah been dere befo' and nevah met de man befo'. Yes, ah went down dere mahself. So befo' ah went down dere I - well, it's somepin I gen'lly do whensomevah ah git a little tough, ah jest by mahself make water and somepin other fer about nine mornin's and bath and throw de water towards de sunset fo' nine mornings. An' den ah nevah have went to a place - had a job where - ah went to places and had a job where dey was turnin' mens [off] and ah got jobs. An' de man cut me off - de foreman cut me off down dere, but de bossman put me right back on less time den two minutes after it happened. An' ah could go dere any time and git a job dere.
(Where did you say you went down to get a job?)
Down heah to de banana boat.
Entry 2357
What yo' should do to git de job. Yo' git up in de morning 'fore yo' say anything to anybody, take de night stuff and bath yore face in yore water bath yore face in yore water.
(Your night water?)
Yore water what chew urinate. Yo' take it and yo' bath yore face in it fer three mornings and de third morning you'll git de job, see.
Entry 2358
Wash his hands in his own chamber lye. That makes a good gamblin' hand. Also Hearts Perfume is used in that same way. [The liquid itself - not a liquid in a container (a bottle hand) is called a hand. J
Entry 2359
If this fellah heah had three or fo' hunderd dollahs an' ah had three or fo' hunderd dollahs, jes' take that salt an' sprinkle on each one of 'em, an' jes' go on tuh gamblin'. Well, when de deal is done, if they ain't sharp, yo's got all de money. Or either yo' kin be a gambler an' say, "Well, he's lost his luck - done lost his luck an' de biggest part of yore money." If yo' ain't taken it out where yo' kin git salt an' stuff, why take a lil chamber lye an' jes' rub it on yore han's lak dis. Rub it all ovah yore han's lak dat, an' come back dere an' shuffle de cards up an' draw one, an' den dis othah man kin git his'n. Have anothah deal down an' yo' got practic'lly all de money that is in de game.
Entry 2360
You go in the toilet - just like you got a toilet in there. [The toilet at Patterson Hotel was not in the room where I was interviewing informant but out in the hall at the head of the stairs - see Introduction.] You go in the toilet. You pee on your hands. You come back out and you kin rub your hands thisaway nine times. [He begins to demonstrate, stops, and I ask him to repeat.]
(How? Show me?)
[He brings his hand down over his face nine times.]
(Oh, your palm is just in a curl that way.)
Yeah, nine times down [over face] that way - once. Now, I don't say you gon'a be lucky all the way through.
(Down over your face.)
Yeah, but I don't say you gon'a be lucky all through the game [that day] but you'll be lucky in that [particular] game. In that game you gon'a be lucky. Now, then, you kin go - there's two or three ways you kin be lucky in gambling. Of course, I have gambled and I was lucky, but I don't gamble so much now, after I found other ways to make my living.
Entry 2361
It's a root choo call de Eve-and-Adam. You ever heard of that? Well, you kin take it and you get choo a bottle of Hearts Cologne and den put those roots in there. Put a little bit of your urinate in that, jis' about three or fo' drops - you know, not enough to smell, and put that little bit on [yourself] like that and always make you have lots of friends and make people be - when you go away from home jis' put a little bit on you, about once a week.
Entry 2362
You put three drops of urine in a bottle and then empty the contents of a bottle of Hearts Perfume or Cologne, and in that you put nine new needles or new pins and a small piece of lodestone about the size of a pea, and then you drop - if you know that someone's angry with you - you drop nine grains of spice in there. Well, if you gon'a have a chance to meet these persons, you jest drop a few drops of it in your hands and rub yore hands together and then rub them over your face like that. When you meet that person he is going to be pleased with you regardless to how angry - they mighta been most angry with you but that would put them in good humor.
Entry 2363
Well suh, yo' kin git chamber lye an' yo kin quick witchcraft a person in dat, so as to even quit dere home an' take tuh yo'. Dat is, jes' lak a woman, if yo' want de re'lly fac' 'bout it, sur. Dey take chamber lye an' take a eye- dropper - a woman kin take a eye-dropper an' take her chamber lye an' take nine drops of chamber lye 'sposed to be, an' she kin drop it into wine or in anything drinkin' kind, or anything of de edible kind, an' gives tuh a man. An' it will make him quit home and take up with her.
Entry 2364
Ah heard a woman say dat she broke her husban' of drinkin'. While he wus drunk, lay flat on his back [she] urinates in his mouth, an' it made him sick an' aftah dat he didn't drink any mo'.
Entry 2365
To keep de police from naggin' yo'. Yo' know dis bluestone don't chew. Yo' know table salt don't chew. Pee on it. Put it in pee an' throw it at chure do'step. Dey cain't come ovah it tuh save they life.
(That keeps the cops away.)
Entry 2366
Red peppah an' ashes an' saltpeter an' dey cain't come ovah it. Pin it up( ovah yore do'. Dey'll come in but dey won't be mad.
(Where do you put that, you say?)
Jis' up ovah yore do'.
(Well, it would fall out wouldn't it?)
No, yo' gon'a put it in a bag an' tie a string aroun' de bag an' hang it on de nail, an' every day yo' got'a pee on dat.
(Not up there!)
Naw. Yo' take it down an' pee in a pan, an' pee on it, an' den yo' put it back up there. Dey cain't bother yo'. Dey kin come in but dey Won't do nuthin to yo'. Dey'll be jis glad.
suspending the tied bag from a nail above the door. Retain visitors can come in but are claimed not to be angry/harmful; do not rewrite the account as absolute exclusion. predicted mitigation of visitors’ angry or bothersome conduct while allowing their entry. No total visitor exclusion These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Read full source (printed page 661) · Read full source (printed page 662)
Entry 2367
(You go out to the graveyard?)
Yo' go out to de graveyard at some certain hour an' takes dirt from de foot, from de breast, an' from de haid [three places], an' yo' fold dat into a tight piece of flannen [flannel] - most people uses dat. Yo' fold dat down in two - one in dat way, one pointin' dis way, an' one dat way [three ways] - fold dat in, see. Dey say dat is best den - jes' git it tight as a ball. An' by urinatin' on it, an' yo' rub dat, an' see it puts kind of a mystery ovah de othah fellah - fo' luck in gambling. (The man I have just interviewed that was just in here is supposed to be a root doctor of sorts but he talked so doggone fast, I couldn't stop him - and he was so profuse and rambling, I don't know whether I got much out of him or not. End of 1515.)
The source says flannen; its flannel expansion is bracketed editorial matter.