Browse:Wait Until Third Day (Volume 1, entries 938)
Wait Until Third Day
Volume 1, entries 938. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → TIME AND HOODOO SPELL → Time (1) Psychological. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 938
There wus a man by the name of Alfred F., he lived about three mile from here. My mother an' father in their younger days they used to believe in cunju- ration. An' so my mother got sick an' always complaintin' with 'er feet, an' so she sends fer this man, w'a' choo call dese high men. An' so he come over an' told her w'a' choo call her fortune. He says, "A wurman [woman] has measured jore foot - foot tracks," an' "she's got it buried under yore steps." He says, "You'll never git well until this here measure is taken from under yore steps." So he says, "Now, I'll have it taken up fer you fer so-an'-so much money. An' she tole 'im she'd give it to 'im - or her father tole 'im he'd give it to 'im - to go ahead an' have it taken up. An' anyhow, he says, "You wait until the third day [magic delay] - on the third day, '' he says, "I'll come over here at seven o'clock, '' he says, "an' I'll have this measure takened up." An' so anyhow, when he went under the steps that night - I'll tell you my belief as soon as after I end the story - so he went under the step that night an' when he come out, he come out with a little stick about that long with nine notches cut into this stick. It was so many on one side of the stick - the notches - an' so many on the other side, jis' the same as you scallop anything. He come out an' he showed 'em this stick that was buried under the steps. Next thing he hauled out an' shows them was a little red bag about that long, a red-flannin [flannel] bag about that long. So the next thing he shows them was a little bottle about the same, about the same size, a little bottle with a whole lot of little somepin or others in it, I don't know 'ut [what] was in it. It looked like snake sheds [shed = ecdysis] or some kin'a sheds. He comes out with that an' he shows it to 'em an' says, "That's whut wus buried under your steps." Well, I figured on that after a while, I figured on it, an' then I had my opinion. I jis' thought that he'd put it under there his- self. That's sixty years ago [1876] on the Island here.