Subject:Apple
Entries
Entry 5323
" An' take a apple, a large-size apple, an' bo' a hole out of it. An' in bo'in' [boring] de hole out of it, pick up de hollah track [hollow or center of the track] of a person's feet. An' yo' kin carry it tuh a rivah or stream an' throw in. Dey'd leave. (What do you do with that track as you pick it up?) Take it an' put it in de hollah of dat apple, where yo' cut de hole out, an' place de top back on dere. An' throw it in de rivah an' don't evah look back. An' de person will leave home.
(Put the top on the apple again and throw the apple into the water?)
Yes.
Entry 6838
Tea from High John de Conkah, apple tree bark, an' fig tree roots [for pain or swelling].
Entry 6859
(What did she do?)
He-mullein tea. It's a mullein tea grows wit a leaf.
(He took the she mullein or the he mullein?)
He mullein.
(The she mullein wasn't any good then?)
No, sir, de he mullein.
(Oh, all right, let it go at that.)
But now, which ah wanted tuh speak [to] yo' 'bout, a he mullein. A she mul- lein has got a li'le blossom tuh it. A he mullein grows down jis' lak dat [dem- onstrates], yo' see, wit a leaf lak a cabbage leaf; de othah [the she] part's a flowah a he mullein don' do it. An' she, [cylinder changed], an' she made some tea outa dat. (Out of the mullein?) Outa de he mullein. Aftah makin dat tea outa de he mullein, she had anothah li'le piece of root, ah guess yo' seen it, called John de Conkah. She boiled both dat teas tuhgethah. She boils dis root tuhgethah an' she boils dis tea. She boils it down 'till it turns jis' lak dat Tokay store tea. Dis root turn it dataway. Also, de mullein will turn it kind of greenish-lak, but by puttin' dis root in it, it turned it kinda lak, yo know, lak tea. An' he drinked dat tea. Well, he commenced tuh feelin' bettah. Be jis' gittin' on 'is feet, den he kinda gittin' use tuh hisself. Well, anothah fellah, he wuz kin'a ole hoodoo, call 'im Ole Man Jim. He say, "Now, Son, ah don' know whut yo' have took, but it's a green bush, a vine dat grows up on your fahm [farm] called de bittah apple.
(What kind?)
Bittah apple. Bittah apple. He boils dis bittah apple - jis' lak it tastes bittah, jis' as bittah as gall. Boil dat an' strain it. Nuthin in it, no sugah atall. Don' drink it hot, drink it when it git cold, see. But now, it's done turn yallah [yellow]. It's not whut chew call right green, yo' see. It grows lak a gourd. Bell, now, when de sun hits dis, it's lak a yallah person. It sprangle up jis lak a gourd or one of dese othah thin's - quinces. An' aftah she boil dat tea an' dat boy took dat stuff, it put 'im on 'is feet. He wuz [had been] nex' tuh DAT CURED 'IM.
Entry 6992
Yo' go tuh a person dat is very sick an' make 'em hold a apple in dere hand. An' bring dat apple back home an' leave her eat dat apple, an' dat'll stop 'er from drinkin'. (You have to do this with someone that is very, very sick. Put the apple in that hand and then you bring that apple back home and make her eat that apple.) Yes, dat'll stop 'er from drinkin'. [I believe my informant, marked excellent, has given me an incomplete trans- ference-of-disease rite so common in getting rid of a wart or sty - see many examples in FACI, 2nd ed. Surely, after our alcoholic has eaten the apple, the core should be returned and placed again in the hand of the very sick person. The latter on dying will carry away the disease or spell afflicting our patient.l
Entry 8318
[We have already met in this section on photographs a considerable number of rites concerned with shooting them on a tree - see Nos.8272-8295. Here are non-shooting ones in a workable order, a logical one being impossible.] Ah heard talk of 'em drivin' a nail in a tree, but now yo'd have tuh have yore pichure. Now, yo' see, dey tell me dat yo' takes a pi- chure an' if it's a tintype pichure - a pichure made on a tin - say yo' take dis heah pichure an' yo' takes a nail. An' yo' goes tuh dis heah - puts it on a apple' tree. An' yo' jes' sticks it in dis mawnin' an' hits it. An' yo' goes tuh it fo' nine mawnin' an' yo' drive dat nail, an' say on de ninth mawnin' dat chew drive dat nail [all the way into tree]. Dey say den it would kill yo'. An' den, say if yo' make it on a - jes' a papah or pastebo'd, den fo' de ninth mawnin' yo' go dere an' hit it, say it would make yo' sick.
(Do they put that nail any special place in the picture?)
Put it right in de heart, right through de heart of de individual whosomevah dey is on de pichure, jes' as neah in de heart as dey kin git it. Jes' imagine de heart an' put dis nail in de heart.
Entry 8479
Well, you open that banana - you see, not far enough for it to be shown - and write that name and put it in, and put it up overhead and the apple too. That will keep them right there with you, just like that urine. That is supposed to make them care for you. [While recording Was stopped I asked informant about the 9 times previously mentioned.] You write the name nine times on the paper, yes sir, and put it in the hole, stick in the hole in the apple or orange or banana; just fix it up, you know, so it won't be laid open. Then you wrap it up into somepin. And then you put it up overhead, anywhere high. When you wrap it, you wrap to you like this [demon- strates] and put it up overhead where they pass by. [Wrapping, as here, is often a magic rite - see later margin title WRAPPING.]
Entry 8511
(What do you do with that graveyard dust?)
Well, yo' take graveyard dust an' put it wit - tuh break up a woman an' a man.
[Long pause by informant.]
(How would they handle that? How would they use that?)
Well, dey take de graveyard dust an' steel dust an' guinea seeds an' war wa- tah, an' put it intuh a coconut, yo' see, an' red peppah, cayenne peppah, Epsom salts an' bittah apple an' bury it. An' yo' see, dat cuz a 'sturbance. Den dey writes de man's name an' de woman's name nine times an' dat break 'em up, cuz dem tuh make terrible 'sturbance. An' dat cuz dem tuh break up, see. (Where do they bury this?) Well, dey bury it undah de porch - bury it in de ground, bury it in de ground. [For preceding guinea seeds, see long margin title GUINEA SEEDS... GRAINS OF PARADISE, p.57Of. Red pepper in present margin title could be a repetition for preceding cayenne pepper, but more likely it means a piece of hot red-pepper pod. The preceding bitter apple - also called bitter cucunber and bitter gourd - is the colocynth (Citrullis colocynthis), a Medi- terranean and African vine related to the watermelon.]
Entry 10664
I heard a old person say one time you take a crab apple and rub the tube or the barrel of anyone's gun, it will not shoot directly as it has been [= it will not shoot straight].
Entry 10665
Git chew a apple, one dese big delicious apple. Hull it out. Aftah hullin' dis apple out, git some oil of clover, oil of verbena, Florida watah [trade name], puttin' it down on dat dere apple wit some honey an' his name on de parchment papah, an' put dat in a flower pot - one dose flover pot whut chew see on de po'ch. An' plantin' de flower in dat, an' set- tin' de flower in dat apple, an' as hit grows, yo'll [husband or man] fin'lly come back home.
Entry 10666
Yo' done used de coffee whut's in it [can], chew know, er [or] dump dat coffee out an' git chew a large apple. Hull it out, hull de core out of it, yo' understand an' den yo' git chew some honey, some cinnamon, an' parchment paper an' write chure name on dat. Brite whosomevah name on it yo' wants tuh send de apple tuh. Take dat box [can] an' close dat, er [or] pore dat honey right down in dat hole where dat parchment paper is, yo' understand, an' cover dat box [can] up an' put it down in a trunk or somewhere safe yo' know, so's [so as] ah can't find it. An' yo' kin carry me all ovah de country with dat thing. Ah'll follow yo' anywhere in de world yo' go. Ah don't ca' where yo' goes, ah'll follow yo', yo' understand. (You cut this hole in this apple, and then you write my name on this parchment, and you put that parchment in the hole in the apple?) Yessuh.
(Then you pour the honey down in there?)
Yes, den yo' pore de cinnamon down in dere, an' den yo' pore de honey down.
(Do you stop it up in any Way?)
No, sir. Den yo' take de top of de can an' yo' know... [demonstrates]. (You put the apple in the tin can and then you put the top on the tin can. That is all you do to it?) Den you put it in a trunk or drawer, somewhere yo' know in yore room, yo' understand, an' man, ah'll follah yo' anywheres yo' go. Ah can't git away from yo' no way in de world.
Entry 10667
Well, for instance, there is two parties together, like you would have a daughter and her husband and the husband and her didn't look like they were getting along well, and you want them to be together. You get a delicious apple and you will sign his name at the bottom and her name on top on parchment paper.[Core the apple.] You fill that apple full of granulated sugar. You fill that apple full of syrup or honey. The sweeter it is the better it is. You get you some holy water, you put that fern down in that apple after you hull it out. You see, hull the delicious apple out. You put that fern down in there. And then after that you pour the holy water on top that water in that flower pot. Now, as that fern grow, their love grow. Well, that fern, that put them together after signing their name to it, you see. Take a delicious apple, hull it out well, take the fern and put down in there, in the hollow apple. After putting it in the hollow apple, then you git you granulated sugar, pour it down in there, then you put your syrup, here come de holy water, then the dirt back on the fern, you see. You see no apple at all, it is at the bottom. Well, if the fern grow, their love grow; they get along like two birds in one nest. (They put the hollowed-out apple in the flower pot, and the names on, they put that there too. That brings this man and woman together.)
Entry 10668
(How do you use an apple or orange?) An apple is to create love. (How do you do that?) Taking an apple, a delicious apple, hulling it out; taking any kind of fern and putting down into the bottom of that apple.
(The plant, the fern - f-e-r-n?)
Absolutely, putting it down in the apple and getting some honey - making it as sweet as possible - granulated sugar, holy water from the Catholic Church, pouring down in that, pressing the flowerpot up with mud, putting the individual name there that you want into that apple and as the fern grow, as the love grow.
(I see.)