Subject:Bull
Entries
Entry 1145
Bull nettle. Well, yo' make a tea out of that. Yo' make a tea outa bull nettle an' drink it an' at least thirty days or a little mo', it'll cure de worse case syphilis. [Bull nettle, also known as horse nettle, is a short prickly weed (Solanun carolinense), a pasture or lawn nuisance with purplish flower and small yellow fruit, common in eastern and southern U. S. A., and once used for epilepsy.
Entry 1146
Well, in another case of my mother's, they used on her a root called Bull of de Woods, and black snake root, and made a tea for her and gave her dat. Well, dat brought it out of her. And she used to low jest like a cow - she was turrble bad off. [The doctor gave her bull of the woods because she low jest like a cow - similia similibus curantur, see Like Cures Like, p.394, and Index.1
(Well, what did they give her to make her that way?)
They fixed her in a fresh fish. She was very fond of fresh fish and they had stayed at my home. So this lady's husband used to go fishing - set traps for de fish, you know. So she fixed de fish. But my mother suffered turrible.
(What did they put in that fish, then? You know?)
Uh-huh, they put snake dust in it. [The connection between snake dust and low like a cow is not so remote if the snake had recently sucked a cow. For this belief see FACI,2ed., Nos. 1567-1574, Pp.62-63. As near as I can come to a cow lowing for a snake instead of a calf is the following: "A cow will become so attached to this snake that she will hold back her milk at night... The cows do like the snakes to suck them; would rather have a snake any day than a calf to suck" No. 1567, p.62.]
(Where did that happen?)
It happened at her home in Warren County, North Carolina.
Entry 3772
Dere's somepin in de woods dey call a bull nettle. Yo' go in de woods an' git chew some bull nettle an' take yo' 'bout a halfa pint of whiskey, an' yo' let dat bull nettle settle in dere an' evah mawn' in' or two yo' git up an' take a teaspoonful. Drink about a teaspoonful evah maunin' an' carries it along. It'll bring yo' nature back to yo'.
Entry 3773
Go to de cemetery an' he git de two nettles call bull nettle - one's a he an' [the other's] a she. He git dat bull nettle out de cemetery close by somebody's grave an he chew dat. (Which does he get, the he or the she?) De he, an' he chews dat. An' he'd make him a tonic of dat an' drink it an' evah- thing will be all right fo' a while, but go to de bank an' git chew a bran'-new two-dollah bill an' take it an' rub it dat way about ten minute, an' go on 'bout 'is business.
(HE RUBS HIS TOOL WITH THAT NEW TWO-DOLLAR BILL?)
BRAN'-NEW ONE NOBODY AIN'T USED - TWO-DOLLAH BILL. HE'LL COME [ACTIVE AND SPRY] AN' TELL YO' "GOOD MAWNIN'" AN' "HOWDY."
(But he has to use both the bull nettle and the two-dollar bill together?)
[My assumption was probably based upon the double greeting!]
Yo' don't have to. Well, if he can't git dis, he gits de bran'-new two-dollah bill. Yes sir, he gits one or de othah. (If he can't get this bull nettle out of the graveyard, then he will get this new two-dollar bill and he rubs up with it. That the idea?) Take it an' rub de haid of it [demonstrates] till he gits hot as....
(Twisting around the head.)
Keep it [up] until he jes' commence tuh.... [It is evident that this small-time R.D. (I call him small-time root doctor in my notes) was demonstrating, rubbing an imaginary two-dollar bill in his right hand against his upright left thumb or fist substituting for the ailing member. The lacunae, deletions by transcriber of cylinders not restored by me, can be guessed.]
(That brings his nature back.)
An' den, see heah - den he goes tuh work, somebody [root doctor] will show 'im dat [he has been tricked]. He goes tuh work an' find dat cloth [she used].
Entry 3774
Well ah'm tellin' yo' facts about dat, but ah'm tellin' yo' some things dat ah have heard - but it's actually. But now, would yo' lak to know how to remove dis spell? (What I could do or any man could do.) Anyone. Well, ah tell yo' somepin dat ah have heard about last year - year befo' last. An' dere ouz a man dat had some serious disease an' dey didn't know about, an' a lady wuz tellin' me what [would] it cost to remove dat. It would be a very small sum. Cost yo' prob'ly 15c. Well, I told de lady, I said, "Well, I know someone could relieve de spell." She said, "He's got money becuz he draws money from de Gov- ernment, an' he would be able to pay any amount - any price." I said, "Well, I know a person dat would remove de spell an' he wouldn't charge ovah $25, but I'm jes' a person, of co'se." [The preceding, I'm jes' a person, of co'se, means the speaker was not a doc- tor. She sold medicine, roots, powders, etc. Every aspect of the hoodoo field was known to her. She also had personality and brains.] She said, "Go ahead, ah'm goin' send 'im aroun' to talk to you." An' ah said, "Well, now, if yo' know de person really would have de money, ah'll talk to him, but if not, ah wouldn't care to talk to him; but ah know dat dis spell will be removed wit'in nine days." SHE SAID, "WELL, COULD YO' GIT IN TOUCH WIT DE MAN?" AH SAID, "YES, I SELL MEDICINE FO' HIM SOMETIMES. An' I could go to him wit de money an' I could git de medicine fo' him." Well, so when she sent 'im down, he wuz very anxious to talk wit 'im an' HE ACTUALLY PAID ME $25. WELL, NOW, AH TELL YO' WHUT CHEW GIT. DAT DOESN'T MEAN DIS PAHTIK'LAH SPELL REGARDLESS TO WHUT KIND OF WAY DEY PUT DAT SPELL ON YO'.
(THEY PUT IT ON IN DIFFERENT WAYS.)
MORE DAN TEN DIFF'REN' WAYS. Well, now, say fer instance, do yo' know whut bull's nettle are?
(It's a plant that little prongs [thorns] on it?)
[I WAS THINKING OF HORSE NETTLE WHICH I KNEW QUITE WELL.]
Has stingahs on it. Stingahs. Has somepin in de form of de way a bull's [something hangs]. Yo' see dat.
(It's a plant, isn't it?)
It's a plant, an' if yo' touch one of dose ball's, it will sting yo'.
(It's called the bull nettle?)
Bull nettle. Well yo' git de root of dat. It has de very form of a man's privates. Yo' have nevah seen dat?
(I have never seen that.)
[I have a few examples of root shapes in HooDoO, snake and man and woman being important. These and other shapes known and sought for centuries had been dying out in my time, with the disappearance of the old herb or root doctor who gather- ed his own roots. Perhaps the recent revival of witchcraft, all kinds of isms and superstitions, will revive the root trade.] Were yo' born in de South?
(No, I wasn't born in the South.)
Dey grow mostly in dis state [Alabama], Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia - roun' lak dat. Well, now, yo' go an' dig dis root up. It has de very shape of a man. Yo' take dat root an' dry it. Yo' keep it in a bottle of Hearts Cologne an' yo' git - it's anothah little plant, ah can't git it's name right dis minute, but ah will tell yo' latah.
[I turn off recording machine until she says, '"Like a tomato."]
(Like a tomato? Is it the castor oil plant?)
No, no, it's a plant dat has stickahs on it. (Tell the plot [rite or cure] to me. You might think of the name of the plant later on.)
[She tells another remedy for the same ailment.]
It's fer de same thing. But yo' know what cockleburs are?
(Yes.)
Yo' kin git nine cockleburs an' yo' kin mix 'em wit dis same root dat ah tole yo' an' put it in a bottle.
(You get the nine cockleburs and put them in this bottle with the bull nettle?)
Dat's right, an' put de contents of a 15c bottle of Hearts Cologne in dis bottle, an' den three tablespoons of urine.
(Whose urine?)
Dis person's urine, whoevah has dis spell on dem. An' yo' take a piece of new linen cloth, aftah dey have had dere bath in de mawnin' an' jes' bathe demselves wit dat pahtiklah stuff.
(This liquid.)
Dat's right. An' den make a tea of dis bull's nettle an' drink a swallah of it evah mawnin' fo' nine mornings, an' it will absolutely disappear.
(Take that spell off?)
Dat's right. An' WHEN DIS PERSON IS TAKIN' DIS TREATMENT, DEY ARE NOT SUP- POSED TO MENTION TO ANYONE DAT DEY ARE GOIN' UNDAH IT.
(They must keep it secret.)
[Several days later I asked Mrs. Brady to come for another interview, some of her material had been badly recorded.] Yo' remembah me tellin' yo' about de bull nettle. An' yo' remembah ah tole yo' dere wus anothah weed dat grow in de yard dat chew use in connection wit dat one pahtiklah weed. It's called tread salve - t-r-e-a-d s-a-l-v-e. It has a little yellah ball growin' on de weed somepin lak a tomato. Yo' know what dat [tomato] is. Well, yo' kin ask any southerner, dey kin tell you. Dey grows in all southern yards an' in de commons out in de fields or in de yards. [For the identity of this plant, see later.] Now dat is somepin fo' removin' de spell dat we were speakin' of - yo' know, dat people place on people. [I once thought preceding yellow tomato was the mayapple, Podophyllum pelta- tum, a plant I had known from childhood, having eaten its tasteless egg-shaped fruit. Later I realized it must be the maypop, a passionflower (described some- where in HOODOO), the Passiflora incarnata of the southern U. S. A.; also an in- sipid, yellow, applelike fruit.]
Entry 5529
(Suppose you begin that right from the beginning now. What do you do with this woman's track?) Yo' take dis woman's track, de lef'-foot track. See, yo' mus'n't [must not] ketch it gwine from yo'. Ketch it jes' lak - yo' ketch it comin' tuh yuh, jes' lak ah'm comin' tuh yo' heah, now. Jes' lak yo' call me, say, "Come heah, Jim." Ah goes tuh yo', an' yo' watch de lef' foot yo' see. Well, now, maybe when ah turn mah back an' go on de othah way - yo' know, ah don't know whut chure idea is. Yo' git it lak dis, yo' see. Yo' watchin' me goin' de othah way, yo' see. Yo' ketch it lak dis - go back to de heel [demonstrates].
(From the toe to the heel. Pick it up.)
Yo' pick it up. Den yo' goes tuh work an' goes - don't go tuh a steer. Yo' KNOW WHUT'S A STEER IS? A steer is - he has been a bull but he been cut, yo' Know. An' yo' goes tuh a bull lot. Yo' goes in dere an' aftah yo' goes in de bull lot - make it dere befo' sunrise an' de bull be layin' down yo' know. Yo' stir 'im, make him git up, yo' see. When he git up, he goin' stretch yo' know. Hell, when he stretch he goin' do his business. Well, yo' see, yo' ketch de second turd befo' it hit de groun' - don't let it hit de groun' yo' see - de secon' turd. Jes' as de first one - yo' let de firs' one hit yo' see.
(You grab that?)
Yo' grab dat yo' see. Yo' take dat an' go on off an' put it in a ole tin pin [pan] an' set it on de fiah. An' yo' go tuh work aftah yo' set it on de fiah - dat parch it. Yo' have seen people parch coffee. Yo' set dere an' yo' stir it yo' know an' parch it. An' yo' take dat track, an' yo' take dat bull's stuff, an' go tuh de drug sto'. Go tuh drug sto' an' git chew a bottle of cologne, or eithah de Ten Cent Sto'. Yo' mix dat up wit one of dem track yo' see. Yo' mix dat up tuhgethah an' go git chew a vial: Den yo' goes tuh work yo' see an' yo' gits yuh a li'le bottle - see, 'bout lak dat [demonstrates].
(A small bottle about the size of your middle finger.)
Dat's right, a small bottle. Den yo' goes tuh work an' yo' gits dat Heart Cologne. Git chew a li'le bit of likkah. Heart Cologne, dat trouble. An' git chew a li'le bit of likkah an' a li'le camphor, yo' see. An' yo' put all dat in dere, yo' see, intuh dat bottle. Put dat mixture yo' mix outa dat bull turd an' 'uh track. Put all dat in dat bottle. Yo' see de idea. An' aftah yo' put it intuh dat bottle, yo' shakes it up lak dis yo' see [demonstrates]. Yo' take a stoppah an' yo' puts it intuh a stoppah [into the bottle] an' yo' git chew a piece of silk cloth an' yo' sews dat up. YO' KNOW WOMENFOLKS IS KINDA SHARP, yo' know, an' yo' sews dat up. Den yo' go tuh work an' yo' tote dat right nex tuh yo'. Yo' see, if yo' kin git it in dis li'le fob pocket chere [here], yo know, nex' tuh yore skin anywhere. Yo' totes dat yo' see. Well, yo' feeds dat jes' lak yo' feeds [yourself], 'bout three time a week. Yo' go tuh work an' buy a li'le mo' likkah, yo' know, an' yo' put on dat yo' know. Take a li'le bit mo Heart Cologne an' yo' po' on dat, yo' see. Yo' po' dat right on de rag, yo' un- dahstan'. Well, now, dat's carried. An' evah time yo' go by 'uh, anywhere, yo' say, "Looky heah, honey, how 'bout [so-an'-so]?" "Yes, all right.'" An' jes' git a li'le bit of it, yo' know, right out de top of 'uh heah [demon- strates].
(The top of her hair - top of the head?)
Jes' about three strands. Be sharp enough - be sharp enough aftah 'uh sleep- in'. Yo' see de idea. Go right heah [demonstrates].
(By her privates?)
Yeah. An' take 'bout three strands, de long one right heah, yo' know. Take dat an' mix it all tuhgethah an' put it right in dat bottle. She'll follah 'im anywhere in de worl'.
(And keep her?)
Yessuh. See, ah tried dat. Ah had so much trouble wit womenfolks, dat, yo' know, ah'd...
(Who taught you - who told you that?)
Well, ah tell yo', AH MET A LADY [doctOr] FROM LOUISIANA. SHE WUS TRAVELIN' AN' SHE WUS THROUGH HEAH. So ah been havin' quite a lot of trouble wit wimmins yo' see. Ah used tuh be a woman lovah, yo' know. Ah did love womenfolks, yo' know, an' AH HAD MAH HAID BUMPED BY MANY, yo' see. An' ah tole huh 'bout it N' she tole me whut tuh do. An' ah has tried it - RIGHT TODAY, YO' HOL' DEM AN' PUT "EM UNDAH YORE FOOT. Yo' hol' dem, an' long as yo' kin keep 'em down undah yore foOt, yo' kin gO. But DE MINUTE DEY GIT DE UPPER PULL ON YO', DEY GOT CHEW AN' GONE. Yo' see? Dey got chew an' gone.
Entry 6750
Fo' spells [this is], if somebody put spells on a person. An' dey ases dat [manure] tuh make dat, if yo' wanta make a tea or anything fo' fits. Ah calls dem fits. Git dat [manure] - but chew know yo' boils it - from a bull cow or a bull calf. Dey use de he one. (The manure.) Yes, but chew ketch it whilst it's hot, an' den yo' boils dt. An' den aftah yo' boil it, yo' kin make a poultice of it. Dat fur as ah rgu of dat. He weahs it [the poultice]. Dat - why yo' jes' put it tuh de pr- sop. Dat's fo' fits or any kinda spell a person put on yo'.
Entry 11133
Reach arm as far as possible in wicked per- son's grave, mix with bull dung, sprinkle at house, causes confusion.
Entry 11134
Take it [manure] from a bull and yo' mix cayenne pepper and salt and saltpeter together, and carry it tuh someone's home dat you dislike. Yo' mix it all together and you put it out and let it dry. After it dries you crumble it up and powder it. Jest like someone would live here. You wouldn't want all tuh come out; jest want one person tuh leave dis place. Well, you would take it den and go and sprinkle in de yard and around de do' and call dis person's name. Dey can't stay dere. Dey'll have to move out, go some- where. Dey can't stay dere.
Entry 11317
(What's that?)
Bull dog manure.
(Bull dog manure?)
Bull dog manure. They'll take bull dog manure and wasp nest. Parch them down to a powder. It'll 'come pulverized like powder. Put them together and mix them. Come to your home where you and your wife been getting along nice and smooth Walk right in that home and talk with your old woman, just come right in the house and throw it around.
(Just sprinkle it around?)
Yes. You begin to squabble and fight and the next thing you know, why one of you is gone away from there.
(I see.) I see.)
Entry 366
If you want to learn to play music or a fiddle, a man told a fellow what to do. He told him to go down to two roads [crossroad or fork of road] before sunup and turn his back to the sunrise and lay on his face, and no matter what noise he heard, never to turn around, never to raise his head and look at it. If you can stand that you can learn to play music. The fellow was laying down. He heard something, he was laying there, the sun was rising, and he looked behind him. It was a big blacksnake. He jumped up and lit out. He didn't learn how to play the music. Then he went back to the man that was learning him and he told him he couldn't learn him. So he went there again the next morning, real early, with the sunrise on him. He was laying there and something run out of the pasture, it was a big black bull, and run directly at him, and he jumped up and run. And he couldn't play the music. He didn't try to do it any more.
Entry 355
He wanted to become a dice-shooter, an' he was to go to dis holly [tree] nine mornings an' play, you know, [with] whatever come. An' I think prob'ly de firs' mornin' come was - prob'ly - I think it was a rooster, a big dark rooster. Well he played craps with him. An' then the nex' [second] Sunday come - why a -
(He had to go nine Sunday mornings?)
Nine Sunday mornings.
(Any particular time?)
I think it was nine o'clock. An' de nex' [third] Sunday mornin' he played with a drake. See, wouldn't be no females; always be males there they played with - would come to him. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' 'twas - it went up a little from a fowl and went to - a dog come. An' at de fo'th Sunday mornin' he says a - it went a little futher - he said a bull come. An' he said he played with him an' he was gittin' along good; said he won all - they played craps. An' the nex' Sunday mornin' he said a white horse come with no head, an' eyes at de shoulders. He said he hadn't got scared yet. An' he said he played craps with him. An' de nex' [sixth] Sunday mornin' he says a - I don't know - he says de image of a man came but he jes' couldn't zackly figure out. But anyhow, he jes' took a chance an' played right on' an' he said he beat him. An' he said he played on an' on till de ninth Sunday mornin' an' when de devil came hisself, he didn't git scared. He said he heerd a great - act like de win', you know, comin' in a whurl [whirlwind]. He says, "I know," he says, "that mus be de Ole Man hisself." Well, then [he] shuck his dice an' throwed eleven - that was a winnin' pint [point]. An' when he got there, he said, played craps with de devil; said he was a lucky man gamblin' ever since. [For devil in whirlwind, see Nos. 167-183, and No.361.]
Entry 651
You go down in the field and git manure, but you have to git a certain kind of manure. You have to git bull manure, not cow manure. Git that and wrap it in a red handkerchief. He claimed he was tricked. He let someone use his hammer and something they put on his hammer got on his hand and kept him from work. [This proves that he was poisoned.] Some one of these two-headed people that he was dealing with told him he had to git some bull manure. Well, I was jist a boy and they sent me to go git it. I go and git that bull manure and go and git some pokeberry root. Get the he pokeberry root. There's two kinds, a he and a she. The he one is white and the she one is red. The she one has a red skin on it, she come up out the ground. They git that and mix up with this manure together and cook it together and put that on him [his arm] and bind it down. He got so he went to work again.
Entry 10669
To hold man, cut a piece of the shirt from under his arm. "Or cut it under his arm w'are [where] his strength lays. A man strength lays into his arm, under his arm. That's w'are all his, your odor come from, from de strength from his arm." [In this same item as an illustration of the above: a bull put near a cut steer will kill the latter because the bull's odor is too strong for the steer.
Entry 367
The piece he wanted to play was called The Fisherman's Hornpipe - seeming that he couldn't git right on his wyolin. So an' ole feller' tole him one time, he said, he says, "You go to a crossroad at twelve o'clock at night" - it's a road goin' that way and one goin' that way direction - and he said, "Take your wyolin wid jeh." And he says, "It will be a man will come. You set there and play till twelve o'clock. It will be a man will come," he said, "but don't chew mind," he said, "that." He was supposed to go nine nights. The ninth night the devil would come and start to play. He could play anything he wanted after the ninth night. Of course, he said he went. He set there and played this wyolin till twelve. He said he thought a man, but it was a bull come. No, it was a lamb. The first thing come was a lamb, the first night. He said, he passing along wery carefully, this lamb. The next night, the second night, he goes back again, sets and plays till twelve o'clock at this crossroad. The second night, he said, there was a breeze, and wind come as though the whole woods was falling, every tree was falling. And he goes back the third night and plays. The third night, he said there was a bull come through a-slinging fire, wid eyes just as red as could be. And he still set there and played. The fourth night he go back again. He said it was a band of six men come up with a coffun, set this coffun down, begin to take the leads off. Well, he couldn't stand that. He said he had to leave.
Entry 411
(Suppose you and I are going out to hunt this buried money - well, you tell me all about it.) Well, ah'm goin' tell yuh. Ah lived in a place once up in Georgia that they told me there was some money buried, an' dere was a old bachelor, dey said that run de salt mill dere had buried his money. An' we went out to dig dis money an' we found - well, dey claimed dat it was. Sound [we sounded] down dere, sound like money - ah mean like a can or pot or something. We went to digging at it. An' it had - was growed up a little tree, a little hickory tree right where it was. We dug up dat tree - it was in de wintertime, cold up [had turned cold]. We dug up dat tree - it was solid, good an' solid, little hickory, an' a little ole rattlesnake run in de hole. So we came out of it an' went an' tole de white folks about it. Dey went there - dey got instruments an' went dere an' dey said dat it was something come like a big bull; looked like it goin' jump right in de hole on 'em. They run out. They went then an' sot little tumblers of whiskey around, filled 'em fulla whiskey, an' they digged then, an' dey tole me "cause ah'd known about it - it was much as one man could roll away on a wheel- barrow. They knowed de gentlemen an' knowed whut kind of whiskey he liked [see Spirits and alcohol, in Index]. (You were telling me something about killing a dog. You started to tell me about killing a dog.) Well, they tells me that yo' kill a dog or snake or something an' bury with that money, an' it will take care of it.
(That's to guard the money?)
Dat's tuh guard de money - or a man or anything lak dat.