Subject:Cockleburs
Entries
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 3099
[Pauline lived on an island 6 miles from Brunswick, Georgia, where I Was then working. What an opportunity to have explored that marvelous coastline as I had done at Beaufortl But I resisted the tempta- tion, refusing to break my rule - not to interview white doctors. I have two accounts of Pauline, both taken from broken interviews. In the first, we had been talking about Pauline - I am unable to find this - and then later I ask the following question.]
(Are there any white people that work here now?)
[Informant returns to Pauline.]
She lives on Bly's Island.
(Oh! She is still here. I don't want to talk to her but I just wondered.)
[Brunswick, Ga., (1201), C400:7 = 2017:7.]
iTne second account of Pauline comes from a man who has already given us in- formation about Doctor Buzzard - see 3071, p.893.] A white woman.
(What was her name?)
Miss Pauline.
(Where does she live?)
She lives heah at Bly's Island, a large island right cross tuh de rivah on de road to Jacksonville.
(Oh, just near Brunswick?)
Yes sir - six miles out chere [on the road] tuh Jacksonville. Well, mah mother done taken me out dere. Well, soon as ah got dere she set down an' talk tuh me. She asked me if ah evah worked any place an' ah tole her where ah worked. She asked me, "Did yo' have any enemies round dere?" Ah said, one woman wus a cook dere an' she wanted concernin' me tuh have somepin tuh do wit her - me an' her had tuh make beds in dis, yo' know, to dis home ever' mawnin' together. Ah wouldn't say nuthin to her. She said ah tried tuh play cute. She de one dat put down de stuff at de back gate of dis white tourist home where we were workin', an' ah step on it wit mah right fut gettin' ovah de fence. She done put it right whar ah got ovah de fence at ever' mawnin'. Me an' her wus de first ones dere. So after she seen me - see, ah tried to step on mah left fut, if it done kilt me. See, after two yeahs an' a half ah wus dried up to 135 pounds. She [Pauline] tole mama tuh let me come dere an' she would give me medicine. She taken sulphur, turpentine an' some kinda cocklespur weed - cocklebur weed - taken de cocklebur weed an' made a medicine out of it. [Three ingredients.] So she made a medicine an' ah started to taken dat cocklebur weeds an' sulphur an' turpentine. An' tole me tuh wear three pieces of Irish potatoes - white potatoes in each one of my shoes. So after dey figured - it came on to 'fect mah othah fut an' mah hips, yo' see, an' ah wus dead from heah down [demonstrates].
(From your hips down.)
Yeah, from de hips down. So after dat ah wore de Irish potato an' thing. an' ah begin tuh git bettah. So she tole me not tuh drink no whiskey. So ah stop off from drinkin' some whiskey an' got tuh walkin' an' ah put down de crutches. Yo' know, ah could walk wit de walkin' cane. Ah put down de crutches. So ah begin tuh drink whiskey at night wit de othah boys roun' heah. So dat throw me agin. Dey had tuh take me dere agin. She tole me ah had been drinkin'. Well, when ah got dere dat time, it had done came up into mah shoulders heah - see [demonstrates], it had me, ah'm daid in mah left ahrm - come up mah left side. So she had tuh work fast. Dey had tuh keep me out dere tuh her house fo' three days. So we had tuh pay her wit three pieces of silver money - ah had tuh find three silver dollahs somewhere. She charge only three dollahs - don't care how big de case wus - had tuh pay her wit three silver pieces of money. That concernin' de three links of chain also.
(Of Mary - that Mary wore around her neck?)
["Dat concerning de three linked chain dat Mary wore pertaining tuh de Bible" - from his interview in INTERVIEWS.] Yes sir, dat [represents] three silver dollahs dat ah had tuh pay her wit. De firs' time paid her wit a silver dollah, an' after ah went three times, had tuh pay her de three silver dollahs. So dat's de whole case of it, until ah taken up dis last bottle of medicine. Ah didn't drink any mo' an' dey said ah wus cured of it. Den ah had a fren'. He wus poison by a girl on a piece of cake. But he wus crowin' lak a rooster - jumpin' up an' down. An' ah tole him concernin' dis same lady - tole his mothah. An' she taken him out dere an' she pay her with three silver piece of money - carried him three times. See, each time it wus a dollah. When she carried him de last time, dat's when she gave him some kinda medicine an' out of his throat came a frog, little small wiggle-tail, little small snake. [Three things came out of his throat.]