Subject:Dollar
Entries
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 3803
A man tole me dat dey had him fixed so he couldn't git nuthin from an- othah woman, an' he took about five or six half-a-dollah - silvah half-a-dollahs an' put 'em in a vessel an' let 'em boil down to a quart of watah [magic of diminishing amount] an' he drinked it an' he come to be all right.
(He just drank the water that was boiled with the silver?)
Yes sir, say he boiled dat money. [Silver-water shows that the man thought his condition was caused by a spell - see p.484f.]
Entry 6944
Well, dey say yo's hurt if it turns black, if somebody's hurt chew or tricked yo' some way, it turns black. Said yo' kin put it in yore mouth an' it will turn black, dat dime, or yo' kin weah it. Eithah a fifty cent piece or a quartah, an' it will turn black if somebody has hurt chew.
Entry 6946
Say, fer instant [instance] if somebody wus poisoned or sompin, sompin intuh 'em. Take a silvah dollah an' scrape it an' put it in a pot or kittle
[kettle] an' boil dat scrapin' an' give de individual watah. Dat's all. Dat will make dem bring dat poison back up.
Entry 7153
Dey tell me dat de women kin - 'fact a woman tried it on me - take her shoes an' turn 'em right undahneath de head of 'er bed, an' put a half a dollah undah each shoe, an' go out an' stay out, den come in, an' yo' won' know it. Yo' won' wake up until she come back an' move 'em.
Entry 10265
They say that chew can take the water off of a silver dollah and also the water off of a copper cent, and sprinkle a little bit of that with some snail dust in a woman's place there, and when a man comes there he'll get stuck just like a dog. [Following rite 10266 by same man.]
Entry 10849
If a person is stuff, yo' know, an' den dey maybe says [let us stay], dat dey has some lodestone an' dey had it workin' in dere first, see, but dat han' [of the body] is tod stiff tuh feel de money when dat lodestone draw it. [A piece of lodestone band- aged on hand before or while gambling.] Dey kill a buzzard an' bury him three days [see v.1, p.533, line 34] see. Den dey will cook dat buzzard an' den dey git dat oil, strain dat oil, an' jes' lak when dey go out in de middle of de night, dey [leave gambling room] take dat buzzard oil an' dey grease dere joints wit it, jes' a little, not much [see No.ll49, p.422, v.1] jes' grease. Aftah dey grease it, well dey come back in [return to gambling room] - grease all around an' grease back of de ears. An' dat makes 'em soup-ple [supple] an' dat makes 'em see whut come in [buzzard has keen eyes]. [While outside] put lode- stone in dere an' take it an' jes' git dat skin up enough tuh put a piece about de size of a button right in dere! An' den put a silver dollar on his tail! An' jes' come in dat house an' jes' take yore han' lak dat...
(What makes the hand stiff, though?)
Ah dunno, stiff joints. An' dey wanta be soupple, see, an' dat buzzard oil is mighty high. [If this rite means what I think it does, there is nothing quite like it! However, see the following rite for something similar.]
Entry 11284
Ah went to a hoodoo an' he tole me to git a silver dollar. Ah don't know why ah should 'splain diz or not. Whut [ah] am goin' say now, yo' know it's kinda bad thing to explain. He tole me say, "Yo' git on a woman an' while yo' on dat woman, yo' have her to tie dat knot into yore shirttail on yore back. An' dat's de best experience ah evah had in mah life.
(Tie what knot?)
Tie a knot into my shirttail - dat silver dollar tied up into mah shirttail in dat knot. Dat's de best experience ah evah had. She did it. Ah did dat.
(What kind of luck did that give you?)
Well, ah wus lucky all de time.
(In all sorts of ways?)
Yes suh.
(You mean you had to be actually on her while she tied that?)
While she tied dat knot ah'd have to be on her. An' ah tole her whut ah want to do, a silver dollar. [For a man to tie 9 knots in a string and to tie it on woman's back while loving her, compare 10678, p.4044, v.5.]
Entry 11328
A woman, that she didn't appreciate what choo do for her, and you want her to be in bad luck an' didn't want her to keep any money. An' yo' get you one dollar from her, you burn the dollar to ashes. Blow it out of your hand that way [demonstrates]. And she will never be able to keep anything in the world.
Entry 11329
Git chew three dollars.
(What kind of dollars, silver dollars or paper dollars?)
Paper dollars. An' dress dem wit some salt and some bread, an' wear it fo' three days on yo' left side, an' fo' three days yo' take an' go to three stores an' spend each one of them dollars - a dollar to each store yo' go to. An' dat'll bring yo' luck. (What kind of luck?) Well it bring yo' luck in making - gittin' holda money every day yore life.
Entry 13001
Ah've heard of a person dat gambles, if dey want 'em to have good luck in gambling, take a silver quarter [25c], a silver halfa a dollah [50c] an' dey fix dat up in a package or rag or some way, an' tote it with 'em. Keep it on 'em an' that will give 'em luck fo gambling. Use Hearts Cologne on it [to feed it].
Entry 13002
They have live things in them, you kin take a cupful of lard, and a cupful of sulphur, and you take a cupful of salt. And you puts all of that to about a quart of water and let it boil. And you take a silver [bow or beau or bull] dollar. (A silver what?) A silver dollah, a bow dollah. (A bow dollar?) They call 'em bow dollah, them silvah dollahs, one of them big round dollahs. They don't use 'em very much now [1938]. Well, you let that boil. Yo' get a [cove] oyster can [these were not the recent canned oysters kept on ice] and you let that dollah boil real good. You boil it for about a hour in that water. And you take that water, put it with this other ingredients, this cupful of lard and everything. And I mean that will certainly pass from you. You let 'em drink that fuh 9 mornings, see. Give 'em a cupful and them live things will pass. That'll kill it. An' then you take - behind that give 'em a bath, behind that a bath of saltpeter and bluestone and sulphur.
Entry 13003
Usin' a bull dollah - a silver dollah.
(They call it a bow dollar? Why do they call it a bow?)
Dey always claim they could work roots with it. (That's what they call a silver dollar: a bow dollar - bull dollar? Do you mean like a bow - like this kind of a bow?) [I demonstrate either by holding and drawing a bow, or drawing design on paper.] Ah don't know how yo' spell it. It jes' a bow. Git chew a bow dollah an' go to any sto' an' git chew a bottle of Hearts Cologne. An' yo' take this heah bow dollah an' yo' take an' rub it with this heah Hearts Cologne. An' take an' put it in a red flannel sack an' wear it round yore waist, where it will 'cumu- late money to yo', bring happiness to yo', an' yo' jes' be lucky all de time.