Subject:Fish
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Entry 245
(All right - suppose you tell me that?)
See, year before last, I had a fence round my house and I had vent cross to the store, and when I come back and I put my hand on the gate. Well something hit me in that finger [demonstrates] just like it was a - had stuck it with a pin or something.
(The little finger of the left hand.)
The little finger. So, I didn't pay no attention, and the next day I looked on my arm, right along up there and it was a long black mark like that and like a cross. Well, when I seen it, I know it was something wrong. Well, I got up and went got me some of this fish brine; you know, what come off a mackerel fish. I put me some saltpeter in it and I put me some salt in it and heated it, and I put some soda in it - heated it right hot and I bathed in it. Well, then after I bathed it, in a day or so it was gone off - I bathed it but once or twice, but- it left a little sign of it there. So I went to a kind of a fortune teller woman when I was here in town and she told me just what I used was the right thing. Well, I told her I sure was glad, I didn't know that because, I said, if anything else happened to me I'd know exactly what to do. So she told me that it was where somebody had had a painted snake and dressed my gate with it.
(What kind of a snake?)
A painted - some kind of a painted snake.
(A painted snake?)
Yes sir.
(Well, what do you mean - was it a live snake? What kind of a snake?)
I guess it was. And they must have painted him with something what they had, and just laid it on the gate, and I caught it on my hand and arm.
(You mean they painted the paint on the snake?)
Yes sir - some kind of old poison stuff. See. And see, when I went to the gate and caught holt of it, it got on my hand. (I see.) [This snake was dressed with a poison and sent out to smear it on the gate.]
Entry 1854
De gaspergou - yo' know dere's two rocks in his haid. Dat's a feesh [fish]. Yo' git dat fish anywhere out de rivah. It looks lak de buffalo - yo' have tuh look close tuh see it's not buffalo. Some people sell 'em fo' buffaloes dat don't know de diff'rence. It's a goo - gasper goo. De rock outa - those two rocks out of his haid, wearnin' 'em in dey pocket is supposed tuh be lucky. [This is the fresh-water drumfish (Aplodinatus grunniens) of the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley - weight up to 50 lbs. Gaspergou [gou = goo], similar to the French gasparot (a kind of herring), is the local name in Louisiana.]
Entry 2177
Take your onion, a raw onion and put it in the middle of the fish, don't sprinkle it, just take a whole onion and put it in there. You clean it and put it on in the fish, and you ain't going to have none left - all them going to be sold out.
(That's when you're having your fish fry. Do you put it in each fish?)
That? No, just put that in the skillet in the first fish you fry - just that whole onion in the middle of it when it's frying. Put it on top of the fish there and let your fish fry. And your next one [skillet] you fry, just put it on there, all your fish will be eat.
(Each fish that you fry?)
Not each fish, just in the front of the skillet. Turn your fish over and take the onion up and set it back, don't set it where it'll burn, set it on top of there. You clean it but you don't cut it up. Use catfish and buffalo. All of them will sell out.
Entry 11349
Ketch yo' a eelfish outa any watah an' skin him. An' skinnin' him, put dat hide up an' let it dry, an' aftah puttin' it up dere to let it dry, yo' cut yo' a piece about big enough to go round yore waist an' jes' wear it round yore waist. An', man, nobody kin throw yo'. (Nobody can throw you in a fight.)
Entry 1594
I had experience of dis myself, I'm fixin' to tell yo' now. I wus goin' wid some woman once. Someone poisoned 'er in some fish an' dey did somepin tuh 'er. An' whutevah dey did, it went true [through] 'er han', broke out in bumps - big large ones 'bout dis size [demonstrates], right true de han'. Yo' could see it. If it hit dere [on one side of her hand], it would come out dere [on the other side of her hand] - look like dey connect wid one 'nothah. Feets an' han's. An' she couldn't put 'er foot on de floah [floor]. I goes me to work an' I got me some Brown Mule [trademark] tobacco. I got me some snuff, Railroad Mail [trademark]. I got me some sulphah. I got me some salt, some salts physic [probably Epsom salts], an' got me some of 'er watah an' some of mine. I mixed it togethah. I say, "Save me all de watah you kin fer de nex' hour or two, [that is] as much as yo' git fer de nex' night er [or] day." I mixes all dat togethah an' I boil it good. I set up wid 'er 'bouts couplea days an' nights er mo' bathin' [bath-ing, not bathe-ing] 'er feets. She couldn't touch de floor [her feet pained so much]. Well, I kep' bath-in' 'er an' kep' bath'in' 'er in dat stuff, an' kep' bath-in' 'er in dat stuff till fin'lly I cured 'er like dat. Den I went an' got some of dis potash fer 'er tuh take - jes' a little bita watah. Yo' kin take dat very easily in a little watah.
(How did she get this way?)
At someone's house she got dataway by eatin'. I know it. I went to a fortune teller. Dey tole me dat dat wus zackly how she got it. Dey even picked it out [while running the cards] an' it was some of 'er own people did it.
(Did the fortune teller tell you what to do?)
Dey didn't tell me. A ole woman tole me dis long long years ago. She always tole me, she says, "Yo' look out, '' she says, "whenevah dat to happen an' know whut tuh do fo' yoreself, if anyone hurt yo'. Git dat an' bath [not bathe] yore- self from de knees on down [see p.369] an' it'll nevah cause no swellin' in de knees." It didn't swell a bit.
Entry 11635
Pound up a fish head, dry to powder, mix with salt, give in whiskey to a person; creates a live fish in him. [Washington, D. C., 625:5.]
Entry 5868
Yeah, ah'd git a stran' of hair out of 'er haid or 'is haid, if ah Wanted tuh run 'em crazy. An' ah go tuh de woods an' ah dig me some bait, an' ah take it tuh de rivah an' ah'd fish till ah'd caught a catfish. An' ah'd take him off de hook quickly befo' he injure hisself, put dis hair in 'is mouth an' ah throw 'im back an' he fly away. Dese people will go 'way, run 'em ravin' crazy.
Entry 5869
Yo' kin take de hair from undah yore man's arm or eithah in his haid lak dat an' ketch yo' a live fish an' put 'em in runnin' watah, see. An' dat'll run 'im 'way from home if yo' don't want 'im tuh stay dere.
(You get this hair from under a man's arm or from his head.)
Git some out 'is haid an' den undah his arm - one arm, his right arm. Yo' take hit an' put it in runnin' watah, see, an' dat'll keep [him] on de road all de time a-goin'. If yo' wanta git rid of 'im, ketch a live fish an' put dat hair in dat fish's mouth an' turn it back in de watah.
(Wouldn't that hair fall out of his mouth?)
No suh, push it fur 'nuff down fo' him tuh swalluh it, an' jis' turn 'im on back in dere. Any kinda fish an' dat'll keep 'im a-goin'.
Entry 5870
[This is one of several informants who stuttered.]
Lose yore strength wit chure hair. Ah hear 'em say dey kin do it. (What do they say they can do with that? How do they do that? What have you beardthem say?) [There was a considerable pause between each question. A stutterer was not casy to interview.] Ah heard 'em say dat dey kin take yore hair an' den put it in de rivah. Yes.
(Throw it into the water?)
Yes, sir, an' put it in a piece of bread, I hear 'em say.
(Put it in a piece of bread?)
Put it in a piece of bread firs'. Take de hair an' put it in a piece of bread, an' den dey wrap it around [with a cord], an' put a [small] rock around it a' drop it in de rivah, an' a fish will git it. Some big fish will git holt of it, an' when dey carries it dat run yo' crazy. Yeah, I heard 'em tell dat, too. Yes, I've heard dat.
Entry 5873
I was in the barber shop one night at Eatonton, Ga., and a fellow said heroved a fellow that run another fellow out of town with this hair. The fel- low Was going with his girl, and a friend of his told him how to get rid of him. So he did what this friend said. He takes some of his [the rival's] hair on a Sunday morning; he has to get it on a Sunday morning. t time the barber shops used to be open on Sunday morning. And [he] went to Hshing that same Sunday, and caught a fish and put the hair in the fish gill, turned the fish back loose in the water. And they say that fellow left town t same Sunday evening. [For barbershop hair, see also margin title BARBERSHOP. p.2940.] [By hand, from Pullman porter, on train between Chester, Pa.and Baltimore, Md.]
Entry 882
(Yes, go ahead.)
In the little town where I was born, you know there was a lotta people there that believed in hoodooism. (I see - and will you talk slow, please.) There were a lotta people and they believe in hoodooism. There was a man, he was - before he married - he was courtin' another lady, and after he married why he still Sweethearted with her. And he moved next door to her when he married. And he took care of his wife and bought her everything that she needed as far as he was able, and his sweetheart envied her, envied his wife because he neglected her mostly altogether. And she tried a certain some way of getting rid of his wife, and she - she sought around, she found out that it was a man in another county that she could go to him and have this lady fixed to get rid of her. And she went - she caught the train one evening and went to this man. It was a man. She went to the man and when the man saw her coming, he told her to come in - he knew what her business was there. (Where did this man live that she went to see? What town did he live in, or near what town?) He lived in New Orleans.
(And where was this town that you were born in?)
Taylor.
(Where?)
Taylor.
(Where is that?)
It's in Mississippi.
(Taylor - how do you spell it?)
Cary.
(All right - go ahead.)
And after she went there, he told her what she - he knew what she came for. And so she explained everything to him. So he gave her a little bottle about fo' inches tall with some kind of a liquid in it - it was a little green bottle with some kind of liquid in it. And he told her, like if - when she come back to bury it under her [wife's] steps. And she came back with it one dark night and took and buried it under the steps. And the next day the lady came out, you see, to go to the store to [buy] some- thing for breakfast. And when she came out, she came down the steps, and as she came down the steps, why something caught her - a pain caught her in the leg and drew her legs up and she couldn't walk. A man came along and he called another lady and he helped put her in the bed. And she was getting worse and worse, look like it would kill her and so her husband thought he would get, you know, consult diff'rent physicians and he couldn't never get any cure for her. So one day, he was long and sad, looking for someone and he met a man, and the man told him that he knew his troubles, and then asked him how long his wife had been sick. And he said about two months. And so he said he could cure his wife. So the man went on back to his house and told him - when he got to the steps he told him to bring him a spade. He brought him a spade and he dug up that little green bottle. The man what he met was a hoodoo himself, and he dug up the bottle and carried it to some running water and threw the - opened the bottle and threw the liquid into the stream, and threw the bottle into the stream, too, both of then, and didn't even look back and went on back to the house and he asked the lady how did she feel, and she said she was feeling better all at once. And so he made up some kind of a mixture of herbs and rubbed her up with it - rubbed her with it, and fixed some stuff in a bottle and told her to put it under the pillow and let it stay under there for about three days. And then after he'd taken it from under her pillow, well, he'd taken and diggin' in the front yard, you know, puts it and buries it in the front yard in front of the gate - opposite the gate, and buried it deep enough so that no one could dig it up or nothing could dig it up. And after he done that, why - after the three days he did as the man told him, and then the lady was getting along fine. And after she was getting along fine, the lady what tried to kill her came - you know, began to visit her. And she seen that she was getting better and when she'd get there; she came in one evening to see her. The lady Was getting along, around the house doing her work, and she was sitting up in the bed. That lady brought some fish, and she ate that fish and why hit kilt her.
(It killed her? They killed the wife, you mean?)
Yes, sir.
(That killed the wife?)
Yes, sir. (What do you mean about the three days - I didn't understand - you said some- thing about three days?) Yeah, he told her for to let that - he fixed some - a little old bottle of medicine - I don't know exactly what all the ingredients was, but he told her to put it under her pillow - under the lady's pillow and let it stay under three day and then take it out and dig a deep hole in the ground and bury it deep enough so that nothing could dig it up.
(He left it under the pillow for three days?)
Yes, sir.
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 1608
Yo' kin take and get saltpeter, you kin get the brine offa mack'rel fish, mix chamber lye with this. Now, I know this is real 'cause I did this - that happened to me. You bathe in that but you set in yore door, if you got a door facing the east. You set there, you bathe whatever parts that hurts you or that feels peculiar. You bathe that for nine mornings and yo' be all right.
(But you must sit right in that door facing the east?)
As the sun rise and do that for nine mornings, and as you do that, you mention the Lord's Name - say this, "In the Father, Son and de Holy Ghost."
(And you bathe. What time do you bathe yourself?)
Jest as the sun rise.
Entry 1857
A man learnt me, a hoodoo man, to take a crocus fish - it's a little fish called crocus fish, an' yo' take dat head off, an' yo' take a knife an' split dat head open an' dere's two rocks in dere. Well, yo' git dem two rocks out an' yo' put dem two rocks in a little bag an' yo' sew dat bag up. Well, when yo' sew dat bag up den, yo' give it to de party an' den he goes to de man an reports for a job, an' yo' can't hardly be turned down. An' ah have seen dat an' he have done me dataway de reason ah know. An' dat's de way he said and dat was de end of dat.
Entry 1859
Dere's a fish he's got two stones in his head. Outa dem two stones, you wanta be sure when you open him to git de right-hand stone. Dere's two white stones. You'll take dat right-hand stone and you'll put it in yore pocket and put some red pepper with it - put red pepper with that right-hand stone. And take de left-hand stone and take a handful of sulphur, nothing but sulphur, and you'll wrap dat up good and hid it and put it down by yo' bed - on de left corner of yo' bed, de north corner of yo' bed inside of yo' mattress. But de right-hand stone, you wants to tote dat - gains everything you wants and everything you go after. Actually you got'a git it.
Entry 2326
Yo' see dose little fishes. Sometime when it rainin' down dose little minnows - little small fishes dat be in de waters sometime when yo' don't see no fishes. Take three of dem an' put in a pint of whiskey an' give to anybody - dey'll stop drinkin'. [For fish falling during a rain, see FACI,2ed., No. 1537, p.61.]
Entry 2480
Well, if he drinking or anything like that, you mean? Well, they come in - the man who is drinking - and they's [men customers who drink are] coming in. You always have something to eat in your house. You keep a fish in your house - you always will keep water, clear water. You always will be successful and lucky and you - you change water with your fish, you know. Well, you keep your fish there. He will swim around, you see. Well, there be somebody always coming in - going and coming out your house. Keep a fish cause he's lucky and successful. ["Goldfish in the house are lucky say some; unlucky say others" - FACI,2ed., No. 1539, p.61. J
Entry 2481
Get you some mackerel brine - what I mean is mackerel brine off a mackerel fish. You take that brine - you gotta buy it, about fifteen or twenty cents worth - you take that brine and get you a bucket of water and put you some sugar and pulverized cinnamon in there and sprinkle it just as fer as your place extends; and whatever you got, you will sell out what you got. That mackerel brine, cinnamon and sugar in that water.
(That's for bootlegging?)
Any kind of business you're in you needn't a-worry.
Entry 3181
Den aftah she git back to yo', yo' takes an' goes anywhere an' git a fish. Yo' takes de gill of dat fish - de gill of dat fish an' yo' take 'is gall an' de livah [3 parts] of de fish. Yo' take it an' yo' parch it - de FISH gill, livah an' gall - tuhgethah as a dust. When she gits back, yo' got it all fixed up but have it kinda in lak a sponge - do lak dat [demon- strates], in a sponge. Well, whilst yo' playin' wit 'er lak dat, regardless of what kinda clothes she be in - if she be in 'er night clothes, OR GOT ON OR'NARY CLOTHES LAK YO' GOT ON YO' NOW - yo' jis' take it lak yo' playin' wit 'er an' touch 'er lak dat wit it an' sprinkle some of dat dust on 'er. [For heart, liver and gall of fish, see cure for blindness, 1256, p.439 from Book of Tobit in Apocrypha (6:1-4; 11:10-14).]
(Any place on her?)
Anywhere on 'er. Yo' jis' 'noint it. She wouldn't have no kinda mind of leavin' yo' or bein' worried wit nobody else but yo'.
(That's to keep her after she comes back?)
Aftah she comes back.
Entry 5872
Well, dey take yore hair - one of de details of it. A person maybe wanta drive yo' crazy. Well, dey'll e de hair an' take it out by a fish, a catfish, an' tie de hair into de gill dey'll turn de catfish loose - put him back in de water.
Entry 5874
Ah heard dat dey take a strand of a woman's hair or a man's hair, an' take an' ketch a catfish " tie it on tuh 'is fin, an' s'long as dat catfish goin' yo'll be goin' - jes' shin' jes' lak a fish. As soon as de fish die, yo'll die.
Entry 5876
Dey could run yo' prackly [practically] crazy. Dey'll go an' git, ketch a fish outa de watah, a live fish an' git a strand of thread dat nevah been used. Tie dat hair to dat thread an' pump a needle wit dat in it through dat fish tail, de end of his tail. An' carry it fo'ty or fifty miles from dere an' turn 'im loose in de watah. An' dat is a crazy man. He'll go dat way an' when yo' find 'im he'll be dataway - crazy. An' de first days aftah yo' drop dat fish down in dat watah, he's gone. But chew do's dat on de waste of de moon. (You just take a strand of the man's hair and you tie it up in a string, a piece of thread that has never been used. Then pull it through this needle and then you run this needle through the fish's tail and let the man's hair go through the fish's tail.) Yessuh.
Entry 6461
(No, no, go ahead.)
Well, tuh make a man stay wit chew. Yo' cut all de side of yuh fingahnails an' yuh toenails, hairs undah yuh arms, hairs from yuh head, undah dere, an' yo' parch it brown, brown, lak de dust. When, if he drinks coffee, yo' put it in de coffee. If he don't, well yo' take it an' yo'll make it brown jis' lak it wuz black peppah. An' yo'll take it an' yo'll sprinkle it all ovah 'is fish, an' yo'll give it tuh 'em. Well, he'll come tuh lak yo' an' he'll love yuh.
Entry 7017
Take some fish eel, dose fish eel yo' know whut chew skin 'em. Yo' kin take dat an' dry it. Put it up an' dry it an' let it come tuh a powdah. An' put dat intuh 'is whiskey, an' dat supposed tuh stop 'im from drinkin'.
Entry 7028
[For MINNOW and MULLET, see later; CATFISH already given.]
Yo' kin take fish. Den yo' mash de fish an' put hit in some whiskey, a raw piece of fish. Put it in whiskey. An' if yo' wan' chore husban' or yore wife tuh quit drinkin' - an' evah time dey ask fo' a drink of whiskey, yo' give dem a drink of dat.
Entry 7029
He's drink, he don' know whut he's eatin', an' dey say if he eat a bit of dat, he won' drink no mo'. Well, now, when yo' clean de fish, yo' know, an' yo' will take de entrails out an' if he drunk anyhow, an' if he eat any of 'em, an' dey say dat makes 'im sick, he'll vomit an' he'll turn against likkah.
Entry 7043
Take anybody who's a bad habit of drinkin' an' yo' know, lak yo' wanta try tuh break 'em from drinkin', dey tell me yo' kin ketch three li'le minnows yo' know, an' put 'em in a bottle of whiskey an' let 'em die in dere, an' den give it tuh dat party, yo' know, who's a bad drinkah, who cain't do wit'out it. Give it tuh dem an' dey'll stop. Dat stop 'em from drinkin'.
Entry 7224
Well, ah don' know how ah got it in me. A lady brought me a piece of fish an' she claim, "Mah husban' jis' caught dis fish." An' she said, "It's al- ready salt an' peppahed." Yo' know ah always look at mah food an' ah said, "My, de grains of peppah are large." She said, "Oh, dear, dat's all right, jis' go ahaid an' eat it." So ah washed some of it off, see, an' it all stuck so close, ah couldn't git it off. So anyway, ah said, well ah'll try de fish, 'cuz ah couldn't eat nuthin but fish an' chicken. An' ah ate dis fish. An' ah had no more den finished eatin' it when ah jis' drew up in knots, cramp knots, an' ah fell tuh de floor, an' mah heart start tuh palpitatin' very fast. An' ah tole mah mothah, ah said, "Ah cain't live wit dis cramp." An' so she went aftah anothah lady, one dem HOODOO LADIEs. She called 'er. An' she tole mah mothah tuh go right away an' git me a pint [of] milk. Dat help- ed me some. An' den she fixed me some mustard watah an' - but de only thing ah knew dat cured me wuz a fresh aig [probably from a black hen].
Entry 11352
Well, yo' know, as ah first said, if somebody yo' have somepin in fo' 'em - ain't goin' de way yo' want 'em - tuh puttin' 'em tuh walkin' or sompin othah, anything. Well, yo' go down tuh de rivah an' yo' fish an' try tuh ketch a eel. Yo' know it's a long ole fish look lak a snake. Well, yo' cut de haid off an' have a bottle or a glass or sompin ready, an' hit's one drop of blood dat will drop from dis eel's haid. So yo'll take dat an' yo'll take some honey. An' dey'll take some honey an' de root dey call de High John de Con- ' kah an' dere's one dey call de Low John de Conkah. Well, yo' take dis root an' yo' boil dat an' yo' make a kind of a syrup-lak, an' as yo' go tuh dis friend or whoevah it is, house, an' jes' lak dey shoes be's sittin' undah de dressah - somewhere yo' know, round de house. Well, yo' kin drop three drops in de shoes or anywhere jes' so long as it be's neah de shoe or a little bit git on de shoe. An' yo' kin say whatevah yo' want tuh be done, "In de Name of de Father, de Son an' de Holy Ghost." An' in de limits of time, dey say it will come tuh pass.
(What did you do with that drop of eel's blood? What did you do with that?)
Yo' take dis drop of eel's blood an' yo' fixes it wit dis honey an' dis othah root - High John de Conkah.
Entry 11624
Jis' like if yo' - like if you are separated from your wife and the man is always getting in trouble about it, you catches a live fish and you write his name on it. And cut that fish open while him alive and sew him up with that name in it, and throw it in the pond where you catch him from. The more the fish go, the more they going.
(What do you do that for, now? If I'm separated from my wife and she's what?)
And uh - you and your wife - this man is always keeping your wife on distur- ban', in confusion all the time, and always with him. Write his name and catch that live fish and cut him open and sew him back up with that name inside of him and turn him loose.
(This other man - that will send the other man far away from your wife?)
Yes, it will run him away.
(When the other man's running after your wife.)
Entry 11625
Just like if [you wants to make drift].
(Make them drift, you said?)
Yes, anybody you wants to make drift. Well, you catches a live fish, or any kind of fresh fish, and you take that fish and you split that fish half in two. Then you take a ink [pen], pin but let it be red ink. You write that name down in that fish and you take that fish.... (Wait! What do you write it on? On a piece of paper or on the flesh?) On the flesh of the fish. (All right.) Then you take that fish and throw that fish back. You use the three words: Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and throw it in any running water. They'll be driftin, couldn't stay nowhere. Everywhere they go they're not satisfied.
Entry 11626
Like if I want a person to go on a drift and don't stay anywheres they go. Well, I ketch me a fresh fish and I cut him open. And after I cut him open, I take the full name and I write it upon this Venrick parchment and I puts it in that fish [a parchment-like paper made by or called Venrick (this may not be the exact name) and sold by a hoodoo shop]. And after I put it in this fish, I get some moving oil and I drap three drops on there. [And I goes to the river afterward.] And I sew the fish back up - put cayenne pepper in it and I sews it back up. And I goes to any - where it's a running stream, you see, and I throws it out in there and I speaks, I say, "As this fish go, I want you to do the same."
Entry 11627
Well, you can take a fish and make a person drift from one place to another, never will stay nowhere or know where they going. You take this fish and you cut him open, and you takes their name and you put it up in there, and you pours moving oil and cayenne pepper and vinegar in there, and sews this fish back up. And you go to any running stream of water and you throws it in there, and you use the three god- heads, which I mean are: 'God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: I wish as this fish float, I want you to drift the same way."
Entry 11628
Like someone you want to drift away, you write the name three times; ooman or man, three times. You go to running water, fresh water, and you ketch you a scale fish. (What kind?) A scale fish, any kind of fish that's got scales on it - a small fish. All right, you write her name down three times and you take that blood from that fish and you dot each one; you understand, dot them periods. You go to running water and turn your back on it and throw it away. Turn your back, don't look back at it - but turn your back until you get so many paces off from it and go. All right, they commence to drifting - you understand - they don't know. Just like you want 'em out of your way, you understand. They commence to drifting. (Now, look. You only put three drops - you put a drop on each one of these names - from the fish.) Yes, you know, just drop like that period; just like you writing a line, you know, you put a period on each one of them. Well, you dot a period.
(You dot each name with one drop of fish blood.)
Yes.
(Well, what do you do with the fish then?)
The fish? All right I fixin' to tell you. When you get through with that, you take that fish and stick that paper, that name in there and go to running water and throw it, and turn.your back. When you throw it, don't throw it with your face toward the water. Always when you walk there - if you [came] in your car or whatever you in, on the bridge, over the running water - you throw it backwards.
Entry 11630
(What do you do with that red fish?)
Well, that's all I know, is a red fish.
(You mean he's colored red?)
He's colored red, that's his natural color, a red fish.
(And what do you do with that red fish now?)
After she get that name and that?
(Well, tell me the whole thing about it, the whole thing.)
She takes the red fish and puts your name in it wrote nine times. That's when she wants you to drag. And she throw that fish into this bayou or river, or lake, or wherever she want to throw it at, and you supposed to drift wherever that fish drift. See, this fish is dead. (Oh, you put that name into a fish that's dead?) Whilst he's dead. And then she throw it back into the water again. Now, he's going to drift and drift. Now, you - you never...
(Do you catch that fish or buy it or what?)
You kin buy 'em out in the market.
(I see.)
Entry 11633
They do this plenty of 'em if they want to start you to traveling, you know, something like that. Well, they take a strand of hair out your head or if they can't git it they git somebody what close friend to you to get it, you un- derstand if they can't get it themselves. A strand of hair from you, regardless of where it come from. Get something like a fish, you know and they'll thread it into his gills, like that, you understand. Leave the thread stay in there and throw that fish back into the water. Just like that fish go, you'll go, and the death of that fish will be the death of you.
Entry 11638
It's a bone in a fish called a lucky bone...right up against de back part of a fish's haid... It's made something lak dat [demonstrates]. It's made in a "v" lak... (Like a fork?) Yeah. [This "v" shape is merely another attempt, as with the frog and black cat, to find a chicken wishbone elsewhere; a matter I have discussed several times in the preceding text.]
Entry 11629
You take this feesh, you split it open just like you gonna gut it. You open that feesh and then you take that feesh and you puts the man's name in there and you fix it. Put it...
(Wait a minute! Don't leave anything out. What about his name now?)
You take his name...
(Yes?)
And you put his name in de feesh...
(Wait a minute! What about his name?)
[I must have turned off machine accidentally because I repeat what informant says.]
(Ah, nine times. All right now. All right.)
Yes,1 nine times you puts the name in - on a piece of paper into the feesh.
(All right.)
You takes the feesh and you covers this feesh back up whole again. You takes the feesh and you takes a string - a piece of thread No.8 black - and you just tie it all over on that until you gets it together tight. Then you take the full length of the feesh and you put it in the ground just like it is. And then in the ninth day, if you see this party, he'll give you the tale about it, how he would be on the wandering on the drag. He'll never be able to make no kind of any way - no successful at all - with dat feesh.
Entry 11641
( Git chew some Red Devil lye, a[ [new] box, an' put a box of dat lye to each one of yore do'steps, an' bury it about dat deep [demonstrates] to each one of yore do'step. An' if yo' don't use de lye, den yo' kin git chew salt fish an' dey can't cross dat.
(That will keep the law away?)
Keep de law away from you.