Subject:Fish/Living fish
Entries
Entry 11634
"A woman was poisoned [magically]. It was a fish under there, you know, up like a [hog] bladder. [Informant says blister looks like a bladder.] You could see it [the small fish] in the water of the bladder. A small fish was in a large blister on this woman's leg. And the root doctor took his knife and cut it [blister] and then he took it [fish] out." [Wilmington, S. Car., (2lO from near Pinewood, S. Car.) 116:5+85.]
Entry 869
[How Hippocrates began a consultation I do not know, but his descendants in ancient Rome, the Greek-slave doctor, always started with, "Do you drink white wine or red wine?" Two thousand years later their modern descendants, Doctors of Medicine, still ask a similar question, "How many packs do you smoke a day?" Yet my root doctors and witch doctors, colored and white, have kept the longest healing tradition, one predating Hippocrates, "Scare hell out of them!" Without primitive mask and rattle we will now learn how the scaring is done:] Ah hear dey use de fish - dey take live fish aigs an' dey give 'em to whatevah individual dey kin put 'em on in watah, to drink it down, an' dat will cause live fish to come in 'em. An' dat fish goes to worryin' yo' - dey'll grow until some- body take dem outa yo'. Den dey use snakes - dey use snake's blood. Dey got'a kill de snake, 'cause he daid, his blood is good. Or jes' bruise him enough to git a grain or two of blood. An' dey stretch it out fo' de person whatevah dey goin' aftah. An' de snake will live right on an' long as he live dat blood will live in him. See, dat woman or whosomevah dey be, it will cause snakes to form in 'em.
(Is there any way that you can get these live things out of a person?)
Yessuh, dere a way we kin git 'em out. We goes then an' we find a ole sorcerer - whut we calls ole witchcraft. We tells her - she tells us tuh come in an' we don' have tuh tell her nuthin. She says, "Somepin wrong wit chew." Den she goes on down an' she carries us to de room an' she says, "Someone has did somepin to yo'." Yo' tell her how yo' been actin' - say, "Yes, it feel lak dere somepin jes' movin' all about down in dere." Say, "Ah went to de doctors three or fo' times - six or seven time an' he don't seem to be doin' me any good." She say, "No, de doctor can't reach yore case." Say, "Ah'll have to cure yo but chew like tuh waited too late to give yo' time tuh git it up. Well, den yo' git scared an' say, Yo' reckon ah waited too late?" She say, "No, prob'bly ah kin reach yore case. Den she goes back an' she calls 'em.
(Calls whom?)
Calls dis heah plague dat chew have in yo' - she calls 'em by name, she have de name. De sorcerer have de name for it. Yo' kin find only 'bout a few of 'em. Dere's very few now. She calls 'em an' she takes her han's an' she carries it an' she holds one on de top yore haid an' one right chere - de back of yore neck right chere. An' she calls 'em an' she gives yo' some watah an' tell yo' drink three swallows an' hold yore mouth ovah a pot, an' he comes out. Den she gives yo' somepin tuh take.
(What comes out?)
Dis heah plague whatsomevah it may be - it comes walkin' right out - dis live thing comes out. She shets him up an' shows 'em to yo' an' she axe vo' - she axe yo', "Whut yo' want done about it?" Say, "Do yo' want me tuh put it back on de party whut put it on yo'?" She calls de party name whosomevah may be did it - she say, [whoever] did it, say, "Ah kin have them fixed that way by night, if yo' wanta." Well, yo' might feel at first, "Yes, let 'em have it." Well, yo' go den an' yo' leave dat house an' yo' go dere an' find dat person in de same shape. Dat's whut dey do. But lotsa times, yo' see, it kinda raw yo' know tuh turn de trick back on de person dat pulled it ovah on yo'. But first dey got'a git somethin' in yo' to do it completely. Dey do it through anything dat chew love - sometime dey do it through a friend. (You say the fortune-teller and the sorcerer are different?) [Sorcerer = a witchcraft said informant.] Dey entirely different - dey both obtain de same thing, but de sorcerer, he have de power to take things from 'em. Lotsa fortune-tellers doesn't have dat. De fortune-teller an' de sorcerer, dey have de power of tellin' yore fortune. He kin tell yo' whut happen to you an' tell yo' who done it, de way dey did it an' whut chew wus doin' when yo' wus did. An' de fortune-teller he kin tell yore fortune - tell whut yo' lost an' where yo' stole dem goods at, tell yo' whatsom- evah yo' lost an' whatsomevah yo' ain't, love cases. Dat's de fortune-teller - he reads yore fortune.
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 5875
Dey kin take two stran's of yo' an' mine hair, or eithah yores, an' ketch chew a live, any kinda fish yo' could git - git yore hand on, even dis goldfish - an' Me de tail of it an' put [the hair] in dere, an' turn it back loose tuh run in de water, an' yo' goes off as he go.
Entry 6581
Dey do it wit de fish. Dey take dat fish, de little minnow fish, an' put 'em in a little vial m' let 'im be live. An' dey go tuh work an' put dem a little garlic an' a lit- tle onion in dere. An' put 'im in a vial an' put 'im undah de doorstep. An' dat fish gits intuh de person [after you walk over it].
(Is there any way of getting them out?)
Yes suh, yo' work 'em out jis' de same as yuh did de frog.
Entry 7023
(You get what?) A eel, yo' see, one of dem fisheels. Yo' git chew a live fisheel an' git one drop of blood from 'im. Now yo' take dat drop of blood an' yo' drop it in de drink dat de man is goin' tuh drink, an' den he ain't goin' tuh drink no mo'. (I see.)
Entry 9033
They can take a fish, yes sir. An' they can lay that out - that's fo' a court scrape, too. They take that fish an' put it between a lOO pounds of ice yo' know an' stick that full of needles an' pins on the ice, if a person is against yo' in the court house. They can't do nuthin, they can't talk against yo'. Any kind of a fish, so it's a fish. But have the fish live, like when yo' put it on the ice. An' nine needles an' nine pins in there, an' their name under that fish, an' put that ice on top of it. No, they can't talk because yo' see that chills the tongue. Some people use a fish an' some people use a beef tongue [For frozen beef tongue rites, see Nos.8961-8976, Pp.3637-3643, v.4.]
Entry 10938
Yo' take it an' pick it up from de ground dis way first [demonstrates]. (From the toe back to the heel.) Yes, back to de heel, and den from de heel to de toe. Yo' carry it and get some black gunpowder, and you take it and go to a river and ketch a catfish. And when yo' ketch him, don't kill him, put dis in his mouth in a piece of paper. And sew his mouth up and throw him overboard and dey'll go until de fish stops. Wheresomevah he stop, dey'll stop; whether it be beyond de state, where dey come from.
(Do you put just a piece of plain paper?)
Yes sir, jest plain paper.
(How many tracks do you take?)
Jest one.
(Which one, any one?)
Right.
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 11632
If someone ties a strand of your hair round the neck of a live catfish and turns it loose, "you'll be a downded man." [Wilmington 229:2+85.]
Entry 11636
Live fish blood in you creates a live fish in you. [This blood of course should be as fresh as possible and uncooked. A person's whiskey is prob- ably the best Way to administer it. Charleston 616:11.]
Entry 10937
Take a catfish entrails, split him open while dey alive - channel cat - an' take dat entrails an' put it in a bottle, or else bury it undah yore do'steps; jes' lak yo' had a place an' wanted tuh stay dere, why yo' kin stay dere as long as yo' wanta, if yo' bury dat undah dere, wit dere name.
(The name of the landlord on it?) Den yo' kin stay at dat place as long as yo' want to.
Entry 10940
If yo' in a house an' de man's hard on yo' wit chure rent, yo' take one dese channel cats.
(A channel catfish?)
Dat's right, an' whilst it's 'live, cut him open. Yo' cut dat channel cat open an' whilst it's hot, yo' take an' bury dat undah de steps where de rentman gotta tuh come ovah, an' yo' kin stay dere jes' as long as yo' wanta. Yo' gotta bury it undah de steps.