Subject:Grease
Entries
Entry 3202
And there's a way where women dress their husbands when they don't want them to go with other women. Well they do that by catching a live toadfrog, and they put the toadfrog alive in a container and put a top with a brick on top of it so he can't jump out, and they cook that frog down to just natural grease, and fer nine nights they dress their husband's private with that grease from the frog. It doesn't make any diff ren' if he washes the nex' day, she continues to do that every night and when she doesn't have anything to do with him herself, because it would be detrimental to her, too. And when he comes in contact with this other woman, aftah nine days, the same amount of nights she greased him, there'll come a ball on her privates like your fist and it baffles the doctors, they don't know what it is, because it's somepin very unusual. The toadfrog is used for lots of things.
Entry 3388
Jis' like if I come here to dis lady's house an' steal 'er dishcloth, an' take it back home an' wash dat dishcloth out so dey won't be no fat on it [to] make the man suspicious]. Den, yo' see, use it ovahnight on 'im. Yo' got to use it for nine nights, or use it nine times - it's all right. Den take it an' put it into a pan of grease an' fry it. Take de cloth an' ball it up an' put it into a can where it'll stay hot - yo' know, not let it git cold - an' go an' bury dat can. An' he cain't leave dat house to save his life. A man ain't gon'a leave home. An' when he do go, he can't have nopleasure.
Entry 5308
She could take his track an' she'd care [carry] it - take his track an' she'd care it tuh a ants bed, see. She'd ketch it in de middle, in de mid- dle of de foot, see. Jes' one track, yo' right foot. Dey would take it an' take jes' dat much sand out frum [from] undah his feet [demonstrates]. (Just a pinch.) She would take it an' care it an' put it in an ants bed, an' put some lard wit it an' place it intuh dat ants bed an' leave it dere. An' de mo' dem ants would stir it up, de mo' he'd go. He'd leave town.
Entry 5838
Yo' kin take cat hair an' yo' kin make a person love yo'. Well, yo' kin take de cat hair but yo' firs' gotta git a plait of hair, a stran' of hair from de person who yo' Wanta love yo', an' yo' take, burn dem togeth- ah. An' den yo' take some hair grease - dey call it hair grease. Yo' mix dat up togethah, undahstan'. An' den aftah mixin' it up togethah, den yo' tryin' tuh make yore lady fren'. Yo' try tuh git holt of some of 'er sickness, some piece, if 'er clothes dirty, some of 'er sickness, an' tie it up an' wear dat in yore fob [watch] pocket. Dat will cause her tuh love yo'.
Entry 6714
Dey use buzzard oil tuh make people limbah, yo' know, in acts when yo' goin' on de stage or sompin lak dat - de show axe [acts]. [See also pp.42-423 and elsewhere.]
Entry 6715
Ah heard dat chew git a buzzard an' stew de grease outa him an' hit's good fo' de rheumatism or good fo' any kinda thing yo' wanta use it fo'.
Entry 6762
You mean poison, hoodoo-like?
(Yes.)
Yo' git a teacup fulla sweet milk, halfa teacup of grease, piece of salt- petah about big as a red bean. [Magic of diminishing size.] (A red bean.) Piece of saltpetah about as big as a red bean. Yo' take all dat an' mix dat tuhgethah an' give it tuh yo' an' let yo' drink it. An' yo' vomit it up or eithah it'll kill it [the poison], kill it on de inside of yo'.
Entry 9928
(Oh, the shoe! You mean the rubber tire - automobile, the inner tube, the inside tube?) Yes, sir. Well, all right. Well, yo' take dat an' burn it an' git de ashes of it an' take sompin - take a little ole rock camphah an' put wit dat. See. All right den, well, now an' den yo' ketch yuh a toadyfrog. Yo' understand now. All right, ketch yuh a toadyfrog an' ef yo' don' wanta kill de toadyfrog - ah done fry de toadyfrog, fry him in a pan. An' git de grease outa 'im an' put dat in dere. An' rub dat on de bottom of yore foot [feet].
(What will that do then?)
Dey can't harm [cunjure] yo'. [The burning of the rubber tire, causing a bad odor, deters witchcraft; see Scatologic Methods to Repulse Witcheraft, Nos.16481- 16499, PP.903-909, FOLKLORE FROM ADAMS COUNTY ILLINOIS, 2nd ed., 1965.]
Entry 10221
Boil a cicada in lard and grease man's tool with it to cure a spell of im- potence. [The magic here is probably be- cause the insect sings, then comes out of a hard shell it leaves behind; a symbol of escape, new life and singing with joy!]
Entry 10845
Dey tell ze yo' kin kill a buzzard dat way, yo' o, an' cook him an' git his oil, yo' know, an' grease wit it dat way, an' yo' kin do most any kinda thing dat chew wanta do. [This usually means physical condition.]
Entry 10846
If someone is a enemy to yo' - dey wanta see yo' linger or somepin - yo' kin use it fo' dat, but 'scusin dat ah haven't hear't [heard]. Dey cook it down to a oil, dat buzzard grease, an' yo' give it to 'em.
(How?)
In dey food or in water.
(What will that do to them?)
An' dey will come to be limber - in other words, dey wouldn't iwould] lose de use of deyself [by becoming too limber!].
(Why would they do that?)
Why, jest lak if a person had a grudge against yo' or anything, if dey wanted tuh do yo' harm some way an' dat de onliest way. Anyway dey could git to git dey 'venge out dey would do so.
Entry 10847
Ah learnt dat if a person kill a buzzard an' jest like if I had a friend - a wife or anything - an' dey wants tuh take de "upper turns" of me an' take away from me, well dey kin kill a buzzard. Dey say a buzzard got one lump of grease in him. Take dat lump of grease out an' fry it an' put it in a little vial an' keep it around wit dem. An' say, if ever occasion fo' dey comin' to mah house, dey kin take a drop or two an' run in dere han', an' when dey git to mah house, say if dey kin git clost enough to mah folks to rub dey han' on 'em, it will keep mah folks in confusion, an' dey'll have de influence of mah home.
(They just rub it over their clothes?)
Ovah de clothes, head, anywhere. (That is if someone is trying to break up you and your family.)
Entry 10848
To make 'em leave, if somebody is heah dat chew wanta git rid of 'em. Well, if yo've got anything with any of yore clothes or anything, if ah kin git a buzzard or anything an' kill him an' git some of his grease. Lakif yore clothes is hangin' up dere [points to something] ah'll take an' run some of de grease maybe in yore clothes. Rub it under de arms of yore clothes or somewhere near, round in heah [demonstrates]. Yo' couldn't tell it wuz on dere.
(What will that do?)
Yo' will leave home.
Entry 13334
(How Would you fix [put a spell on] her?)
Well, ah tell you. Ah'd ketch me a little sparrah - see, ketch me a little sparrah alive, and ah'll git me a little fat from a cow or fat from hog - sompin like dat - or fat from a chicken, eny kin' fat chew know to make some grease an' fry dese birds, see. I'll git dem fat an ah'll fry dem birds, see. Fry dem birds an' ah'll take a little piece of new homespun cloth, see. An' ah'll take dat homespun an' ah'll take dat grease, an' pour it onto dat homespun, see. An' after ah take dat an' pour 'em onto dat homespun, why ah'll git another [O.K.] piece of cloth an' ah'll wrop [wrap] it see. An' den ah'll take a needle an' a spool of thread wot [what] nevah beer used an' sew dat up. See, sew it up tight with dat cloth wit de grease on it, so it can't even ketch air. An' ah'll stick dat in de mattress right where she sleep at, see. Ah'll git a little Hearts Cologne an' den ah'll put a little sweet spirit of niter, see. An' ah'll pour a little bit of dat on her, see.
(On the woman herself.)
Throw a little sweet spirit of niter in front of her and a little Hearts Cologne in her back, on her right shoulder. An' she'll think the world, de sun rise an' [go] down on me.
(That is the [another] way you will get her.)