Subject:Hurt
Entries
Entry 6606
Snakes, any kinda snakes, any kinda insex [insects], if dere somebody yo' wanta put snakes an' scorpions in an' kill 'em. Yo' kin take de snake an' kill it, any kinda snake yo' wanta be in a person. Yo' kill dis snake an' aftah yo' kill dis snake yo' name de person whosom- evah yo' wanta kill. Yo' would name 'em. An' fo' nine days yo'd go dere an' turn 'im ovah. He'd be dead. Yo' turn 'im ovah callin' de person's name fo' nine days. An' de ninth day yo' go dere an' take dat thin' an' parch 'im up, yo' know, an' jis' make a dust outa it. An' if yo' wanta put it in whiskey or amythin', or pat it in some tea or anythin' lak dat, yo' put de dust in yo' knoy vtut cheo make from dat dead snake, or scorpion or spidah or anythin', an' den yo' give it to den. It won't hurt nobody but dem dat chew called dere name. An' den when de ninth day's up dey'll take sick, an' den yo' know, dem dere snakes an' scorpions ll be livin' in dem people, whut yo' give dat dust to - in nine days tine.
Entry 6796
People sometimes claim that when you go out to a road like that [cross- road or forks of road] they've been hurt. They say they go to a tree, the tree after the crossroad, a birch tree. They're off from the forks of the road because most of the time the roads go dead off from a birch. And they get a certain bark off of that tree, and take it back home and keep it four or five days, and take it to a river of running water and throw it over their left shoulder. And they claim they will come all right again.
Entry 9477
Once someone had did somepin tuh hurt me an' dey tole me whut tuh do. Dey said go back home an' look undah de flo' - undah de step an' dig undah dere an' git some salt an' sprin- kle in dat hole. Dat would kill dat whut dey had fo'me. Wahl, ah did dat but ah don' know wus it. Ah did whut dey said all right. Dat'a de best ah knowed of it [to] do.
Entry 10151
(This black cat lucky bone?) Yes. Yo' take some sugah an' some salt an' put it on dis bone, an' let dis bone soak in it fo' an hour. An' den yo' take it an' yo' take dis bone an' put it in yore pocket. An' yo' kin go anywheah yo' wanta, an' do anythin' yo' wanta wit dat, tuh anybody yo' wanta, an' dis bone won' let nuthin hurt chew.
Entry 10213
She kin measure him if she wanta with a string or with ribbon when he goes tuh sleep. She kin tie that roun' her laig or she kin put it in her pocketbook or in her pillow an' she kin control him, but that will lead to accidents in de long run. He'll hurt her.
Entry 11129
Dey scrape it off a black cow horn, dey say, if anybody is bothahin' yo', to mix some John de Conker wit it an' some kinda dust. Mix dat togethah. Ah fo'got whut kinda dust dey call it. Ah cain't rem- embah de name of dat dust, but anyhow yo' put dose three things togethah an' dey say put it 'roun' yore do'step an' in de cornah of yore house. Say nobody can't hurt chew. [Four corners of house and door the fifth point, rite which occurs frequently, is a type of quincunx.]
Entry 11742
Dey kin take an' dress 'em [shoes up with graveyard dirt an' cayenne pepper.
(How do they do that?)
Why, they kin put it inside of a shoe; or they kin take that little leather [insole] out at de bottom [of the shoe] and they kin dress up. Take that out an' bury it. [That makes] feet ache and hurt all de time. (Well, now, are those two different things you have told me or are they all the same thing; that stuff in your shoe and bury it? Do that at the same time or do they do them at different times?) Well, see, these are all right separate, but they be all right together. So one at de time probably dis month and next month, probably two, three months afterwards - something like that - but it be all right together. [This is a skillful piece of tact!]
Entry 12224
If yo' know fo' certain dat somebody had carried somepin roun' yore house an' yo' didn't wanta git hurt, why it's no way dat dey kin hurt chew den. Well, now de only way dat yo' git hurt by anythin' lak dat is not knowin'; but 'long as yo' have anything on yore mind 'bout anybody trickin' yo' or anything lak dat, it kinnot happen, unless dey git it inside of yo'. [This reminds me of the old saying: Shoot a ghost and you will always draw blood.]
Entry 12378
Git chew - if it's two do's heah [in this house] yo' go tuh de grocery sto' an' git chew a can of whut chew call dis Red Devil Iye, which Southerners use down heah as potash, an' open it. Lye and pot- ash are the same in these rites, because that Red Devil Lye can has a real red devil on it!] Take yo' a tablespoon an' dig a hole jes' wit dat tablespoon, an' put de dirt outa dere track, an' yo' bury it down dere, one [can] tuh yore front an' one tuh yore back, when yo' go tuh work, an' it wouldn't hurt chew.
Entry 12616
Well, when yo' know [someone] goin' harm yo', comin' to yore house tuh harm yo', dere ain't nuthin fo' yo' tuh do, but jes' take yore shoes off, both yore shoes, an' put chew some sul- phur an' red peppah in 'em an' wear 'em, an' yo' kin walk ovah anything.