Subject:Terrapin
Entries
Entry 251
Once mah grandfather wus hurt. Dere's ole lady - he had kill a terrapin once, and de nex' morning he got up, when he put his boot on, de terrapin head was in de boot. And he shuck his boot, choo know, before he put it on, and it fell out. And mah grandmother said, "Wonder wot dat thing doin here?" Papa say, "I killed dis terrapin yesterday an'," he say, "here his head, dis is in mah boot." It was a ole lady wanted him to go with her and he wouldn't do it. And he went on back to work as musely [usually] and he taken sick on de job and he couldn't make it home. He got down and tried to crawl to the house. And ah saw 'im, you know, tryin' to make it to the house, and ah went out dere, me an' - mahself an' mah mother got him and carried him on to de house. An' dey made him some red pepper tea and put dis three pieces of silver [money] in there, in dis pepper tea, an' gave it to him to drink, and that cured him. He killed him [the terrapin] where he was workin' at; he left him there. I reckon she had it fixed so that she mean for this thing to bite him, you know. Well, if it had'a bit him it would of killed him. That thing he said had been follerin' him up an' down de ditch bank, you know, and he killed it and left it there.
[For a terrapin put inside a person, see No. 10.]
Entry 634
My aunt, she wus sick in bed, she couldn't walk, an' they sent fer some man. He came an' he taken-dout [taken'd out] something they said wus in shape of a terrapin. An' they said he put it down in [on] the floor, said to it, "Go find it," whutever that wus. [It had to be a terrapin (see No. 620), not a child's mechanical toy shaped like the animal.] It went around each corner of the house in the house an' come back to 'em. An' he said, "It's not in this house." He carried it to the door an' put it outdoors, an' it started around the house until it gets to the southeast corner of the house it stopped. He said, "It's right heah." [Since there was no place in the house where he could conveniently find the object causing conjuration, he was forced to go outside where he could dig - under the edge of the house so that his back was to watching eyes.] He went diggin' an' he dug up a bottle with a lot of needles, pins - Lord knows whut kin' of stuff it wus. The other stuff wus something like quicksilver [tin-foil?] into this bottle, with the stopper turned down, drippin'. That wus supposed when that got done through drippin' that she would die. An' we had a man aroun' thah by the name of H., he went crazy the time she wus in thah sick; an' when he got crazy an' started out, they told 'er he wus comin', then she got up an' run. [Deal Island, Somerset Co., Md., (?), 21:2.] [For tortoise or turtle, see also No. 620.]
Entry 4139
Well, yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road. Prob'ly dere may be somebody or some woman dat chew want. Yo'll learn 'er name. Yo' kin go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' git chew on one of dese old speckled tarrapins. (What? Speckled what?) Turtle, land turtle. Dat's right. Yo' ketch 'im an' if yo' kin git 'is haid out enough tuh git chew a string aroun' it, git chew a string aroun' it an' make yo' a small bridle an' put intuh it. Well now, yo' got'a keep 'im down dere by dese fo'ks of de road. Evah mawnin' yo' go tuh de fo'ks of de road an' take a leak on 'im evah mawnin', an' make yore wish dere what yo' wants tuh happen. Take his haid an' stretch out. Yo' tame him. Dat'll tame him so by dat string yo' got aroun' 'is neck. Make yore wish fo' dis woman an' she more den apt tuh meet chah somewhere on de road on yore way. She cain't git aroun' yo'. [An old footnote of mine says, "This was told straightforwardly, informant generally good and reliable, symbolism seems authentic."]
Entry 5236
Take yore left - take dis sole out chure left shoe, dat inside [insole] out chure shoe, an' yo' take dat sole an' yo' take solid brown papah. YO' EVAH SEEN A TERRAPIN? Cut it [brown paper] in shape of a terrapin. De shoe, dat's in shape of a terrapin. De shoe, dat's in ordah - now, if yo' wanted tuh Zingah a person, yo' know, fix 'em so dey be lingahin' all de time. An' yo' cut dis piece of brown papah an' cut dat shoe sole [insole] an' yo' ball it up in a new piece of homespun. Take dis piece an' de same shoe dat yo' taken it out of, an' slip it back in dey house. Yo' know, lak peoples shoe is settin' roun' dere an' yo' take de sole out. Well, maybe yo' be smart enough tuh git it back in de house, an' yo' put dis piece of papah in it. Well, de nine days aftah dey git tuh weah dis shoe, dey foot begin tuh swell up an' dere ankle an' yo' cain't tell [the cause of the swelling]. Well, if dey take dat piece of - DAT. SOLE DEY GOT OUT OF YORE SHOE, IF DEY MAKE 'WAY WIT IT COMPLETE AN' FO'GIT ABOUT WHERE DEY PUT IT, WHY YO'LL NEVAH BE CURED. DERE'S NOBODY IN DE WORLD WILL EVAH CURE YO'. (If you want to make this person linger, you take this sole out of his shoe. Now, what do you do with this brown paper?) Yo' take dat papah an' put it back in dere shoe, in de toe of dere shoe. Yo' know it's kind of a tissue papah, li'le thin papah. Dey put it in de toe of dere shoe jes' as fur as yo' kin git it. An' whenevah yo' do dat, dey weah de shoe. Maybe dey weah de shoe out an' don' evah know dat papah is in de shoe. An' when- evah dey do 'way fo' yo', jes' lak anybody come in wit anythin' an' throw it down an' fo'git about where dey put it.
(Do they put the inner sole back in the shoe?)
No suh, keep it. If dey git holt of dat dey kin git cured.
(You take that sole [insole] out.and you put this paper in the shoe?)
Put it in de shoe. Cut it in de shape of a terrapin.
Entry 5683
Yo' kin git dere tracks, jis' like ah wuz firs' tellin' yuh a while ago 'bout de rivah, but chew don' take it tuh de rivah. Yo' take dis an' put it in a tree an' let it stay dere fo' nine days. An' den yo' take a yo' know, if yo' don't git dat wood whut [has that] in it [what?], den yo' ketch yuh a terrapin. If yo' kin git one, bo' [bore] a hole in 'is back an' put dis dirt in dere. An' he'll finely [finally] go on away jis' like a terrapin crawl off somewhere an' nevah come back any mo'. [An old note of mine reads: tree = cross; 9 days = 9 hours on cross.]
Entry 6669
[The best terrapin story in Hoodoo, a remarkable one, will be found in No.10, p.7.1 Yo' kin ketch a terrapin, dese streaked-laig terrapin. Dey tell me yo' kin ketch dose an' sech as gophahs lak dat. [Gopher along the coast of the southern states of U. S. A., is a burrowing land tortise Gopherus polyphemus.] Dey tell me dat it ain't but one way dat a person kin git dose live in yo'. Say dey'll take dem an' kill dem an' put dem out in de sun an' let 'em dry fo' so many days. Den take it an' pound it up an' put it in stuff fo' yo' tuh drink. Dey say when it mix in yore blood it'll commence tuh create dese live things.
Entry 6674
Ah tell yo', if yo' kin git a little of de watah or de spit from de terrapin - if yo' kin git de watah or eithah de spit from de terrapin, an' yo' kin use it in a person. Yo' kin put it in dere watah, anywhere yo' kin put it tuh git it in 'em. It will run 'em wild jis' lak a terrapin.
Entry 6675
Now a terrapin is a thing, he crawls late at night, an' he crawls at certain times of de day an' he go tuh sleep. Now, dat terrapin yo' wanta wakes 'im at night. Dat terrapin will crawl out de day, an' if chew wanta git dat terrapin tuh hurt chew at night, dey'll capsize 'im from 'is den. Dey'll grab 'im an' dey may cut off 'is right laig an' call yore name. An' dey carries it tuh dey house, bury dat [leg] an' dey'll turn dat ter- rapin loose live. An' quick as dat swell up, where he cut off dat laig, dat right foot - quick as dat swell up, why yo' is a sick man. (That is one way, they use it. What about the other way?)
Entry 8727
Yo' kin take a turtle or terrapin an' yo' kin write a person's name on dat turtle dat, yo' know, dat yo' don't want to stay in town. Go write dere name on dat turtle an' turn 'im loose in de water an' every time dat turtle move dey'll move.
Entry 8728
[Here is an unusual use of the terrapin-turtle rite.1 He in trouble, leave-like to keep yo' from ketchin' 'im. Yo've seen dese streaked-laig terrapin?
(Yes.)
Dem ole streaked-laig one. Ketch one an' cut 'is name on de back of de shell. Drop 'im back in de watah. He's gone. (You say this fellow is a criminal and that you want him to get away free. You cut his name on this terrapin, so that they can't catch him.)
Entry 8729
Yo' see, yo' can take a terrapin an' write-like my name nine times backwards, if somebody don't like me, yo' know. An' catch 'im alive an' open his mouth an' put dat down in his mouth, an' den throw 'i back in de watah. Jes' as long as he stay in de watah, dat will make yo' drift, drift up an' down de watah, jes' make yo' go first one place to anothah.
(Just write this on a piece of paper?)
On a piece of papah.
Entry 13293
De second way yo' use dat turpin [terrapin] yo' wanta git at it by a woman. Dere's a woman now and she in love with yo'. Now dis is de way what a woman love yuh [wil] dol. She'll ketch dat turpin and she'll come and throw it in yo' house, come and throw it in yo' yard. And she done tote it in yo' yard, yo' may ketch him an' yo' might could- n't find dat turpin. Well, yo' say, "Well, ah kill dis thing cause it been dat second time ah see him in my yard." But if yo' kill dat turpin, yo' done kill yo' spirit, yo' jes' kill your spirit and yo' gotta go to her.
(How do you mean you killed your spirit?)
Yo' done killed yore spirit fer nobody but her.
Entry 13296
Dese ole oak trees an' dey burn 'em into ashes, coals. Den yo' ketch a terrapin an' put him in dese ashes, coals. An' put dis ole terrapin in dere an' let him roast. An' dey eat him, hull shell, entrails an' all. [Hull shell could be con- fusing. Victim does not eat hull and shell and entrails. The shell is hulled, cleaned out, and meat and entrails eaten. While collecting folkore on Deal Island in Chesapeake Bay in 1936 I learned that oysters and clams are shucked a word I had always associated with Indian corn. Even so, by hull, informant may mean WHOLE shell, entrails and all.] Dat will cure dat.
(What will that cure?)
Cure de consumption [tuberculosis]. Cure it on anybody. Ah don't care who dey is.