Subject:Willow
Entries
Entry 1147
Well, there's a little willow that grows about that big [demonstrates height] and it spreads all out - it's called button willow. [Cephalanthus occidentalis L. Probably button bush - unrelated to true willows.] (It grows about four or five feet tall?) That's all.
Yes, sir, many thousands of 'em - look white - looks like a stone mountain flower when you off a distance - only this one is white. But when you get to it, ain't nothing to it - it ain't no flower. You take that and you get two or three limbs and break it up - small enough to get it into a vessel and boil it in a gallon of water down to a half gallon of water. And you kin take that and get you some grain alcohol and put you - well in that quart of water you put in about a half of a half pint and you sweeten it. You take a half of a half of a pint of grain alcohol, you understand, and you pour that into that half a gallon of button-willow water that you boil down, and then you sweeten it. And then you put you about - well, somewhere around about two tablespoonsful of sweet spirits of niter into that, and you let her take a tablespoonful of it about every three and a half hours. And them chills is going to leave her. Same thing with the typhoid fever. Hit'll sweat her and hit'll work her just the same as any other kind of medicine or purgative medicine that you kin give her - something like them - pills or calomel or something like that. Hit'll clean her system up ~ do away with those chills - yes, sir.
Entry 1665
Git de willow tree bark off de sunrise, an' den go round to de back where de sun go down an' cut dat off, an' he took de piece of splinter off dat an' pick de tooth until it bleed. An' jes' take dat stick an' carry it an' wrahp it an' put it ovah yore do'. Yo'll nevah have no toothache any mo'.
(Which side do you get that splinter from? The sunrise side or sundown side?)
De sunrise an' dey go round to de sundown an' cut it de same way, but dey git de splinter from de sunrise.
(But they only get one splinter?)
One splinter - dat's all.
(Well, what do they do at the sundown side then?)
Yo' jes' cut dat de same direction - de same way.
(You don't do anything though?)
Yo' don't do anything. Jes' cut it de same way, de same direction - cut it lak dat. But yo' git dat splinter out de sunrise an' go down round de sunset an' do de same thing - lak ah tell yo' 'bout dis tidewater.
(What did you say before? Did you say something that you pick your teeth?)
Pick yore tooth till it bleeds, den spit it out an' yo' take dat splinter an' carry it an' tie it up in a rag an' put it ovah de do'.
Entry 2384
Oh, de willow tree root, yo' goes an' git, say about seven a'clock in de mornin', an' cut a piece of root from one of de sunrise [side]. Then yo' git chew a piece of red flannen wit salt an' sulphur, black peppah, an' a needle an' some Heart Perfume, an' yo' sew dat up yo' understand. Yo sew dat up an' yo' keep it 'nointed with dat Heart Perfume an' wear dat in yore pocket. If yo' git it yoreself, name it after yo'; if somebody else git it, name it after them. (Carry that for luck. You get this root from the willow tree. Which side do you get it from?) Yo' git it from de sunrise, yes sir.
Entry 4477
[They take your] pas- sage an' shet it up in a bot- tle an' take de bottle to de sunny side where de sun rise, by a willah tree, an' dey buries it upside down.
(And that will do what?)
An' dat'll lock yuh bowels. [New Orleans. La., (787), 1098:9.] [We usually index night sweat under its own name and also under folk medicine, if we have a cure for it; but ordinary sweat we rarely consider for what it is, a magic substance widely used in rites. Moreover, the importance of sweat will appear in the very first margin title. Sometimes body dirt and odor are men- tioned with it. What part odor plays in these beliefs can be seen by consulting the trailing or tracking of a suspected criminal under MURDER. Here is one of the reasons for putting FOOT TRACK under SWEAT. But we should also remember that originally foot track meant, still largely meant during my collecting days, the bare feet.
Entry 6985
[The following rite, a MISCELLANEOUS CAUSE of sexual impotence (pp. 2341-2391), should have followed margin title WATER RUNNING, p.2389:] De willah tree, de weepin' willah. Dey tell me dey kin take de roots of dat an' make a tea or eithah dry it an' sprinkle it on a man an' yo'll stay wit 'im. He'll nevah have no connection wit no one. If he start, he'll fall. (Well, who would do that?) De woman, his wife, anybody, if he's bad fo' runnin' aftah othah wimmins. Or if she's de same way, a man git dat, he can't stay, he'll leave. He'll git mad wit de woman an' leave her. It's eithah way [you can stop a man or woman].
(Well, then when he came home, he couldn't do anything with his wife either?)
Oh, he be all right when he git home - jes' stay home all de time.
(Oh, he wouldn't be all right with other women?)
No, not fo' nobody else, jes' dat woman.
Entry 6987
Go tuh de no't side of a willah tree an' scrape de bahk [bark] off - yo' know, jis' scrape - jis' cut de top bahk off an' den scrape off some of dat white bahk offen [off] a willah tree. An' it wus good fo' neu- asmee.
[Neuasmee appears to be a combination of neuralgia and asthma.]
(How would they use that?)
Well, yo' take it an' make a tea outa it, an' drink de tea. Good for de neu- asmee.
Entry 7927
Yo' take a sock an' put dat dust in dere. (What dust?) Yo' take dat sock an' yo' git some graveyard dust [and put in], dat willah leaf an' yo' put dat in dere, but yo' gotta let it stay in de sun an' let it dry good. An' dey put dat in de ground. It's all dif- f'ren' kinda ways [to use graveyard dirt] an' dat's a simple thing tuh do.
(What will that do if you put the willow leaf in that sock?)
Put it in dat sock? Dat'll run yo' crazy.
Entry 8287
Dey take yore pichure an' draw it in willah [willow] tree an' run a speah through yer heart. See, shape yer heart an' put a speah through yer heart. An' dey shoot yer pichure nine times an' dat'll cuz yo' tuh drag until yo' die. Well, AH HAVE SAW DAT CUZ AH SAW IT ON DE BAYOU, de photo Wuz in de trE. (An ordinary photograph? Or do you draw the form of that photograph?) Yes [you draw the form as informant stated]. An' dey put it in de tree an' dey made dere wish, but dey put some kinda - dey put lode- stone in it, too, an' dey put dat blood, dragon's blood in it, an' dey had a speah through de heart. Yo' know, lak yo' speah it through de heart. An' dey shot it nine times, shot de heart nine times.
Entry 8658
Ah know yo' take a weepin' willow an' yo' put as many notches on it as lettahs in yore name, an' den tie it across an' throw it in de yard where yo' Work at, an' de woman dat yo' think's got yore job, say, "Yo' shall leave dere." An' yo' kin git chure job de next mawnin'. (That is to get the other per- son's job?) She take [took] mah job. Ah Want mah job back. (To get your job back, you take a willow switch and you tie as many notches in it, cut notches in it as many letters as she has in her name.) Yes, an' den tie it dataway an' tro' [throw] it in de yard an' she'll leave dere.
(You tie it like this? What - you cut it in two then?)
Yes. Nawsuh [no sir], we don' cut it in two. Jes' take de two willows an' tie a string aroun' 'em an' throw it in de yard an' dey'll leave dere.
(And you cut the notches in these willows?)
Yessuh, as many [notches as] lettahs in her name yo' see. If she got five lettahs in her name or six or seven lettahs, maybe, cut dem many. (Here are two willow switches. Now she has five letters in her name. You cut five on each stick then?) Yessuh, an' den tie it togethah an' tro' it in de yard where she take de job 'way from yo', an' she'll leave dere.
(You just make an "x"?)
[After restudying this rite I am afraid my questioning may have complicated it. Surely one switch instead of two was used, this stick being bent and tied in a circle so that the two ends formed a cross. To regain her job my informant vas crossing her successor out of the job. Two separate willow switches could have been crossed and tied for the same purpose.]
Entry 8880
Well, if somebody wrote chew a lettah now - jes' lak if yo' wanted tuh git tuh somebody an' dey wrote chew a lettah, why yo' take dat lettah an' yo' read it. Yo' read it backwards. An' den, if yo' kin read backwards, take dat lettah an' yo' read it backwards. An' den yo' take an' take it tuh a willah tree. Yo' take it to a willah tree. An' a willah's got a forked root tuh it. Yo' dig down tuh dat root where it's forked down dere, an' den yo' turn dat lettah bottom upwards undah dere, undah dat tree, an' kivah [cover] it back up. Well, yo' git de devil's shoestring an' yo' weah it round yore arm, jes' tie it round yore arm. Dat's whut ah heered 'bout dat.
(What will all this do now?)
Dat jes' lak if yo' love somebody an' want 'em back tuh yuh or want - whatsom- evah yo' want done tuh 'em. Whatsomevah yo' want done, when yo' go tuh dat wil- lah tree an' put dat undah dere, yo' speaks dat befo' de Fathah, Son an' Holy Ghost.
Entry 9173
Yassuh, ah heard dat chew kin - now, ah know dis, ah didn't only heard dis. Jes' lak yo' is in trouble now an' yo' wanta git out. [Yo'] be in jail. Ah go in de woods or anywhere ah kin find a willah tree an' git five willah leaves. An' ah'll give 'em tuh yo' maybe in through by yore ration. Ah'll put it undah yore ration an' carry 'em tuh de jailhouse tuh yo'. Well, yo' take dem three willah leaves, dem five willah leaves, an' put two in each hip pocket an weah one in yore right shoe. An' read de fo'th chaptah of St. Luke in de second verse three times a day, an' yo'll be outa dere in three day's time. [St. Luke says little to the point here: Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. King James Version.]
Entry 13448
Goin' tuh a wil- low tree - when de tree first start tuh bloomin' out - yo' dig down an' yo' git one dem roots. When yo' git de roots yo' bring de roots back. Yo' take dat root an' put it in a bottle an' put some whiskey on it, an' yo' let dat stay in dere. Well, dat will run a person outa a house.
(How do you do that?)
Yo' take yo' willow tree roots an' bring it back - bring it home - take it an' put it in a bottle, a vial where yo' kin po' whiskey on it. An' if yo' kin git any of de dirt where a person been walkin' ovah - out de yard - put it right dere in de bottle too. Shake it an' carry it right back dere an' put it under de steps or either de gate - anywhere round dere - or if yo' kin put it where dey kin git holt of it, an' dat make 'em go 'way from town.
Entry 13449
Well, now a persimmon - de persimmon ain't much good as dat. But de weepin' willow tree, it's mighty fine fo' luck. A weepin' willow tree, is mighty lucky.
(Well, how do you do that?)
Well, yo' take dat an' gits de leave of it, de roots of it, an' dry it. When yo' shake it dry, den yo' jes' put it in a bottle an' set it up on de mantel- piece. About once a month yo' take a taste of it. An' ah declare hit'll bring luck in yore home fo' hit shore brought it in mine. [Since the weeping willow is a tree of ill-omen and generally considered unlucky, our present rite is unusual, one of defiance of fate, or one based upon contraries, or the well- known poison kills poison doctrine.]
Entry 13451
An' jes' lak a woman - quite natural a woman git ill sometime an' crabby an' othah things, an' if yo' want her tuh stay 'way from yore house, yo' go down an' git chew some willow string. Dat be's a long branch - yo' know, willow string root. Yo' git de willow string root an' yo' don't have tuh boil it. Yo' dig it up. It's sorta like curls up, it's a root jes' crooked jes' lak when yo' make whiskey or sompin, jes' lak a [distill- ery] worm, yo' know, yo' make whiskey, yo' put sompin in de copper outfit. It jes' bunch up, dat's de way it [root] do. An' yo' take dat an' jes' let three balls [coils] of it be's runnin' roun' an' roun' one another, an' it pile up, yo' know, sorta lak a snake. It crawl up, dat's de way it do. An' yo' bury dat undah yore do'steps, front do'steps, an' she'll nevah stop dere ag'in. Dat will keep her away. Yo'll say to her, say, "Come back." She say, "No ah got [a bet- ter place to live]."