knife--which has never been used. Into this hole the patient makes water,
then fills up the hole, saying:--
"Shilályi áč kathe
Ná ává kiyá mánge!
Sutyárá andré čik!
Avá kiyá mánge
Káná káthe ná hin páñi!""Fever stay here!
Do not come to me!
Dry up in dust,
Come unto me
When no water is here."Dr. WLISLOCKI translates this last line, "When there is no more water in
the river," which is certainly what is meant. "While water uns or grass
grows," &c. is a formula common to all countries.
Another cure for fever is this: the patient must take a kreutzer, an egg,
and a handful of salt, and before sunrise go with them to a cross-road,
throw them away backwards, and repeat:--
"Káná ádálá kiyá mánge áven
Âvâ tu kiyâ mánge shilályi.""When these things again I see,
Fever then return to me."Or literally, "When these things to me come." For the next three days the
invalid must not touch money, eggs, or salt. There is an old MS. collection of
English charms and ceremonies, professedly of "black witchcraft," in which
we are told that if a girl will walk stark-naked by the light of the full moon
round a field or a house, and cast behind her at every step a handful of salt,
she will get the lover whom she desires. Salt, says MORESINUS, was sacred
to the infernal deities, and it was a symbol of the soul, or of life, because it
preserved the body while in it (PITISCUS, "Leg. Ant. Rom." ii. p. 675). The
devil never eats salt. Once there was in Germany a peasant who had a witch
for a wife, and the devil invited them to supper. But all the dishes were
without any seasoning, and the peasant, despite all nudges and hints to
hold his tongue kept crying for salt. And when it was brought and he said,
"Thank God, here is salt at last!" the whole Spuck, or ghastly scene, vanished
(HORST, "Dæmonomagie," Frankfurt, 1818, vol. ii. p. 213). For a great deal
of further information and symbolism on and of salt, including all the views
of the ancient Rabbis and modern rationalists on the subject of Lot's wife,