made from the fat of dogs, bears, wolves, frogs, and the like. As in all fetish
remedies they are said to be of strange or revolting materials, like those
used by Canidia of yore, the witches of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and of
Burns in Tam O'Shanter.
When a man has been "struck by a spirit" there results a sore swelling or
boil, which is cured by a sorceress as follows: The patient is put into a tent
by himself, and is given divers drinks by his attendant then she rubs the
sufferer with a salve, the secret of which is known only to her, while she
chants:--
"Prejiá, prejiá, prejiá,
Kiyá miseçeske, ác odoy;
Trianda sapa the çaven tut,
Trianda jiuklá tut čingeren,
Trianda káçná tut čunáven!"
"Begone, begone, begone
To the Evil One; stay there.
May thirty snakes devour thee,
Thirty dogs tear thee,
Thirty cocks swallow thee!"After this she slaughters a black hen, splits it open, and lays it on the
boil. Then the sufferer must drink water from three springs or rivulets, and
throw wood nine times into the fire daily until he is well. But black hens
cost money, according to WLISLOCKI; albeit the gypsies, like the children
of the Mist in "Waverley," are believed to be acquainted with a far more
economical and direct method of obtaining such commodities. Therefore
this expensive and high-class cure is not often resorted to, and when it is the
sorceress generally substitutes something cheaper than poultry. It may be
here observed that the black hen occurs frequently in mediæval witch-lore
and legend as a demon-symbol (WOLF, "Niederländische Sagen," pp. 647,
650). Thus the bones of sorcerors turn into black hens and chickens, and it is
well if your black hen dies, for if she had not you would have perished in
her place. Black hens were walled up in castles as sacrifices to the devil, that
the walls might long endure; hence the same fowl occurs in the arms of the
family of Henneberg (NORK, "Mythologie der Volksagen," p. 381). The lore
on this subject is very extensive.
HEADACHE
The following remedy against headache is in general use among
Transylvanian gypsies. The patient's head is rubbed, and then washed, with
vinegar or hot water while the following charm is repeated: