INCANTATION AGAINST
SWELLING AND SKIN ERUPTIONSThere is a very curious principle involved in curing certain disorders or
afflictions by means of spells or verses. A certain word is repeated many
times in a mysterious manner, so that it strikes the imagination of the
sufferer. There is found in the Slavonian countries a woolly caterpillar called
Wolos, whose bite, or rather touch, is much dreaded. I have myself, when a
boy, been stung by such a creature in the United States. As I remember, it
was like the sting of a bee. The following (Malo Russian) spell against it was
given me by Prof. DRAGOMANOFF in Geneva. It is supposed that a certain
kind of disorder, or cutaneous eruption, is caused by the Wolos:--
"Wolosni--Wolosnicéh!
Holy Wolos.
Once a man drove over empty roads
With empty oxen,
To an empty field,
To harvest empty corn,
And gather it in empty ricks. p. 33
He gathered the empty sheaves,
Laid them in empty Wagons,
Drove over empty roads,
Unto an empty threshing-floor.
The empty labourers threshed it,
And bore it to the empty Mill.
The empty baker (woman)
Mixed it in an empty trough,
And baked it in an empty oven.
The empty people ate the empty bread.
So may the Wolos swallow this disorder
From the empty ----- (here the name of the patient.)What is here understood by "empty" is that the swelling is taken away,
subtracted, or emptied, by virtue of the repetition of the word, as if one
should say, "Be thou void. Depart! depart! depart! Avoid me!"
AGAINST FEVER
There is a very curious incantation also apparently of Indian-gypsy
origin, since it refers to the spirits of the water who cause diseases. In this
instance they are supposed to be exorcised by Saint Paphnutius, who is a