Go thou into the earth,
May I see thee never more
Bring knives, knives,
Give (i.e., put) into the earth."Then the knife is stuck three, seven, or nine times into the earth. If the
child or a grown person has a bleeding at the nose, some of the blood is
covered with earth, and the following verse repeated
"Pçuvush, dáv tute
Pcuvush, lává mánge,
De tre cáveske
Hin may táte!
Sik lava!""Pcuvus, I give to thee,
Pcuvus, oh take from me,
Give it to thy child,
It is very warm,
Take it quickly!"FOR PAINS IN THE STOMACH
If the child has pains in the stomach, the hair of a black dog is burned to
powder and kneaded with the mother's milk and some of the feces of the
child into a paste. This prescription occurs in the magical medical formulas
Of MARCEI.LUS BURDIGALENIS, the court-physician at Rome in the
fourth century: "Cape mel atticum et stercus infantis quod primum demittit,
statim ex lacte mulieris quæ puerum allactat permiscebis et sic inunges," &c.
Most of the prescriptions of Marcellus were of ancient Etrurian origin, and I
have found many of them still in use in the Romagna Toscana. This is put
into a cloth and bound on the belly of the child. When it falls asleep a hole is
bored in a tree and the paste put into it. The hole is then stopped up with a
wooden plug, and while this is being done the following is repeated:--
"Andrál por prejiá,
André selene beshá!
Beshá beshá tu káthe!
Penáv, penáv me tu te!""Depart from the belly
Live in the green! (tree)