Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

o^BRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 267
Now, then! Ha, now thou hast finally come to listen, thou White
Kingfisher; near the edge of the water thou art staying; thou powerful
wizard! Perhaps a speaker of incantations has caused it; now
thou hast come and pulled it out. Relief has been caused. Sharply!
This is the medicine whenever they have pains (shifting) about.
They should be rubbed in different places.
EXPLANATION
This formula is for the same purpose as No. 44, page 235.
According to an expression repeated in every paragraph, the
sickness seems in this case to be caused by the [incantations of a]
witch, who maybe has, by magical means, shot some invisible
sharpened stick, a pebble, or some similar small object into the
body of the victim. The pain shifts about as the intrusive object
moves from place to place. The ailment is probably connected with
rheumatism or pleurisy.
The animals invoked to pull out the disease are all of the class
designated in the fonnulas as "penetrators," from their manner of
seizing and holding their prey, or sucking its life blood. The weasel
and the leech are put into the same category. The otter seems
to be regarded as the chief of these, on account of its diving ("penetrating")
abilities, combined with its extreme bloodthirstiness and
its real or fancied cunning. The "penetrators" are commonly
invoked in aye-'hao-'ci or witchcraft diseases, to pull out the intrusive
object which has been shot into the body of the patient.
The treatment consists of simply pressing the sore spot with
the warm hand or thumb, according to the size of the place. The
medicine man recites the first paragraph while warming his [right]
thumb over the fire, occasionally rubbing it in the palm of his left
hand, after which he presses it gently upon the seat of pain. The
same ceremony is repeated with the other paragraphs, the medicine
man eventually following up the pain as it moves about from place to
place, until, according to the theoiy, he finally chases "the important
thing" out of the body.
!t'a' Di;*^natso-'wal9"'ne'9"'[.i ^*] a'Da*n9''wo*tT
this wheni'ver they have it to euro anyone
aloiig both sides with
67
sGe" no-'Gwo" 'a't'oija-'m-Ga' y9"'wi o""naG€''*' u'so'uJt
Now, then,
I
now thou hast come human black Night
tso'tlt'o't'sti I
to listen being
u'sony'li Dotsu-'l€'ne-''^.i |
ylsGe-'no t*'n9
thou art staying it important quiclcly he arose fi-om there,
facing us, App.
far
G^'le'H Dt'Duhlc'DZa i;*lsGe-'D8
he standing he has spolien it important
yonder
^* Emendation by editor.