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Date: | Wed, 14 Jun 2023 14:06:37 -0400 |
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Ozark folklore
It is natural perhaps, in a fox-huntin’ country, that a man who doesn’t make friends with dogs should be regarded as a suspicious character. Related to this, no doubt, is the old idea that a beekeeper can always be relied upon, while a fellow who doesn’t get along with bees is likely to be untrustworthy in financial matters. But what can we make of the old saying that “an honest man never rides a sorrel horse“? I have heard references to this sorrel-horse business in many parts of the Ozark country, over a long term of years, but even today I’m not sure just what is meant by it.
A hill farmer, when asked how many bee-gums he has, never mentions the exact number — if he did so, he would get no honey that season. Some beekeepers believe that every hive must be moved an inch or so on February 22, in order to prevent an infectious disease called foul brood. Moths which destroy the honeycomb are driven away by scattering splinters from a “lightnin’-struck” tree over the hives, and I am told that the same treatment will rid a cabin of fleas and bedbugs — which latter pest the Ozarker calls “cheenches.”
When a death occurs in the family, the hillfolk attach a bit of black cloth to each hive ; if this is not done, the bees are likely to leave the place and carry their stored honey away to bee trees in the woods. Honey is best removed from the hive in accordance with the state of the moon and the signs of the zodiac, but a man who can hold his breath is never stung by honeybees, anyhow. In the case of yellow jackets one protects himself by chanting:
Jasper whisper jacket!
You caint no more sting me
Than the Devil can count sixpence!
— Vance Randolph
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