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!”
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 later Slavonian-Christian addition to the old Shamanic spell. In the Accadian-Chaldæan formulas these spirits are seven; here they are seventy.
The formula in question is against the fever:—
“In the name of God and his Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen!
“Seventy fair maids went up out of the ocean.
“They met the Saint Paphnutius, who asked:
“ ‘Whence come ye, oh Maidens?’
“They answered, ‘From the ocean-sea.
“ ‘We go into the world to break the bones of men.
“ ‘To give them the fever. (To make hot and cold).’ ”
Then the holy Paphnutius began to beat them, and gave them every one seventy-seven days:—
“They began to pray, ‘O holy Paphnutius!
“ ‘Forgive us, (and) whoever shall bear with him (thy) name, or write it, him we will leave in peace.
“ ‘We will depart from him
“Over the streams, over the seas.
“ ‘Over the reeds (canes) and marshes.
“ ‘O holy Paphnutius, sua misericordia, of thy mercy,
“ ‘Have pity on thy slave, even on the sick man —— (the name is here uttered),
“ ‘Free him from fever!’ ”
It is remarkable that, as a certain mysterious worm, caterpillar, or small lizard (accounts differ) among the Algonkin Indians is supposed to become at will a dragon, or sorcerer, or spirit, to be invoked or called on, so the Wolos worm is also invoked, sometimes as a saint or sorcerer, and sometimes as a spirit who scatters disease. The following gypsy-Slavonian incantation over an invalid has much in common with the old Chaldæan spells:—
“Wolosni, Wolosnicéh!
Thou holy Wolos!