Out of the Frying Pan

Kentucky Legends & Lore, Part 4

Mr. Johnson listened as if he were spellbound, as I continued telling him what had happened when my Grandpa took me to my Aunt Rainy’s.

“I was scared of her, too. She was mean-acting, even towards her own brother, which of course would be Grandpa. She told me to give her my hand and I did. She looked at it, then went into the house and came back out with something in her hand. She took my hand in hers and slapped it with some kind of salve. While she was rubbing the salve in, she kept on saying, ‘It’ll be alright, just got to take the fire out,’ over and over again.

“As she was rubbing it, the pain went away. She took a rag and wrapped it around my hand. She told me and Grandpa to leave it on for two days, not to even wash it at all.

“So I did as she told me to do and on the third day, Grandpa took the rag off. I couldn’t believe it, there was no sign of what had happened. I washed my hand and looked again – nothing! No scar, no scab, nothing. We went back over to thank her and she looked at my hand and smiled. Grandpa gave her a case of canning jars and she said, ‘We’re even.’

Mr. Johnson shook his head slowly, then looked over at my Uncle Hayes. “I guess I shouldn’t have paid any mind to what others said. She’s still mean-acting, but I guess she just doesn’t trust people anymore.”

We agreed with that.

The saddest part of this story is, my Aunt Rainy was given the gift of healing, but I guess she just wasn’t able to use it on herself.