concept
Maxim's wormwood folk cure
wormwood draught
also: полынный отвар
A folk-medicine treatment for a suspected rabid bite that Maxim administers to Nilov: standing him facing east, whispering a charm, and giving him a bitter, warm wormwood-flavored drink, in the tradition of village znakhar' (folk-healer) practice.
Reading notes
- The Wolf §43 some foul, warm liquid with a taste of wormwood
Wormwood (polyn') -- a bitter herb used across Russian folk medicine for a wide range of ailments; Maxim's whispered charm plus a wormwood draught, administered facing east, is a fairly standard znakhar' treatment ritual, offered here as an alternative to the healer Miron and immediately superseded by Nilov's decision to seek real doctors.
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