Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold @ 59

r 28. Dissolve dried menthol in a pot with boiling water. Tent your head with a towel and breathe in the vapors from above the pot. r 29. Dot menthol oil on your forehead, face, and nose and behind the ears.

R 30. Combine one tablespoon chamomile, two tablespoons licorice root, two tablespoons thyme, and two tablespoons marshmal ow flower. Take two ounces three to five times daily after a meal. This is a natural cough suppressant.

R 31. Juice fresh beets. Use five to six drops in each nostril three times a day.

R 32. Mix two parts fresh beet juice with one part honey. Insert three to four drops in each nostril three times a day.

R 33. Combine one tablespoon fennel seeds, two tablespoons marshmal ow root, and two tablespoons licorice root. Put one teaspoon of the herb mixture in a mug and add boiling water. Steep for 20–30 minutes, filter, and take one tablespoon a day.

Warm baths can be soothing and relaxing in cold and flu treatment. Try some of these fragrant, mixed herbal baths.

R 34. Chamomile and linden bath. Combine two ounces each chamomile flowers and linden flowers with one quart water in an enamel pot. Boil slowly for 15–20 minutes. It is a fever-reducing treatment and also helps sleeplessness or skin irritation. R 35. Salty bath. Dissolve two pounds of sea salt or iodized salt in a warm bath. This bath cleans, tones the skin, strengthens muscles, and restores the body.

60 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

R 36. Place one teaspoon of young branches and twigs of white oak bark ( Quercus alba) or English oak bark ( Quercus robur) in a twoquart pot. Add about one quart of cold water. Let steep for two hours, then bring to a boil and

boil for 30 minutes. Filter this decoction and

pour al into bathtub. This remedy acts as an

antiseptic and fever-reducer in healing colds. It

is helpful in treating tonsil itis, laryngitis, mouth

and throat inflammation, bacterial and viral

infections if you prepare a fresh decoction daily

by boiling four teaspoons of oak per one quart

of water for 10–15 minutes. Strain the liquid

and gargle. Don’t use these preparations for more

than two to three weeks. Thanks to the rich content of astringent substances cal ed tannins, the same oak bark liquid can be used in compresses, applied loosely to the affected area until the moisture evaporates, in such cases as weeping eczema and other skin rashes and in healing wounds. R 37. After taking a bath, prepare one cup warm water with one tablespoon honey and drink before bedtime. This natural sedative promotes sound sleep and regulates stomach activity.

R 38. Nettle tincture. Combine two tablespoons of nettle with one pint of vodka in a glass jar. Cover with a lid and wrap with cheesecloth. Keep the jar on a window sil for the first day. Store for the next eight days in a cool, dark place. Then filter, wring out, and store in a brown glass bottle or jar. Take one teaspoon of nettle tincture on an empty stomach 30 minutes before breakfast and one teaspoon before bedtime. Continue to take al of this tincture.

Stop Sneezes and Sniffles and Stifle a Cold @ 61

One Hundred Brains

A crane flew up to the Altai as soon as the sun

was hot in the spring. He began to dance

because he felt so happy to be back in his favorite and familiar marsh. He moved his feet up and down. He lowered and then lifted his wings. He turned his head round and round and bent his neck. A hungry fox ran by. She was envious that the crane looked so healthy and happy, and she yelped, “I look at you and do not believe my eyes. You dance, poor crane, but you have only two feet.”

The crane stopped dancing, looked at the fox, and saw that she had four paws!

“Oh! There is not one tooth in such a long beak!” the fox continued. She smiled and revealed a mouth full of teeth. The crane closed his beak and hung his head. The fox continued to taunt him.

“Where have you hidden your ears and what do you have inside of your head?”

“I found my way here from oversees,” the crane almost cried. “That shows that I have some small brain in my head.”

“You are so unfortunate,” said the fox. “Two feet, but only one brain. Look at me: four feet, two ears, a

mouth full of teeth, one hundred

brains, and a remarkable brush (tail).”

The crane stretched his neck and

saw a man far away with a bow on

his shoulder and a quiver of arrows

at his belt.

“Your Honorable Fox, you have

four feet, two ears, and a marvelous

brush. Your mouth is full of teeth and

you even have one hundred brains

instead of one. But look! A hunter is

coming. How can we save ourselves?”

A. K.

62 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

“Well, my one hundred brains give me one hundred suggestions. I don’t know which one to follow,” the fox cried.

She then plunged into a badger’s hole and the crane followed her. The hunter never in his life had seen a crane and a fox living peacefully together. He put his hand inside the hole and pulled the crane