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My cousin owns an antique store, and one of the books had some old legends in it. While I was reading this book, I came across a brief passage detailing something called the Four Theives Elixer. I was interested, and so I looked it up. What I found was... interesting.

I'll link the page I found, if anyone wants, but the point is thus:

When the plague ravaged the city of Marseilles in the seventeenth century, it is said that a fortunate lot of grave robbers and thieves escaped what would have been inevitable illness and subsequent death by covering their bodies and dousing their face masks in an herbal vinegar with strong antibacterial and antiviral properties. Initially, as French folklore tells it, no one quite worried about the grave robbers and thieves who stole into the houses of Marseilles under the cloak of moonless nights to rob victims of the Black Death as, the townspeople assumed, the plague would inevitably infect and kill the thieves, too. But it didn’t.

The thieves continued to assail the homes and graves of the dead with impunity until they were finally caught in the middle of their act, tried and set to be burned at the stake. Astonished by the thieves’ immunity and seemingly indifferent attitude toward the plague that devastated the community so severely, the judges offered the thieves a bargain: in exchange for releasing the cause of their immunity, the thieves would be hanged instead of burned at the stake – a less brutal and more quick end. The thieves acquiesced and surrendered the recipe for their elixir, and the legend has continued to grow since then.

While many recipes for Four Thieves Vinegar abound, there’s no telling now which recipe is most accurate though a recipe written by Jean Valnet, a renowned aromatherapist and herbalist of the early 20th century, may resemble the original more closely than any other. He calls for vinegar, wormwood, meadowsweet, juniper, marjoram, sage, cloves, horse heal, angelica, rosemary, horehound and camphor. Valnet calls for steeping these herbs in vinegar for six weeks before decanting, for a lighter flavor I usually allow my herbs to steep in vinegar for about a week.

Modern herbalist usually use only a handful of herbs: rosemary, sage, lavender, thyme and mint usually make an appearance. Every herbalist and avid keeper of herbs should have his or her own version, and below is mine. Be inventive with your garden herbs.

:
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh lavender flowers
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh marjoram
■2 tablespoons chopped fresh anise hyssop
■4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
■1 quart white wine or apple cider vinegar, preferably raw
Equipment:
■two 1-quart glass jars with lid
■fine-mesh sieve or strainer
Method:
1.Toss herbs and garlic together in a one-quart mason jar, cover with vinegar and allow them to marinate for seven to ten days in a sunny location. After seven to ten days, strain the vinegar through a fine-mesh sieve into a second, clean 1-quart glass jar.
2.Store at room temperature until ready to use and serve as you would any seasoned vinegar: as a basis for vinaigrettes or as a seasoning for braised meats and vegetables.
NOTE: When you transfer the seasoned vinegar to a clean jar, consider adding a sprig or two of rosemary or other herbs used in four thieves vinegar as it makes for an attractive display and can then be saved and given as a kitchen gift to a neighbor or friend.

TIME: 5 minutes (active), 7 to 10 days (resting) | YIELD: 1 quart

aw cool! i love old stuff. it feels all special 3nodding so it keeps you from getting sick then?

geez it does a lot then rofl like a swiss army knife elixer