Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Than anything down

In Genral Cling town.

"What is louder,
What is louder,

Than any horns down
In Genral Cling town?

"Thunder is louder,
Thunder is louder,
Than any horns down

In Genral Cling town." 1

Ol' Bad Man (ol' Scratch) said he won her soul. Ol' witch taken sole off shoe en throw at him. He jumped at it en took it down.2

22. BLUE-BEARD.3

He had a big basket he car'ed on his back. He'd go to people's house an' beg fur something to eat; an' when de pretty girls would come out an' gi' him something to eat, he grabbed 'em in the basket an' run away wi' them. He had a fine large place he car'ed 'em to to his kingdom. He gi' 'em de keys. He tol' 'em everything there belonged to them but one room. "Don't go in there." He tol' 'em the day they went in that room, they would be put to death. Married seven times, an' all was sisters. The seven wife one day, when he was gone away, she taken the keys an' looks in dat room. Finds all her sisters dead in there in a pile. She is so excited, she dropped the keys an' got them bloody. So he come back an' call for his keys. She kep' them hid from him for several days, didn' want him to see 'em. At las' she brought them out an' give them to him. He tol' her to say a prayer. She prayed seven times. An' her seven brothers came jus' as he went to kill her. An' he ran away into the woods, an' never been seen since.

23. TICKLING 'POSSUM.4

Coon tol' 'Possum, "Why you didn't fight?" Ol' 'Possum said Dog tickle him so he couldn't fight fur laughin'.

24. THE FROG.5

One time there was a lady, kind of a witch like. She took the frawg, she skinned the frawg, she stuffed the hide with wheat bran. She

1 Compare JAFL 12: 129, 130.

• Variant: He said, "Skip er light, Betty, an' go 'long."

3 Informant 2. The source of this tale is not, I incline to think, literary; at least, not immediately literary. But the Young girls have many visitors, both negro and white; and the sources of their tales are various, and not to be learned with certainty. Informant 3. Compare Jones, I; Harris I: III. Informant 3.

sot the frawg on the hear[th] befo' the fire. An' she tol' that frawg to go where she want to stop at. An' whenever she got thar, Frawg come ameetin' of her. "I want my daughter to come whar I is." Next day say, "You come back here an' sit down whar you star' from, so I know what to do." De frawg come back, an' sot down an' said, "Meet me." Car'ed de woman, an' de frawg come jumpin' in from under de house where was goin' in.1 Sure enough, she blessed de frawg befo' de master, an' de master shot her down in de yard.

25. WOMAN UP A TREE.2

Once it was a woman up a tree, an' her man (Mr. Fox) come an' waited for her. So he diggin' her grave. An' she yet hadn't come. He said, "Soon time for her to come. I wonder what's the reason she don't." Put down his shovel an' spade. He said, "I can't dig her grave to-night." An' he went away. The nex' mornin' he went to see her. An' she said,

"I riddle um awry, I riddle tum a right,
Where did I see you las' Friday night?
When de wind did blow, my heart did ache,
To see what a hole that fox did make." 3

26. OLD MAN ON A HUNT.4

A crowd of boys went out a-huntin' one night. One said to their grandfather, "Don't you want to go too?"-"No, I can't walk." Ol' man never walked. "I'll tote you." De dogs treed something. Whatever it was they treed said, "Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, ol' Raccoon sees no rest." 5 The boys broke an' ran, an' dropped de ol' man. When they got back to de house, de ol' man was sittin' dere. "Grandpa, how did you come here?" He said, "I come in wid de dogs." "

1 The only explanation I could get from those present was that the frog told the woman what to do.

2 Informant 2.

3 Second version:

Third version:

Fourth version:

4 Informant 2.

"One Moonlight Night" (FSSJ 2 : 297–299); "Mr. Fox" (Jacobs).
Riddle em, riddle em, riddle em right,

Where was I las' Friday night?
De wind did blow, de leaves did quake,
To see what a hole dat fox did make.

Me riddle, me riddle, me riddle de ri',
Whar' were you las' Friday night?

I sot high an' look low.

Behol', behol'! de fox dig, dig.

Variant: "Poor ol' 'possum don' see no rest." This line is sometimes sung or chanted.

• Variant: "Had no more use for de rheumatism." Compare No. 12.

27. FISHING ON SUNDAY.1

There was a boy always made a business of going fishin' on Sunday. Mother said it was not right to go fishin' on the Sabbath day.2 Boy said he could ketch more fish that day. Caught a fish. The fish said,

He busted open.4

"Clean me, Simon.3

Eat me, Simon.

Now lay down, Simon."

(Second Version.5)

Ol' uncle Daniel said he was an awful good fisher. An' people would tell him it was wrong. An' they went on a Sunday, an' he throwed his hook in. An' something bit his hook that could talk. An' said, "Pull me up, Daniel!" God makes a lenger hup, Daniel, huh. "Carry me to de house, Daniel!" Told him, "Clean me, Daniel! Get your pot, Daniel! Go to spring, Daniel! Put me on, Daniel! I'm done, Daniel. Take me up, Daniel! Eat me up, Daniel! The last mouthful you eat, your soul shall be sudden apick' (go to torment).

28. THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER SNAKE.8

De chil' would go out an' sit in de chimney-corner to eat. Her moder axed her, "Why you go out o' de house to eat?" She said she had to go. De moder followed her. She put a spoonful of milk in her mouth an' den a spoonful in de snake mouth. De moder said dat would never do fur her chil' to eat with a snake. De chil' said, "Ive been eatin' for some time with dat snake." Her moder said, "I'm goin' to kill dat snake." "Won't be worth while to kill dat snake, I'll die." "No, you won't." Moder killed dat snake, an' de girl die."9

1 Informant 9. Generally known. Compare MAFLS 2: 120; Parsons, XXV. "It's sure wrong to go fishin' on Sunday," commented the narrator's daughter, a woman about fifty-five. And she told a story of how she once went and was almost "drownded."

In telling this tale, a girl in another family called the boy Jacky. Her mother corrected her, saying, "Simon, my mammy said to me." In the Bahaman tale the boy is called Simon.

A Variant: "An' the fish went back to de sea."

5 Informant 7.

I was unable to get any explanation of this sentence.

7 An expression not known to other informants.

Informant 9.

• Variant: "She got de snake breat'." The belief is current in the Bahamas that if you kill the snake or the cat working witch for a person, the person will die, too.

29. THE WOMAN-HORSE.1

Two farmers lived close together. They didn't like each other. One farmer had a fine piece of tobacker, an' at night a great big ol' white horse would come in his field an' tear his tobacker to pieces. So he made up his mind to stop it that night. He went to de fence an' gethered him up a rail, an' sot down. An' when de horse come, an' at full speed, he knocked it backuds with the rail. It was that other man's wife he foun' layin' over the other side of the fence ashiverin'.

30. RACING THE TRAIN.2

Once there was two Archman who had never seen a train. They decided they wanted to see one. They went out in the road an' lay down till the train came along. Train came along an' frightened them. An' they run along the railroad, follerin' the train. One of them left the railroad-track an' ran into the woods. The other remained on the railroad-track, an' called to him runnin' in the woods if he couldn't outrun the train on that pretty road, how could he runnin' in the woods?

31. "MAN ABOVE.” 3

Man was jealous of his wife, an' he come in one day an' ask her who had been there. An' she said, "No one." But he said, “Yes, there have, an' I'm goin' to beat you." She said, "Well, you can, but there's a man above knows all things." An' the man above said, "Yes, an' there's a man under the bed knows as much as I do."

32. THE THREE LITTLE PIGS.4

Ol' Fox got little Whitey an' car'ed him off one day. Nex' day he come an' got Brownie. Nex' day he come to get little Blacky. He went into his house an' shut his door. An' he could not get in. Blacky had to go to de market nex' day to buy a big dinner-pot an' some cabbage. As he was comin' home, he heard de fox in de wood comin' behin' him. He jumped in de pot an' commence rollin' down de hill so fas' he lef' de fox behin'. He run in de house an' shut de do', an' put his pot o' water on de fire. An' de fox jumped up on top of de house an' jumped down de chimney. Little Pig commence dancin' an' singin', ·

1 Informant 2.

2 Informant 5. This story can hardly be accounted a folk-tale as yet. I include it, however, as an illustration of the type of narrative which appears to be taking the place of the more familiar tale in North Carolina. Anecdotes about Irishmen have a distinct vogue. Indeed, the Archman has become as much of a stock character as

Rabbit or Hant.

Informant 5.

4 Informant 2. Compare JAFL 9: 290; Pub. Folk-Lore Soc. 55 : XXVI.

"Oh, my! by de hair of my chin, chin, chin,
Dat is de way to take foxes in."

33. THE WITCH SPOUSE.1

There was a woman who wouldn' eat like people. She would cook that man's, her husband's, dinner. He would ask her to come in an' eat. She would crumble her bread up jus' the same as a little sparrer. She had a quill she would crumble it up with, an' eat it like a sparrer. At night, when he would go to sleep, she would slip out an' dress herself an' go out to de graveyards. An' one day, when they had a buryin', he decided to watch her. That night, when she got up an' got dressed an' went out, he dressed an' went out behin'. He hid behin' a bush. She would dig up that body an' cut off slashes of 'em jus' like meat, an' eat 'em. When he seed her do that, he jus' tipped on back to de house an' get back to de bed befo' she get there. An' she came back in the night, an' got undress an' got back into the bed. He made no noise, like he never been up. An' nex' day he went to de king, her father, an' tol' him about it. An' when she got there, he got after her about it. An' she was ketchin' her husban', an' beated him half to death about it. An' she was gone, an' never was foun' any mo'.

34. OUT OF HER SKIN.2

Two ladies livin' togeder. Plenty to eat, dress fine. "I'm goin' off to-night." Pull off deir top garment an' pulled off deir skin. Went out by de chimney. Came back by de chimney. Said, "Hit tit, here we go!" Man in store losin' his goods. Said, "May be witch." "No witches in this part of country."-"How you ketch 'um?" Get two pods of red pepper. Come down chimney. "Hit, tit, down we go!" One went to his [her] skin, couldn't get in. It was hot to him [her]. Started to put 'em on. "Dis is hot, sister." Said, "Skinny, don'

[ocr errors]

you know me?"

Skin never did speak.3 "Lor',

1 Informant 10. Heard by my informant from Fannie Wason of Blew's Creek. Compare Harris 3: XI; MAFLS 2:7, 27, 117 (X); Parsons, XX; Pub. Folk-Lore Soc. 55 XXIV, XLIII; JAFL 9: 127.

2 Informant 3. On Andros Island, Bahamas, the gist of this tale was given me as an actual occurrence. Salt and pepper were put in the disembodied skin, and the same words were said by the owner on her return: "Kinny, 'Kinny, don' you know me?" For the belief in the Leeward Islands, see Udal, J. S. (FL 26: 281); for it elsewhere in the Southern States see JAFL 12: 110-111; 22: 253; this number, p. 209; for it in Guiana see p. 242 of this number.

• In connection with this tale the following jingles were recited by others present:If I jump in your skin,

I'll be your popper.

When you jump out, I jump in,

An' there'll be you agin.

You jump out, I jump in.

I'll be in my skin agin.

« PředchozíPokračovat »