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One said, "Have you got liquor?" An' he said, "No." Then the oder jerked de sack off his back, an' out jumped de cat, an' de dogs ran in behind it.

57. STRAW INTO GOLD.1

Once dere was a queen married a c'uel man. He would put a lot of straws down an' tell her to turn 'em into gold by de time he get back. One day she was a grievin' because she could not turn 'em into gold. An' a ol' man come along an' axed her why does she weep, kind miss. "Because I cannot turn those straws into gold." An' he said, "I will turn 'em into gold fur you if you will give me your first chil'." An' he did. An' he come again fur de chil'. She did not recep [?] to him to take de chil' jus' den. An' he said, "If you will tell me my name, I will not take it." Another man come an' tol' her to write down all de dead an' all de livin' people names. An' she did. One day ol' man was a-huntin'. He seen a little cabin in de forest. He heard a noise. He went close an' listened, an' he heard an ol' man singin',

"To-day I was buried,
To-morrow I was brew.
And then for de queen chil'

I shall take.

I'm so glad then she do not know

That my name is Tambutoe."

He went back to take de chil'. She said, "You go away, ol' Tambutoe!"

58. THREE-EYES.2

Once a woman had three children. She was sendin' to mind de cow in de bottom. She would stick a pin in her sister's ear an' put her to sleep. An' then she would take a little red switch an whup on de ground, an' fix a nice table fur dinner. Then she would wake up her sister, an' they would eat. Her mother sent de three-eyed girl one day to watch um. She taken an' stickin a pin in the threeeyed girl's head; an' two eyes went to sleep, an' one eye watched her an' seed how she fixed her lunch.

59. THE FROG WHO WOULD FLY.3

Once there was a frog that wished to fly. So some ducks decided to carry the frog. The ducks got a stick, and told the frog to take 1 Informant 2. Compare Smith, 20-24.

2 Informant 2.

3 Informant 7. This tale is a variant, I surmise, of a tale I found common among the Cape Verde Islanders, in which the birds lend their feathers and take them back again. The tale is also known to the Pueblo Indians. The only other American variant of the tale I have found is from Jamaica (Pub. Folk-Lore Soc. 55: XL).

hold of it in the middle with his mouth. The ducks took hold of the stick at each end. They went flying up in the air with the frog. They got up in the air, and met a gang of birds; and they said, “What a beautiful frog!" And the frog began to swell. "What a beautiful frog!" The frog swelled. And went to open his mouth to speak a word to the birds, and opened his mouth and turned the stick aloose, and fell to the ground and bursted himself open.

60. BRAVE FOLKS.1

Man an' his wife livin' in a small log-cabin. One day settin' by the fire. A big bear walked in. So dis man he become frighten. He jumped upstairs. He was settin' up there, lookin' at his wife kill this bear. After she killed him, then he says, "What brave folks are we!"

61. THE ADULTERESS.2

While de man was gone from home, anoder man come and get in de bed. This man come home, an' said,

"Ol' lady, ol' lady, what's dat tied out dar?"
"You fool, you fool! you blin' as you can be.

It is nothing but a milch-cow my mother sent to me."
"I been here, I been here, forty years or more,

I never seen a milch-cow with saddle on before.

"Ol' lady, ol' lady, what's dat on de floor?"
"You fool, you fool! you blin' as you can be.
It is nothing but a churn my mother sent to me."
"I been here, I been here, forty years or more,
I never saw a churn with heel-tops on before.

"Ol' lady, ol' lady, what's dat hangin' up?" —
"You fool, you fool! you blin' as you can be.
It is nothing but a strainer my mother sent to me."
"I been here, I been here, forty years or more,
I never saw a strainer with a brim on it before.

"Ol' lady, ol' lady, what's dat in de bed?" —
"You fool, you fool! you blin' as you can be.
It is nothing but a baby my mother sent to me."
"I been here, I been here, forty years or more,
I never saw a baby with a mustache on before."

1 Informant 6.

2 Informant 7. Neither my informant nor a much older woman who knew this fragment of the ballad of "Our Gude Man Came Hame at E'en" had any knowledge of its being sung. On Andros Island, Bahamas, it is still sung.

62. ANYHOW.1

Once dere was three little children. Their mother had died. An' de people around had told de moder before she died dey'd treat her children kind. An' said, one day after de moder was buried, de children would go to some of de people round's house, an' said 'last de people drove 'em from de do' an' said de little children made a song:

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2. Tell moth-er.. that she must die, That you treat us children kind, you know,

2

Since moth-er... she was dead-ee, An'. she was buried.. too.

3. Moth-er's gone, fa-ther's gone,

An' brother's gone

too.

At the Cross I'll die.

On my way to heav-en, an - y-how.

4. You can 'buse, you can 'buse me, You can scan-d'ize..my name fromdo'to do',

But at the Cross I'll die. . . I'm on my way to heav-en an - y - how.

Thank God! an-y-how.

NEW YORK.

1 Informant 7. The framing of this "spiritual" with narrative has a comparative interest for the student of the cante-fable in the Bahamas and elsewhere.

NOTES ON FOLK-LORE OF GUILFORD COUNTY, NORTH

CAROLINA.

BY ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS.

RIDDLES.

Riddles 1 to 23 appeared to me to be more generally known than riddles 24 to 56; but, without further collecting, the impression must be taken as in a measure haphazard. But that riddles 1 to 23 have a general circulation I can assert.

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1 Several informants came from Rockingham County, and one family from Forsyth

County.

Variant: Hoop. "

Variant: Sixteen.

Variant (White man): Four standers,

Two hookers,

Two lookers.

[blocks in formation]

1 Variant: What runs all the time an' makes but one track?

2 Variants: Some was nick, some was nack. Some was nickel.

Variant: White as milk, an' milk it taint.

A Variant: Up went the ol' lady apern,

An' she took it.

Ans.

Candlestick.

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