B 1,027,601 GRAD GR l A55 v.l6 UBRA v OF THE \0 AQI 04 it) "I -(. i.. <t: 1> I. MEMOIRS OF VOLUME XVI. 1 923. I Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I., BY ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS. WW CAMBRIDGE, MASS., AND NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. G. E. STECHERT & Co., New York, Agents. I923. Copyright, 1923, By the AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. All rights reserved. *,/. ^,.K *'' / - "'7,3 tbc eosmos press, Inc. CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS. 1923. To the teachers and pupils of Penn School, of Port Royal Agricultural School, of the County Schools of Eddings Point, St. Helena, and of Chaplin Plantation, Hilton Head; to Maria and Henry Middleton of St. Helena; to James and Pinky Murray of Hilton Head; to Henry and Henrietta Lee of Defuskie; and to him who, as he put it, staid with me to the end, Jack Brown of Defuskie, St. Helena, and Beaufort. 426321 I CONTENTS. PAGE................. xiii PREFACE LIST OF INFORMANTS OR WRITERS OF THE TALES..... xxiii BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS.......xxii FOLK-TALES.................. I I. Dog and Dog-Head............. I 2. Playing Godfather.............. 5 3. Playing Godfather: Tell-tale Grease........ 8 4. Tell-tale Grease.............. 10 5. Selling Mothers: Tell-tale Grease......... I 6. Tell-tale Grease: Mock Plea.....12 7. Fire Test: Mock Plea............ 14 8. Rabbit seeks Endowments........... 14 9. Gives Himself Away............ o1. Guessing a Name.............. 22 II. Ramstampeldam............. 23 12. Woman-Cat................ 24 13. Tar Baby................ 25 14. Tar Baby: Mock Plea (In the Brier-Patch)..... 26 I5. Tar Baby: Mock Plea: Refugees in the Roof: Watcher Tricked................. 16. Frog Escapes................ I7. Playing Poisoned............. 18. Buried Tail............... I9. Mock Fire: Buried Tail............ 20. Fatal Imitation........ 21. The Password (Honey-Tree).......... 22. The Password (Eagle-Nest)........... 23. The Password (In the Store): Take my Place.... 24. God Above............... 25. Cartload of Fish.......... 26. Who Dives the Longest: Cartload of Fish.... 27. The False Message............. 28. The False Message: Take my Place........ 29. The False Message: Take my Place: Ants in the Hole. 30. Decoyed: "Fly, don't worry me!" Mock Plea... 3I. Playing Sick................ 32. The Chosen Suitor............. 33. The Chosen Suitor: The Devil's "Yes"...... vii 28 30 30 31 32 33 35 36 37 38 39 40 40 4I 42 44 44 45 46 viii trl111 Contents. 34. The Chosen Suitor: The Forbidden Room...... 35. Tiger's Wife................ 36. Tiger's Wife: Magic Flight........... 37. The Devil's Daughter..... 38. Rabbit makes Wolf his Horse.......... 39. Rabbit makes Wolf his Horse: Watcher Tricked. 40. Insult Midstream: Rabbit makes Alligator his Horse 41. Insult Midstream.............. 42. Dilatory Buzzard.............. 43. The Lazy Man............... 44. House A-fire............. 45. Don't suck your Teeth........... 46. God and Fortune............. 47. Only a Lamb............ 48. Seeing Trouble............... 49. Broom-Straw A-fire...... 50. Tar Baby: Blinding the Owner: Broom-Straw A-fire 5I. Bewitching the Master........... 52. Witch-Man and Rooster............ 53. Out of her Skin............... 54. To meet in Hell.............. 55. Watch or Rattlesnake......... 56. Watch or Rattlesnake: "Knee-Deep" and "Better go Round". 57. Tie me Tight!............... 58. Dividing the Souls.............. 59. The Three Dreams.............. 60. Big-Claw and Little-Claw........... 61. The Talking Mule.............. 62. Racing a Ghost............... 63. Purgatory................. 64. Chair-Bound.............. 65. Man in Liquor............... 66. Trackwell, Divewell, Breathewell......... 67. Master Disguised.............. 68. The Irishman and the Donkeys........ 69. Treaty of Peace............... 70. Relay Race............... 71. Asleep in the Race.............. 72. Frog Pays................ 73. Escape up the Tree........... 74. The Deserted Children: Escape up the Tree: Rescue of the King's Daughter........... PAGE 47 50 51 52 53 54 54 55 56 56 57 57 57 59 59 60 6o 6I 62 63 64 65 65 66 68 68 69 71 71 73 74 75 75 76 77 78 79 79 80 80 83 Contents. ix PAGE 75. The Rich Old Man..75 76. The Doctor and his Man... 75 77. The Three Sweethearts..89 78. Man under the Bed... 9 79. The Two Cowards... 9 8o. Minstrel Monologue..91 8i. On the Log..92 82. Gooseberry Gallows...92 83. Used to it...92 84. Landing is Hell..92 85. Lucky Hunter... 93 86. Lucky Hunter: Tooth Out..93 87. Three more Damn Fools..94 88. Unruly Children... 97 89. Splinter in his Toe... 98 90. The Giant Pumpkin..98 91. Hackumsaw..98 92. The Big Bull..98 93. Gallinipper and the Oyster-Boat...98 94. Gallinipper on the Bridge...99 95. Sundown...99 96. The Widow's Son and the Lion...99 97. In Arkansaw.... o0 98. Tornado.... o0 99. Rattlesnake Pilot.... 10 ioo. Sport on Sunday.... 1I02 i01. The Bag of Stories.... 10 102 The Bald-Headed Wife....13 103. Boiling Water on the Rice.... 04 i04. Rabbit envies Crane.... 04 i05. Sends for her Husband...io6 io6. The Dreamer...Io6 107. Three Men in a Boat.... 07 Io8& One-Foot Man and One-Arm Man I 07 i09. Worm-Tracks..io8 110o. In the Oven..io8 II I. On the House-Top... 10 112 Under the Ground and over the Ground io.10 I113. Endures Mosquitoes..III 114. Too Lazy to live... In 115. The Master Thief... 12 11i6. All Mine: I might, and I might not.II 117. The Blind Old Woman... 14 x Contents. 18. Feasting on Dog.... II9. Old Bones......... 120. Wolf! Wolf!......... 12I. Dead Duck and Wounded Duck. 122. The Single Ball........ 123. Spit on my Hand....... 124. Who darkens the Hole?... 125. Fasting-Trial...... 126. Wait upon the Lord...... 127. Sunrise calls......... I28. Guinea-Hen Call... I29. Prayer........... 130. Cinderella........ 131. Nice to the Ladies...... 132. The Widow won...... 133. The Murderous Mother.... I34. The Apple-Tree...... 135. Fish to Every Cut....... I36. Buried Treasure....... 137. Curry-Comb Fodder... 138. Never shake nor shiver..... 139. The Lion's Toss....... 140. A Little While I gone..... 141. Hard-boiled........ 142. Paul........... I43. Changing Places....... I44. The Murderous Husband.... 145. Robber Bridegroom...... I46. The Clever Companions.... I47. Mr. Hard-Times....... I48. The Girl who learned to talk Proper. 149. Suitors who would talk Proper.. 150. Old Thief and Young Thief.. 151. Gallinipper and Mosquito.... I52. The Imitative Choir... 153. By God!..... I54. Boot or no Boot....... 155. In the Well.... I56. The Mermaid..... I57. Cow Partnership.... I58. Prize Jumper........ 159. The Frightened Guest..... I6o. Three Preachers..... PAGE...... 115...... II6...... 11 6..... 117...... 118...... II9...... 119...... II9 I I 9...... 120..... 120... I21...... 22..... 122...... 123...... 124...... 125...... 125...... 126...... I26....127...... 127...... I27...... 128...... I28....... le 1 I29...... 130...... I32...... I34...... 135...... I35...... 135...... 135...... 136...... I36...... I37...... 37...... I39...... 139... I40...... I40 Contents. xi PAGE 16I. Illusion................. 140 162. The End of the Family............141 I63. Sunday Dinner...............141 I64. Jacob's Call................ 142 I65. John Bunyan............... 42 166. Crane loses his Fish........... 142 167. The Give-Away (Mock Funeral)......... 43 i68. The Music-Box...............144 I69. The Haunted House............. 45 170. Incriminating the Other Fellow......... 45 I7I. The Boy and his Cap............. 47 172. Duck-Egg, Hen-Egg, and Goose-Egg...... 147 173. The Milk that Wolf got............ 47 I74. A Prayer in the Bulrushes....... 148 175. Watch Overboard..............148 176. How can a Boar-Hog have Pigs?......... 48 177. Bible, or Cards............... 49 178. Stick-Lick................ 49 RIDDLES AND PROVERBS..............15I Riddles.................. 15I Proverbs................. 175 TOASTS AND OTHER VERSES............ 176 I-4. Toasts................. 176 Other Verses................. 177 5. John Brown's Body............. 77 6. Grizzly Bear............... 177 7. The Rose is Red.............. 77 8. Jordan..................177 9. So, Mister Brown! (a Dance-Song)....1.. 78 io. Little Sissie (a Dance-Song).......... 78 II. True-Love, True-Love........78 12. Lifeboat.................178 GAME-SONGS AND OTHER SONGS........ 80 Game-Songs................ 180 I. Nancy Beulah............. o80 2. Sun and Moon............ 180 3. Lady, string those Beans!......... 18 4. London Bridge............... 82 5. Here comes a Bluebird!............ 182 6. Old Grandmother in the Dining-Room......83 Other Songs................. I84 7. The Farmyard............ 184 xii Contents. 8. Sandy Grey....... 9. Johnny Smoker. o1. Who dat a-ticklein' me?. I. He shall hang to-morrow 12. Old Ned 13. The Maid freed from the Gallows 14. Titanic.... I5. Ship on the Ocean. I6. Down on my Knees 17. Good News, Dinah, Good News! I8. The Whole World on Fire PAGE 185 I86 I87 187 i88 189 I9I 193 '94 194 I95 FOLK WAYS AND NOTIONS.. Birth and Babies Games.. Smoking......... Hair and Ear-Rings..... Joining the Church, or Initiation. Mating......... Economy........ Weather-Signs and Star-Lore. Dreams Sickness, Black Magic, and Cure. Death, Burial, and Mourning.......... I97.......... 97......... I99. **. * ~ * * *. I * ****** *. * * * * * 4 @ * @ * * * * * *.. 203..204.. 204.. 206.. 208. 210. 21II. 21I. 213 PREFACE. THESE tales, riddles, unsophisticated beliefs, and odds and ends of Sea-Island folk-lore, were collected in February, I919. Just off a train from the North, as I stood on a street-cornerin Beaufort, keeping an eye on the little dock where the sail-boat put in for passengers to Ladies' Island or to St. Helena, I noticed a ditch-digger make ready to quit his job for the day; and I heard him call back to a mate, "'Mos' kill bud don' make soup!" Later that moonlit evening on Ladies' Island I swopped riddles with the woman who had been induced to hitch up a neighbor's horse to her own buggy and drive me across the Island and inland on St. Helena, to Penn School. On the way she pointed out the " oyshterfactory" 1 she had worked in as a child. She had never been to school. From this Ladies'-Islander I first heard what is perhaps the most current of all the Island riddles: "Horse in the stable, mange outside," - a riddle identical, except to answer, with a riddle recorded in Sierra Leone, and with a Portuguese Negro riddle I collected two years ago in New England. From my driver also.I heard two riddles I never heard again, Riddles 44 and 45,riddles again quite in the Cape Verde Islands style. Every Sea-Islander, I was to find, knew, and was seldom too shy to tell, a few riddles. As for the tales, which they also call "riddles," or now and then "fables" or "little jokes," although they too are quite generally known, the telling is more a matter of circumstance. School-children, when talked to on the steps of the school-house or around the corner (in the class-room one may better get up a bout of riddles), will tell all the stories they know, and may reveal unsophisticated notions and attitudes; and, as many of the tales in the following collection evidence, the school-children are clever story-writers. Even when the written stories have lost the vivacity of narration, they may be interesting as showing the effect of the more or less foreign culture of the school upon language and point of view. Compare, for example, "Ber Wolf done de same trick" with 'ThewiieuTi wl told. It not a signifa between the two sentences? I venture to say that analysis of the written an 1 See p. 99. xiii xiv Preface. ' " ll variants of several of the following tales will reward the student of thtepxogsc accult 3 From this point of view I have included, contrary to the way of l`editors, a large number of variants. If folk-tales have indeed the cultural significance imputed to them, their growth and decay are of moment, and such processes can best be studied by an accumulation of variants. Indeed, the time may come when the collector'Wi r~f~ ecalled upon to publish as well as record all the variants he hears. The study of variants has a bearing not only on acculturation, but on the development of the folk-tale per se; successful variants being, no doubt, at times the source of new tales. In this connection, Variant III of Tale 20 is of interest; and so are Variant I of Tale 22, and Tale 30, which may be taken as a variant of Tale 29. Similarly in Tale 40 is an incident which might quite well develop into a fresh tale. As one might expect, adults are often less naive than children about story-telling. Southern Ne roes feel that their stories belong pto hep art ofife that major part, wcf they o not sntare with their white neihbors. ames"" Mirr-a'^"h'tn ^wHose "cain on -ilton5 ea3 T had been enjoying a very good and fruitful time, told me that, had I staid on in the house of the white man where I first suggested story-telling, he would have told me no tales, "fo' no money, not fo' a week." And he added on the subject of racial relations: "We pay dem fo' what we git, an' dey pay us. ) We don' boder wid dem, an' dey don' boder wid us. We wouldn' tell riddle befo' dem, not even if we was a servan' in deir house." 1 Nevertheless a white who does bother a bit, and who pays besides,.3 ca,,b.tae Ur n tale. Cep No "e rain, remarked Mr. Murray, as he drove Mr. Jack and me to Spanishville to row out to the river-steamer to Defuskie,- "'cep' fo' de rain, de people would be flockin' in to my house to tell you riddle." The Sea Islands stretch out along the coast of South Carolina from Savannah to north of Charleston. On a small island like Dataw live a dozen or so families; there may be twenty-five or thirty families on Coosa; the large and comparatively thickly peopled islands of St. Helena and Edisto have populations of three or four or six thousand. Beaufort, the metropolis of the Islands, has a population under three thousand,- colored, I 557; white, 262. On none of the other islands are there as many as 1 See Dial, May 17, 1919. Preface. XV one hundred whites. I visited Port Royal, on which is built the charming town of Beaufort, Ladies' Island, St. Helena, Hilton Head, and Defuskie; and tales and riddles were contributed by natives from Edisto, Dataw, Warsaw, and Paris. Tales were contributed also by natives from the mainland of South Carolina and of Georgia, particularly from Savannah. Savannah, I was told more than once, is a place to hear tales; and several of the tales told me were first heard by their narrators in Savannah or on boats bound for or from Savannah. "You could get story on the Savannah boat - dat's whey dey tell 'um." In an oysterboat sailing to Savannah from Defuskie between midnight and dawn I did, in fact, listen to tales,- the tales of Henry Ryan as he stood at the wheel of the sloop he had been sailing for the past eight years for the oyster-factory of Defuskie; and the tales of Jack Brown, now, despite the loss of an arm "skylarkin'," boatbuilder at Beaufort, and some time sailor "on the coas'." It was at that time that Jack Brown must have learned from sailors from the Iberian peninsula or islands Tale 74, the compound tale of "The Deserted Children, Escape up the Tree, Rescue of the King's Daughter." "Rescue of the King's Daughter" is a variant of one of the most widespread of Iberian tales. I was next to hear it in New Mexico from a Keres Indian who had learned it from Mexican shepherds. Of the recorded variants of "Escape up the Tree," it is remarkable that the tale of "Mr. Jack," as I learned to call him from his Beaufort neighbors, is the closest to the Spanish tale as recorded by De Soto, the one recorded European version. "The Bag of Stories" (No. IoI), told by James Murray, likewise a some time sailor, is also an Hispanic tale. I have collected several variants in New England from immigrants from the Cape Verde Islands. Many of these Portuguese Negroes are sailors, and now and again I have encountered one who has sailed south of Nantucket or New Bedford or Newport. One at least had been to the Carolinian or Georgian coast, or knew some native coastman, for in a garden on Cape Cod he told me the tale of "Dog and Dog-Head" (No. I) and the American version of "Escape up the Tree." 2 In exchange for 1 I owe this title to Dr. Boas. It is more descriptive of the pattern, and more inclusive of the forty or more Spanish, Siberian, Negro, and Indian variants of the tales, than the title I started with in earlier studies,- "The Witches and the Dogs" (JAFL 30: I89, No. 39; MAFLS 3: No. 32). 2 He also told me "Sends for her Husband" (No. IoS), that most current of Bahama tales, suggesting that in his travels "all over the world," as he described them, he may indeed have taken in the Bahamas. xvi Preface. such tales, he and other countrymen undoubtedly contributed their own Island tales to the Southern Negro stock of tales,1 -that stock which was long ago, in its pre-American period, enriched by Hispanic tales brought to the African West Coast. The A^ Cape Verde Islander on Cape Cod, Jack Brown in Carolina, were, but repeating an old process,- the.ans.io f Asiatic or European tales to the Americas b.7.,ayo o4frica. Unsurpassed... as hardy voyagers an:iidxplorers, the men of the Iberian Peninsula, together with their descendants, black and white, are also... *< unsurpassed as carriers of folk-tales... But not alone with foreign sailor-folk have the Sea-Islanders;had traffic in tales. Nowadays, and perhaps for some time past, the Islanders visit the North or go to live in the North, returning on visits to the Islands. Of Maria Middleton's four sons, one was living in Savannah, another in Charleston, while the third was in Philadelphia, and the fourth I found back from Boston on a visit. Of two cousins of the Murrays of Hilton Head, one spent the winter on his near-by farm and went North in summer to make big money, and the other was back from New York for the burial of her father. She had been two years in New York employed as a candy-girl at Huyler's, Fifth Avenue. New York is referred to in Tale No. 92 as is Arkansas in Tales Nos. 97 and 91 ("Hackumsaw"); and in all these tales, likewise in Tales 82, 83, 84, I 53, the anecdotal type is reminiscent of the Northern minstrelshow. The colloquy introduction proper to this kind of narration - according to James Murray, "Whey you been?" - "I been to." - "What you see?" etc.- smacks, too, of the minstrel-show. It would be interesting to learn from what sources the minstrels themselves derived their set forms of colloquy and their characteristic formulas of humor. Whether a J source.egre-i.a deriYva.ioag,, tey.er its provenience, the tale or v v anecdote of humorous exaggeration is part and parcel of current Carolini aen ftiote re eH.-So-ai i odle~~ 'd d-t ales of "Ahshman,' aind the curiously Boccacio-like tales about the "Reverend," as preacher or minister is customarily called. From these expressions of folk-lore in the making it is diverting to turn to such old tales - tales of undoubted African proveni1 St. Helena (San Elena) and Port Royal were Spanish settlements in the seventeenth century, and it is not impossible that Tales 74 and IoI have travelled down through the centuries as local tales. They give the impression, however, of being comparatively fresh from the mother stock. European tales told by several generations of Negro narrators wear down. Preface. xvii ence - as "Mock Plea" (Nos. 6, I4, 15, 30) or "Tell-tale Grease" (Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6), or to the tale of "Trackwell, Divewell, Breathewell" (No. 66), which, although it may be of European provenience, has an exceedingly close parallel among the Ewes of the Slave Coast, and which, in the discussion it is intended to provoke, appears genuinely African. None could listen to the discussion of who was entitled to the girl recovered from the bed of the creek by her four suitors, or to the equally grave argument this tale suggested as to whom you would save first from an upturned boat,- your wife, or your mother, -or to the closer, if more frivolous, analogy of the three hens and the egg,2 without recalling accounts of African assemblies 3 where argument is by analogue or narrative to the point. Again, it is interesting to recognize in Sea Islands lore many riddles and tales that have been recorded in the Bahamas and told not only like them as to pattern, but like them as to phrases or little turns of expression which suggest historical connection with the Carolinas,-a connection laid, perhaps, by the United Loyalists, who are said to have migrated with their households to the Bahamas and West Indies after the American Revolution. "Too" for "very" is a Bahaman as well as a Carolinian turn of speech; and so are "kyag" for "keg," "day clean " 4 for "day break," "meet" for "find," "pop" for "break," "sing" for "song," "marry to" for "marry," etc. "Man" as a form of address, and "do" as a supplicatory exclamation, are alike Carolinian and Bahaman. "One day mo' dan all" was as 1 "You in de boat, de boat is load. Wife in dere, moder in dere. Boat tu'n over. Which one you try to save? I ax de question." - " Dat a close point. Wife is lovin', bosom heart to you. Moder still better, she de one dat bring you here. Get anoder wife, kyan' get anoder moder." 2 "One hen lay aigg; one hen set an aigg; one hen kyarry [kyare fo'?] de chicken. What hen de moder chicken? What hen have de bes' right?" 3 In the story-telling group in Sierra Leone there is a set form for opening such discussions. "Hill," says the propounder. "How?" rejoin the listeners. (Cronise and Ward, I98-I99.) For a Sechuana issue, see Jones and Plaatje, 8-Io. 4 In Sierra Leone the phrase is "do' clean," and, according to Miss Cronise, it refers to the time at dawn when the outline of the doorway becomes clear-cut (Cronise and Ward, 82, footnote). 6 In Sierra Leone, "do," "often accompanied by a low cringing inclination of the body and clasped hands, is a very strong form of entreaty" (Cronise and Ward, 85, footnote).A number of the dialectical forms of the Bahamas and the Sea Islands appear in the English spoken in Sierra Leone: um (them), too (very), fo' (to), aintee (enty, South Carolina) (isn't), kare (carried), yeye (eye), tief (thieve), tote (carry), gie (give), titty (sister), meet (find), out (put out), ooman (woman), sing (song), dat make (that is the cause), oonah (you), blow (breathe), reach (arrive), meet up wid (meet), fo' true (for a certainty), fambly (family). Xvii Preface. favorite a phrase with Jack Brown of Beaufort as with John Edmon of Andros; and the opening to Riddles 12, 13, and 53 "Me riddle, me riddle, me riddle, me ree" - is the regular preliminary of a riddle or series of riddles in the Bahamas. Riddles I 2, 3, and 53 were told by old persons, and they and a few other elders agreed that the opening used to be common in riddling. Equally archaic, if not more so, I surmise, is the preliminary of Riddles 53 and 88, "My fader had (or has)." In the Bahamas this opening is exceedingly common. It is likewise characteristic, by the way, of the riddles of Sierra Leone and of the Cape Verde Islands. "Somet'in," or "Dere's somet'in'," is another riddleopening common to Sea Islands and to Bahama Islands, and suggestive, too, of the regular opening of the Cape Verde Islands riddles, "Cusa e cousa? [What is a thing?]" Here as elsewhere differentiations are interesting, as well as resemblances. Of the openings or nominees found in Bahaman tales, there was no trace in the Carolinian tales.' Nor is the one closing jingle of these Carolinian 2 tales "I stepped on a t'in', an' the t'in' ben', An' dere my story en"' among the number of closings characteristic of Bahaman tales. On the other hand, the stylistic turn of making at the close of a tale a link with the narrator or with the contemporaneous, is found to be Carolinian as well as Bahaman. In the witty tale of "God and Fortune" (No. 46), after "Fortune jumped off his knees," the narrator concluded, "An' I haven't seen him sence." The writers of variants of "Tiger's Wife" (No. 35),- a Bahaman tale, by the way,- in which the wife has even the same name as in the Carolinian tale, conclude with, "Of course I couldn' stay any longer to see any more done," or, "I was watching them very close, and I turn aroun'." In Tale 86, after the lucky hunter was untoothed by the rattlesnake, he carried his tooth to the dentist, "and that is going on 'til to-day." Implicit here is the "origin" or "just-so" story, or, as the Carolinian might say, "dat come dat" story. To derive some common object or trait or practice from the subject of the tale is even more usual in Cape Verde Islands tales than in Bahaman or Carolinian tales; but no 1 But for a variant from Charleston, S.C., of the most common nominee in the Bahamas, see JAFL 32: 376. Portia Smiley had never heard the jingle used, however, as a nominee. 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 3-18), Antigua (JAFL 34:42). Preface. xix Cape Verde Islands tale outdoes in directness or succinctness the conclusion of "Rattlesnake Pilot" (No. 99), "Rattlesnake ile [oil] p'oduce f'om dat rattlesnake;" or, again, the conclusion of "Too Lazy to live" (No. I 14), "So f'om dat man all de lazy people come f'om now." How readily the "just-so" conclusion is added to a tale is most amusingly seen in "Big-Claw and Little-Claw" (No. 60), which was undoubtedly from a literary source (c Big Klaus and Little Klaus"), but which concludes with, "You know stony crab wid a big claw? Dat Big-Claw." That the moralistic conclusion is common to both Carolinian and Bahaman tale bears little upon the question of historical connection, the practice of pointing a moral is so widespread; but joint possession of the conclusion by "irrelevant flourish," as we may call it, is more significant. Compare "When it rained, it rained on Cootah" (p. 79), or "An' she was so glad Jack married de king daughter 'tel she fell dowcn an' break her neck" (p. I31), with "An' de girl get frighten' aft' jump outen de winder an' break her laig," 1 or with "As I was passin' by, I said, 'Boukee, youse a crazy man.' 2 h..ias and West Indies, song is still a part of narrative. In the Southern States it is assing ortias pssed out. In the Sea Islands tales the tlttle verses in a Tew instancei7otably in the "Escape up the Tree," are sung or chanted. Once when I asked Mr. Jack to explain the difference between riddle and story, since story is also called riddle, he rejoined, "How you split de diffunce between riddle an' story? Dere is singin' in story." Some of thes (tunes) I was able to o /^" record on a phonograph. The records, a se-i""'s "i reco of of, anmens ani- miscellaneous songs, were transcrTbe y Heen / H. Roberts. '..... -C.. I. Te more or less obscene turns occurring now and then in the 7 ' Bahaman tales are quite lacking in Carolina, whether as a result of natural indifference to the obscene or of greater sophistication, it is somewhat difficult to estimate. In the deliberate suppression of certain tales or "toasts," as drinking-verses are called in both the Sea Islands and the Bahamas, the sophistication is plain enough. "Some is so evil, I don' like to go t'rough wid 'em," said one who failed to tell me the many "toas'" he had boasted of knowing. Tale No. 78, "Man under the Bed," a variant of the well-known European tale of "The Woman and the Friar," 1 MAFLS I3:49. 2 MAFLS 13: ii8. XX Preface. is one of the commonest of Bahaman tales. One day I happened to ask Mr. Jack if he knew it. "Oh, you want dem kin' o' tales too! I could tell you a heap o' dem tales, but I blush fo' you," he said. "You must not," I rejoined, "for it is my business to take down all kinds of tales, no matter what they are about, and just as they are." Finally, out of the "heap o' dem tales," he told me the very tale I had referred to, as well as one other tale of which a variant is familiar on Andros Island, "The Three Sweethearts" (No. 77). James Murray said that he knew twenty-five or thirty "man's tales;" "but," added he, and too firmly for challenge, "I wouldn' go t'rough wid 'em." Artistic story-teller as he was, he would forego part of the point of a story rather than commit the moral impropriety of telling it. "I leave it dere," he would say. White story-writers, like Harris or Jones or Christensen, have left it there, too, I infer. Indeed, Mrs. Christensen has told me that, faithful recorder as she was, on this point she had been selective: the stories she found "vulgar" she had not taken. As noted, there are several dialectical expressions common to the Bahaman-Islanders and the Sea-Islanders. There is, too, the same confusion of gender and of number, based, I surmise, upon indifference in Africa to these linguistic distinctions. The persistence of the indifference in Negro dialects, in English, French, and Portuguese, is an interesting fact in the psychology of language. The heaviest handicapthat the white recorder is under, in taking down Negro tal'esAist' e. pressure which he exerts, wlIly nilly,.upon the use' f Ianguage. In the effort to use school English, dialect tends to pass into bad grammair; Dialeet'q~*'nt ii'timmonly more vigorous and expressive than mother-tongue; but the narrator, natura.en,..,,,,,, rator, naturally enough,fails to realize this, and attempts to eschew diaic.t. To one who opines of his people, like Frank Murray of Defuskie, that "dere is not'in' de matter wid us but bad grammar," the temptation to try to use school-taught language in telling tales to a white is strong. Of course it is possible for one familiar with a Negro dialect to substitute it, in the record, for the attempts, successful and unsuccessful, in school-taught language; but there are risks to fidelity of transmission involved by this method, and I for one have not enough self-confidence to use it. The characteristic emphasis of Negro tales, the drawl, and the 1 See p. o02, note 4. Preface. xxi tricks of speeding up, are difficult to indicate on paper. Italics and exclamation-points are but feeble indicators; and how can one express by printers' signs the significance of what is not said?a significance conveyed by manner or by quietness of intonation, of which a good story-teller is past master. It is almost as difficult to convey the values of the curt conclusion which is also characteristic of artistic Negro narration - unless the reader can be counted on. As for the peculiar intonation of certain Sea-Islanders,- an intonation which somewhat recalls that of a Frenchman speaking English, - I have made no attempt to indicate it. Nor have I learned as yet what must be the historical reason of it. The intonation was most marked, among our scheduled narrators, in Henry Middleton of St. Helena, and it was marked in a family of Beaufort who told me riddles. Historical ante ts bac the anteeteslavery-e-o is common called are unknown t the Islandigs..-t..J '_=i" '>:;.'>2'4.'vkj> so,, -a. 6IWI * J.t _.African wori s are unknown, with one dubious exception. Maria h Wo. ats Taeatrd7Fm t at e as African for "whiskey." 1 Maria Middlet"otn otdtsoitfdmethatit^hSe grandmoltei'To r father was Indian,2 and I heard of Indian blood in a few other cases. There is a hillock towards the centre of St. Helena which, by the way, is referred to as "Indian Mound," and in which, after the usual legend, an Indian chief is said to be buried. At the foot of it stands a "praise-house." In some of the riddles there are references to King George; in riddles and tales the Bridge of London is a common place-name; and, as we shall note, several of the tales, as in other Negro communities, are of English or Scotch provenience; but of English or Scotch antecedents there is no memory. To the drama of "Rebel time" the talk of the elder people readily turns. F,rom the whippings 3 and the excessive..aratxhes,.a. k olidy,ir li e..t sI rimpei' Iane d niggardly funerals,* of those day,,, I hd difficulty to diverit Toby Byas, for. one, to riddle or tale, - he could no ^f Jai6m tog '- and my ac quaaintc n ariaMiddleton began 1 Compare, as a possible use of the same term on Andros Island, MAFLS 13: 20. 2 She was a "midder" (midwife), and her grandson was a "root-doctor" possessed of knowledge from an "ol' Indian doctor." 8 See Tales 51, 113. On Frogmore Plantation, St. Helena, may still be seen the iron ring in the live-oak, to which the slaves were tied to be whipped. 4 At Christmas, people were given " t'ree days to sport, out o' de t'resh fiel'." Of Old or Little Christmas I found no knowledge. 6 See p. I49. xxii Preface. with a long and extremely incoherent account of how in the Civil War, as a little girl, she was transported with the other natives of Edisto to St. Helena,- transported in a "flat;" i.e., a barge covered with branches, so she said, to hide it from sharpshooters from the "main." The population of Edisto (I6oo) was indeed concentrated on St. Helena for a time after the battle of Port Royal in i86I gave the Federal Government control of some of the islands, and enabled Federal troops to preclude the return of the run-away plantation-owners.1 The plantation-owners never came back; and in time the big plantations were divided up into ten-acre holdings and distributed among the freedmen, - a measure that must have been as trying to the dispossessed land-owners of the Islands as was the recent distribution of land among the peasants to the land-owners of Russia. Exappropriation was of course hard on the Southern planters; and the Negroes themselves suffered great hardships for a time,they lacked food and clothes and shelter, and Northern soldiers and officials and business-men were none too sympathetic, - but there is little question that in time the Negro population benefited by becoming land-owners. To the visitor, at least, the little farms look as if they were the centres of a comparatively happy and untrammelled life. I recall, in particular, one group of farms on Hilton Head, that of a father and three sons; each son, after working for his father a certain time, had received from him in return a strip of land to build a house on and to farm. With a wife and a horse, each in turn set up on his own. In-these.farms, as in the others I visited, there was that incessant sociability which is to the Negro tIheliearof life. Their family life and their life as neigho rs in these Islands afford them opportunity for the kindly and cheerful mganners they deemi important. 1 For vivid pictures of this period see Letters from Port Royal, written at the time of the Civil War, edited by Elizabeth Ware Pearson (Boston, I906); Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne (Cambridge, 1912). LIST OF INFORMANTS OR WRITERS OF THE TALES.1 I. Maria Middleton. 65. Born on Edisto. Brought over to St. Helena in 1862, when the whole Negro population of Edisto was concentrated for a period in St. Helena. Resident of Corners Plantation. 2. Henry Middleton. About 68. Born on St. Helena. Farmer and basket-maker. Husband of No. i. 3. James Miller. About 77. Born at Georgetown, S.C. Went to St. Helena from "the main" as a "refugee" during the Civil War. "Holy Steward" in the Methodist Church. Choreman on Frogmore Plantation, St. Helena. 4. Viola Jones. About I6. Pupil of Penn School, St. Helena. Of Paris Island. 5. Pupil of Penn School, St. Helena. Of Dataw Island. 6. Ben Barnwell. About 30. Graduate of Hampton Institute, and instructor at Penn School. Of Ladies' Island. 7. Elizabeth Lucinia Middleton. About I8. Chambermaid in Penn School. Of St. Helena. Niece of No. 2. 8. Toby Byas. About 75. Of St. Helena, John Tripp Plantation. He is feeble, and his mind wanders. In one tale given too incoherently to be recorded, Byas sang and took steps. In this respect and in general he resembles the "Congo" type to be seen in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. 9. Maggie Rhodin Simmons. About 28. Cook in Penn School. io. Sydney Simmons. About 14. Of St. Helena. Pupil of Penn School. Ii. Grace Linyard. About i5. Pupil of Penn School. Of St. Helena. Her father was born in Rhode Island, and her mother in Charleston, S.C. 12. Alberta Robinson. About 17. Of Paris Island. Pupil in Penn School. 13. Martha Chisholm. About 40. Of St. Helena. 14. Moses Moltree. About 15. Of Dataw Island. Pupil of Penn School. IS. Beatrice Whaley. About i6. Of Coosaw Island. Pupil of Penn School. 1 To all of whom thanks are due, as well as to the teachers who facilitated the storywriting, to Miss Grace Bigelow House of Penn School (my kind and helpful host on St. Helena), and to Mrs. Christensen of Beaufort (long since esteemed among the most faithful of pioneer recorders of American Negro folk-tales). xxiii xxiv List of Informants or Writers of the Tales. I6. Edwin Smalls. About 14. Of Ladies' Island. Pupil of Penn School. I7. Jack Brown. About 65. Born on Defuskie Island. Resident for several years of St. Helena, and now resident of Beaufort, Port Royal Island. Formerly boatman on the coast, now boat-builder and shop-keeper. 18. Victoria Frazer. About 30. Born at Beaufort. Instructor at Port Royal Industrial and Agricultural School. I9. Henrietta Johnson. About I6. Of Grey's Hill, Port Royal Island. Pupil at Port Royal Industrial and Agricultural School. 20. Sadie L. Adams. About i6. Born at Ridgeland, S.C. Pupil at Port Royal Industrial and Agricultural School. 21. Maggie Powell. About 25. Born at Savannah. Resident of Beaufort. 22. John Crawford. About 30. Born at Lancaster, S.C. Cook at a soldiers' club in Beaufort. Formerly member of a minstrel company playing in Beaufort. 23. H. S. Sanders. About 50. Born at Burton, Barnow, S.C. Resident of Port Royal Island. Preacher. 24. Carrie McTale. About 40. Born near Augusta, Ga. Resident of Port Royal Island. 25. Albert Blue. About I7. Of Sheldon, Port Royal Island. Pupil at Port Royal Industrial and Agricultural School. 26. Hattie Jackson. About I6. Of Port Royal Island. Pupil of Port Royal Industrial and Agricultural School. 27. James Murray. About 35. Of Hilton Head. Farmer, Marshland Plantation. Formerly boatman on coast. 28. Pinky Murray. About 32. Born at Savannah. Wife of No. 27. 29. Frank Murray. About 30. Resident at Marshland Plantation in winter, and in summer goes North to work. 30. Justine Brown. About 65. Of Spanishville Plantation, Hilton Head. 3I. Pupil at Chaplin School, Hilton Head. About I5. 32. Henry Wright. About 45. Of Hilton Head. Boatman. 33. Gay Boston. About 40. Resident of Hilton Head. Birthplace unknown to neighbors,- a "furner." 34. Henry Lee. About 50. Resident of Bennet Point, Defuskie. Oyster-opener and farmer. 35. Henrietta Lee. About 45. Of Defuskie. Oyster-opener. Wife of No. 34; first-cousin of No. 17. 36. Henry Bryan. About 35. Of Defuskie. Boatman in oysterfactory. 37. Theresa Robertson. About 13. Of Defuskie. List of Informants or Writers of the Tales. XXV 38. Willie Washington. 39. Bessie L. Frazier. 40. William Maxwell. 41. Theodore Roosevelt Younge. 42. Viola Seymore. Pupils i 43. Henrietta Jackson. Agric 44. Joseph S. Shanklin. 45. Geroldine Smalls. 46. Laura E. Younge. 47. 48. Edward Singleton. Of St. Helena. 49. Louise Greene 50. Theresa Middleton. 5I. Rosa B. Cuthbert. 52. Joe Green. 53. Paul Johnson. 54. Geneva Moran. 55. Janie Washington. 56. Beatrice Black. 57. Eddie Capers. 58. Rubertha Polite. 59. Roy Washington. 60. Henry Wright. 61. Mabel Grant. 62. Estelene Lagru. 63. Luther Baker. 64. Joseph Otis Heyward. 65. Christopher Pinckney. 66. Harold Ford. 67. Chamblin Robinson. 68. Elsie Jenkins. 69. Orrie Chaplin. 70. Sydney Story. 7I. Clara E. Walker. Of Defuskie. 72. Annie Johnson. 73. Nellie Dudley. 74. Luke Brown. 75. Geneva Linyard. 76. Haskel Bailey. 77. Morris Chaplin. 78. Harold Rhodin. 79. Charlotte Seabrook. Of Paris Island. 80. Harry Daise. 81. Clarence Simmons. n Port Royal Industrial and:ultural School. Pupils in Penn School. xxvi List of Informants or Writers of the Tales. 82. 83. 84. 85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. Ada Bryan. Julius Jenkins. Catherine Brown. Nellie Seabrook. Pupils in Edding's Point School, St. Helena. Flossie Bailey. Rodella Brown. Virginia Brown. Theresa Wiggins. Boy on Defuskie Island. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS. BAE 19 Barker Bogoras Bolte u. I Bompas Braga Caballero Campbell... James Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee (Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology, 19, Pt. I). 1897-98.... W.H. Barker, and C. Sinclair, West African Folk-Tales. London, 1917... W. Bogoras, Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia (PaAM 20: Pt. I). 1918. 'olivka. J. Bolte u. G. Polivka, Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- u. Hausmarchen der Briider Grimm. Leipzig, 1913..C. CH. Bompas, Folklore of the Santal Parganas. London, I909.... Theophilo Braga, Contos tradicionaes do Povo Portuguez. Porto, 1883.... F. Caballero, Cuentos y poesias populares Andaluces. Leipzig, I866. and Sharp. O. D. Campbell and Cecil J. Sharp, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. New York and London, 1918. en... A. M. H. Christensen, Afro-American Folk Lore. Boston, 1892...W. A. Clouston, The Book of Noodles. New York, I888..... Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales. Chicago, 1916..... Emmanuel Cosquin, Contes populaires de Lorraine. Paris [no date]. nd Ward.. F. M. Cronise and H. W. Ward, Cunnie Rabbit, Mr. Spider and the other Beef. London and New York, 1903... Natalie Curtis, Songs and Tales from the Dark Continent. New York, Schirmer, 1917. It... O. Dahnhardt, Natursagen. Berlin, I907-I2..S. SH. De Soto, Cuentos populares de extremadura (Biblioteca de las tradiciones populares Espanoles, X)..E. EC. Parsons, Joel Chandler Harris and Negro Folk Lore (The Dial, May 17, 1919). XXVii v Christens Clouston Cole Cosquin Cronise a Curtis. Dahnharc De Soto Dial. V xxviii Bibliography and Abbreviations. Frachtenberg... Leo J. Frachtenberg, Alsea Texts and Myths (Bulletin 67, Bureau of American Ethnology). I920. Goddard..... P. E. Goddard, Jicarilla Apache Texts (PaAM 8). I9II. Gonzales..... A.E. Gonzales, The Black Border. Columbia, S.C., 1922. Harris I..... J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings. New York and London, I915. Harris 2..... -Nights with Uncle Remus. Boston and New York, 19I 1. Harris 3..... - Uncle Remus and his Friends. Boston and New York, 1892. Harris 4..... - Told by Uncle Remus. New York. Honey...... J.A. Honey, South African Folk-Tales. New York, 19 Io. JAFL...... Journal of American Folk-Lore. Lancaster, Pa., and New York. JAFL 6.... J. 0. Dorsey, Two Biloxi Tales (JAFL 6: 48 -50). I893. JAFL 25.... F. Boas, Notes on Mexican Folk-Lore (JAFL 25: 204-260). 1912. JAFL 26.... John R. Swanton, Animal Stories from the Indians of the Muskhogean Stock (JAFL 26: I93-2I 8). I913. JAFL 27.... H. C. Davis, Negro Folk-Lore in South Carolina (JAFL 27: 241-254). I914. JAFL 29.... G. Schwab, Bulu Folk-Tales (JAFL 29: 266 -288). 1916. JAFL 30.... W. T. Cleare, Four Folk-Tales from Fortune Island, Bahamas (JAFL 30: 228-229). I917. Loraine Darby, Ring Games from Georgia (JAFL 30: 218-221). E. C. Parsons, Riddles from Andros Island, Bahamas (JAFL 30: 275-277). -Ten Folk-Tales from the Cape Verde Islands (JAFL 30: 230-238). - Folk-Tales collected at Miami, Fla. (JAFL 30: 222-227). -Tales from Maryland and Pennsylvania (JAFL 30: 209-217). - Tales from Guilford County, North Carolina (JAFL 30: 168-200). Bibliography and Abbreviations. xxix JAFL 30 JAFL 3x v JAFL32 JAFL 34 Jones... Jones, D. Jones and Plaa Junod... Koch-Griinberq MAFLS.. MAFLS 2. MAFLS 3. ~.. E. C. Parsons, Notes on Folk-Lore of Guilford County, North Carolina (JAFL 30: 201-208).... E. C. Parsons, Pueblo Indian Folk-Tales, probably of Spanish Provenience (JAFL 31: 216-255). I918. *.. Folk-Tales from Students in Tuskegee Institute, Alabama (JAFL 32:397-401). I919. E. C. Parsons, Riddles and Proverbs from the Bahama Islands (JAFL 32: 439-441). Folk-Tales from Students in the Georgia State College (JAFL 32:402-405). Portia Smiley, Folk-Lore from Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida (JAFL 32:357-383). Sadie E. Stewart, Seven Folk-Tales from the Sea Islands, South Carolina (JAFL 32: 394-396).... E. C. Parsons, Folk-Lore from Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: -39). 1921. - Folk-Lore of the Cape Verde Islanders (JAFL 34: 89-I09). John H. Johnson, Folk-Lore from Antigua, British West Indies (JAFL 34: 40-88). Susan Dix Spenney, Riddles and Ring-Games from Raleigh, N.C. (JAFL 34: IIo-II6). Caddie S. Isham, Games of Danville, Va. (JAFL 34: 116-120).... C. C. Jones, Negro Myths from the Georgia Coast. Boston arid New York, 1888. *.. Daniel Jones, Pronunciation and Orthography of the Chindau Language. London, 1911. tje.. Daniel Jones and Solomon T. Plaatje, A Sechuana Reader. London, I916.. H. A. Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe. Neuchatel and London, 19I3... Theodor Koch-Griinberg, Vom Roroima zum Orinoco. Vol. II. Berlin, I916.... Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Lancaster, Pa., and New York... A. Fortier, Louisiana Folk-Tales. I896.... Charles L. Edwards, Bahama Songs and Stories. I895... Dean S. Fansler, Filipino Popular Tales. I92I. MAFLS 12 XXX Bibliography and Abbreviations. MAFLS Iv Milne-Home Nassau Nordenski6ld Pub. FLS 55 Riviere Smith, P. C. 3.. E. C. Parsons, The Folk-Tales of Andros Island, Bahamas. I918..... M. P. Milne-Home, Mama's Black Nurse Stories. Edinburgh and London, I890..R. H. Nassau, Where Animals Talk. Boston, I9I2.... Erland Nordenski6ld, Indianerleben. Leipzig, I912. W. Jekyll, Jamaican Song and Story (Publication of the Folk-Lore Society, LV). London, I907. J. Riviere, Recueil de contes populaires de la Kabylie du Djurdjura. Paris, I882.... Pamela Coleman Smith, Annancy Stories. New York, 1899. )rkman. Southern Workman. Hampton, Va.. Jakob Spieth, Die E'we-Stamme. Berlin, I906.. G. Spitta-Bey, Contes Arabes modernes. Leyden and Paris, 1883.. N. W. Thomas, Timne Grammar and Stories (Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, Pt. III). London, I9I6..A. J. N. Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions and Customs. London, I9I3. Southern W( Spieth Spitta-Bey Thomas Tremearne FOLK-LORE OF THE SEA ISLANDS, SOUTH CAROLINA. FOLK-TALES. I. DOG AND DOG-HEAD. I.1 Ber Fox an' Ber Rabbit dey bof went out to hunt deer. An' Ber Fox he bought a dawg, an' Ber Rabbit bought a dawg-head. Dey gone out huntin'. So dey started dere, an' Ber Fox dawg caught de deer. An' Ber Rabbit run an' knock off Ber Fox dawg an' stick his dawg-head on de deer. An' he said to Brother Fox, "I tell yer to buy dawg-head, I tell yer so. See, now, my dawghead caught de deer." An' he said to Ber Fox, "Let me go home an' get de kyart to carry de deer home." An' when he come back, Ber Fox hollerin', "O Lawd! 0 Lawd! Ain't me ketch de deer, suh!" Ber Fox lick de tree an' holler. Ber Rabbit yeddy [heard] 2 hollerin'. Ber Rabbit say, "T'ank Gawd! eve'ybody know dawg-head kyan't ketch deer." Ber Fox take de deer an' kyarry him home. II.3 Dere was once a man, an' he had some dawgs to sell. An' Ber Wolf an' Ber Rabbit said all who have twelve biscuit would get a dawg, an' all who have six biscuit would get a dawg-head. An' Ber Rabbit get six biscuit, an' Ber Wolf get twelve. An' dey went to de man, an' Rabbit get a dawg-head, and Wolf get a dawg. So one day dey went in de wood to hunt deer. An' de white man of de place announ' dey don't allow no hunters on de place. An' Ber Wolf caught a deer. An' de deer was too heavy to tote, an' Ber Rabbit sen' Ber Wolf home to get a wagon. An' Ber Rabbit plat a whip an' put it on a stick. When he heard de wagon, he take de whip an' lick it again' de tree. Ber Wolf I Informant I (see list of informants, p. xxiii). No tale appears to be more popular in the Sea Islands than this tale. Compare South Carolina (Christensen, 88-89). For the mock-whipping incident compare Georgia (Harris 2: I31-132). 2 Explanatory word or comment by the editor will be given in brackets; by the narrator, in parentheses. 8 Informant 25. I 2 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. heard de noise, an' he tu'n back, missed de way. An' Ber Rabbit kyarr'ed de deer home. Dat come Ber Rabbit be so sharp wouldn' let de dawg ketch him. III.1 Oncet was Ber Rabbit an' Ber Bullfrawg. Dey decided dat dey would buy dawg to hunt deer. Ber Bullfrawg tell Ber Rabbit dat he could get a dawg fo' t'ree biskif. Den dey all startin' out to go get de dawg. An' as dey walkin' 'long, Ber Bullfrawg got somet'in', you know, underneat'sh yere [pointing to throat] all de time goin' up an' down. Ber Rabbit ax Ber Bullfrawg, "Ber Bullfrawg, what you eatin' all day so?" Ber Bullfrawg tell Ber Rabbit, say, "I eat one of my biscuit." Den Ber Rabbit say, "Well, I goin' to eat one of mine too." So Ber Bullfrawg keep chewin' all de time. Ber Rabbit ax Ber Bullfrawg again what he eatin'? Ber Bullfrawg tell um, say, "I eat anoder one." Say, "I can take one biscuit an' buy a dawg-head, an' dawg-head jes' as good as dawg." Den Ber Rabbit eat anoder one of his own. Now, after dey get to de place, Ber Bullfrawg had his t'ree biscuits, Ber Rabbit didn' have but one. Ber Bullfrawg den buy his dawg. Ber Rabbit buy a dawg-head. Now, dey get out in de woods, gone out huntin' now. Ber Bullfrawg den set his dawg out. Ber Rabbit can run faster dan Ber Bullfrawg. Ber Bullfrawg dawg den ketch a deer. Den Ber Rabbit run an' knock Ber Bullfrawg dawg off de deer, an' fasten his dawg-head on um. Den he run back an' call Ber Bullfrawg, an' tell um, "I tell you dat dawg-head is better dan dawg. See my dawg-head get dis deer." Soon after dat de mawsa come, ax who kill de deer. Ber Rabbit tell him Ber Bullfrawg dawg. He commence to lickin' Ber Rabbit. Ber Rabbit he gone in de woods an' whip de tree; an' eve'y time he cut de tree, he holler, "Do, Mawsa, enty 2 not my dawg, is Ber Bullfrawg dawg!" (He try to make Ber Bullfrawg t'ink de mawsa was lickin' him.) Soon de mawsa come, bring dem up to a tes'. Den Ber Rabbit tell um, "Mawsa, you know de dawg-head kyan't ketch no deer, mus' be Ber Bullfrawg dawg." Den de mawsa ketch dem all up an' whip dem. 1 Informant 29. 2 Dialectical for "ain't it?" Used, as a rule, interrogatively, like n'est-ce pas que? See Gonzales, 283. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 3 IV.1 Once upon a time there was a rabbit and a frog. So they did want to go to buy Ber King dog. And Ber Rabbit said to Ber Frog, "Let us go home and tell our wives to cook us a dozen biscuits erpiece!" So they got the dozen biscuits erpiece. And they went to Ber King to buy the dog. A dozen biscuits was for the dog. So as they went along the road, the rabbit told the frog, "Let us eat a half-dozen, and carry a half-dozen for the dog!" You know, a frog always working his throat up and down. So, after Ber Rabbit saw the frog throat working up and down, he went eating his half-dozen biscuits. When they got to the king to buy his dog, Ber Frog had a dozen biscuits, and Ber Rabbit had a half-dozen biscuits. Ber Frog get a whole dog, and Ber Rabbit get a dog-head. On the way coming back, they went out hunting, and Frog dog jump a deer. And Ber Rabbit could outrun Frog. So Ber Frog dog catch the deer, and Ber Rabbit run and fasten his dog-head on to the deer. And when Ber Frog get there, Ber Rabbit say, "I told you must get a dog-head like me. A dog can't beat a dog-head running." So Ber Rabbit send Ber Frog back for the wagon. So Ber Frog get the wagon. On the way coming back, Ber Frog get out the wagon and take the whip and chop the tree. And Frog say, "Do, Mosser! Ber Rabbit dog catch the deer. Do, Mosser! Do, Mosser! Ber Rabbit dog-head catch the deer." So Ber Rabbit heard Frog say his dog-head catch the deer. Ber Rabbit got on a log an' say, "You lie! You lie! Ber Frog dog caught the deer." So Frog say, "I know my dog caught the deer." So Ber Rabbit get mad, and left the frog and the deer right there. And Ber Frog struggle until he put the deer in and carry the deer home. And the whole deer was Ber Frog own. And I went round the ben', There was my story end. V.2 Once upon a time Bre'r Frog and Bre'r Rabbit 3 wanted to buy a dog. Bre'r Frog and Bre'r Rabbit made dumplings4 with 1 Written by informant 38. 3 Variant: Hare. (St. Helena.) 2 Written by informant 76. 4 Variant: Bake bread. (St. Helena.) 4 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. which to pay for the dog. Bre'r Frog was chewing; and Bre'r Rabbit asked Bre'r Frog what he was chewing, and Bre'r Frog told him dumpling. Bre'r Rabbit began to eat his dumplings, but Bre'r Frog was fooling Bre'r Rabbit. Bre'r Rabbit ate all of his dumplings to one. Now they started out to buy the dog. When they got to the market, Bre'r Rabbit asked how the dogs were selling. The dog-seller told him dog-heads one dumpling, and dogs three dumplings. Bre'r Frog had all three of his dumplings, and so got a whole dog. Bre'r Rabbit could only get a dog-head. After they left the store, they went hunting. They chased a hog and killed him, and Bre'r Rabbit fastened his doghead on to the hog. Then Bre'r Rabbit went home after a cart, and left Bre'r Frog there to mind the hog. While Bre'r Rabbit was gone, the owner of the hog came, and began to beat Bre'r Frog. Bre'r Frog told the man that it wasn't his dog, it was Bre'r Rabbit's. Bre'r Rabbit came up at that time, and said, "Who ever heard of a dog-head catching a hog!" VI.1 Once a rabbit and a frog was very fond of hunting. So the rabbit said, "O Ber Frog! I know a man sell dogs, one dog for twelve biscuit, and a dog's head for six biscuits." So they bought some biscuits and started to the dog-keeper. On the way, as they were going, the frog look back and work his throat. Ber Rabbit say, "O Ber Frog! you ate one of yours. I think I'll eat one of mine too." So they walk on. So the frog look back and work his throat again. So Ber Rabbit said, "Oh, you eat another! I'll eat one of mine too." And he ate another and another, 'til he had only six. So they came to the dog-keeper. The frog had twelve biscuits, and he got a dog, and the rabbit got a dog-head. On the way back they were hunting, and Ber Frog dog caught a deer. Ber Rabbit ran to the deer and knock the dog away, and put his dog-head on the deer. Then he said, "O Ber Frog! I told you dog-head was better than whole dog." So Ber Frog said, "Ber Rabbit, you go and get the wagon." So he ran very fast and get the wagon. Then Ber Wolf he get behind a bush and began to holler in the same time Ber Rabbit drove up and ask, "What the matter?" The frog said, "Ber Rabbit, the boss said he is going to kill the man who caught 1 Written by informant I6. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 5 the deer." So Ber Rabbit said, "Well, the Lord in heaven know dog-head can't catch deer." And down the road he went. And the frog took the deer home. VII.1 Pa'tridge an' Ber Rabbit dey wen' to buy a dawg to hunt deer. So Ber Rabbit he bought a dawg could run de deer down. Cos' a pile o' money, de dawg did. So Pa'tridge didn' have dat much money. Pa'tridge stud'ed to 'isse'f. Pa'tridge beat eve'ybody all de time, so he study a plan to beat Rabbit. So jus' have money enough to buy a dawg-head, one of dese sham. So he bought his dawg-head, an' Rabbit bought his dawg. So dey conclude dey go out huntin' togeder. Buy dawg togeder; law so fix, dey had to go huntin' togeder. Rabbit take his dawg, go in de swamp. Pa'tridge have to tote his dawg-head. When de deer start, Rabbit dawg behin' de deer. Pa'tridge got his dawghead. When de deer get out de reach de rabbit, Pa'tridge flew up an' stick his dawg-head on de deer. Fly de deer down, an' dat deer he couldn' get off. Ran to de judge. Judge had to decide. Judge say, "Dawg-head on de deer." So he [Partridge] get half o' de deer. 2 VIII.3 Once upon a time there was two fellows was goin' to kill a cow. An' the cow was his master own. Then, when they done kill the cow, one went to get a wagon. An' the other fellow get a long supple switch an' start to beat on a tree. Then the fellow what went for the wagon, he went back. An' the other fellow take the whole cow an' take it home to his wife. An' the other man didn't get not a piece of the cow. 2. PLAYING GODFATHER. I.4 Another time Ber Fox an' Ber Wolf was workin' in de cornfield. An' Ber Wolf had a pe' o' gro'-nuts 5 home; an' Ber Fox 1 Informant 17. 2 Variant: So den dere was a fight right dere. So Rabbit beat up Wolf right dere, an' take de deer home. (St. Helena.) 8 Written by informant 40. 4 Informant 3. For bibliography, see MAFLS 13: I; also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: I-6), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 192-I93), Pennsylvania (JAFL 30: 215-2I6), Antigua (JAFL 34: 6). 6 Peck of ground-nuts or peanuts. 6 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. knew it, an' he wanted to git it. T'ought he'd play a trick on Wolf. So all o' a sudden he make out somebody call him. Say, "Sister call me! Sister call me!" Wolf ask him, when he came back, "What was de matter?" -"Oh," he say, "sister hab baby." Say, "Ber Rabbit,' what yer gi' 'em name?" - "Oh," he say, "I gib him name One-Quart-Gone." Den work along a little while again. 'E hol' up he head, "O Ber Wolf! sister call me again. Sister hab baby again." An' he say, "Ber Rabbit, what yer gi' name?" - "Two-Quart-Gone."- "O Ber Wolf! sister call me again. 'E hab baby again." "I gi' him name T'ree-Quart-Gone." - "Oh, ma sister call again!" Gone again. Say, "Rabbit, what yer gi' him name again?"- "Fo'-QuartGone." 'E hol' up he head again, say, "Sister call again, call again!" Say, "What you gi' 'em name?" Say, "Six-QuartGone." After dat hol' up he head again. Say, "Oh, ma sister call me again!"-"Sister hab baby again?"-"Yes, call dat Sewen-Quart-Gone." Hol' up he head again. Say, "I don' know why ma sister worry me so." Gone again. "Sister hab anoder baby?" "Yes, call dat Las'-Quart-Gone." Dat's all. II.2 Wolf was diggin' a well, an' axed de rabbit to help him. Rabbit say, "No, I can drink out of cow-track an' dawg-track." Wolf ketch him to de well. "Rabbit, didn' I tell you 'bout drinkin' my water?" He said, "My wife was sick." An' den he said, "All right, I let you off, if you' wife is sick. Dig a little for what water you drink." So he tu'n to he'p, an' he dig a little bit. He stop an' listen. Wolf say, "What de matter, Ber Rabbit?"- "Great Lawd alive! Don' you hear dose ladies callin' me?" He said, "Well, go to see what dey want, Ber Rabbit." - "Well, I don' want to go." - "Well, you mus' go." Say, "Well, what de ladies want?" - Say, "Dose ladies have a fine baby. Dat's what dey call me, to name it." Say, "What yer name it?" Ber Rabbit say, "One-Spoonful-Gone." Said, "Now dig a little bit again." An' he stop, an' he gone. "My Lawd! dem ladies won't let me alone." Say, "You hear dem callin' me?" Say, "No." - "Well, dey call me again." - "Well, go an' hear what dey say." He gone. "What dey want wid 1 Here, by a lapse of memory, "Fox" becomes "Rabbit." 2 Informant 23. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 7 yer?" "Name anoder baby."- "What yer name it?""Two-Spoonful-Gone." He dug again. He made anoder stop. Go again.... "I didn' wan' to go."-"You mus' go." He wen' again. "What dey want wid yer, Ber Rabbit?"-"Name anoder baby."- "What yer name it?" Say, "T'ree-SpoonfulGone." Dig a little bit again. So he wen' again. Say, "What yer name it?" Say, "Fo'-Spoonful-Gone." So he dug again. Say, "Dey call me again." - "Well, go an' hear what dey say." Gone again. "What dey want wid yer?"- "Name anoder baby." "What you name it?" Say, "All-Gone." (Wolf's butter was gone.) III.1 Once upon a time Wolf had some sugar in a keg in his house. Old man Rabbit had a field right by his house. Rabbit found the sugar. He ate some of it, then went back to his field, where the rest of the people was working. Rabbit work three minutes, and look up and answer, "Heh! I wonder wha' da' old lady dere call me fer?" His trick was to get to the house to eat Wolf sugar. So he ran to the house and eat the sugar again. He work two minutes, then he said, "Heh! My God! What da' old woman da' call me so fer?" So he ran back to the house and clean out the keg. This was the last of Wolf sugar. IV.2 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit and Ber Wolf made a plan together, and promise not to break it. "Let us go out into the woods and catch any cow that we can catch, and milk it, and set the milk! And after the milk has been set and turn to hard milk or clabber, then they would churn it together. They had wanted a kagful of butter to put up. So after they had churned the milk and the butter came, they put the butter up into the kag and buried it into a woods. And both of them promised faithfully not to walk the road that led by the side which the butter was buried. Ber Rabbit is a very schemy man. He told that he would not go that road, don't care what happen, through the woods. So one day Brother Wolf was standing in his door, looking out, studying what he was going to find to eat that day, when to his eyes he saw 1 Written by informant 20. 2 Written by informant 71. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Ber Rabbit just a-coming down the road in full speed. "Heh, there, Ber Rabbit!" said Ber Wolf, "where are you going in that road?"-"0 Ber Wolf!" said Ber Rabbit, "my sister had a pretty girl-child, the finest child you have ever seen." - "What is the child's name?" said Ber Wolf. "Her name is Just-Begin. You must excuse me for coming this side, but my sister said that I must be sure and come." And he went into the wood and scrape off the top of the earth off the kag, and started into the butter. He took a good deal of it, to last a week or two. And he did this over and over again, until Ber Wolf said, "Well, Ber Rabbit, let us go and see how the butter is getting on!" Ber Wolf's wife told him, "See here! that brother of yours who is Ber Rabbit is just eating all of that butter, because his sister she cannot have children so fast." And so Ber Wolf and Ber Rabbit went to the woods and started to dig. They dug and dug until they came to the kag. And when they sounded the kag, it sounds as if it is empty. Ber Wolf did not say anything, but took the top off. And while he was taking it off, Ber Rabbit got a pain in his stomach and beg for excuse to go. And Ber Wolf said, "No, not now." And he said, "I must go. Do let me go!" So he went; and while he was away, Ber Wolf open the kag, and the kag was empty. And Ber Wolf tried to catch him; but all Ber Rabbit said was, "Your sister is a fool! Your mother and father are fools, your whole family are fools, and you are the biggest fool! Ha, ha!" 3. PLAYING GODFATHER: TELL-TALE GREASE. I.1 Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf buy a kag 2 of butter, an' Ber Rabbit eat de butter. Ber Wolf doesn' know. Ber Rabbit say his sister chil' done have a baby. Den Ber Wolf ax, "What chil' name?" Ber Rabbit say, "Name o' Start-um." Nex' time Rabbit tell Wolf brother chil' have a son. Ber Rabbit tell Wolf son name Ber Middlin'.3 Nex' day say, "Have oder son." Say, "Name Ber Done-um." When Ber Rabbit see Ber Wolf goin' to de butter, Ber Rabbit say to Ber Wolf, "Ber Wolf, somebody eat up all de butter." - "Ber Rabbit, t'ink de bes' t'in' we do is, to fin' out who eat de butter, we go in de sun an' sleep." Den 1 Informant 15. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 2 (footnote I). 2 Kyag. (Defuskie.) 3 Variant: Second-um. (Defuskie.) Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 9 Ber Wolf fall asleep. Ber Rabbit get up, an' he grease Ber Wolf.1 Den, when he wake up, he say, " Ber Wolf eat de butter." Dat's de en' of dat one. II.2 Ber Rabbit an' Ber Fox had a tub of butter. Dey was to sha'. Ber Rabbit he was married, an' his wife was in sad health. An' he said he wasn' goin' to sha' dis tub of butter 'tel his baby born. An' dey make a bargain to go to farmin'. An' each one of dem take a tas' 3 apiece. Rabbit tell Fox, said, "Ber Fox, you know my baby is to be born to-morrow at twelve o'clock." An' he said, "After my baby born, we will sha' de tub o' butter." An' de same day his baby was to be born, dey take deir tas'. When dey start to work, Ber Rabbit run out de fiel'. He said, "Some one callin' me to give my baby name." When he come back, Ber Fox ax him what his baby name. Said, "My baby name "Start-um." He come back again. He start to work.4 He answered, "Eh!" Said, "Wonder what to hell dat man call me so!" Say, "Dey callin' me to give my baby name." When he come back, Ber Fox ax him, "What yer baby name?" Say, "Half-um." He come back again, start to work. He answered again, said, "Dat damn man callin' me again to give my baby name." When he come back, de fox ax him what de baby name. Said, "His name Mos'-Done-um" (dat's de butter eaten). He started to work again. An' he answer, "Eh!" He said, "Dat damn man call me again." He said, "Be damn, if I go again after I go dis time!" After he come back, he start to work again. Fox ax him what his baby name. Said, "His name Done-um." Ber Fox said to him, "After we get through with this tas', we will go an' sha' de butter." So Ber Rabbit said, "Yes." After dey get through de tas', dey went to share de butter. When dey gone dere, all de butter had gone. Ber Fox said to Ber Rabbit, said, "Where's de butter, Ber Rabbit?" Ber Rabbit said, "Be damn, if I know where it gone!" Ber Fox say to Ber Rabbit, "We'll prove who eat dose butter to-day. We'll lay in de sun. De man who de sun melt de butter out shall have de head cut off." Ber Rabbit said, "All right." Dey lay in de sun. De butter melt 1 Variant: Rub butter over Wolf stomach. (Defuskie.) 2 Informant 2I. Heard in Savannah. 8 Twenty-one rows make one task (see p. 208). 4 Variant: Work t'ree rows. (Defuskie.) Io Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. out Ber Rabbit; an' Ber Fox said, "Ber Rabbit, you eat de butter." Ber Rabbit said, "I'll be damn, if it's me! I'm fat to deat'." But Coon kyarry Ber Rabbit to de block, an' cut his head off. Ber Rabbit said, "Bing! Bing! God damn! Butter has brought me to dis."' An' de story is en'. 4. TELL-TALE GREASE.2 Once upon a time there was Brother Rabbit and Brother 'Gater, who was two good friends. So one day the rabbit met Brother 'Gater on his way going to the river. Brother Rabbit say, "Amen! What are you doing out here this distance?" Brother 'Gater say, "I am going to the creek to take a bath, because it is very hot; I cannot stand the heat any more on this bright summer day." After becoming two good friends, Brother Rabbit got after Brother 'Gater, and say, "Let us buy us a milkcow, Brother 'Gater." So Brother 'Gater turn over, and said, "All right, we will have one by this evening." So Brother 'Gater did as he said. When they bought the cow and took her to their home, Brother Rabbit made a bargain with Brother 'Gater, and say, "Brother 'Gater, I tell you what I will do, I'll milk the cow in the morning-time, and you cook breakfast." So Brother 'Gater say, "All right, that just will be the trick." Went on further; Brother Rabbit say, "Brother 'Gater, let me churn butter on Saturday mornings, and you clean up the house." Brother 'Gater agree to that. In fact, everything Brother Rabbit say, Brother 'Gater agree to it. Went on little further; every time Brother Rabbit churn the butter an' put it up in the safe. So every morning Brother Rabbit and Brother 'Gater get up, first thing Brother 'Gater do, he go and look in the safe for the butter. Brother 'Gater say, "Ha, ha, ha! Brother Rabbit deah, you eat de butter." Brother Rabbit say, "No, sir! you eat the butter." Brother 'Gater took all that. One day more'n all, Brother Rabbit work a keen scheme on Brother 'Gater. Brother Rabbit went out, beautiful summer day, to tie out the milk-cow. And Brother 'Gater went out the grass, stretch out, taking his sweet rest. Brother Rabbit went in the safe and eat all the butter what they had put up. Brother Rabbit work a sharp scheme on Brother 'Gater. He waited until the sun got 1 For bibliography of the melting-out test, see MAFLS 13: 2 (footnote i). 2 Written by informant 4I. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II steaming hot. Brother Rabbit went out where Brother 'Gater was sleeping. He took a little piece and greased Brother 'Gater mouth, and kite out for the house, just laughing like he was crazy. About five minutes' time Brother Rabbit went back and wake up Brother 'Gater. (Mind, Brother Rabbit ate all the butter, he was catching Brother 'Gater.) Brother Rabbit say, "Ha, ha, ha! Brother 'Gater eat the butter, den he put um on me." Brother 'Gater went to work and run Brother Rabbit down an' grind up his bones. That was the last of Brother Rabbit. One morning Brother 'Gater went out to milk cow. The cow kicked Brother 'Gater so far until she kick his head off, an' his body went twentyfive miles to a river before it stop. That was the last of Brother 'Gater. 5. SELLING MOTHERS:1 TELL-TALE GREASE. Oncet upon a time Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf made a frien'. An' dey agree to sell deir moder, an' buy some bread an' butter. So dey was goin' to de ahction, an' had deir moder tied on to de wagon. An' Ber Rabbit say, "Oh, look at somet'in' good! I see somet'in' good!" An' Ber Wolf looked. An' Ber Rabbit loose his own moder an' tu'n his own moder loose while Ber Wolf was drivin' de horse. An' when dey got to de ahction, poor Ber Wolf had to sell his moder alone. Anyhow, Ber Wolf bought de bread an' butter wid his own money. An' bof of 'em went in de fiel's. An' Ber Rabbit say, "Oh, well, le's sleep!" While Ber Wolf was sleepin', Ber Rabbit wen' in Ber Wolf kyan o' butter an' bread, an' put a brick in Ber Wolf kyan, an' took some o' de butter an' greased Ber Wolf mout'. When Ber Wolf woke, Ber Rabbit say, "O Ber Wolf! some one stole all my bread an' butter. Look in de kyan an' see if dey has stole yours." An' Ber Wolf foun' dat a brick was in his kyan. So Ber Rabbit say, "I tell yer a good plan to fin' out who it is. Le's go in de sun an' lie down. An' de one who' mout' is greasy will be de one." 2 An' de grease come out o' Ber Wolf mout', although he hadn' eaten it.3 Ber Wolf knew he hadn't eaten it, but he took de blame. An' said, "Oh, well! I guess it's me, den. I had it on my mout'." 1 Informant II. Compare South Carolina (Christensen 73-77), Georgia (Harris 2: XXXIX), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 228), Cape Verde Islands (JAFL 30: 230). 2 Variant: And the one that eat the butter the sun will draw him. (St. Helena.) 3 Variant: And he was the one that was grease to death. (St. Helena.) 12 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 6. TELL-TALE GREASE: MOCK PLEA.1 De rabbit eat up a jar of butter f'om de turtle. An' when eat up dis jar of butter f'om Brother Turtle, Brother Turtle had invited all his frien's aroun' to have a butter dinner. He invited de fox to keep peace. He invited de rabbit to dance. An' during de same time he invited Brother Squirrel to call de figgers fo' Brother Rabbit to do de dancin'. An' Brother Turtle say, "While we was gettin' our party together, you know, Brother Fox, you got to keep peace yere." - "Ah know dat, Brother Turtle.""An' keep your eyes on Brother Rabbit, 'cause I know him." Buddy Rabbit, he had been dere de day befo' den, an' eat up de butter. An' now he went back on de day of de dance to dance. An' so when B'oder Rabbit got dere, dey hadn' looked in de jar fo' de butter, 'cause dey had it in de spring, where 'twould keep cool. An' Buddy Rabbit said, "Man, Brother Turtle, why donsh yer start dis dance, 'cause Ah'm sure goin' ter eat dat butter to-day." An' so Buddy Rabbit he danced aroun' an' made like he was so hongry, 'til he didn' know what to do. An' he had eat dat butter de day befo'. Now, when Brother Turtle got ready to go down to de spring, Brother Rabbit said, "You better hab me go wid yer, Brother Turtle, 'cause I can smell better dan you. If any dawgs been roun' dere, I can smell dem, 'cause you goin' to let Brother Squirrel pervide somet'in' to eat." - "No, I ain't, Brother Rabbit, Ah'm goin' diwide dis myself." - "What dat you got, Brother Turtle, outside de butter?" - "I ain't got nothin'." He said, "If you ain't got nothin', don' give me much butter. I don' like butter much." Den, when he said dat, B'oder Turtle say, "Well, ef you don' like it, I will give you some for you wife an' chillun." Brother Turtle went on down to de spring. He see de rabbit-tracks. He looked in de jar, an' didn' fin' no butter. He paid good 'tention to de rabbit-tracks, an' he come on back with de jar. Brother Rabbit met him at de do'. "Law'! Law'! Dat's goin' to be greasy to-day all right fo' dis ol' big jar o' butter." So Brother Turtle said, "People, Ah'm sorry 'cause Ah'm about to cry. I believe Brother Rabbit eat my butter." — "How come you believe dat?"-"'Cause I 1 Informant 22. For bibliography see MAFLS I3:15 (footnote 4); also Louisiana (JAFL 6:49), Bushman (Honey, 77-78, 82-83), Philippines (Cole, 77-78; MAFLS I2: No. 55), Cherokee (BAE I9: 272-273, 278-279), Pueblo Indians (JAFL 31: 230), Taulipang, Guiana (Koch-Griinberg, 138). Comparative, Dahnhardt, 4: 43-45. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I3 see de rabbit-track down to de spring." - "I declare I didn' eat dat butter. If you think I eat dat butter, I blow my breath in your face three times; an' ef I eat dat butter, you can smell it." Buddy Rabbit blow in his face three times, an' he didn' smell it. So said, "Well, le's go down to de spring an' fit dis trap an' see if dis is Brother Rabbit track." So dey said to de fox, "Brother Fox, you hol' Brother Rabbit 'til us come back." B'oder Fox grab B'oder Rabbit, an' he hol' em. B'oder Rabbit beg to get loose. "O Brother Fox! if you tu'n me loose, Ah will tell you wha' green patch." He could get all de turnip-greens he want. He said, "No, Ah'm goin' to hol' yer." - "Ah don' care if you did, Ah didn' eat de butter." So he held him until dey all come back. An' Brother Rabbit say he didn' eat de butter. So dat was his cousin's track, 'cause his cousin was tellin' about some butter las' night. Says, "It wasn' on me. If you all t'ink 'twas me, you can do anything with me you want. You see one rabbit's tracks, an' you think it's me. 'Cause a whole lot o' rabbits in dis worl'. 'Cause my cousin was here from Brother Dove's plantation." - "I kyan' help it, Brother Rabbit, I know it was you." - "Wait, don' kill me yet, don' kill me!" B'oder Fox said, "Ah'm de peace-man. Brother Rabbit say he didn' eat it." B'oder Squirrel say, "Don' pay 'tention to Brother Fox, 'cause he goes with Brother Rabbit daughter." B'oder Rabbit said, "Ah don' kyare what you do wid me ef you prove it, Brother Turtle." Brother Terrapin [i.e., Turtle] he said, "Well, le's make up a big ol' fire, an' all us lie down by dat fire an' go to sleep. De one who de grease run out de mout', dat's who eat de butter." Dey made up a great big fire, an' B'oder Turtle he give all um piece o' boa'd to lie on. Whosever boa'd was greasy, dat's de one eat de butter. Ev'ybody went to sleep. An' de turtle firs' one woke up. An' Brother Rabbit was de nex' one. Brother Turtle woke Brother Rabbit up by cryin'. Brother Rabbit he jumped up an' hollered. Said, "Brother Turtle done slip de greasy boa'd under me." An' dey grab Brother Rabbit, an' dey said, "Ah knowed you eat dat butter." Said, "No, Ah didn', 'cause my boa'd was a straight boa'd, an' Bro Turtle slip his boa'd under me." An' said, "No, you eat de butter. We go bu'n you up." An' B'oder Rabbit say, "I'd rather fo' you to bu'n me up dan fo' you to do anything else, dan t'row me in dat big ol' thick briarthicket ower dere. Dem briars would stick me an' get me all sore, an' I lay sick a long time an' suffer befo' I die. An' ef you t'row I4 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. me in de fire, all dis butter I eat will melt an' drown dat fire out." An' B'oder Turtle say, "T'row him in de briar-patch, Brother Fox." Brother Rabbit says, "P'ease don', Brother Fox! T'row me in de fire, so I can drown it out!" So dey got mad at um, an' take him an' t'row him in de briar-patch. Brother Rabbit says, "Shoo!" after he hit de briar-patch. "Dis where I was bred an' born. Ah eat de butter, an' you t'rowed me home." 7. FIRE TEST: 1 MOCK PLEA. Once upon a time Bro' Rabbit and Bro' Fox and Bro' Bear had a little house in de woods. Bro' Bear had tub o' sugar an' butter. Bro' Bear ax Bro' Rabbit to stay and min' de sugar and butter until he git back. When Bro' Bear git back, he ax Bro' Rabbit and Bro' Fox who been eat his sugar an' butter; and da each one say, "Notta me." Bro' Bar say to Bro' Rabbit, "I don't know what to do wid you, lessen I t'row you in de briers." Bro' Rabbit say, "Please don't t'row me in de briers, and I'll tell you who eat de butter and sugar." "I'll fin' out who eat um," said Bro' Bear. So he mek a big fire in de back ya'd. Bro' Rabbit tried to jum' 'cross de fire, and fell in. When Bro' Bear come out an' see Bro' Rabbit in de fire, he tek 'im out and t'row 'im in de briers. Bro' Rabbit kick up his heels and laughed. "T'ank you, Bro' Bear. Here's wha I was born." 8. RABBIT SEEKS ENDOWMENTS. I.2 Ber Rabbit he went an' complained to Gawd dat his eyes is too small. He did not sati'fy wid his eyes. So Gawd sent him back, an' tol' him to bring him six blackbird, but not six mockin'-bird. So he wen' an' buil' a kyage. He took his kyage upon his shoulder, an' wen' on an' commence to kick up de dus' an' fawg, an' sing out an' mek a great 'crimination. "My kyage kyan hol' six blackbird, but not six mockin'-bird." So six blackbird went in. He took dat an' kyarry de kyage to Gawd. 1 Informant 78. Recorded by Sadie E. Stewart. See JAFL 32:394. Compare Georgia (Harris I: XVII; Harris 2: XLII), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 193, No. 46b). 2 Informant i. This tale, like No. I, has a peculiarly large circulation in the Islands. Compare Sea Islands (Christensen, 36-41); Georgia (Jones, XL, XLVIII; Harri3 2: XXXIV, XXXV; JAFL 32:404-405); Natchez, Hitchiti, Creek (JAFL 26: No. 4); Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, 40-49); Gold Coast (Barker and Sinclair, 29-3I). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I 5 An' Gawd sen' him back an' tell him to bring rattlesnake teet' (we call um de tush of de rattlesnake), - rattlesnake two tush, I t'ink. So he gone back to Ber Rattlesnake hole. He get a string (jus' as I say to him [indicating her husband], "Ye ain't long so," an' he say, "I is long so"). So de rattlesnake said, "Who is dat?"- "Dat's me, Ber Rattlesnake." So dis man said, "You ain't long as dis string." So Ber Rattlesnake come up out his hole. An' said to him, "Kyan I measure dis about yer neck?" Rattlesnake said, "Yes." So Ber Rabbit took de string an' put it 'bout his neck. Ber Rabbit draw de string an' draw his mout' wide open, choke de rattlesnake to deat'. Knock out his teet' an' kyarry dem to Gawd. So Gawd said Ber Rabbit stay dere until he returned. An' when he returned, he ketch Ber Rabbit hin'-feet, an' lick his head against de house, an' his eyes stretch big. So Gawd said he crowd de houn' dawg behin' him. So Ber Rabbit take wood until to-day, an' his eyes large, wide open. II.1 Oncet Ber Rabbit asked Ber Wolf to go fishin'. An' every time when Ber Wolf caught a fish, Ber Rabbit would eat de fish. So Ber Wolf got tired, an' say, "Oh, well! le's go home!" An' dere was a high bluff; an' when Ber Rabbit was climbin', Ber Wolf took a fish-hook an' cut his tail off. An' dat's why Ber Rabbit have a short tail.2 I tell you how Ber Rabbit want a long tail, an' how he lose he long tail. Oncet upon a time Ber Rabbit was prayin' for a long tail. So he went to Gawd. Gawd tol' him if he bring a halligatortush, he give him a long tail. So de nex' day Ber Rabbit get somet'in' to pick (guitar or banjo), an' when' down to de creekside an' begin playin', "Yank a doodle pick a pee, Ching, chang, ching!" An' all de halligator run up de creek an' begin dancin'. An' Ber Rabbit kill one an' took out de tush. Nex' day Rabbit went to Gawd, an' Gawd say, "Ketch five blackbirds." An' give him long tail, kyan't give him 'til he ketch five blackbirds. An' so Ber Rabbit went out, say," Blackbird, blackbird, lodge in my han's! " 1 Informant II. 2 Compare p. 6I. i6 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. An' all de blackbird lodge in his han'. An' he took dem to Gawd. An' Gawd give Ber Rabbit a box, an' tol' Ber Rabbit not to open de box 'til he cross de creek. Ber Rabbit won' obey. He open de box. An' thirty bull-dawg run out de box,' an' bit off Ber Rabbit tail again. An' dis give him a short tail again.2 III.3 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit went to de Lawd fo' pray fo' a long tail. An' de Lawd tol' him mus' get some deer eye-water an' blackbirds. An' he whent to de blackbirds an' tell um he could fill his sack by hisse'f. An' he fill it up wid win'. An' he come on de outside, an' de blackbird flyin' aroun', an' dey flew right into de sack. An' he drew de sack-string an' kyarry to de Lawd. An' de Lawd tell him mus' get some deer eye-water. An' he whent to de deer an' tol' him he could run t'rough a tree. An' he slip aroun' de tree. An' de deer tol' him mus' try it again, an' he'll do it nex' time. An' de deer run right into de tree an' kill hisse'f. An' he got de eye-water. An' he kyarried dat to de Lawd, an' he give him de long tail. An' he was so glad fo' de long tail. An' de Lawd had him take a box an' set it out in de oat-fiel', an' he give him a hatchet an' tell him he mus' open de box when he get out in de oat-fiel'. An' when he open de box, two little fis'e4 dawgs an' bull-dawg come out. An' when he got to de water, he ketch Ber Rabbit by his tail. An' Ber Rabbit say, "Hol', Ber Fis'e! yer have de fence." An' he cut his tail off. An' dat come Ber Rabbit have a short tail to-day. IV.5 Rabbit wen' an' asked de Lawd dat he have mo' sense, didn' have sense enough. An' de Lawd said dat he mus' go an' bring home a flock of partridge an' a rattlesnake an' a alligator-tush. An' Rabbit wen'. He met Rattlesnake firs'. "Good-mornin', Ber Rabbit!" "Good-mornin', Ber Rattlesnake! Ber Rattlesnake, you grow a big man since I see you las'." - "Man," he say, "I ain't grow so big." - "Oh, yes, man! Le' me measure you by dis stick!" He bring his stick down. Den he tie Rattle1 Variant: Chase Rabbit, an' dey chase him until dis day. (Ladies' Island.) 2 Compare Georgia (Jones, XVIII). 3 Informant 25. 4 Presumedlyfiste (small mongrel). 6 Informant 28. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I7 snake tail down to de stick, an' he tie Rattlesnake head down to de stick. "Man, what you do to me?" Say, "De oder day dey measure me, short as you see my tail, dey tie um down." Den he kyarry Rattlesnake to de Lawd. Den he come back. He meet Partridge. "Good-mornin', Partridge!" - "Good-mornin', Rabbit!" - "Partridge, yer fam'ly grow to a big crowd since I see you las'." He had a kilbash [calabash] full o' pease. Ber Partridge, he said, "I betsh yer you an' all yer fam'ly couldn' jump in dis kilbash an' eat all dese pease!" Dey all jump in de kilbash. An' as dey busy eatin' de pease, Rabbit cover dem down. When dey done eat de pease, dey holler, "House dyark! Ra' done gwine wid dem! House dyark! Ra' done gwine wid dem!" Ber Rabbit kyarry dem to de Lawd! Den he come back. Dey goin' now to get Ber Alligator tush. Gone to de riberside wid all de fiddleman to play. Sing,"News come from Santee, Pease ripe already." When dey ax him how he knows pease ripe at Santee, he say 'cause he meet a mess o' pease. Den Alligator holler to him, "Any harm for come sho'?"- "No, suh! no harm for come sho'." Den dey dance. An' after dey come sho', move his seat higher an' higher from de water, way up f'om de water. An' after dat he kill Alligator, an' pull out he tush 1 an' kyarry dat to de Lawd. An' de Lawd drive him away, tell him he got too much sense, wouldn' give him no mo'. An' dat was de en' of him. V.2 One day Ber Rabbit went to de Lawd fo' give him some wisdom. So de Lawd tol' Ber Rabbit dat he give him de wisdom efhe bring him 3 alligater-tush. So Ber Rabbit get out a guit'ar an' went out in de pon' an' begin ter play,"Some t'in' good an' some t'in' bad, An' some t'in' enough to make me mad." 1 Variant: Rabbit got Ber Wolf to give a dance. Crane come, crowd dancin'. Rabbit got right in de ring. He had a little iron hammer. Say, "Now swing right here, Ber 'Gater!" Took him in de jaw, knocked eye-tooth. (Port Royal Island.) 2 Informant 48. 8 Variant: Once upon a time Ber Rabbit went to a king and ask him for his daughter. So the king told him to go and see if he could get some blackbird. (Edding's Point, St. Helena.) 18 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. So Ber Rabbit tol' Ber 'Gater mus' come out fur dance. An' Ber 'Gater come out. An' Ber Rabbit knock Ber 'Gater in de temple, an' he kill Ber 'Gater, an' took his tush to de Lawd. An' Gawd tol' him ef he go an' bring him a bag full o' blackbird, he give him wisdom. So Rabbit tol' Blackbird, "I betch yer all you can't full up dis bag!" An' de blackbird fly down in de bag an' full it up.1 An' Ber Rabbit take de bag an' kyarry it to Gawd. Tol' Ber Rabbit, say he want but one mo' thing, dat Ber Rattlesnake tusk. So Ber Rabbit went de rattlesnake an' said, "Man, we had a bet of you las' night. Some o' de boys say you ain't longer dan dis stick." An' so de rattlesnake said, "Yes, man! I'm longer dan dat stick." An' so Ber Rattlesnake measure hisse'fwid de stick. An' so Ber Rabbit tie de rattlesnake down to de stick, an' take his tush to Gawd. So Gawd give Ber Rabbit a box, an' tol' him mus' not open 'tel he get in open fiel'. An' Ber Rabbit so hurry, he open de bag 'fo' he get in de fiel'. An' de two houn'-dawgs jump out de bag. An' dey bite off Ber Rabbit tail. An' dat make Ber Rabbit have short tail 'tel to-day. VI.2 De reason Rabbit so wise 'cause he always go to Gawd an' ax to gi' him plenty o' trick. Gawd study an' tell him 'bout Rattlesnake. "Well, you go an' bring me rattlesnake-tush yere." Rattlesnake-tush - de minute he put his han' on him, he pizen. Gawd know dat. Anyhow, Rabbit run until he get a pincher what pull out teet'. An' he wen' in de swamp. He come up, an' he met Ber Rattlesnake. As soon as Rattlesnake shum [see him], Rabbit start to cryin'. So he says, "Ber Rattlesnake, no use to start to coilin'. I have a bet off [on] you." So Rattlesnake say, "What it is?" Say, "You could'n lie down side dat lawg an' put yer head to one en' an yer tail to de oder en', an' le' me put dis pincher in yer mout'." Say, "Dat was de bet I had, an' I likes to win dat bet." So Rattlesnake lay down side de lawg, tie his head to one en' an' tie his tail to de oder en'. He put his pincher in de rattlesnake mout' on his tush. An' de minute he get on his tush, he je'k de tush out. Kyarry de teet' right to Gawd. Gawd get angry wid him an' run him out de place. 1 Variant: So he said, "You all singing so much, and all of you together cannot fill my pocket." So they bet Ber Rabbit. (Edding's Point, St. Helena.) 2 Informant I7. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I9 VII.1 Nex' one is 'bout Ber Rabbit again. He didn' sati'fy how Gawd make him. Say he want to be wise, he want trouble. So Gawd tell him, "Well, Rabbit, go an' bring me a great big new sack." Sent him into anoder room, an' he get a sack. So Gawd tell him, "Step to de do', an' stan' up outside." Gawd went into de room an' get a bull-tarrer, put him into dat sack an' tie him up, tie de miout' of it. Han' him to Ber Rabbit, an' say, "Well, dat yer trouble. You go into de paster, wide-open paster, whey no tree nor bush nor not'in', an' shake dat bag an' shake dat trouble out." An' de paster was about ten mile wide, open paster, no bushes, not'in'. He done as Gawd commanded him. He loose de bag in de middle of de paster, shake it out. When he shake it out, de bull-tarrer ketch him one side. An' he heabe. An' when he jump to de en' of dat paster, de bull-tarrer caught him an' caught his tail off. Dat how come he have short tail to-day. He worried Gawd again. He wan' to be wise 'tel he kyan go in de paster an' milk dese goats, yer know. So Gawd fix him de way he could ha' milk de goat. Rabbit was gray. So in de paster he took a tin cup. He went whey dese goats had dese young kids, yer know, a crowd of dem. An' when he get up to dese goats, his answer like dis. Dese goats didn' see no one. He start dis song:"Ye is now, ye ain't now." So one of de she-goats dat was givin' milk say, "Ber Rabbit, what dat you say?" - "You could lay down now, an' [I will] take dis cup an' milk you." So de goat lay down, an' he milk de goat. He kyarried de cup o' milk to Gawd. Gawd got angry wid him. An' he dash de cup, an' de milk fall on de tail, an' de tail come fo' white 'til to-day. 9. GIVES HIMSELF AWAY. I.2 Rabbit was singin' a june [tune] on de stream. Alligator like ter dance. Rabbit knock Alligator. Alligator run an' jump ba' in de stream. Rabbit dress in Ber 'Possum clothes, come back, sing de same tune sing befo'. Alligator come out. Say, "Ber 1 Informant 17. 2 Informant 13. Compare Tauliping, Guiana (Koch-Griinberg, I45). 20 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 'Possum, Rabbit sing dat tune. He hit me 'cross my back. Et he hit me in de head, he sure kill me." - " Dat so, Ber Alligator?" Rabbit take a good stick an' hit 'em on de head an' kill 'em. II.1 Here was Ber Rabbit, Ber Wolf, an' Ber Alligator. Dey had a river to cross. Ber Alligator was de ferry-boat. Ferry-time Ber Rabbit wanted to go across, he had a tune fo' Ber Alligator. Ber Alligator come down to Ber Rabbit. "Tung gulun, tur gelung!" Alligator would rise (he puffed), an' make fo' sho'. An' he was Wolf ferryman too. An' Ber Rabbit tol' Ber Alligator dat Wolf goin' to fix a plan to kill him. But Alligator said, "Me an' Wolf is too good a frien', because Wolf is never such man as what you is, 'cause I will trus' Ber Wolf when I won' trus' you." Den Ber Rabbit said to Alligator dat, "I mus' be a putty low man." Ber Alligator said to him, "Yes, you is a dirty man." (Trouble comin' now.) Ber Rabbit ax Ber Alligator, "Did I ever done you anything?" Alligator said, "No, you didn' done me nothin'; but you have done so many lowness of oder people, for that reason you will do the same to me." Ber Rabbit didn' like it. Den he take a stick de nex' mornin', when he was to go across de riber, an' he sung his tune fo' Ber Alligator to come asho'. When Ber Alligator got asho', he took de stick an' he struck Ber Alligator across his back. He said, "God damn it! I mean to kill you." Alligator flew out in de river. Nex' mornin' Rabbit went an' borrow Ber Wolf clothes. An' he come to de water an' call Ber Alligator to come down to Ber Wolf,"Tung gulun, tur gelung!" An' when Ber Alligator come asho', he said, "Ber Wolf, you know Ber Rabbit tried to kill me yesterday?" Say, "Do what?""Yes, he lay to kill me yesterday." Then Alligator was tellin' Wolf what Rabbit done him. He said, " Ber Rabbit hit me across me back wid a stick yesterday mornin'." He said, "He did mean to kill me, but he didn' hit me de right place." He said, "If he had hit me between ma eye an' my nose on dis knot, I'd a been a dead man." Then Ber Wolf said, "Well, Ber Alligator, Ah'm go play a fine tune; an' let us have a little dance, (oh, he's 1 Informant 36. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 2I a sharp feller!) because a frien' of mine is to come down an' bring me a bundle to take across de river." An' he commence to sing dis song, an' Alligator commence to dance: - "Tung gulun, turn gelung!" An' he say, "When I tell you to swing, des' what side I said swing, you mus' swing." An' he struck Ber Alligator right between his eye an' his nose. An' he was dead. He was de cause of his death. III.1 Oncet upon a time Ber Rabbit was goin' to have a dance. So he dress up in his suit, an' come dere an' start to pick his gettar [guitar]. So Ber 'Gater come out de pon' an' say, "Ber Rabbit, you havin' a good time up there?" So Ber Rabbit say, "Yes, come up!" So he star' to play.2 Ber 'Gater put his head out de water. Ber Rabbit star' to sing a song. De 'gater come up on de sho'. So Ber Rabbit take out his hatchet an' chop Ber 'Gater in his head. So Ber 'Gater went back into de water an' say he wouldn' come again. So Ber Rabbit went home an' put on Ber Squirrel fu',3 an' come back, an' start to play his gettar. While he was playin', Ber 'Gater shook his head out de water, said, "Who's dat? Dat Ber Squirrel?" So Ber Rabbit say, "Yes." So he start to play his gettar. Ber 'Gater come out de water. So Ber 'Gater swing t'rough Ber Rabbit laig an' swing out. So de nex' time he swing t'rough, Ber Rabbit chop him. So Ber 'Gater didn' have time to get back in de water again. Ber Rabbit kill him, an' took all his teet' out.4 IV.5 Once upon a time there was a dance on the other side of a pon'. So Ber Allagater ask Ber Rabbit to go with him. Ber Rabbit say, 1 Informant 14. 2 Variant: The king send Rabbit to get a 'gater-tusk, an' he went to a pond and sing this song: — "Barlingin come here, picka pickal Barlingin come here, picka pickal Barlingin come, picka picka, bang bang bangl Banga lady tooker tooker tooker tangl Banga lady bang bang bangl" (Edding's Point, St. Helena.) 8 Variant: Hide. 4 Variant: Cut off his tusk and take it to the king. The king cut off Ber Rabbit tail short. And that is why every Rabbit has short tail this very day. (Edding's Point, St. Helena.) This Edding's Point variant was part of a variant of Tale 7. 6 Written by informant 65. Compare South Carolina (Christensen, 54-55). 22 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. "But I can't swim." - "Oh, that is all right, you can go on my back." So they went to the dance. Ber Rabbit had all the time. Ber 'Gater set down very mad. The time was over. On the way back, Ber 'Gater say, "You can't go on my back." Ber Rabbit worried. So he went and dress in Ber Squirrel suit. Come back, look jus' like Ber Squirrel. Say, "Ber 'Gater, please carry me 'cross!"- "All right, Ber Squirrel, I will carry you across, but I wouldn't carry 'cross Ber Rabbit." So Ber Rabbit got on, dress in Ber Squirrel suit, and he ['Gater] didn't know. Be time Ber 'Gater got near shore, Ber Rabbit take a sledgehammer and knocked him right in his head. And pitch 'shore. "That all right, Ber Squirrel! (Ber Rabbit dress in Ber Squirrel suit.) You treat me just like Ber Rabbit." Ber Rabbit say, "I get 'cross, anyhow, Ber 'Gater." That is my story end. IO. GUESSING A NAME. I.1 A gal wen' to de well. An ol' lady met her. "Little girlee, wey you goin'?"- "Come to get water fer my moder." She says, "Come, little girlee, go home wi' me!" She says, "Oh, no! I kyan' go. Mamma will whip me." Take her an' kyarry her 'long. Moder didn' know where find her. Go round from one neighbor to others make enquire. Couldn' fin' her. Stay so long wi' de ol' lady, she [little girl] forget. Send her off to de well. Cryin'. Anoder ol' lady come, met her cryin'. "Little girlee, what you cryin' for?"-" Mam?" - "What you cryin' for?""My ma sen' me to de well, now I kyan' fin' de way back home. She [ol' lady] tol' me if I kyan' tol' her name, she not a-goin' to sen' me back." - "That what she tell yer?" - "Yes, mam!" So she said to her, "I'm goin' to tell you her name, an' you sing it. The nearer you get, the louder you sing it." The sing was this: - "Oh nahme coter bra foot jaw-biter." Little girl go back, sing,"Oh nahme coter bra foot jaw-biter." "What dat you singin'? ""Oh nahme coter bra foot jaw-biter." "Singin' my country sing?" Girl never give an' answer. Girl sing,1 Informant 8. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 114 (notes I, 2), II6 (notes I, 3). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 23 "Oh nahme coter bra foot jaw-biter." "If you tell me my name, I let you go home." De girl give out in loud tone, "Your name is - "Oh nahme coter bra foot jaw-biter." Sen' her right on home to her moder. II.1 Oncet dere was an ol' lady. She had a little girl. She wen' out one day an' lef' de little girl home. An' de girl was playin', an' she broke a big spoon. An' she went to get it fixed. An' de lady tol' her to go to de well an' get a pitcher of water, an', ef she didn' know her name time she get from de well, she would kill her. An' de girl was cryin'. An' when she got to de well, a frawg ax her what she cryin' fo'. An' she tol' de frawg dat de lady was goin' to kill her if she didn' know her name. So Frawg tol' her her name. So dey had to guess what dat name was. The lady name was Kokodander. I I. RAMSTAMPELDAM.2 She was to marry to a king. An' de king said he would marry to her if she would spin a large room full of gold. An' while she was settin' down cryin',- she knew she couldn' do it,- a dwarf came an' put in an appearance, an' ask her what she would give him to do de tas' for her. She had a gol' ring, an' gi' him a gol' ring. An' jus' as soon dat room was full o' gol'. An' in de mornin', when de king come, fin' de room full o' gold. An' he was a greedy ol' feller, so he kyarry her in a large room, an' she mus' full dat too. Jus' as soon as she was lef' alone, her ol' friend come in again. So she tol' him, "I have the same task to do again."- "What will you gi' me now?"- "I ain't got but a gol' necklace." So she gave him dat necklace. Den in de mornin' de king came in again, an' foun' dat room full o' gol'. But he such a greedy feller, he gave her another task. She was settin' down cryin', but she didn' have nothin' to give dat ol' man again. Then he said to her, "I want you to promise me dat you will give me your first child." An' she said, "Yes, I'll do it. 1 Informant I9. 2 Informant 3. Told when I happened to ask for a story about guessing a name. As in the case of the story of John Eve of the Bahamas (MAFLS 13: I I6, note I) and of Lulu Young of North Carolina (JAFL 30: I98), the tale has obviously a literary source. Compare Bolte u. Polivka, I:490. 24 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. I'll give you my first child." An' when de king come in an' found de room all right again, den he married her. Den, after marriage a good little while, she had a beautiful child. But she forgot all her promise dat she made to de ol' man. She was too1 happy now. An' den on de birthday of de chil', de ol' man came up. He was in de crowd when dey had de birthday-party. Den she remembered her promise; an' she was awfully sorry den, because she had to part from her child. Den de ol' man tell her, "I give you t'ree days to guess my name; an' if you guess my name in t'ree days, I won't take de chil', de chil' is yours." An' she commence to guess. Every day he came, she guessed John, Jack, Peter; but de ol' man said, "No, none of dose are my name." 'Til dey arrive to de second day. After dat, de maid of de queen was walkin' along de road, an' came to a little hut. An' de ol' man didn' see her; an' he was stewin' an' jumpin' aroun' de pot, an' singin', "To-morrow I'll be de happiest man in de worl', because I'll have company. I'll have a little baby wid me. Nobody knows my name, dat I name Ramstampeldam." So de maid took de name to de queen, an' said she saw a funny little man, an' dat his name was Ramstampeldam. So de queen judge dat was de name she was tryin' to arrive at. So when de man came in dat day before de crowd an' deman' de chil', de queen said, "Ain't your name John? Ain't your name Peter? Ain't it Ramstampeldam?" Den de ol' man got so mad, he stamped his foot, went t'rough de floor, pop his laig off, ran off wid one laig. 12. WOMAN-CAT. I.2 Once was a long dark road. Ev'ybody go 'long, somet'in' scare um. All de rich foks go 'long, de horse run off wid de kyerridge, broke up de kyerridge an' kill dem. Was a little house been side de road. So de rich people of dat neighborhood said dat if dey kyan get any man to stay in dat house one night, dey would give um a million dollars. So one man said he would stay in dere alone. An' at midnight de kyat come in. Come to de do' an' peep. Man watch him. Come de secon' time an' peep. An' de t'ird time he come in, de man take a stick an' make a lick at him 1 A characteristic use for "very." 2 Informant 27. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 9), North Carolina (JAFL 30: I96), Oaxaca (Radin, 283), Siberia (Bogoras, 141-142). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 25 an' knock off one of his fo' foot. An' not'in' didn' boder him again dat night. De man take up de fo' foot dat he knock off. Fo' foot had a gol' ring on 'em. De nex' mornin' de riches' man in de city call his daughter, an' she fail to answer him. He break de do' an' went in to his daughter, an' he fin' one of her finger was cut off, an' fin' she didn' have de ring. An' same finger dat de ring was on was off. Fin' out dat she was a witch. An' give de man a million dollars. II.1 Used to stay to de bridge. He was a witch-man. Soon as mans go to bed, come like kyat, like debil at night. Mornin' witch-man was gone. Everyt'ing carried off, man have nothin'. Goin' on robbin' de people so bad, dey had a tu'n out. Couldn' discover 'em. Spirit would sing out from afar,"Wey shall I lay dis stone? Wey shall I lay dis stone?" One man would sing out,"Lay it wey you get it, Lay it wey you get it." Mornin' when they go there, witch finger ring cut off. 13. TAR BABY.2 Rabbit go to Buh Wo'f well an' get water.3 An' Buh Wo'f ax him, "Buh Rabbit, eve'y mornin' I go to my well I kyan' get a bit o' water." 4 Buh Rabbit tell, "My broder, I get all my water out de cow-track. I don' go an' mess your well." Buh Wo'f make a tar baby an' put um to de well. Nex' mornin' Rabbit gone an' see de gyirl.6 Tell de gyirl fo' love him, tell him fo' kiss um, an' ef de gyirl don' kiss um, he will slap de gyirl. One han' 1 Informant 8. 2 Informant 30. For bibliography see MAFLS 3: I2 (note i). See also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 4), Louisiana (JAFL 6: 48), Antigua (JAFL 34: 53), Benga (Nassau, 22-23), South Africa (Honey, 73-79, 79-82), Vandau (Curtis, 45), Cherokee (BAE 9: 27I-272), Philippines (MAFLS 12:326 if.), Taulipang, Guiana (Koch-Griinberg, 47), Santal (Bompas, CX1I). Comparative, Dahnhardt, 4: 20-43. 3 Variant: He tote all night, him an' his chil'un. (Port Royal Island.) 4 Variant: In de mornin' de wolf would come to de well, an' would meet de well almos' dry. (Port Royal Island.) 6 Variant: An' he put de tar baby right by de well jus' like a human, so natchal, dat when Rabbit came, he took him to be somebody, an' he hail him. (Port Royal Island.) 26 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. fasten. He say, "What kin' o' gyirl you is? You lub me 'til my han' fasten. Gal," he say, "tu'n me loose, I slap you wid my oder han'." When he slap him, de han' fasten. "But what kind of gyirl dish yere here? Lub me so, dis han' fasten.- Gyirl, ef you don' tu'n me loose, I butt you; an' when I butt you, I kill you." Den he butt de gyirl. "What kin' of a gyirl dis? Ef you not tu'n me loose, I kick you." An' he kick de gyirl, an' one of his foot fasten. An' he kick um wid de oder foot. An' de oder foot fasten. In dat time Buh Wo'f come to de well fo' to get water. An' Buh Wo'f say, "Buh Rabbit, what you do yere? What you tell me you don' get no water out my well, you get out de cowtrack?" Say, "Broder, I was gwine to de cow-track fo' get water, I see dis gyirl. Dis gyirl so lub me. De gyirl hol' me here to de well." 1 Wo'f tell um, "Oh, I goin' to put de lick on yer." An' when Buh Wo'f commence to lick Buh Rabbit, Buh Rabbit holler, "Do, Buh Wo'f, ef you tu'n me loose dis time, I never come back heah no mo'! Dat damn gyirl fetch me to dis!" Buh Wo'f tu'n um loose, he lick um some. Buh Rabbit run 'tel he meet Buh Rahcoon. Buh Rahcoon say, "Buh Rabbit, why you tarry up so?" He say him gone to de cow-track fo' water, an' he met one putty gyirl, an' him an' de gyirl start fo' fight. Him t'ought been a gyirl; but when he come fo' fin', been a tar baby, an' he tar him up. An' he gwine him now to wash up himse'f an' dress hisse'f, an' gwine to de gyirl house. An' when he lef' Buh Rahcoon, he say,"A whulla whulla whulla Sak a landa, I ben dere 'tel I call yer. Sak a landa." An' he gone. 14. TAR BABY: MOCK PLEA (IN THE BRIER-PATCH). I.2 Ber Wolf had a pease-patch. An' every night somebody go in de pease-patch an' eat de pease. So Ber Wolf made a tar baby an' set him up in de yard. So Ber Rabbit went in de patch, an' he meet de tar baby standin' up. So Ber Rabbit said, "Goodmornin', gal!" Tar Baby ain't got no manners, say nothin'. 1 Variant: "This brazen gal here hold me." (Edding's Point, St. Helena.) 2 Informant 3. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 27 Say, "Man, I slap you." His hand fasten. Ber Rabbit say, "I got anoder han'." So he hit him wid dat han'. Dat one fasten. Ber Rabbit said, "I got a head." Said he butt him wid de head. De head fasten. "Gal, you don't see I got a foot?" So he kick him wid de foot. De foot fasten. "I kick him wid de oder foot." Dat one fasten. Ber Rabbit said, "I got a mout'." De mout' fasten. Den Rabbit say, "Tu'n me loose!" Next t'ing come along Wolf. Wolf say, "I ketch yer, t'ief! you eat all my pease. I putshyer head down on de choppin'block an' chop em off."- "Oh, don't duh dat! Dat will kill me." Say, "I want ter kill you." Say, "I'll t'row you in de creek, drown you." 1 "Ah, don't duh dat!" he say. "I'll t'row you in de briar-patch," he say. "Yes, Ber Wolf, t'row me in de briar-patch! Den you'll kill me." When Ber Wolf t'row him in de briar-patch, Rabbit say, "Ping! Ping! Dat's de place my mammy done born me!" 2 So dat ol' rabbit git away. II.3 -Now I tell yer a riddle 'bout Ber Rabbit. In dat part of country he used to dig well. So man wen' aroun' to all de animals, 'cause de animal couldn' get no water, an' ax dem to he'p an' dig de well. So all 'gree, all but Ber Rabbit. Ber Rabbit he refuse. Say he could get water, jew [dew] water, off de grass an' t'ings. So, after de well done dig, all de animals get water dere, an' de man fo'bid Ber Rabbit to get no water to his well. Ev'y mornin' de man go, see Ber Rabbit track roun' de well. So de man wen' after him, an' tell him to keep away from his well. Rabbit say he don' go dere. So de man wen' home an' make a tar baby, an' set him to de well. So 'fo' day he wen' to get his water. He see dis tar baby standin' up right side de well. So he went wid his jug to de well, an' say, "Who you? Who you? You bes' talk. Ef you don' talk, I'll slap you." An' slap him wid one han', an' dat one fasten on him. "Le' me loose! I'll slap you wid de oder one." Slap him wid de oder one, an' dat one fasten. Said, "Min', I got two mo' laig." Slap him, dat one fasten. Ain't had power to raise de oder one at all. 1 Variants: (a) "I t'ink I'll bu'n you up."- "Do, whatever you do, don' t'row me in de briar-patch! I'd rather you bu'n me." (Port Royal Island.) (b) "Do, don't t'row me there! for the briar will stick me up." (Port Royal Island.) 2 Variants: (a) "Ping! Ping! Dis de place my mammy born me." (Port Royal Island.) (b) "Bink! Bink! Dis de placeme daddy an' me mammyraise me." (Port Royal Island.) 3 Informant I7. 28 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Day clean. So de fahmer walk down to his well, an' saw Ber Rabbit hangin' on to de tar baby. "Hello, Ber Rabbit! what you doin'?"- "I come down, suh, an' I see dis t'ing, an' I try to run him f'om yer well, an' he fasten me dere." De man say, "Dis day, Ber Rabbit, I'll t'row you in dat briar, cockspu', t'ick' [thicket], togeder." Rabbit say, "Do, for Gawd's sake, t'row me in de riber! Don' t'row me in de briar-patch!" De man loosen f'om de tar baby an' star' to t'row him in de riber. "Do, fo' Gawd's sake, t'row me in de riber! Don' t'row me in de briarpatch!" De man pick 'em up an' t'row him in de briar-patch. Rabbit say, "Keeng! Keeng! Man, I was born in de briarpatch." 1 III. (Mock Plea.) 2 Ber Wolf call his son, and say, "Let us throw B'o' Rabbit in the river!" B'o' Rabbit said, "That right. Throw me in there, because I haven't wash my skin for a long time." The man say, "No, let us throw him in the fire!"- "Throw me in the fire. Then I would jump right over it." The man said, "No, let us throw him in the briar-patch!" B'o' Rabbit said, "Do, B'o' Wolf, do, B'o' Wolf! Don't throw me in the briar-patch!" B'o' Wolf take B'o' Rabbit and throw him in the briar-patch. B'o' Rabbit said, "Ping! Ping! This the place my mother and my father born me. And this the place I going to stay!" 15. TAR BABY: MOCK PLEA: REFUGEES IN THE ROOF:3 WATCHER TRICKED.4 I. Once upon a time Ber Rabbit ask Ber Wolf to dig a well. He want Ber Wolf to dig it alone, dough. But Ber Wolf say, "No, I will not dig it alone." Ber Rabbit say, "Oh, well! I kyan do widout, because I kyan drink de mornin' dew an' water de cow's track." 6 An' so Ber Wolf wen' to work an' dug his well alone. An' set a tar baby up, 'cause he foun' Ber Rabbit track in de 1 Variant: Dis my home." (Defuskie.) 2 Written anonymously. 3 Informant II. For bibliography see MAFLS I3: 117 (note I). 4 For bibliography see MAFLS 13: x18 (note 2). See also North Carolina (JAFL 30: 178-179), Hitchiti (JAFL 26: No. I), Cherokee (BAE 19: 274), Pueblo Indians (JAFL 3I: 230, 231), Taulipang, Guiana (Koch-Griinberg, I38). Variant: Deer-track. (Port Royal Island.) Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 29 mornin'. Ber Rabbit went to de well an' saw de tar baby, an' say, "Dat's a tar baby. What yer lookin' after?" So Ber Rabbit slap him. An' dere his han' stuck. Ber Rabbit say, "Ef you don' tu'n me loose, I take my right han' an' slap you." So he took his right han' an' slap de tar baby. So he slap, an' dere his han' stuck. An' he say, "See ma right foot? Ef I kick you, I betshyer will tu'n my han's loose!" An' he kicked wid his right foot, an' dat stuck. An' he say, "You see my lef' foot? I ha' kicked many a nigger down like you." An' he kicked de tar baby wid his lef' foot, an' dat stuck. "See my fo'head? Ef I butt yer, you will tu'n me loose at oncet." Then Ber Rabbit stuck all to de tar baby. An' Ber Wolf come. "Ah, ha! I ketch you! T'ought you could drink out de mornin' dew. Kyan't fool me, ol' feller!" An' he brought Ber Goot [Goat] to judge what to do wid Ber Rabbit. An' Ber Goot ask Ber Rabbit where he want to go? Ber Rabbit say, "Please t'row me in de fire!" An' Goot say, "I will t'row you in de briar, Ber Rabbit." An' dey t'row him in de briar. An' Rabbit say, "Oh, ho! long baird not always de sign of good sense. Dis is de place my mother born me." An' Ber Rabbit was free again. An' nex' day Ber Wolf ran after Ber Rabbit. Ber Rabbit ran up a house-top wid all his familee. An' Ber Wolf set de house on fire underneat' to smoke Rabbit down. Eve'y time Ber Rabbit little boy sang out, "Pa, I t'ink I'll have to lea' go!" Say, "Hol' on little longer." Little girl say, "Pa, I t'ink I'll have to lea' go!" Say, "Hol' on little longer." Den Ber Rabbit get mad, say, "Lea'go, den!" Dechil' got bu'ntup. After a while Ber Rabbit little boy say de same t'ing. Ber Rabbit say, "Lea' go, den!" An' dis lea' Ber Rabbit alone. Ber Rabbit had some terbacker in his pocket, an' he made a plan ter get away. So he begin to chew de terbacker. Said, "Look up here, Broder Wolf! somet'in' nice up yere." Ber Wolf looked up. An' he spit all de terbacker in Ber Wolf eye. An' got away, an' was free. II. (Watcher Tricked.)l This is a riddle about the rabbit. One day the rabbit and the wolf had a quarrel. And the wolf put his dog on the rabbit and run him up in a tree-hollow. So the tree been near a field, and in 1 Written by informant 63. 30 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. the field there was an old woman. So the wolf call the old woman and ask her for a box of matches. And the lady said she did not had none. So the wolf ask her to mind the tree. "I am going home for some matches." And the lady said, "All right." So the rabbit said, "Old Lady, you see me?" She said, "Yes, son." - "Now you not see me." - "Yes, I see you." The rabbit was chewing some tobacco. And he said, "Put your eyes close here. Now I can see you. Well, I going out here, then." So the rabbit scratch the tree. And the lady put her eyes close the tree. And the rabbit spit right in her eyes. And she dance around. And the rabbit get out and gone. When the wolf come, he ask the old lady if the rabbit is in there. She said, "Yes, he spit something in my eyes, but he is in there." i6. FROG ESCAPES.1 Kyarry Ber Frawg to cou't, an' condame him to be hung. Ber Frawg said to dem, "I mus' die, let me die like my grandfather!" An' dey ask him, "How you' grandfather die?" - "Dey take him down to de pond, an' put a stone to de edge of de pond, an' take anoder stone, put his head on de stone, an' take anoder stone to kill him." So dey take Frawg down to de pond. After layin' his head on de stone, he raise up de stone to strike him. So Ber Frawg slide in de water, an' say, "I don't give a damn, gedung! gedung!" 17. PLAYING POISONED. I.2 'Bout Ber Rabbit an' Ber Pahtridge.3 Dey bof went to kill a cow. An' after done killin' de cow, Ber Rabbit goin' call his brother, mother, sister, an' all, to sha' de meat.4 Firs' one come was an ol' lady. Say, "Ber Pahtridge, see dat ol' lady? Give him a piece o' meat." Ber Pahtridge take an' gi' him a piece. Ber Pahtridge didn' know it was Ber Rabbit mother. Nex' one comin' along was an ol' man. Jus' de same form. "Ber Pahtridge, give de ol' man a piece o' meat." After what came, 1 Informant I. Compare Harris: XXIV. 2 Informant I. For bibliography see MAFLS I3: I22 (note I); also Georgia (JAFL 32: 403). 3 Variant: Ber Ma'sh-Hen. (Defuskie.) 4 Variant: So Ber Rabbit gone 'roun' an' inwite all his frien's an' neighbors. Tell um dey goin' to have a bake, an' dey mus' all come an' get a piece. (Defuskie.) 0 Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 31 brother an' sister come now. "Give de poor boy an' girl a piece o' meat."' Pahtridge put a piece o' meat on de fire roastin' it. By that time de boy get out of de way, an' de girl, de meat was done enough fer ter eat. Den de pahtridge commence to eat de meat, and commence ter flutter an' stumble all about an' kick, kick. Then Ber Rabbit cry out, "Mamma! Papa! Brother! Sister! bring dat meat back hyere! It kill Ber Pahtridge." So dey all come back. Ber Pahtridge lie like he die. Den Ber Pahtridge get up, say, "Now deal jus', suh, sha' jus'!" 2 II.3 Rabbit an' Pahtridge make plan go steal a fahmer's cow. Make a sutin day to go an' sha' de meat. Rabbit take all de meat home. Pahtridge go in de wood wid a little piece o' meat. Pahtridge house right in front Rabbit house. Pahtridge eat de meat, an' Pahtridge fall dead. Rabbit say, "Great Gawd! Dat meat kill Pahtridge!" Skuffle an' skuffle. "Oh, my fam'ly pizened!" Fam'ly bring back all de meat. Den Pahtridge git up, say, "Eh, Rabbit! le's sha' um even!" 18. BURIED TAIL. I.4 Oncet Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf buy a cow togeder. Den Ber Rabbit kill de cow, an' Ber Wolf didn' know it. Ber Rabbit take de cow tail an' stick un down in de dirt an' run, gone ter call de wolf. An' tell de wolf, "Le' um pull on de cow tail, see ef he could get de cow up!" Den, when dey pull, de cow tail come off. Said, "Cow gone down in de groun'." After Ber Wolf gone, Ber Rabbit gone to get de meat to kyarry home for his fader. II1. Once upon a time Brother Rabbit and Brother Wolf decided to buy a cow together. And they bought the cow. So Ber Rabbit tell Ber Wolf that he must go and fetch a knife to butcher the cow 1 Variant: So Ber Ma'sh-Hen stan', an' he didn' say not'in' 'til Ber Rabbit give out all de meat to a small little piece. (Defuskie.) 2 Variant: "You is a damn sha'p feller, but I get even wid you." (Defuskie.) 3 Informant 17. 4 Informant I5. For bibliography see JAFL 30: 228 (note 2); 32:368 (note i). See also Georgia (JAFL 32: 403), South in general (JAFL 32: 368), Hitchiti (JAFL 26: No. 23). 6 Written by informant 75. 32 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. with. After Ber Wolf was gone, Ber Rabbit kill the cow, and stuck the tail and horns and feet up in the mud. And begin to cry, "O Ber Wolf! the cow gone down in de mud!" And Ber Wolf run in. And he begin to pull on the cow's horn, and the horn fling Ber Wolf yonder. He pull on the tail, but the tail fling him yonder. And poor Ber Wolf look so pitiful! And Brother Rabbit said the cow gone down in the mud fast as he pull. So one day Brother Rabbit invite Brother Wolf to dinner. When Ber Wolf got there, Brother Wolf said, "Oh, yes! this is the same cow we buy the other day." 19. MOCK FIRE: 1 BURIED TAIL. I. De rabbit an' partridge was goin' out stealin'. Come by a cowlot. De rabbit said to de partridge, "Brother Partridge, here is our Christmas right hyere." Partridge say, "What is it, Ber Rabbit?" - "Man, don't you see all dis fresh meat standin' in dislot?" Said, "Le's kill one of this cows!" So dey killed a cow, an' it come on sundown befo' dey got t'rough cleanin'. An' de rabbit see de sunset fixin' to go down; an' he said to de partridge, "Ber Partridge, le's get a piece of dat fire on!" He said, "Dat's my wife ower dere, bu'nin' brush." Ber Partridge say, "I think dat's de sun goin' down, Ber Rabbit." He said, "No, man, dat ain't no sun. Dat's my wife bu'nin' off my new groun'." An' so Partridge he flew out fo' de settin' of de sun. An' whiles' he was gone, Ber Rabbit give all de cow away to his sweetheart. Partridge got tired flyin' fo' de sun, an' tu'ned aroun' an' comin' back to Ber Rabbit. Ber Rabbit heard him comin'; an' Ber Rabbit say, "Fly up, Ber Partridge, in a hurry! de cow goin' in de groun'." He had stuck de cow's tail down in de groun'. He said, "Hol' back on dis tail, Ber Partridge, 'fo' de cow get away!" An' Partridge pull back on de tail, as Buddy Rabbit tol' him. An' he pulled de tail out de groun'. Ber Rabbit said, "Dere, now, you done broke de tail off." An' Partridge say, "What will we do, Ber Rabbit?" Say, "I don' know. You sure let all de cow get away." Then Ber Partridge say, "Well, we'll diwide de tail up." Hesaid, "No, you can have de tail, BerPartridge." Said, "If you don' wan' none, Ber Rabbit, I'll be glad to get it." An' he say, "I sure don' want none, cause I got plenty meat what I 1 Informant 22. Compare Sea Islands (Christensen, 89-90), Georgia (JAFL 32: 403). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 33 get day befo' yesterday." - "I t'ank ye, t'ank ye, Ber Rabbit. T'ank ye, 'cause you ce'tainly done me a favor givin' me dis whole tail by myself." II.1 Rabbit an' Pa'tridge once had a cow together. An' so they decided to kill the cow. So when they got the cow killed, now Rabbit told Pa'tridge that they want to cook the meat. That was in the afternoon, an' the sun was goin' down. The sun was goin' down, an' it looked red. They were wonderin' where they could fin' some fire. All at oncet there was a big blaze of fire, an' the rabbit said to the partridge, "Go, Pa'tridge! yonder is a big blaze of fire. You kyan go, because you have wings to fly." So the pa'tridge started to fin' the fire, but the pa'tridge never did reach the place where the fire was. So the pa'tridge decided he would come back to the place where the cow was killed. When the pa'tridge returned, didn' see anything but the cow's tail. So Ber Rabbit said, "0 Ber Pa'tridge! the cow went in the ground." He said that he was pullin' all the while, an' he couldn't get the cow up. So he said, "Now is your chance to pull, Ber Pa'tridge!" So the pa'tridge start pullin' an' pullin'. Finally the tail popped, 'cause there was only the tail. Then Ber Rabbit was so surprised! He said, "Oh, now you have popped the cow's tail off!" Ber Rabbit was right cunnin', because he had carried the cow's meat home while the pa'tridge had went to seek for the fire. 20. FATAL IMITATION. 1.2 Oncet there was Ber Rabbit an' the rooyster. Every night when Ber Rabbit goin' home from work, he would see how de rooyster had only one leg an' no head at all. An' in de mornin' he would have his head an' two legs. So Ber Rabbit asked Ber Rooyster why he cut his head an' leg off at night, an' put it back in the mornin'. So Ber Rooyster tol' Ber Rabbit he rested dat way. So he wen' home an' tol' his wife to cut off three of his leg an' his head, so that he can rest. So, when Ber Rabbit wife 1 Informant 9. 2 Informant 7. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 7), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 190), Georgia (Harris 4: 137-140, I44-I52), Alabama (JAFL 32: 40o), Thonga (Junod, 2: 2I6 -217); Fang (Nassau, 235-236), Vandau (Curtis, 48). 34 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. cut Ber Rabbit head off, Ber Rabbit began to jump. So Ber Rooyster hold up his leg an' took his head from under his wing, an' clap his wings, an' said, "I have my head! I have my head!" II.1 In de winter-time some time it be col'.2 Ber Pa'tridge would light down an' take he head an' put um underneat' he wing. So Ber Rabbit come along, an' he meet Ber Pa'tridge wid he head underneat' he wing. He ax him, say, "Ber Pa'tridge, whey your head?" Ber Pa'tridge tell him, say, "Man, I leave ma head home." 3 Say, "'Mos' eve'y time I comin' from home, I leave ma head company wid ma wife." Ber Rabbit say, "Den I goin' to do de same t'in'." Ber Rabbit ax Ber Pa'tridge, say, "Well, how you getshyer head off?" He say, "Man, when I ready to go, I jus' go to ma wife an' let ma wife jus' knock ma head right off." He said, "But een knockin' you mus' tell yer wife don' knockin' too hard, knock yer head off easy." So Ber Rabbit goin' home an' tell his wife he wan' his head off, but musn' hit um too hard. Den his wife knock off his head.4 An' he [she] goin' to Ber Pa'tridge, an' tell him dat Ber Rabbit ain't wake up. Den Ber Pa'tridge gone dere, an' tell um, say, "Oh what a pity you knock um too hard!" Pa'tridge still had his head on, an' Rabbit was dead. Dat's de en'.5 11.6 Once upon a time a rabbit and a fox plant a patch of pease. After the pease began to ripe, the partridge began to eat the pease. So one day the rabbit and the fox went to look after the pease. And the partridge was in the pease-patch that time. And when he saw the rabbit coming, he ran out in the road, put his head under his wing, and began to flutter. The rabbit saw this; and he run home to his wife, and said, "0 wife! Brother Partridge out in the road with his head cut off an' having a fine time." And he said, "Cut off mine." His wife said, "No, if I do, you will die." 1 Informant 27. 2 Variant: Ber Rabbit was married, an' Ber Pa'tridge was married. An' it was col' dat day. (Port Royal Island.) 3 Variant: "Because it is so rainy." (St. Helena.) 4 Variant: An' his wife tol' him dat he would die; an' Rabbit said, "No." An' after he said no, he wen' an' put his head on de block. (Port Royal Island.) 5 Variant: An' dat was de las' of Ber Rabbit. (Port Royal Island.) 6 Written by informant 67. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 35 He said, "Ain't such a thing. Cut it off, and I will have a better time." So his wife cut off, an' there he fell down dead. He didn' flutter as the partridge did, but he jump an' ray [rear] and pitch and prance. And that was the last of Brother Rabbit. IV.1 Once there was a rabbit and a partridge. So a man kill a partridge and put his head on the ground. One partridge got it, and he saw a rabbit; and he said, "I can cut my neck off, and you cannot." So put the neck under his wing, let the head fall. So the rabbit cut his head off. 21. THE PASSWORD (HONEY-TREE). I.2 Ber Wolf he fin' a honey-tree. So he call Ber Rabbit, "Le' go get some honey!" So dey went to de tree. De honey commence to come down. Dey couldn' get it so very free. But, anyhow, dey bu'st de tree wid de axe. So Ber Rabbit he went to de tree an' poke his head an' say, "Come down honey, go up bee!" So de honey commence to pour down. Dey get so much, but Ber Rabbit it seem like he didn't sati'fy with what he get. So he went to de tree, an' he get his head into de holler of de tree. When he get dere, he said, "0 Ber Wolf! my head is too big. You try now." So Ber Wolf try. Poor feller! he didn't know any better. He poke his head way up in de tree. After Ber Wolf get his head in, he say, "Come down bee, an' go up honey!" So de honey go up, an' de bee stung Ber Wolf to deat'. II.3 Ber Rabbit wen' out in de wood, an' he fin' a holler. An' he come back an' tell Ber Wolf. So Ber Wolf wen' de'. So Ber Rabbit tell him when he go in, he mus' say, "Cober up!" So Wolf went in. He said, "Go up honey, an' come down bee!" So all de bees come dere an' sting him. An' had his head swell so big untel he couldn' get out. 1 Written by informant 47. 2 Informant i. For bibliography see MAFLS 13:3 (note 3), 4 (note I). See also Dial; also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 13), Antigua (JAFL 34: 51-52). 3 Informant 14. 36 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. III.1 Rabbit had a bee-hive in de woods. He tol' Wolf where dis hive was. "We will go to-morrow to get some honey, as I know de way up de holler of de tree." Dey took a bucket with 'em. Ber Rabbit said, " Ber Wolf, you go up dere." Wolf head swellin' up dere. Ber Rabbit said, "You push yer bucket down. Here come de hunters an' a crowd o' dogs." Wolfje'k, lef' his head up dere. IV.2 The rabbit gone to a honey-tree and carry a pail, and said, "Goes up bees, and come down honey; goes up bees, and come down honey." And the bees flies up the tree, and the honey pour down in the pail. Rabbit come home. Wolf said, "Rabbit, where did you get those honey?" - "I get those honey from a big tree out in the field. When you go out in the field, you must say, 'Goes up bees, and come down honey."' Wolf gone. When Wolf get there, says, "Goes up honey, and come down bees." The honey gone up, and the bees come down and stings up Wolf. And Wolf come home mad with Rabbit for nothing. 22. THE PASSWORD (EAGLE-NEST). I.3 Oncet Ber Rabbit know where some heagle-eggs is. An' he wen' back an' tol' Ber Wolf. An' he wen' back de nex' day an' get some mo' eggs. An' tol' Ber Wolf when go dere he mus' say "Veel," an' when he wan' to come out mus' say "Val," and de do' open. An' when Ber Wolf get dere, he says "Ber Veel." An' he full his sack. An' instead he say "Ber Val," he say "Ber Veel," an' de do' close dat much tighter. An' when Ber Eagle come in, he tol' his daughter to get some flour to bakin' some bread. An' de girl tol' her fader some one in de flour. An' when Ber Eagle wen' dere, dere was Ber Wolf in de flour. An' he kill him. An' dat was de las' of Ber Wolf. II.4 Once a crane. So Crane had a house half full of egg. So Rabbit go to the house and get his egg. So Rabbit got in the 1 Informant 18. s Informant 25. 2Written by informant 51. 4 Written by informant 47. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 37 house, could not come out. So Crane got his gun and shoot. Rabbit make like he was dead. Crane put him in yard. Crane gone back in the house, and Rabbit got up, began to run. 23. THE PASSWORD (IN THE STORE): TAKE MY PLACE. I.1 Was a man had a store. An' B'o' Rabbit eve'y day would go to the sto' an' tell de do', "Be hie 'way, do'!" An' de do' would open. An' then he would go inside an' fill his bag. An' then when he got t'rough fillin' his bag, he would come on de outside an' tell de do', "Blow away, do'!" An' de do' would shut. An' one day on his way goin' from de sto' he met B'o' Wolf. An' B'o' Wolf ax B'o' Rabbit whey he get all dem ration f'om eve'y day. An' then B'o' Rabbit up an' tell B'o' Wolf whey de sto' was. An' tol' him what he mus' tell de do' when he goin' inside. B'o' Wolf wen' back home an' get him a sack an' come 'roun'. An' when he got there, he tol' de do', "Be hie 'way, do'!" An' he went on de inside. An' when time fo' him to come out de sto', he tol' de do', "Blow away, do'!" An' de do' shut. An' instead of he tell de do', "Blow away, do'!" an' went on off, he sat his sack down an' began to play with the do'. "Be hie away, do'!" an' "Be blow away, do'!" An' jus' then de store-man come. He ax B'o' Wolf what was he doin' there. An' he up an' tol' him dat B'o' Rabbit sent him there. He tol' him how to get into de sto'. An' he said he was goin' to keep B'o' Wolf until B'o' Rabbit came. An' den nex' day B'o' Rabbit came back. An' de man was dere lookin' fo' B'o' Rabbit. An' de man cut [caught] B'o' Rabbit, an' ax B'o' Rabbit what he was doin' in de sto'. Tol' B'o' Rabbit dat he was goin' to kill B'o' Rabbit. An' he put him in an iron cage an' tu'n de wolf loose. An' he went off dat afternoon. An' he didn' come back till nex' evenin'. An' den nex' mornin' B'o' Wolf came 'long de road. An' B'o' Rabbit tol' B'o' Wolf to please come an' stay dere in de cage fo' him 'til he go home an' see 'bout his wife an' chillun. An' B'o' Wolf said, "All right, my dear frien'! I would like to do so, but you mus' be sure an' come back befo' dis afternoon." An' jus' after B'o' Rabbit went home, de man come up an' ax B'o' Wolf what he doin' dere in de 1 Informant 26. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 82 (note 6). See also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 13), Georgia (JAFL 32:402), Alabama (JAFL 32: 40o-401), E'wes (Spieth, 588), Bushmen (Honey, 84-86), Philippines (MAFLS 12: 383 ff.). 38 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. cage. An' B'o' Wolf said he had jus' come dere to stay until B'o' Rabbit went home to see 'bout his wife an' chillun an' come back. An' de man tol' B'o' Wolf, "Well, you will have to take B'o' Rabbit sha' o' whippin'." An' he got a long cowhide whip an' whipped B'o' Wolf until he almos' killed B'o' Wolf. An' B'o' Rabbit never did come back. An' he done B'o' Wolf so bad 'tel he could hardly walk. An' dat nex' day B'o' Rabbit come along blowin' his fice [fife?], goin' huntin'. An' then B'o' Rabbit said, "Hello, B'o' Wolf!" B'o' Wolf said to B'o' Rabbit, "Why, B'o' Rabbit, I didn't know you would treat me so. I'll never have you to be a frien' o' mine no mo'. II.1 Once a fox had a shop, and it open by a name. So Rabbit go to the shop on Saturday night, get his food out of the shop. So Rabbit tell Wolf. So Wolf gone, and he could not come out. Fox beat all the hair off Wolf. 24. GOD ABOVE. I.2 Dey gone to court, Ber Hawk, Ber Buzzard, Ber Crane. Ber Rabbit fixed de plan. Ber Crane make 'greement to save his life. Den dey all come for to hang. He gone above de cloud so dat dey couldn' see him. When de hour come now for Ber Rabbit to hang, Ber Rabbit on de gallus, Ber Crane go up above in de cloud. Sing out, "Don' hang um! Don' hang um!" Rabbit say, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Hear de gawd above say, 'Don' hang um!"' Dey 'lowed it was de gawd above. Dey loose Ber Rabbit.3 He gone lick-split. Ber Crane come down full bent. Say, "Hang um! Hang um!" But too late. Ber Rabbit was gone. Save his life. II.4 Ber Rabbit put in jail, sentence to deat'. Sen' for Crane. "Dese people goin' to hang me. Now, Ber Crane, I wantsher to go up in de cloud an' talk like Jesus." Rabbit was up on de gallus. Crane sing out, "It's wrong to kill a man widout a cause!" De 1 Written by informant 47. 2 Informant I. Compare Pennsylvania (JAFL 30: 216, No. Io). 3 Variant: And everybody ran and leave him there. (St. Helena.) 4 Informant I8. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 39 rope was aroun' his neck. Say, "Friend, I am not guilty. Listen! Listen! Hear Jesus talkin'!" Crane say, "It's wrong to kill a man widout a cause! It's wrong to kill a man widout a cause!" Dey tu'n Rabbit loose. 25. CARTLOAD OF FISH. I.1 Man comin' along de road with a kyartload o' fish. Ber Rabbit lay down alongside de road like he dead. De man saw him lay down. De man jump out his kyar' an' pick him up an' t'row him right on de kyartload o' fish. While Ber Rabbit layin' on de kyartload o' fish, he t'rowed one, he t'rowed enough for 'e to tote. After he t'row enough, den 'e jump off de kyart. An' de man didn' know. After he jump off, den he picked up dose fish. So while he pick up de fish now, he have a chance now to meet Ber Fox. After meet Ber Fox, Ber Fox say, "Ber Rabbit, where you get all dem fish?" He said, "O man! you kyan do like me." Say, "Man, I lay 'longside de road, an' a man comin' out wid kyartload o' fish. Man pick me up, 'e t'row me on de kyart. An' I t'row as much as I want. Man, I took dem fish, I gone home." He said, "Man, you do jus' like you see me do. You go 'longside de road an' lay down, an' dey will pick you up an' t'row you on de kyart. Den, man, you will get de fish how I do it." So Ber Wolf done de same trick. After done de trick so, de man come along an' see Ber Wolf lay down 'longside de road. Jump off de kyart, ketch him by de two hin' foot, raise him up. An' lick him on de two hin' wheel, knock him on de wheel-tire. Man said, "You wouldn' done me like Ber Rabbit." He kill Ber Wolf. II.2 Once upon a time there was Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf. So Ber Rabbit went down the road. He saw a man going home with his fish. So he ask the man for a ride. The man told him he could ride, but must not steal his fish. So the man whipped his horse and didn't look at Ber Rabbit. The rabbit threw fishes all along the road. When got near a house, asked the man to let him jump out. The man stopped his horse. Ber Rabbit went back for his fish. He went home and told Ber Wolf that, if he wanted fishes, 1 Informant 2. Compare Georgia (Jones, XLI; Harris 2:LII), Louisiana (MAFLS 2: I15-II6), Bushmen (Honey, 22-23), France (Cosquin, 2: I59, i6o). 2 Written by informant 58. 40 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. he must let the man with fish-wagon run over him. Ber Wolf did as he was told. Then he asked the man for his fish. But the man didn't even look after him. Ber Wolf went to Ber Rabbit and told him he didn't get any fish. Ber Rabbit just wanted to kill Ber Wolf. 26. WHO DIVES THE LONGEST: CARTLOAD OF FISH.1 Once upon a tim' Bro' Rabbit an' Bro' Wolf have a half a bag o' tallow. Bro' Rabbit tell Bro' Wolf, "Let's go down to de crik side an' see which one can dibe de longis'." Bro' Rabbit an' Bro' Wolf be gone. Soon as Bro' Rabbit git down, he sneak back wid his schemy se'f an' gone in de hous' an' eat all de tallow. Ebber now'n den Bro' Rabbit be look fo' see ef Bro' Wolf been a-comin'. Atta Bro' Rabbit git t'rough, him sneak back in de crik and dibe unna. Bro' Wolf come u'. Bro' Rabbit wait a little while, an' den him come u'. "Shum [see] me, Bro' Wolf! I bee' tell you I could dibe de longis'." Bro' Wolf and Bro' Rabbit come out de water and mek fo' de house. Bro' Rabbit fo' tell Bro' Wolf to sha' de tallow. Bro' Wolf went fo' de tallow, and come back an' ax Bro' Rabbit who eat de tallow. Bro' Rabbit say, "I dunno, Bro' Wolf, but I know I ain't eat um. Some one mus' fo' tief it whil' we been a-dibe." "Let's go down to de roadside and wait fo' de man to come 'long wid a ca'tload o' fish," said Bro' Rabbit. Bro' Rabbit an' Bro' Wolf gone down to de roadside an' drap to sleep. By 'm by a man came along wid a ca'tload o' fish, an' t'row'd Bro' Rabbit on top um. When Bro' Rabbit git nigh a bush, him tek a 'tring o' fish an' mek fo' de bush. Nex' day de man come 'long an' ketch Bro' Rabbit playin' de same trick. De man fo' look at Bro' Rabbit an' say, "I can't trus' you, Bro' Rabbit." So he tek a stick an' struck um, an' Bro' Rabbit mek fo' de woods as ha'd as he could go. 27. THE FALSE MESSAGE.2 Once upon a time there lives a man and his wife and their little daughter. Her name is Mary. And the parents were working 1 Informant 80. Recorded by Sadie E. Stewart. Compare Georgia (Jones, XLI; Harris 2: LII), Louisiana (MAFLS 2: IIS-II6), Bushmen (Honey, 22-23), France (Cosquin, 2: 159, I60). For North American Indian parallels see Boas, Kutenai, 297 (Chinook, Comox, Nez Perc6s, Pawnee, Quinault, Shoshoni); Frachtenberg, Alsea, 75. 2 Written by informant 87. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 82 (note 2). See also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 14-16), Georgia (JAFL 32: 402), Antigua (JAFL 34: 54), Apache (Goddard, 233). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 41 out. And every day Be Rabbit would come and say, "Mary, your father said you must turn me in the garden twelve o'clock and let me out five o'clock." So Mary turn him in, and in the evening let him out. One day as the man went to visit his plant, he found all the pease eaten down, and he said to Mary that all the pease was cut down. And Mary told him that every day Be Rabbit would come and say, "Mary, your father said you must turn me in the garden twelve o'clock and let me out five." And so the man told Mary that when Be Rabbit come back again, "turn him in and don't let him out until I come." In the morning Be Rabbit came back again, and Mary turn him in. And in the evening Be Rabbit call for Mary to let him out, but Mary told him that she had the fever. And soon her father came and catch Be Rabbit in the garden, and beat him to death. 28. THE FALSE MESSAGE: TAKE MY PLACE.1 Once there was a man. He only had daughter. So he had a garden with cabbage and turnip. So every day he will go to work and leave the girl to mind the house. A rabbit come up there one day, and say, "Little girl, your father say you must turn me in the garden." The girl turn him in. He eat much as he want to eat. "All right, little girl, turn me out now." The girl turn hih out. That night her father come from work, and the girl asked her father about it. The man say, "No, I ain't tell Ber Rabbit anything. When he come back to-morrow, you turn him in, and let him stay until I come." So next day the rabbit come, the girl turn him in. And most time for the girl father to come. "All right, little girl, turn me out now." The girl say, "I ain't got time now." The rabbit wait a while longer. "All right, little girl, turn me out now." The girl say, "I'm washing the grits to put in the pot now." So her father come. "Ber Rabbit, what you doing in my garden?" Ber Rabbit say, "That little girl turn me in here." The man catch Ber Rabbit and put him in a sack and hang him up in the tree, and gone in the woods to get a load er switch. A wolf came along in the time. So the wolf said to Rabbit, "What is the matter?" The rabbit say, "O man! I'm going to heaven. You want to go?" The wolf say, "Yes." Told the wolf to open the sack and come in. "And let me go out and tie you up in here." 1 Written by informant 38. 42 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. The rabbit tie the wolf in the sack and gone. The man come, say, "What you doing in here?" The wolf say, "Ber Rabbit put me in here." The man say, "All right, when I done with you, when you see a sack again, you will run from it." So he beat the hide off the wolf. And I went around the ben'. There was a crooked six pen'. There was my story end. 29. THE FALSE MESSAGE: TAKE MY PLACE: ANTS IN THE HOLE.1 I. De ol' gentlemun had a fine pease-field. So Ber Rabbit gone to de little girl while she was in de fiel'. Says, "Little girl, yer papa says mus' tie me in de pease-patch in de midnight an' tu'n me out fo' day." So de chil' done jus' what Ber Rabbit tol' her. So when de fader come nex' mornin', dere de pease tare up. So for several days Rabbit done dat. So fader say to de little girl, "What eat up all de pease?" Chil' said, "Papa, didn' you tell Ber Rabbit I mus' tie him in de pease-fiel' midnight an' tu'n him loose fo' day?" De man so cross, say, "You tie him an' don' loose him!" So de chil' done jus' what her pa tol' her. So little girl tie him, sure enough. So he holler. Comin' on fo' day now. "Little girl, come loose me!" Little girl ain't come yet. Little girl didn' come, so de fader gone now. De fader say, "Dat is you, Ber Rabbit?" Ber Rabbit didn' know what to say. Jus' open dose big eyes, lookin' aroun'. De ol' man take Ber Rabbit an' kyarry Ber Rabbit in de road, put him in de kyage. While he was in de kyage, de ol' man lock him in de kyage now. De ol' man gone 'bout his business, 'spec' to come back atterwards. While 'e was in de kyage, he saw Ber Wolf comin'. Commence to dance an' whistle in de kyage like he so happy. Say, "Ber Rabbit, what you doin' dere?" - " Man put me in de kyage, said good time to-night, big sport. Ain't you want to come in too?" Ber Wolf say, "Yes, man." Say, "All right, you open de do'." Ber Wolf open de do'. Ber Wolf gone in, Ber Rabbit come out. After Ber Rabbit come out, let Ber Wolf in de kyage now, saw 01' Man come up de road. Ber Rabbit run into de hollow. See what 01' Man do. 01' Man say, "What you doin' here?" Ber Wolf say, "Ber Rabbit say we 1 Informant 2. For "Ants in the Hole" compare Bahamas (MAFLS 3: 83, 84, 86). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 43 wus goin' to have a good time to-night." 01' Man said, "I'm goin' to put good time on you now." So 01' Man take de wolf right out. An' he whip de wolf half to deat'. Dat time Ber Rabbit in de tree holler near by de place de ol' man lick de wolf, an' laugh at Ber Wolf. After de ol' man done lick Ber Wolf, tu'n Ber Wolf loose. Ber Wolf cryin' an' gone to de very same place where Ber Rabbit was settin' in de holler. He cryin', cryin', cryin'. Say, "If I ketch Ber Rabbit, I beat um." An' Ber Rabbit was right dere in de holler. Ber Rabbit take a stick an' stick de poor man in de woun' where de ol' man beat him so sevarely. "I don' know what de matter wid dese big red ants so." Dere sat Ber Rabbit in de holler. He saw de stick. He jump back. Behol', was Ber Rabbit. His eyes met him. Ber Wolf peep in de holler. Say, "Ber Rabbit, you'se a mean man." II.1 Once upon a time there was a man who had a garden of the greenest turnip around. So every day Ber Rabbit would go in the garden and eat the turnip. So one day the owner of the turnip would go and see the turnip. So he went back of the yard and sit there. The next day he would call out his dogs and go to the garden at twelve o'clock. That day at twelve o'clock the rabbit came. And the man caught him and carried him home. And put him in a little house was in the yard. So he hitch up his horse and went to get some switch. At last Ber Wolf came along. So Ber Rabbit called out, "Hello, there, Ber Wolf! I have been ask to play for this old gentleman. Come in and dance for me!" So Ber Wolf went in, and Ber Rabbit played till he got to the door. He fastened Ber Wolf up in the house. So when the man came, he asked Ber Wolf what he was doing in the house. Ber Wolf said, "Ber Rabbit put me in here." Then the man said, "You will do just as well." And he beat Ber Wolf till just could walk. So when turn Ber Wolf out, went down the road and cry. Ber Rabbit pinched him. He still was crying, and said, "Nellie, ants bad." Ber Rabbit pinch him. He said, "Nellie, ants bad." Then Ber Rabbit came out and laugh after him. Then he said, "Ber Rabbit, man, you wrong to do like dat." Step on a tin and tin bend, And that is the place my story end. 1 Written by informant 72. 44 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 30. DECOYED: "FLY, DON'T WORRY ME:" MOCK PLEA.1 Ber Wolf have a putty little girl. Rabbit go to tease her. In love wid dis girl. Ber Wolf said, "I'm goin' out, cut me cartload of switch." Little girl went upstairs. Looked t'rough de winder. Rabbit saw her sittin'. "Good-mornin', putty girl!" —"Come on, Ber Rabbit! come on, come on!" He jumped, jumped, jumped, 'til he jumped into her room. Ber Wolf come in, say, "I caught Ber Rabbit to-day." Tied him. Took ev'y hair off him. Rabbit lie in de sun on his so' skin. Little girl took a long hat-pin. Say, "Fly, don' worry me! fly, don' worry me!" Kep' 'til his skin got hardened. Say, "What you rather now,- t'row you in boiling pot o' tar, or open fiel' wid briars?"- "Please t'row me in pot o' tar." Dey t'row him in open fiel' wid all dese stone. Say, "Dis de place my mammy raised me." 31. PLAYING SICK.2 Oncet Fox went fishin'. While he was goin' fishin', he met Ber Rabbit. So he ask Ber Rabbit to' go fishin' too. "Oh," Ber Rabbit said, "I don' feel like goin' fishin' to-day, I'm not feelin' well." So Ber Fox went on, an' he caught a nice string of fish. On his way back he met Ber Rabbit layin' down side o' de road.3 He said, "Ber Rabbit, what's de matter wid you?" —"Oh," he said, "I'm sick. Go bring de doctor." Fox drop his string o' fish right down dere. So, after Ber Fox get out o' sight, Rabbit jump up an' take Ber Fox string o' fish, an' run on home. An' Ber Fox come back, couldn' fin' string o' fish nor Ber Rabbit. Den Ber Fox went to Ber Rabbit house. An' den Ber Rabbit said, "0 Ber Fox! I felt a leetle better, so I done drag home. Dawg mus' eat yer fish." Ber Fox los' de fish. An' Ber Rabbit got de fish an' got better. Dat's de las' of it. 1 Informant I8. 2 Informant 3. 8 At this point the tale varies from the tale of "Playing Dead Twice in the Road," a very popular tale in the Bahamas. In course of time I began to ask for it in the Sea Islands, but it appeared to be unfamiliar. In one case a Ladies'-Islander, in telling No. 29, said that Rabbit "went 'roun' a circle" and lay down again in the road; but the tale was badly told, and the reference was ambiguous. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 45 32. THE CHOSEN SUITOR.1 Oncet a man was cou'tin' a girl. An' de girl was cou'tin' de diffun' mans, an' she didn' know what she wan', who to cou'tin' to. She jus' pick an' choose. At las' she done marry to de Devil, an' she didn' know. Ev'y time de man come to cou't her an' she give him somet'in' to eat, de man have to shut up by himself. An' he brother peep t'rough de keyhole an' see what he doin' in dere. An' he was naked, eatin'. Had to strip off to eat. An' he broder star' to fuss wid him [her]. Say he [she] cou'tin' an cou'tin', an' don' know what he [she] want. All his [her] people was fussin' wid her. An' she didn' pay no 'tention at all; she marry to de man. An' he take her to hell. Have him in a dark room by hisse'f. An' ev'y mornin' he go out to ketch up a worm an' de grass fo' her to eat. Ev'y time he tell her to eat, she des [just] cry an' cry, an' wouldn' eat. De bird comin' an' sing. [Narrator forgets what she says to him.] An' she cry an' disturb an ol' lady under de willer-tree. An' de ol' lady tol' him, "I'll get you off f'om yere if you will min' me." Rooyster would crow, says, "Yer putty girl is goin'." An' de ol' lady hitch up a ho'se. De ho'se name Twenty-Mile-a-Minute. She get a little boy to take it away from hell. She tol' him [her] ev'y time she get a mile, mus' t'row two grain back behin' him [her]. (She get him [her] some mustard-seed.) An' de Devil made ten miles a minute (de Devil ho'se). An' time de woman jump in de kyarrige an' loose from hell, de rooyster say, " Mossa, yer putty girl gone." An' she travel twenty miles a minute, and de Devil ten miles. An' ev'y time she get twenty miles, she t'row two grain behin' her. An' dat make er ocean. An' de Devil had to go an' get a ho'se to drink dat riber dry. An' when dat dry up, she t'row oder grain behin' her. An' dat make ocean again. An' after he get near 'pon him [her] de second time, he [she] t'row two more grain o' mustard-seed. An' a b'ick wall build up high as a tree. Den he had to go back to get mans to b'eak dat down. When he done broke dat down, he start out again. When he get near, she t'row two mo'. An' dat make a big fawg. Den he had to go back, an' dat fawg clear 1 Informant 27. For bibliography see MAFLS 13:45 (note i). See also Bahamas (MAFLS 3: XXXIII), Antigua (JAFL 34: 62-65), Sierra Leone (Thomas, 82-84), Benga (Nassau, 68-76). For Magic Flight incident see p. 51. 46 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. off. What time she get home, she run up to her room an' lock hisse'f up. An' de ol' Devil grumble, an' couldn' get his wife, an' gone back to hell. 33. THE CHOSEN SUITOR:1 THE DEVIL'S "YES." She was a rich woman. An' she never would marry in dis wo'l', can't be suited no way. Her moder an' fader say, "De las' man will be de Devil." An' all her people died out an' leave her one. An' no one didn' cou't her den but de Devil. He came an' brought his chariot, an' took her in down to his hell. An' her moder risin' from de grave an' tu'n to a silver knife. An' say, "Darlin', darlin', look ayander!" An' he say, "Let it alone, let it alone!" An' by de nex' grave it was her fader risin'. It was a silver dish. (He turn to silver dish.) An' he wouldn' let her pay no 'tention to dem. Dey risin' to let her know she was goin' to de ruin place. An' after while deir chariot-wheel wen' to droppin' off. An' she say, "Darlin', de chariot-wheel droppin' off." -"Oh, let it alone, let it alone!" All de chariot-wheel dropped off. Den after a while de horse feet droppin' off. She say, "Darlin', de horse feet droppin' off." - "Oh, let it alone, let it alone!" Dey drop off pieces by pieces until he got to hell. When he got dere, he put her down an' wen' off huntin' mo' souls. An' she got worried in min', hear de groanin' an' sighin' an' moanin' in dere. An' she considered to herse'f dat she was at her las' ruin, all her bes' days pas'. She got worried an' come out o' hell. An' moder leave a big white gray horse, an' dat horse had as much sense as she had. An' she called him up, an' mounted up, an' said, "Jack, I'm in hell, an' do kyarry me back home!" An' Jack took her on his back. An' in her trawellin', some of de souls in hell tol' her how to get back home. Give her a grain o' corn, a grain o' cotton-seed, an' a yard o' ribbon. An' tol' her to drop dose grains o' corn an' cotton-seed, an' train dat ribbon, an' it would make oceans o' water an' hills o' rock, dat he may not get her. Jack would jump twenty miles an hour. An' when he [Devil] come to de ocean o' water, he had to return back to his hell an' get spade an' all diffun' material to cut his way back to Betsey home. An' when she get home, Jack wen' in de stable an' shut himse'f up. An' she wen' in her mansion an' shut herse'f up. Later now de same day in trawellin' he got ower de oceans o' 1 Informant 24. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 47 water, an' got to Betsey, an' she was settin' out on her po'ch, rockin'. An' he come up an' ax her, "What was sweeter dan mankind?" 1 She tol' him, "Honey was sweeter dan mankind." -"What was sweeter dan mankind?" She said, "Sugar was sweeter dan mankind."-"What was sweeter dan mankind?" She tol' him, "Milk was sweeter dan mankind." He ask her, "What was sweeter dan mankind?" She say, "De grace o' Gawd was sweeter dan mankind." An' he wheel his back an' tol' her good-by. So she waited for him, de las' man in de worl'. So he went a-rovin' an' rumblin' into anoder countree. He met a man on his way, an' he had some souls in his mout'. He say, "01' man, you got um?" He said, "Yah!" Dose souls got loose f'om him. He cut [caught] some souls in anoder countree. Met a man. He said, "You got some?" He said, "'M, 'm!" An' dey didn' get away. 34. THE CHOSEN SUITOR: THE FORBIDDEN ROOM. I.2 Is a boy name John. An' he had a sister. An' dis king was payin' dis boy sister address. Dis little boy was a witch, could tell whe' his sister goin' to get a good husban' o' not. So when dis man come, his sister always put dis boy underneat' de step, an' put him to bed. So den dis little boy wake up an' tell his sister, "Sister, you married to de Debil." Sister slap him aroun' an' kick him, wouldn' listen de boy. So, sure enough, he [she] married de man against de boy. Man kyarry his sister from dere an' kyarry him to his house, little over t'irty or forty miles. So, after kyarrin' dis woman summuch nights an' summuch days, dis boy know exaxly how dis man was treatin' his sister. One day de man han' his wife sewen key. An' he had sewen room in de house. But he show him [her] de room, an' say, "Use de six room; but de seven room don' use it, don' go in dat room!" So one day his wife say to heself, "I got all de key. I wan' to see what is in dat room." He husban' been 'bout twenty-five mile from dere when he [she] said dat. He [she] wen' into de room, open de room. When he open de room, was nothin' but de wife dis man married, de skeleton hung up in de room. Dis one fall 1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I82). 2 Informant I7. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 44 (note 2); also North Carolina (JAFL 30: I83). 48 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. down, faint, right to de do'. Less dan half an hour he come to his sense. He lock de do' back. Gone, set down. Husban' drive up to de do' at de time, an' tell um, "Dis night you will be in dat room." Forty mile from his [her] broder den. So his broder know dat his sister have a fas' horse. An' he took sewen needle wid him. He started fo' his sister den. He ritched his sister's place 'bout fo' o'clock. Sister was to put to deat' at fus' dark. When he see dat his broder-in-law come, he welcome him like any broder-in-law do, like not'in' goin' to be done. Dis king ask him what his horse eat? He tol' him, "I feed my horse wid cotton-seed." Dis king den had to go half a mile from dis house to his nex' neighbor to get cotton-seed for his broder-in-law horse. When he gone, he tell his sister, "Sister, take not'in', jump in de buggy!" Dey had fo'ty miles to go. When he get a half a mile from de house, he han' his sister dese sewen needle. He said, "Sister, he done hitch up his horse, he comin' after us." Drop one o' de needle, an' it become a swamp across de road. De king drive until he come to de swamp. He had to tu'n back home an' get a grubbin'-hoe an' axe to cut t'rough dere. All dat time John was goin' wid his sister. De king was a witch himself. He cut um so quick, he was on dem again. He [she] drop anoder needle. Den it become a ocean across de road. He had to sup up all dat water befo' he could star' again. When dey was one mile of John house where his sister live, he tell his sister t'row all de needle out his han'. Dey become an ocean. Dey cross de oder side den. He drive down here. When he get to de ocean, he had to stop, couldn' get any furder. John an' his sister 'rive his ol' cabin whey de king kyarry him [her] from. An' dis sister gave de broder what he [she] used to kick about lovin' praise. An' John save his sister life. II.1 Once upon a time there was a man had one daughter. Every man come to marry her, she said, "No." So a man came, all over was gold. And she married him. He had a horse name SixtyMiles, for every time he jump it was sixty miles. So they went. The more he goes, his gold was dropping. Mary Bell 2 wanted to know why his gold was dropping. He said, "That is all right." They reached home soon. He gave her a big bunch of key and I Written by informant 83 - 2 Compare MAFLS 13: 52-~ Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 49 take her around to all the room in the house. "You can open all the room except one room; for if you open it, I will kill you." She start to wonder why her husband didn't want her to open it. So one day she open it. It was great surprise. She saw heads of woman hanging up. She also saw a cast of blood. Her key dropped in the blood, and she couldn't get it off. So she began to mourn. The Devil daughter told her not to cry. She took three needles and gave it to her. "He is coming; but when you first drop one, there will be a large forest, and so on." She went and get Sixty-Miles, and she went. Now the Devil came from the wood. He had a rooster. He told his master, "Massa, massa, your pretty girl gone home this morning 'fore day. Massa, massa, your pretty girl gone home this morning 'fore day." The Devil look about the house for his wife, he didn't see her. So he went to get Sixty-Miles, and he couldn't find it. So he get FiftyMiles. Start after her. He spy her far down the road. He said, "Mary Bell, O Mary Bell! what harm I done you?" "You done me no harm, but you done me good. Bang-a-lang! Hero, don't let your foot touch, bang-a-lang! Hero, don't let your foot touch!" The Devil catch at her. She drop a needle, and it became a large forest. He said, "Mary Bell, O Mary Bell! how shall I get through?" —"Well," said she, "go back home, get your axe, and cut it out." And he did. He saw her again, and catch at her. She drop another needle, and a large brick wall stood in the way. He said, " Mary Bell, how shall I get through? " —" Go get your shovel and axe, and dig and pick your way." He done just the same way. And he get through all right. He spy her again. He said, "Mary Bell, what harm I done you?" "You done me no harm, but you done me good. Bang-a-lang! Hero, don't let your foot touch." He catch at her. She step into her father's house. The Devil get so mad, he carry half of the man's house. I step on a t'in', the t'in' bend. My story is end. 50 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 35. TIGER'S WIFE.1 Once upon a time Be Tiger had a wife whose name was Dina. So Be Rabbit had wanted Be Tiger wife. And every time Be Tiger would go out, Be Rabbit would wait until he come back in the evening, and would go behind the house and listen how Be Tiger sing the song when he coming home. Be Tiger have a song to sing, say,"Aun' Dina, Aun' Dina, You know Be January, You know Be January." Aun' Dina say, - "Be Tiger, why, why!" At the same time she is coming to open the door. So Be Rabbit t'ought he could do the same, and she would open the door. So Be Rabbit went there one evening to see if he could sing like Be Tiger, so that Aun' Dina could come out. So Be Rabbit sing, - "Aun' Dina, Aun' Dina, You know Be January, You know Be January." Aun' Dina didn't give any answer.2 After Be Rabbit fin' that he didn't get any answer, he said, "I think I sing little too fast." Be Rabbit try it again, "Aun' Dina, Aun' Dina, You know Be January, You know Be January." Aun' Dina t'ought that was her husban'. She went to open the door, and singin' in the same time,"Tiger, why, why! Tiger, why, why!" When she get there, she meet Be Rabbit instead of her husban'. So Be Rabbit take her and jump on his horse back, gallop home. And when Be Tiger get home, there were no wife at home. So he went on to Be Rabbit house to see if she were there; but when he 1 Written by informant 86. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 35 (note 3). 2 Variant: Julia said, "Go on, Ber Rabbit! you can't fool me." Every time he tried to call Julia, he talk much plainer. (St. Helena.) Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 51 get there, he couldn't get her again. Be Rabbit hide her, and wouldn't let her come out.1 Of course I couldn't stay any longer to see any more done.2 36. TIGER'S WIFE: MAGIC FLIGHT. I.3 Once upon a time Ber Tiger and Ber Rabbit went out fishing to catch some fish. That night Ber Tiger and Ber Rabbit came out of fishing. And so Ber Tiger said to Ber Rabbit, " Ber Rabbit, I bet you that you cannot call my wife like me!" - "Yes, I can! yes, I can!" So Ber Rabbit begin,"Julia, Julia, Julia, girl! Ber Tiger one one wife, Ber Tiger one one wife." So Ber Tiger said, "Let me try now!" So Ber Tiger begin too, - "Julia, Julia, Julia, girl! Ber Tiger one one wife, Ber Tiger one one wife." So Julia come running to meet Ber Tiger with the fish. The next night Ber Rabbit begin again. Ber Rabbit said,"Julia, Julia, Julia, girl! Ber Tiger one one wife, Ber Tiger one one wife." So Julia come running again. So Ber Rabbit took Ber Tiger wife and went off with her. So a woman gave Julia three needles. And so Julia drop one needle, and the needle turn to river. So Ber Tiger had to go back home for a boat and oar, and row across the river. The next needle she drop turn to a brick wall. And so Tiger gone back and get him a pick-axe and a mad-axe and his wood-axe. The 1 Variant: Started out calling, "Julia, Julia, gal!" but no answer. Every time he reached a mile-post, he would stop and call, "Julia, Julia, gal!" but no answer. So by and by when he called, he heard a low voice way down the road, "Ber Tiger one one wife, Ber Tiger one one wife." And the faster he is coming upon them, the faster Ber Rabbit was driving. When he came upon them, Ber Rabbit drove into the lion's yard. Ber Tiger said, "Julia, Julia, gal!" And Julia said, "Ber Tiger one one wife." Ber Tiger had to go back home without his wife, because his wife was in the lion's yard, and Ber Tiger and Ber Lion couldn't agree. (St. Helena.) 2 I was watching them very close, and I turn aroun',I step on a tin and the tin bend, And there my story end. 8 Written by informant 85. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 54 (note 2). 52 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. last needle he [she] drop turn a big wood. And he gone back and get his axe and cut it down. All that time Ber Tiger turn back, Ber Rabbit had Ber Tiger wife in his house. And so Ber Tiger didn't catch Ber Rabbit and his wife. II.1 Once upon a time there was a tiger and his wife. And Ber Rabbit had want Ber Tiger wife. So he lay 'round to hear how did he get his wife, because could not go to the house so easy. So one day the tiger come home; and before he get to he house, he says, - "Jin, jin, it is another jan! Jin, jin, it is another jan!" And his wife answer by say, - "Tiger, tiger, wow wow! tiger, wow!" Then he went home. And Ber Rabbit was listening. So he say, "I got me a wife." So Ber Rabbit repeat it over and over, - "Jin, jin, jin, it is another jan." So Ber Tiger had a call out one day. So he had to go. So Ber Rabbit see him. He hurried on to the place, and say, - "Jin, jin, ho! jin, ho! It is another jan." So Ber Tiger wife say, "That voice is not like Tiger voice, but I will answer him." She cry out, - "Tiger, wow wow!" And Ber Rabbit went and steal Ber Tiger wife. Try to run away in his little goat-cart, but was overtook by Mr. Tiger and was killed, him and the tiger wife. So this the way the story end. 37. THE DEVIL'S DAUGHTER.2 I. Once upon a time there was a man who had name Jack. He had want to marry to the Devil daught'. He told him the only way he would let him marry to his daught', if he plant rice an' make it in one day. So the Devil daught' hear them talk about 1 Written by informant 46. 2 Written by informant 44. For bibliography see MAFLS I3: 54 (note 2). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 53 the rice. So the Devil daught' told him how to do it. So Jack told the rice, "Drop, drop!" So the rice drop. And he told the rice to grow. So the rice grow. And told the rice, "Cut!" So the rice cut. And he told the rice to bunch. And the rice bunch. And he told the Devil he was t'rough. The Devil give him his daught'. And so Jack got his wife. II.1 Once upon a time there was an old woman who had but one daughter she love very much. A boy was coming to see that girl, and want to marry her. But the old woman say, "I will hide a ring; and if you fin' it, you can marry my daughter." So she hide the ring in the place where cows sleep. And the boy could not find the ring. So the boy began to cry. The girl said, "Why do you cry?" He said, "I cry because I can' fin' the ring." The girl said, "If I show you where the ring is, would you marry me?" The boy said, "Yes." The girl said, "Look in the place where the cows sleep, and you will fin' the ring." So the boy fin' the ring and carry it to the lady. She was angry; but she say, "I will hide it again in the well." And the boy could not find it again. So he began to cry. The girl came out, and said, "Why do you cry?" The boy said, "I cannot fin' the ring." The girl said, "Look in the well on a plum-tree, and you will see the ring." The boy fin' the ring and carry it to the lady. She said, "You may have her." She mean when he went to sleep she will kill the boy. 38. RABBIT MAKES WOLF HIS HORSE.2 Dey give a ball, a party like, an' inwite all de animals, - Wolf an' Rabbit an' ev'y bit. An' Wolf was payin' 'dress dis young girl, an' Rabbit was payin' 'dress to um. An' all was goin' to de party. An' Rabbit was tellin' de girl dat Wolf couldn' go to de party, 'cause he was his saddle-horse. So Wolf wen' to Ber Rabbit, an' say, "How you tell dem girls I you' saddle-horse? I like fo' you to prove it." —"I sick." —"I'll kyarry you half way." - "Man, I kyan' go 'less you le' me put de saddle on you." - "Put him on." -"I'll hide him in de bush." Gets de spur. Go t'rough a little swamp. Rabbit lick his spur in Ber Wolf side. 1 Written by informant 55. 2 Informant 17. For bibliography see MAFLS 13 30 (note I). See also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 5-6), Antigua (JAFL 34: 55). 54 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Lick him in de head. Sunday, too, all dem girls out. Rabbit ride up to de house. Say, "Whoa! Didn' I tell yer, girl, dis my fader ridin'-horse? - Boy, take dat saddle off an' feed him for me." 39. RABBIT MAKES WOLF HIS HORSE: WATCHER TRICKED.2 Once upon a time Brother Rabbit an' Brother Wolf was friends. An' dere was goin' to be a big dance. Brother Rabbit was makin' up a trick to fool Brother Wolf to give him a ride on his back.3 Den Brother Rabbit went in his bed an' tol' his wife to tell Brother Wolf, when Brother Wolf come, dat he had pain in he head. When Brother Wolf came, Brother Wolf.asked to see Brother Rabbit. So in he went, an' he ask Brother Rabbit how he feel. Brother Rabbit say, "O Lawd! I too sick." Brother Wolf say, "I'm very sorry, but, if you agree, I'll ride you on my back 'til we get to de bridge." So Brother Rabbit got out o' bed an' get his spurs, an' put on his shut [shirt] an' collar, an' star' to grunt. An' so on he jumped. When he got to de bridge, Brother Wolf say, "All right, get off!" Brother Rabbit took out his spurs an' stun' Brother Wolf.4 An' say, "Get up, ol' horse! my gran'daddy ridin'-horse." He kyarry Brother Wolf in de stable by de place where dey was goin' to dance, an' sen' a boy to give Brother Wolf some scrap. When de dance was ower, Brother Rabbit ran up a tree, an' say, "Oh, look up dis tree!" to Brother Wolf. An' Brother Wolf look up. He t'row some dus' in Brother Wolf eye, an' ridin' home. Dat's de en'. 40. INSULT MIDSTREAM:5 RABBIT MAKES ALLIGATOR HIS HORSE. Oncet was a time when Alligater an' Ber Rabbit was goin' to wisit a party o' young ladies. Ber Rabbit says Alligater is his horse. Tell de young lady Alligater is his horse. After dey goin' to de party, dey had a small riber ter cross. Jus' befo' dey goin' 1 Variant: "Dis my fader ol' ridin'-horse." (Defuskie.) 2 Informant II. 3 Variant: Ber Rabbit tol' Ber Wolf to let him ride on his back half de way, an' den he was to jump off an' let Ber Wolf ride. (Port Royal Island.) 4 The same girl, in writing this tale, concluded as follows: " But Brother Rabbit stung him, and said, 'Git up, yer old nigger! You stole my corn, and I will pay you.' And he did pay him right." 5 Informant 2. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 2 (note 5). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 55 across de riber, he tol' Alligater, say, "Ber Alligater, tek me across." Alligater say, "No, man!" Say, "Please, Alligater, tek me across!" Alligater say, "Get on me back." He get on de alligater back. After he get on Alligater back, Alligater went off in de riber. He put 'e han' on Alligater neck. While he had 'e han' on Alligater neck, he say, "Great Gawd! Alligater make stink." Alligater say, "Wha' you say, Ber Rabbit? If you spoke dat word again, I go right bottom wid yer." Rabbit say, "No, man!" Ber Rabbit laughed. Soon Ber Rabbit laugh, Alligater 'pear do like sink in de riber. Rabbit say, "Great Gawd! Looka porpus!" Alligater 'fraid porpus. Alligater mek one flou', get asho'. Soon he get asho', Ber Rabbit jump off his back, run up on de sho', tell de young lady, "Didn' I tell yer I have a horse ter ride?" Alligater get ashamed, gone back, didn' come asho' again. 41. INSULT MIDSTREAM.1 De wil' warmint dey all give a party 'cross de river. All who couldn' fly across, de boat got to come fo' dem. So Crane an' Pa'tridge an' all dem fly an' goin' over, all de birds goin' over to de party. Dey inwite all de warmints to de party. Alligator didn' need no boat. So he vait fu' de las', 'cause he could swim 'cross. So Ber Rabbit couldn' swim. So de boat lef' him, an' dat was de las' trip o' de boat. So Ber Alligator come out de swamp, out de pon', say, "Well, I goin' to de party now. All gone. When de dance start, I'll be dere." When he get down to de creek-side, he meet Ber Rabbit down dere to de landin'. So he ask Ber Rabbit, "What yer doin' here? Las' trip o' de boat lef' here." Ber Rabbit say he come down too late. So Ber Alligator say, "Well, I gwine." Ber Rabbit say, "I vish I could goin'." - "Well," he say, "ef you could stan' on de back, I could kyarry you ower." So Ber Alligator let out in de water. An' Ber Rabbit say, "I'll stan' on yer back." A-swimmin' his back out de water, win' blew right in Alligator face goin' ower, an' back o' Alligator years [ears]. Smell putty bad, you know. An' Rabbit set up on his back, an' he facin' de win', he say dis, - say, "Man, back o' yer ears stink," - in de middle ob de riber. Alligator never hear good what he say, but he listen fo' de nex' time. When he get two acres near sho', he said dat again. Ber Alligator heard him. 1 Informant 17. 56 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Ber Alligator jus' dive f'um underneat' him, an' left him dere in de riber. Dat how come he learn to swim a little bit, an' he swim up to-day. 42. DILATORY BUZZARD.1 Buzzard don' buil' no nest. Rabbit say, "You ain' buil' no house?" - "Ain't have time to buil' a house." Storm' comin'. Have to tek de sufferin' o' de storm. 43. THE LAZY MAN.2 'Bout a man who was goin' to be married. He was so po', he had to go 'roun' to de citizen an' ask help. Dey all assis' him in clothin' an' in weddin'. Done all dey could for him. Promise den if he live, he ketch up again an' he give all return. Dey give him enough so he could live a while widout goin' to work. Dey get so hard on him, dey 'peal back to his wife. Said, "Oh, I remember my promise!" She ask him, "What was your promise?" Said, "I promise all of my people that help me when I was goin' to get married, I live quite a while on dat. Times gettin' hard for me. I got to go to work. I believe dat is my trouble." - "I believe it is," she says. "Now, dis is de en' of de week. I have to go to work Monday. Wake me up on Monday mornin'." She did. When she call upon him, said, "I kyan' work Monday, Monday is Sunday broder. Wake me Tuesday mornin'." Tuesday mornin', when she call upon him, he said, "Kyan't work Tuesday, Tuesday is Monday broder. Wake me Wednesday mornin'." She call upon him Wednesday mornin'. "Kyan't work Wednesday, Wednesday is de middle of de week," he says. Says, "Well, de week goin' fast. De rations goin' fas'. Wake me Thursday mornin'." She call upon him. "Kyan't work Thursday, Thursday is day o' fas'." - "Two more days. Got to work, cause de neighbors is tired of us. Have somet'in' to eat Sunday." Said, " Kyan't work Friday, Friday is hangman day. Everybody go see a man hang. Call me Saturday mornin'." She call upon him Saturday mornin'. "Kyan't work Saturday, Saturday is jus' de same as Sunday. Wake me up Monday. Have somet'in' to eat nex' week." Kep' on wid dat. Nex' week met a man wid 1 Informant 2. Compare, general in South, JAFL 32 374. 2 Informant 8. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 57 some money. While he roamin' out, get him to talk. He killed de man, took away his money. Nex' Friday he was hang. Everybody wen' to see him hang. 44. HOUSE A-FIRE.1 Once upon a time in slavery a man ran away from his master. An' he wen' in a lonely house in de village. By 'm by some robbers came to de house after dark. He was upstairs, an' de robbers was jus' goin' to kill him. An' he was riggin' a plan to get away. Jus' as one o' de robbers was comin' up, he sang out, "De house is on fire!" An' all come down. An' dis run all de robbers in a bear-hole, an' he was sa'. 45. DON'T SUCK YOUR TEETH.1 Once upon a time de Devil was on earth. He stole a woman's girl. An' every time he would steal dis girl, he [she] couldn't get away from 'em. He got 'em 'gain. So dis little girl fader made a plan to stop dis. He knew de Devil was scared o' lightenin' an' thunder. So he wen' an' got some rotten aiggs. An' jus' as de Devil was comin' singin', - "Ah'll eat de two to-day," - dis man t'rew all de rotten aiggs up. An' big lightenin' an' thunder came. An' de Devil tu'n roun' an' suck his tus'. Dat's why it's not good for chilrun to suck deir teeth at people,2 'cause de Devil done dat. 46. GOD AND FORTUNE. I.3 Was an ol' preacher. Dis preacher would go aroun' preachin' all de time, sayin', if Gawd would call him, he ready to go. "0 Gawd! if you call for us in de day, Fortune is ready to go. Any1 Informant iI. 2 As impudent children will do, bringing the upper teeth against the lower lip. Ac-..... cording to Portia Smiley (see JAFL 32: 378), old people will smack a child in the mouth, / and say, "No good will foller you if you do dat." They say," Devil suck his teet'. Devil would foller you 'til you get to heaven's gate. He done mad now, he lost you. Suck his \ teeth, go back. Always suck his teet' when he lose a soul." (Compare Cronise and Ward, 222.) 8 Informant 12. Compare Georgia (Jones, XXX; Harris 3 IV), Florida (JAFL 30: 227, No. I6), Virginia (JAFL 32: 361, No. 7). 58 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. how, any minute, Fortune is ready to go. Jus' when you call Fortune, Fortune is ready to go." 1 So you see de people didn' believe him, now dat he was really ready to go when Gawd call. So two little boys made a plan dat dey would go to Fortune's house one night an' call him as Gawd would. So one night Fortune was on his knees prayin' to Gawd, sayin', "O Gawd! if you call for us in de day, Fortune is ready to go. Anyhow, any minute, Fortune is ready to go. Jus' when you call Fortune, Fortune is ready to go." His wife was in bed. These two boys got on de top o' de house; an' while Fortune was prayin', dey call him. "Fortune! Fortune! I come for thee now, Fortune. Thee mus' go." Fortune kept on prayin', "O Gawd! any time you call Fortune, Fortune ready to go." Two boys repeated, "Fortune! Fortune! I come for thee now, Fortune. Thee mus' go." Fortune stop. He listen. His wife said to him, "Fortune, Gawd call yer." He said, "Tell Gawd I'm not here." His wife said, "Gawd, Fortune not here, suh!" The two boys said, "If Fortune isn't here, sen' Fortune wife." Fortune wife said, "Get up here, Fortune, an' go to Gawd!" Fortune jumped off his knees, an' I haven't seen him sence.2 II.3 Once upon a time a preacher was in the church preaching. His subject was, if Gabriel should blow his trumpet, who will be ready to go. The congregation said, "I am ready." They said to the preacher, "Are you ready?" He said, "Yes, Sisters and Brothers, I am ready to go." The preacher kept on preaching, saying, "Are you ready, Sisters and Brothers?" They said, "Yes, I am ready to go." So the boys were upstairs, and both of them had a horn. They blowed the horn. The preacher said, "Hush! what's that?" The boys blowed the horn again. The preacher said, "Oh, no! not yet, Gabriel." He said to the deacon, "If you can't run, get out of the way! Let somebody run what can run!"4 Some one caught hold to his coat-tail. He said, "Gabriel, turn my coat-tail loose." All ran out of the church except one old lady. She said, "Oh, it isn't but me!" One of the two boys said, "We are here, too!" 1 Variant: "Lord, you can come in the morning, you can come at midnight, you can come at the break of day, any time Fortune is ready to go." (St. Helena.) 2 Variant: Fortune said, "God, you can' take fun?" 8 Written by informant 47. 4 See p. 73. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 59 47. ONLY A LAMB.1 'Bout a man stealing sheep. There were two brothers who used to do de same work, takin' care o' sheep. One of dese brothers was always hongree, an' he used to steal a lamb almos' every day to cook out under de trees somewhere. So dis honest broder tol' him one day dat if he didn' stop takin' dese lambs, Gawd would speak to him, because what he was doin' wasn' right. So he didn' pay dis broder much heed. Time went on a long, long while, 'til he had forgotten what his brother tol' him. One evenin' he was hongree. Kill a little lamb. De nex' evenin' he went by a tree, laid his gun by him, an' lie down for res'. Night came upon him there. When he woke up, he heard a sound ower his head, - " Yesterday even he stole a sheep! Yesterday even he stole a sheep!" Dis was an ol', ol' owl, but he did not know it. At oncet he t'ought of what his broder tol' him long, long ago. An' he said to himself, "Well, well, Gawd is speakin' to me now!" De ol' owl kep' on from de tree, repeatin' his same ol' tune, - "Yesterday even he stole a sheep! Yesterday even he stole a sheep!" He got up an' fell on his knees, an' said, "0 Master! it wasn' a sheep, it was only a little lamb. Forgive me! It wasn' a sheep, it was only a little lamb." De ol' owl kept on, an' kept on, in an angree tone, as if it was Gawd himself. So de poor man jumped off his knees an' ran on home, feelin' dat Gawd really had spoken to him. 48. SEEING TROUBLE. I.2 Ber 'Gater tol' Ber Rabbit dat he didn' know what trouble was. Ber Rabbit tol' him go an' lay down in de broom-grass an' he would see trouble. An' Ber 'Gater went an' lay dere. An' Rabbit went an' took some oil an' threw it all roun' Ber 'Gater in de grass. Ah' then set it a-fire.3 An' then Ber 'Gater got up, an' said dat he never saw trouble befo', but he was in trouble then. An' dat why Ber 'Gater back was so rough. 1 Informant i2. 2 Informant 19. Compare South Carolina (Christensen, 56-57), Georgia (Harris: XXVI; Jones, I), Mexico (JAFL 20: 207, 238-239). 3 Variant: No way he could get out 'cep' come t'rough de fire. (St. Helena.) 60 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. II.1 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit and Ber 'Gater was talking, and Ber Rabbit ask Ber 'Gater if he know what is trouble. And Ber 'Gater said, "No." So Ber Rabbit told Ber 'Gater to go yonder to the sand and lie there in the grass until twelve o'clock that night, and he will see trouble. So Ber 'Gater went, and there he drop asleep. So Ber Rabbit went there and catch the grass a-fire. And when Ber 'Gater awake, he saw fire all around him. And he jumped into the pond of water. That makes Ber 'Gater back rough until to-day. 49. BROOM-STRAW A-FIRE.2 Ber Rabbit an' Ber Pa'tridge was great frien's. An' one day Ber Pa'tridge fly up, an' he tell Ber Rabbit, "Ber Rabbit, I betshyer I can light in dis patch o' broom-grass an' you kyan't fin' me!" Ber Rabbit tell him, say, "I betshyou kyan't!" Ber Pa'tridge ax him, "How much you bet me?" Ber Rabbit tell um, "If you go in de broom-grass an' I kyan' fin' you, I'll give you one of my chillun." So den Ber Pa'tridge fly right up, an' light right down in de middle of de broom-grass. Sun was hot in June, an' Ber Rabbit hunt an' hunt all he could. He hunt 'tel he get perspirin'. Pull off his coat, still huntin'. Den he decided Ber Pa'tridge kyan' be in dis grass. Den Ber Rabbit goin' roun' an' ketch de grass a-fire 'roun' an' 'roun'. Soon as Ber Pa'tridge feel de heat of de fire, she fly up. She gone home an' take Ber Rabbit chil'. 50. TAR BABY: 3 BLINDING THE OWNER: BROOM-STRAW A-FIRE. Oncet upon a time dere was t'ree,- Ber Rabbit, Ber Wolf, an' Ber Bear. Ber Rabbit had a pease-fiel'. So after de pease got dat high [indicating four inches], green an' pretty, eve'y mornin' Ber Rabbit would go an' roas' de pease. So he said dat some one was eatin' de pease. So he says, "I put up a little tar baby heah. So if Ber Rabbit was to come here to-morrow mornin', I want you to ketch him for me." So de nex' mornin' Ber Wolf comes. After de wolf got dere, de little tar baby was settin' up on a bush. [The rest of the incident was omitted.] 1 Written by informant 89. 2 Informant 27. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 179, No. i6). 3 Informant 20. See p. 25. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 6I After den dey caught Ber Deer. Ber Deer was de'one was eatin' de pease. Dey tie up Ber Deer to de tree, an' dey 'cided to kill him. So when Ber Wolf sen' Ber Rabbit for his gun, Ber Wolf b'ought de axe. When Ber Deer saw Ber Wolf comin' wid de axe, he said, "Ber Wolf, what you goin' to do wid dis axe?" Ber Wolf say, " I show you better dan I tell yer." Kill Ber Deer, skin him. Ber Wolf wus an ol' man. Ber Rabbit took Ber Deer an' give Ber Wolf de head. Ber Rabbit could run faster than Ber Wolf, so he took his part an' run away to de house, put it up on de lof'. Put a little boy up dere to min' de meat. Beat up salt an' pepper. An' on his way back he hid behin' some bushes. An' when Ber Wolf was comin' along, he t'row de sal' an' pepper in Ber Wolf eye. Took Ber Wolf sha' o' de meat, an' kyarry dat home an' put it in de lof' also. After Ber Wolf got home, he washed his face an' receive his sight again. An' Ber Wolf, to get de spite of Ber Rabbit, know where Ber Rabbit baid were. He always like to sleep in dry broom-straw. Ber Wolf set de broom-straw on fire. Stan' on de outside wid an ol' hoe in his han'. Ber Rabbit jump t'rough de fire an' singe himself. Dat was why Ber Rabbit is dat brownish color to-day. During dat time he was jumpin', Ber Wolf sling dat ol' hoe an' cut off Ber Rabbit tail. Dat is why Ber Rabbit tail is short until to-day. 51. BEWITCHING THE MASTER. I.1 Wen' to a witch-man. When his master 'mence to whip him, eve'y cut he give de man, his [master's] wife way off at home feel de cut. Sen' wor' please stop cut lick de man. When he [master] got home, his wife was wash down wid blood. II.1 His master beat him so sevare, so de man went to a witch. De witch said, "Never min'! you go home. To-morrow you will see me." When de man got up in de mornin', de white man was jus' as happy as happy can be; but de more de sun goes down, he commence ter sleep. At de same time he call to his Negro, "Tomorrow you go an' do such an' such a tas'." Givin' out his orders 1 Informant I. 62 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. kyan hardly hol' up his head. As soon as de sun was down, he down too, he down yet. De witch done dat. He [witch] come, but he stay in his home an' done dat. III.1 Once upon a time there was a old man in slavery. He told his master that he was cripple and couldn't work. So the man let him stay home to take care of his children. One day the master went away. When he came home, he find the man play on his banjo, - "I was fooling my master seventy-two years, And I am fooling him now." He was singing this song away on his banjo. His master caught him, and start to kill him by whipping him. So the old man went to the doctor Negro. The next day he was to be kill'. When his master started to whip him, every time the man start to whip him, none of the licks touch. And he had freedom. 52. WITCH-MAN AND ROOSTER.2 An' ol' witch oncet. He don' hu't nobody 'cep' man who go to him to get him to hu't anoder man. Man went to him to kill anoder man. Dis ol' witch-man calls a dinner. Kill de rooyster an' have fine dinner. Said, inwited all de mans in de place. Baig to save all de bones of de rooyster. Dat same man [who asked the witch-man to kill for him] fall down from de table, he sleepin'. After de dinner was ower fur a long time, dey all went out into de yard playin' stick (stick-lick).3 After dey play such a leng' of time, de same witch-man wen' to de man an' slap him, an' ask him, "What yer sleepin' dere for, an' all de good time?" (You know how he done wake de man?) He slap all de bones o' de rooyster. Dat was de life o' de man. An' de rooyster crow, an' went out in de yard an' play wid de hens. Soon as de rooyster crow, dat was de life o' de man. After a while he ax him how does he like to kill a man? He is heah to do good, an' not wickedness. I Written by informant 49. 2 Informant I. 3 See No. 178. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 63 53. OUT OF HER SKIN. I.1 A white man had a wife. Eve'y night his wife go, but he don' know where his wife go to. He had a servant to wait on dem. So de servant whispered to his master, "Master, don' you know mistress kill all my chil'run?" Say, " Mistress is a hag." - "You think you can prove it? You think you can ketch her?" - "Yes, suh! you let me sleep here one night. I kyan ketch her." So de servant an' his master make de agreement how to ketch 'em. He said to his servan', "Don' you go home to-night. You sleep hyere. I'm goin' away soon in de mornin'." Dey bof (de man an' de wife) dey went to baid, de servan' on de watch. Late in de night de mistress woke up. De servan' watch her. Somet'in' she put on her flesh an' take off her skins. After take off her skins, she roll it up an' put it in her dirty clo'es in de back o' de baid. An' she gone out. After she gone out, de servan' call to her master, said, "Master, mistress is gone. To proof to you dat mistress is a hag, I come now an' show you what she done." She went back ob de baid an' get de clo'es what de skin in, an' bring it to her master, an' say, "Here is mistress skin." An' he said to his servan', "What shall we do wid de skin to ketch her?" She said, "Put black pepper an' salt in de skin on de inside." So de master did dat. So later on de mistress came an' get her skin. An' she 'mence to put it on; an' eve'y time de skin bu'n her so much, she said to de skin, "Skin, skin, you don' know me? 'Tis me." Still she couldn' get it on. So she went to her baid an' wrapped up. Master was out now. She lay down till late. Her husband 'mence to p'ovoke her to get up. Still she won't get up. Jus' keep po'vokin'. All at oncet he snatched off de cover off her, *an' dere she was raw like a beef. So he called witnesses to prove. So dey make a kil' of lime an' put her in it, an' bu'n her down. But as much as de fire a-bu'nin', she never holler 'til dey t'row de skin in. De skin 'mence to scream. So dat was de en' of his wife. II.2 Once upon a time there was an old hag who used to scare people. Then the people began to call her "hag." So one night she went 1 Informant i. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 27: 247; JAFL 34: io), Georgia (Harris i: XXXI), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 187, No. 34; and see comparative note, ibid. 187, note 2), Maryland (JAFL 30: 209-2I0), South in general (JAFL 32:363), Bahamas (MAFLS 3:41, note I). 2 Written by informant 57. 64 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. to a family house to hag the children. So she leave her skin there and went back next morning. So when she got there, one of the boys threw salt on her skin. And she begged for everything she could think of, but nothing the boy would give her. (If you give a hag anything, she will get her skin back again.) So she begged, and began to cry, "'Kin, 'kin, you na know me? 'Kin, 'kin, you na know me?" At last the boy gave her a match. And she get her skin back again. III.1 During the Civil War there was an old lady. She was a servant in her mistress home. One day her mistress went out. She left her children at home with the servant. The children start talking about an hag. The old lady herself was an hag. She took off her skin to show the children how hags do. When the children mother came home, they told her all about the hag and how she did. The mistress made her take off her skin, and the mistress salt the skin. When she was ready to put on her skin, the skin didn't know her. She said, "Skinny, Skinny, you don't know?" 54. TO MEET IN HELL.2 Young man workin' in sto'. Pick up a dime, kyarry it to his moder. "Kyarry it back!" said his moder. Fader said, "No, dat will bring boy luck." Time roll on. Keep a loss. Firs' loss five hundred dollars; nex', fifteen hundred dollars. Take up de boy case. Boy knows nothin' 'bout de money. Put him in de petty court. He was guilty. Put him in United States Court. He was guilty. Was a hangin' matter. After try, his case was gallus-hangin'. When he was on de gallus, call fader. "Fader," he said, "come here!" Fader came. "See dat ol' pine over dere?" -"Yes." -"Put your arm aroun' it, ben' it." - "Kyan't ben' it." - "See dat young pine over dere?" - "Yes." Say, "Ben' it." He went an' t'rew arm aroun' it. Ben' dat down. "Know de meaning' of dat?" - "No." - "If you had let me take de money back, I wouldn' be here to-day. Pa, put your head near my, le' me whisper in your ears fo' I die." Pa put his head near. He bit his ear right off. "Know what dat for? Dat will condemn you when you come to hell, where I am. I Written by informant 74 - 2 Informant 8. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 65 When you come to hell, you will meet me dere." Dat is de en' of dat wicked man. 55. WATCH OR RATTLESNAKE. I.1 Gen'mun was goin' 'long de road, -a rich gen'mun wid a circle. An' 'e had a gol' watch on, long gol' chain, an' everyt'in'. He drive so fas' until he drop his watch. He pas' two Ahshman goin' to de same direction. When he miss his watch, he tu'n back an' he call dem. "P'ease, gen'mun, you habn' pick up no watch?" - "No," he says, "I haven't pick up no watch. I club a rattlesnake down dere. By Jesus! wasn' dat rattlesnake tickin'? - John," he says, "get a club." - "By Jesus! Pat, you hasn' bring de club yet? De feller is goin' in de bush." De oder feller say, "Watch him, John! I soon get de club." Dey bruk up dat man's watch. De man drove to de place whey he say he kill de rattlesnake, an' foun' all his gol' works dere, chain an' everyt'in'. An' drove an' ketch dem. An' said, "You all don' know diffunce of a rattlesnake f'om a watch." II.2 Two Ahshman walkin' along, an' dey went up by de shed to get some water. One saw a rope, an' he want to swing in. Made a slip-knot an' put it 'roun' his neck. He swing for a while, an' after a while his neck broke. An' de oder one went on an' left him. After he walkin' for a while, he picked up a watch an' heard de watch a-runnin'. De watch said, "Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick!" He said, "My name is not Tick. Dick is in de swing. Jesus de Chris'! I tol' you my name is not Tick. Dick is in de swing." He broke de watch up, an' wen' home. He met a man who dropped de watch. De man asked um if he didn't see a watch. "No, met a little t'ing dat call me 'Tick, Tick,' so broke it up." Man tol' him, "Dat was my watch." 56. WATCH OR RATTLESNAKE: "KNEE-DEEP" AND "BETTER GO ROUND." 3 Two Irishman was travellin' in de night. Dey come up to a watch. An' de watch was goin' "Tick! Tick! Tick!" An' he 1 Informant 17. Compare Virginia (Southern Workman, 28:93). 2 Informant i6. 3 Informant 28. 66 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. call de oder one, "Come heah!" Dey all geder 'roun' dat watch. "Here is a bloody rattlesnake tickin' after me." An' dey all get a stick an' beat on dat watch 'til dey break um up. Come up to a big pon' of water. A bloody nowun (big kind of frawg) was singin', "Go 'roun'! Go 'roun'! Go 'roun'!" An' a little frawg says, "Knee-deep! Knee-deep! Knee-deep!" An' he walk 'roun' an' 'roun' all night. "Be fait' an' be Chris'! dis man say, "Goin' 'roun',' an' we be goin' 'roun' all night. An' here is one sayin', 'It's only knee-deep.' Be fait' an' be Chris'! le's go across!" Den he start in. He walk until he get to de knee in de water. De little frawg still hollerin', "Knee-deep! Knee-deep!" He said, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! he say, 'Kneedeep,' an' I'm to me knee now." De oder one say, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! Pat, le's try it a little furder!" Den he say," Be fait' an' be Chris'! you hollerin' 'Knee-deep!' an' yet now is ower head deep." Den de oder one say, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! Pat, I believe it all fo' a damn lie." An' den dey tu'n back. 57. TIE ME TIGHT! I.1 Oncet Rabbit an' Wolf go out; an' Rabbit tol' Wolf dat ef he would le' him tie um to a tree, he would get um two fat hen. So he tie um to a tree wid wine [vine], tie um fas'. An' Wolf say, "Don' tie me too tight, Ber Rabbit!" Ber Rabbit say couldn' get de hen ef he don' tie um tight. So Wolf say, "Tie me tight, Ber Rabbit! Tie me tight!" So Ber Rabbit wen' to de barnyard an' call two houn'. An' dey chase um. An' he run back to de tree whey he tie Ber Wolf. Ber Wolf see de houn' comin', an' cry out, "Go 'roun', Ber Rabbit, go 'roun'!" But Rabbit keep straight on. An' de houn' get Ber Wolf; an' he call out, "I tol' you to go 'roun'! I tol' you to go 'roun'! Dat wasn' right." II.2 De fox had a way goin' to de man hawg-pen an' eatin' up all his hawg. So de people didn' know how to ketch de fox. An' so de rabbit was goin' along one Sunday mornin'. Say was goin' to church. Ber Fox singin', "Good-mornin', Ber Rabbit!" Ber x Informant 16. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I76, No. io). 2 Informant I7. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 67 Rabbit singin', "Good-mornin', Ber Fox!" Say, "Whey you goin'?" Say, "I'm goin' to church." Ber Fox say, "Dis is my time. I'm hungry dis mornin'. I'm goin' to ketch you." - " Ber Fox! leave me off dis mornin'! I will sen' you to a man house where he got a penful of pretty little pig, an' you will get yer brakefus' fill. Ef you don' believe me, you can tie me here, an' you can go down to de house, an' I'll stay here until you come back." So Ber Fox tie him. When he wen' down to de house, de man had about fifty head of houn'-dawg. An' de man tu'n de houn'-dawg loose on him. An' de fox made de long run right by Ber Rabbit. Ber Fox say, "O Ber Rabbit! dose is no brakefus', dose is a pile of houn'-dawg." - "Yes, you was goin' to eat me, but dey will eat you for your brakefus' and supper to-night." An' so dey did. Dey cut [caught] de fox. An' Ber Rabbit give to de dawgs, "Gawd bless yer soul! dat what enemy get for meddlin' Gawd's people when dey goin' to church." Said) "I was goin' to school all my life an' learn every letter in de book but d, an' D was death, an' death was de en' of Ber Fox." III.1 One day the wolf said, "Brother Rabbit, I am going to eat you up."-"No," said Brother Rabbit, "don't eat me! I know where some fine geese is. If you let me tie you here, I will go and get them for you." -"All right," said the wolf. So the rabbit tied the wolf. Then the rabbit went on his way until he came to a farmyard. Then he said, "Farmer, give me trouble." So the farmer went into the yard and get a hound-dog and two houndpuppies and put them in a bag, and said, "When you get out in the field, you must open the bag, and you will have all the trouble you want." 2- "All right," said the rabbit. So the rabbit went back to the wolf. He waited until he came near the wolf, then he loose the bag and ran the dogs behind him. He ran right straight for the wolf. Wolf said, "Bear off, Rabbit, bear off!" So he saw the rabbit was close upon him, he called out harder, "Bear off, Rabbit, bear off!" The rabbit said, "Not a bit. I am running in straight deal this morning." So the dogs killed the wolf and eat him up. The story is end. 1 Written by informant 56. 2 See p. I9, and compare Georgia (Jones, XVIII). 68 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 58. DIVIDING THE SOULS. I.1 Oncet two man stole some pertaters. Said, "Where do you t'ink would be de bes' place to go to sha' um?" Oder said, "I t'ink go 'roun' by de graveyard." So dey went to de back gate, an' makin' two pile. "Dis way yourn, dat one mine." Comin' by de graveyard, by de fron' gate, a man stan' an' listen for a while. Tu'n back. After he get up a ways, he met anoder man. Said, "Gawd an' de Debil sharin' souls. Sharin' even, too. Debil gather as many as Gawd, too. Ef you don' believe me, come on, le's go back!" So dey come back, stop at de gate an' listen. Feller doin' de sharin' he t'rew two by de gate. Said, "How 'bout dose two by de gate?" So dey star' right down de road. Dey open out. Said, "I got to go, dey might get me." Down de road dey ran. II.2 Once there were two men who had stolen three bags of 'tater. They went in the graveyard to sha' the 'taters. They went about the work like this: "Dis dere you'n [yours], dis dere mine; dis dere you'n, dis dere mine," throwing them on two piles. Just then a colored man came by and heard the noise. He ran down the road until he met a white man. Say, "Boss, the Devil and God 3 dey sha' the soul in de graveyard down yonder." The two men started down the road toward the graveyard, and stopped by the gate. "Well, suh, if did so, it beat all I see. De Debil and God dere sha' de soul right before me, right on dis sinful eart'." The men who had stolen the 'taters had left two of de bag by de gate; and when they got through sha'ing the one bag, dey said, "How about the two by the gate?" And the two men who were listening broke down, gone, run most to deat'. End. 59. THE THREE DREAMS.4 Two mans wen' to a restauran'. It was late, so de man who was keepin' de restauran' sell up ev'ryt'in', had only a piece of chicken. Tony call out, "De one dream de longes' dream will 1 Informant I6. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 177), Virginia (JAFL 30: 215). 2 Written by informant 60. 3 Variant: God and his son. (St. Helena.) 4 Informant 36. For comparative notes see JAFL 30: 378. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 69 eat de chicken!" So Boss say, "All right." An' after dey lie down, an' Tony drop fas' asleep, Boss get up an' eat de chicken. Tony snorin'. Wake up. Call Boss. "What you dream?" Boss stretch. "Tell yer dream," Tony say. "Yours firs'." Boss said, "Tell your." Tony begin, "I dream I gone from dis place. Angel Gabriel come down an' put two wings on me. I fly. I fly. Gates wide open. I fly right in." Boss say, "Tony boy, I saw when you flyin', so I ate de chicken." 60. BIG-CLAW AND LITTLE-CLAW. I.1 Big-Claw an' Little-Claw was ploughin' in de fiel'. LittleClaw makin' all de noise. "Gee haw! Gee haw!" Big-Claw say, "Little-Claw, ef you don' stop dat noise, I come 'cross an' kill yer horse." So Little-Claw made de same noise. So BigClaw leave his fiel' an' came ower in Little-Claw fiel', an' kill Little-Claw horse. Little-Claw kyarry him to cou't. Give Little-Claw Big-Claw horse, an' put Big-Claw in jail. After Big-Claw come out, Little-Claw gran'moder died. So LittleClaw take his gran'moder, put her in de buggy, an' kyarry in town. Wen' to a fruit-stan' an' bought a glass o' lemonade. An' tol' de man to kyarry it out to his gran'moder. An' he han' it to her. Say, "Take dis glass out rny han'! Ef you don' take dis glass, I knock you down." So she don' take it. An' he knock her down. An' Little-Claw came out an' say, "Oh, see how you kill my gran'moder!" -"Hush! Hush! How much money you want?" So Little-Claw said, "One peck." So de man give him a peck o' money. He wen' back home an' tol' Big-Claw, "Big-Claw, my gran'moder died, an' I got one peck o' money fo' her." Big-Claw wen' home an' kill his gran'moder, an' nex' day kyarry him in, an' goin' up de street hollerin', "F'esh gran'moder! F'esh gran'moder! Who want to buy?" De people caught him an' put him in jail. An' kep' him in for some leng' o' time. An' after dey tu'n him out, he gone an' ketch Little-Claw an' put him in a bag an' kyarry him down to de riber. An' man was drivin' some sheep an' cows, an' Little-Claw heard de cow walkin'. "Here, cow, don' mash me!" An' de man say, "Who dat?" Say, "Me, Little-Claw." An' man loose de bag an' put 1 Informant i6. Bibliography, Bolte u. Polivka, 2: I. See also French Canada (JAFL 29: Ioi), New Mexico (JAFL 27: 22), Malecite (JAFL 31: 485). 70 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Little-Claw on de ho'se, an' tell Little-Claw to drive de cow an' sheep up to his house. Nex' day Little-Claw drivin' de cow out, an' pass Big-Claw house. An' he tol' Big-Claw, "Big-Claw, you t'row me in de sea yesterday, but I come out wid a flock o' cattle." Big-Claw say, "All right. I want you to t'row me in to-morrow." So Little-Claw put Big-Claw in de bag wid some bricks an' t'rew Big-Claw owerboa'd. An' he ower 'tel to-day. You know stony crab wid a big claw? Dat Big-Claw. II.1 Once there was two men, name Ber Lee 2-Thumb and Ber BigThumb. Ber Lee-Thumb had one horse, and Ber Big-Thumb had five. One Sunday Ber Big-Thumb gone to church and left Ber Lee-Thumb to plough. And he told Ber Lee-Thumb if he beat his horse, he would kill his one. Ber Big-Thumb didn't go to church, but went and hid himself to see if Ber Big-Thumb would beat his horse. Ber Lee-Thumb start to beat Ber Big-Thumb horse. Ber Big-Thumb said, "Aha! the same thing I tell you, and you do it. I gwine right now an' kill your one." When Ber Big-Thumb done kill Ber Lee-Thumb horse, Ber Lee-Thumb bury his horse, and said, "Aha! you see how much I git for my horse." Ber Lee-Thumb went and kill all five of his horse, an' went out in the town. Sale for horse. The people run him out of the town. Ber Big-Thumb went and kill Ber Lee-Thumb grandmother. Ber Lee-Thumb went and bury her [his] grandma, and said, "See how much money I get for my grandma!" Ber BigThumb went and kill his grandma, and went out in the town. Sale for old lady. The people start to beat him, and run him out of the town. Ber Big-Thumb said to Ber Lee-Thumb, "All right, you make me kill my grandma. I goin' git you yet." Ber LeeThumb put a log in his bed. And he went an' hide the night. Ber Big-Thumb went to Ber Lee-Thumb house to kill him. And take a big stick and begin to beat the log. He said, "Ber LeeThumb, oh, you dead! See how stiff you is!" The next day Ber Big-Thumb said, "Ber Lee-Thumb, ain't I kill you last night? How you come here?" "Yes, but by the help of the Lord dere yet." Ber Big-Thumb said, "All right, you git in da' bag." Ber Big-Thumb start to drown Ber Lee-Thumb. They 1 Written by informant 78. 2 Presumedly dialectical for "Little." "Leelee" is the Sierra Leone word. (Cronise and Ward, passim.) Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 71 went by a church. Ber Big-Thumb went in the church, and left Ber Lee-Thumb outside. A man went up to bag, an' said, "Who this in this bag?" -"Me." - "Who's me?" - "Ber LeeThumb. O man! I gwine to heaven soon this morning.""Let me get in da' bag! Wha' you lee' boy know about heaven?" The man give Ber Lee-Thumb his cows. Ber Lee-Thumb take the man, throw him in the creek. The next morning Ber BigThumb said, "Ain't I drown you last night?" - "Yes, and by the help of the Lord I rise, and rise on fifteen head of cow." Ber Big-Thumb said, "Put me in that same bag, throw me the same place I throw you." Ber Lee-Thumb drown Ber Big-Thumb. And that is the last of Ber Big-Thumb and Ber Lee-Thumb. 6I. THE TALKING MULE.1 Oncet a man had a mule. An' de mule was name Jack. An' ev'y Sunday mornin' he would sen' de boy down to de stable to plough all day Sunday. So one mornin' mo' dan all he sen' de boy. An' de boy got in de stable. An' he always say, "Stan' back, Jack!" So Sunday mornin', to his surprise, when boy wen' in de stable, he say, "Stan' back, Jack!" De mule he gave boy answer. He say, "Eve'y Sunday mornin' it's 'Stan' back, Jack! Stan' back, Jack!"' De boy scared. Den he run back an' tell his poppa, say, "De mule talkin'." - "No, he ain't! Go hitch up!" "You come an' see!" When he got dere, de mule still sayin', "Eve'y Sunday mornin' it's a 'Stan' back, Jack!"' De ol' man he got scared, an' he started to run. As he run, he holler, "Great Gawd! I never hear' de mule talk in my life befo'." He had a little dawg. An' he run, goin' hollerin', "I never heard a mule talk!" Little dawg, he was right behin' him, "Me neither." Ev'y time de man say "I never heard a mule talk," little dawg say "Me neither." Dat broke him up hitchin' up Jack on Sunday an' kyarr'in' him to work. 62. RACING A GHOST. I.2 Once upon a time there was a preacher. And he had nowhey to stay. And some people give him a house to live in for a while. 1 Informant 17. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 12), Florida (JAFL 30: 224, No. 7). 2 Written by informant 50. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I95, No. 52), Florida (JAFL 30: 224), South in general (JAFL 32: 367-368). 72 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. And a whole lot of people die out of the house. And he told the people that he don't mind that, say he is not afraid of any one but the Lord. So he went in the house, and take a seat. And had a room well prepared for that night. And early that night he made up a large fire. And he was reading a large Bible. And he had his foot up on the chimbly. And that night he had on a large pot of pease. And late that night he was sitting to the fire, was waiting for the pease to done. And a ghost come down the chimbly. And then another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, until the room full. And one of them touch the man. And this man pitch across the spirit head and ran down the street. And a splinter went in his foot. And he stop to pull it out of his feet. And the spirit said to the man, "Unt [enty?] we do some running?" The man said, "You ain't see no running yet. Just wait until I get this splinter out my foot!" II.1 Once upon a time there was an old house. It was very haunted, and no one could stay in it. So an old man decided that he would have a load of wood and stay in this old house by himself. So he made the fire and sat in the corner. Then he heard a voice in the house, saying, "You can sit there, but I goin' set there, too." So the old man jumped through the window, and the ghost jump behind him. He said, "Oh, I jump!" The ghost said, "I clear, too." He ran one mile. The ghost said, "I clear, too." So the old man sit down and rest. The ghost said, "I goin' rest right here, too." So the old man run up to a tree and killed himself. So the ghost ran right on by. This was the last of the old man and the ghost. III.2 Once there was an old house which stood in a field. And many people had died out of it. And they said that a ghost was in it. And one old man said, "I can sleep in that house by myself." And another man said, "If you sleep there, I will give you a cartload of watermelon." So the old man went there and begin to smoke his pipe. He said, "I done got that watermelon." And he begin to nod. And he heard a voice say, "It isn't but we two in here to-night." And the man said, "By God! it wouldn't 1 Written by informant 20. 2 Written by informant 6I. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 73 be but you one." And he begin to run. And met a rabbit. So he said, "Rabbit, get out of the way! Let somebody run who can run!" And he ran and butt into a stump and kill himself, and didn't get the watermelon. IV.1 Long, long time ago there live a family of people on a hill in a little cabin, and all died but the father. And about two weeks' time the father had to move. So there was an old lady by name of Nancy, and she had an acre of watermelon. And there was an old man by the name of Joe, and he love watermelon very much. So he said to Mis' Nancy, "Mis' Nancy, dear, if I go and spen' a night in that old haunted house, will you give me a load of watermelon?" - "Oh, with all my heart!" reply Mis' Nancy. "You lose a load of watermelon," said Mr. Joe. So that night Mr. Joe went to the house about twelve o'clock. Mr. Joe was a man who did not believe in ghost. He said that there was not anything in the world by the name of ghost. That night about twelve o'clock he was sitting by the fire, thinking how he was going to eat the watermelon and he was going to sell some. Just about half-past twelve up jump a ghost and sit beside him. And said to Uncle Joe, "Oh, just we two!" Uncle Joe's eyes grew big, and his hair upon his head rise. And he said, "Won't be but one in a minute." Through the window he went, and took half of the window along with him. He ran and ran until he ran six mile. And he saw a rabbit going along the road; and he said to the rabbit, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! And let some one run who can run!" and run until he got to a willer-tree in the road, and knock him almost dead. And the people found him that next morning and took him to his house. And when he could talk, he said, "Tell 'Mis' Nancy she can have her watermelon." And if you want to fight, ask Mr. Joe if ghost in the world. He step on a pin, and the pin ben', And now my story is end. 63. PURGATORY.2 Dere was a king, an' he had a very fair daughter. So he wanted to see de Devil: An' he give it out, any man could bring 1 Written by informant 73. 2 Informant 23. Compare Georgia (Harris I: XXXII), Spain (Caballero, I2:447 -460). 74 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. de Devil an' let him see him, he would give him his on'y daughter an' half of his kingdom. So Sixteen he heard of it. An' he t'ought he would take up de job. An' he went to Torment. An' when he got dere, he rap at de gate, an' he rap at de gate. 01' Devil says, "Who is dere?" An' man says, "Me, Sixteen." — "What does Sixteen want?" Sixteen says, "I want to see de Devil." De Devil den he comes to de gate. Sixteen had a pitchfork, an' Sixteen wait till he got up near enough to him, an' he jam de fork in him an' t'rew him on his shoulder. An' de Devil rear, hoot an' holler, an' couldn' get away. An' Sixteen wen' on to de king. Befo' he get dere, he had a straight avenue goin' up to his house, right befo' de palace do', whey de king always set. An' he got near de palace gate; an' de king saw him, an' said, "What dat yonder comin'?" Somebody said, "I don't know." An' when Sixteen got to de gate, de king sen' one of de servan' to de gate to fin' out what it was. Sixteen said, "I want to see de king. De king said he wanted to see de Devil, an' whoever could bring de Devil an' let him see him, he would give him his on'y daughter an' half of his kingdom. I brought him so he could see him." He tell him to come in. De king view him good. De Devil look so bad, cry out, "Don' bring him here! I don' want to see him. Kyarry him back! Kyarry him back!" So Sixteen kyarry him back an' tu'n him loose. Now de time come fo' Sixteen to die. Gawd didn' want him in heaven, - "'cause you have done nothin' to live in heaven. You mus' go to hell." So Sixteen wen' on to hell, an' he rap at de gate. "Who is dat dere?" Say, "Sixteen." -"Tell him to go back, I don' want him here." Gawd didn' want him in heaven, an' de Devil wouldn't have um in hell. So he wen' on de half-way groun', an' he buil' what is call Purgatory. 64. CHAIR-BOUND.1 Once there was a man and the Devil. So the Devil come to the man house. And the Devil set down in a chair, and could not get up. So the Devil beg the man let him get up. So the man let him get up. 1 Written by informant 44. Compare Georgia (Harris I:XXXII). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, 2: I63. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 75 65. MAN IN LIQUOR.1 Oncet upon a time dere was a kyat an' a rat. Dere was a barrel of whiskey. An' de rat fell head over heels into de barrel of whiskey. So de rat say, "O Lawd! I wish somebody would come by to he'p me get out my trouble!" An' durin' de time de kyat happen to pass by. So Ber Rat say to Ber Kyat, "O Ber Kyat! look yere a minute!" Say, "Ber Kyat, ol' feller, ef you he'p me out dis barrel o' whiskey, you can put me on de grass an' let me dry. An' after I dry, you kyan eat me." An' Ber Kyat say, "All right." Ber Kyat took Ber Rat out, an' lay by while he was dryin'. Durin' de time Ber Rat was dryin' in de sun, Ber Kyat dropped asleep. While Ber Kyat was sleepin', Ber Rat slipped in his hole. Den Ber Kyat say, "Ah, Ber Rat! dat ain't de bargain." So Ber Rat say, "Ber Kyat, ol' feller, you know when a man in liquor, he say any ol' t'in'." 66. TRACKWELL, DIVEWELL, BREATHEWELL. I.2 De man had one daughter. An' dere was t'ree men comin' to see her. Dey was Trackwell, Divewell, an' Breavewell. Dey said de man dat had de best right could marry to de daughter. De daughter went an' got lost. After de woman leave de house, she went down to de river. Trackwell track her f'om de house to de aidge of de water. Dat was all Trackwell could do. She went into de river. Divewell went, an' dive until he fin' her. An' after Divewell foun' her, he brought her up on de sho'. An' Breavewell breave his breat' back into her. An' it come a-disputin'. The father said to de t'ree mens, "Which one of you is entitled to the daughter?" Trackwell said, "I am entitled to the woman, because she was los', an' I track her out." Divewell says, "Your track didn' done no good, because you couldn' fin' her. You track her to the aidge of the water. I had to dive out in dat ocean, take chance of my life, an' hunt until I foun' her." Breavewell said, "All for that what you folk have done, the woman is mine, because she was dead, an' I brought life into her again." So the fader give her to Breavewell. 1 Informant.I9. 2 Informant 36. Compare E'wes (Spieth, 595-596), Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, 200-205), Vandau MS. (Boas). 76 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. [Discussion of the decision was thereupon engaged in by the company. "My belief is, Trackwell should have dat woman," said one. "My belief is, Breavewell should have dat woman," said another. "It's hard, but it's fair."] II.1 Smellwell, Di'well, Trackwell, an Breat'well,- dey was fo'. De moder had a daughter. Dey was fo' boys what love dis girl. Dis girl went down to de riber an' drown. Now, after de fo' boys went down to de riber, dey foun' de girl, an' de argymen' come about which boy would have de mos' right to de girl. An' Trackwell said, "I have a right to de girl, because I tracked her to de river." An' Smellwell said, "I have a right to de girl, because I smell her down in de water." An' Di'well said, "I have a right to de girl, 'cause I di' fo' her." An' Breat'well said, "I have a right to de girl, because I blow breat' in her." An' durin' de time dey got fo' judges to judge de cause. An' de judges say, "Not any one have a right to de girl," dat de girl moder have mo' right to her. An' dat was de en' of de riddle. What did you think have mos' right to de girl,- de boys, or de moder? III.2 Dere was a lady had a girl name Lilly. An' she went down to de riber, go across. An' she get drownded. An' a man come in de house name Trackum. She leave de house, an' nobody know she gone. An' Trackum track um by de house down to de riber. Den Trackum couldn' go no mo'. Dis time didn' know wheder she gone across or was drownded or what. Nex' man come, name was Diveum. Now Diveum dive down, an' he brought her up on de hill. Now Blowbreat' come. Now Blowbreat' blow breat', an' bring um back alive like how he [she] was. Now each one of dem men wan' ter marry to her fo' deir po'tion. Now, who have de bes' right to de girl? Who de girl fall to? 67. MASTER DISGUISED.3 Ol'-time story, Rebel time. Ev'y winter dat de mawsah go to Philamadelphia, always go to New York. Him hab all de key. An' he look after de whole house 'til his mawsah come back. So 1 Informant I9. 2 Informant 27. 8 Informant I7. Compare Virginia (JAFL 32:362). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 77 when his mawsah go, he go all 'roun' an' inwite all de neighbors, an' have big dance. Dress up in his mawsah suit. Dat time dere never use to be no fiddle, beat wid a stick on de flo'. Goin' all 'roun'. Mawsah gone Philamadelphia. Go get his mawsah brandy. So his mawsah t'ink he ketch him now, see what him doin'. "John, goin' off to-morrer to Philamadelphia."- "All right, mawsah, tak kyare of everyt'in'." Mawsah gone. Mawsah go in de wood, stay in de wood dat night 'til de dance start. So de mawsah muddy up hisse'f. Come whey he hear de beat. He all de time have a man at de do' to watch to tu'n people in. Man say, "Raf' man out dere." So he come to de do'. "What you doin' here?" - "I jus' kyarryin' de raf' here, suh!" - " Come in here, suh! Sit right down, poor-buckra!l Mawsah gone to Philmadelphia. Po'-buckra! kyan you read?"- "Yes, suh! I can read a little bit, suh." "Come hyeah!" Kyarry to mawsah pantry. "Read dat!"- "Dat brandy." Po' pint o' dat. "What dis yere?"- "Dat rum." - "Give me a gallon o' dat. What are dey?" - "Dat wine." - "All right, two quart o' dat. Come back now, po'-buckra!" So de driver wife look at de man so. Say, "Dat man look like mawsah."- "Mawsah gone to Philmadelphia. Poor-buckra! Gi' himsomet'in' to eat." Mawsah in de dark wipe off mud from his face. An' den he saw it was mawsah. He flew in de wood, an' be in de wood two years. By dat time peace declare. 68. THE IRISHMAN AND THE DONKEYS.2 Well, de farmers wen' to buy animals to plough, to cultivate de groun'. An' in dat countree dere was Irishman. So de Irishman t'ought dat he would go an' buy animal, too, fo' his farm. So dese big farmer dey bought heavy mule dat can plough de groun'. So de two Irishman dey conclude dat dey buy a donkey. An' dey said, "By Jasus! it will do de same wo'k." So dem big farmers lead de mules off, an' started fo' home. Likeway de Irishman did so, too, started fo' home wid his donkey. Farmers got to a place whey dey buy wagons an' buggy. Hitch deir mule in, an' get in an' star' home. So de Irishman did de same. Dey bought a small road-kyart fo' de donkey, an' dey started fo' home. Dey been 'bout fifty miles from deir home. All dem great big farmers 1 Poor white. 2 Informant 17. 78 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. gone, lef' dem. Donkey kyarried dem 'bout a mile f'om de place whey dey bought deir gig, an' stop wid um, wouldn' go anoder step. So dey conclude now to take him out. Don' know what to do, kyan't get um to go. So one o' de Irishman says, "By Jasus! I know what to do. I hitch him up de oder way. He will go den." So he tu'n his head part into de shaf'. He get in his gig. "Get up, suh!" De feller backin' de gig back, goin' de way he come f'um. De oder Irishman he watch him, an' say, "Oh, dat don' suit! I know what I will do with my feller." He fling his ower his shoulder, an' tote him back to de place where he bought him. He says, " By Jasus!" he says, " I want my shillings. He don' go head nor fo'awd." So de merchan' says, "De bargain same as already made." So he saw an ol' man comin' by de shop, an' he say, "I kyan' wo'k dis donkey. He don' go head nor fo'awd. You kyan take him." So he wen' on home. So he los' money an' donkey. Dat was de en' of him. 69. TREATY OF PEACE.1 Tell 'bout de fox. He use to go down an' eat fowls. Nighttime you in yer house, he'd come to yer house an' clean yer out. He stole de fowl, so de fowl had to lef de yard an' go sleep up on tree. Dat's de reason de fowl sleep up on tree to-day - by Ber Fox: So fo' one year he could' get a fowl to eat. So he study a plan so he will have a fowl to eat. So Buh Rooyster up on de tree, side de road, 'fo' day, sleepin'. So Ber Fox come 'long, say, "Eh, Ber Rooyster!" So Ber Rooyster say, "Eh, Ber Fox!" Say, "Man, you ain't yeah [hear] de news?" - "No." - "Law'! you ain't yeah how de law come out now?" Say, "Ev'ybody mus' make peace now. I don' eat you, you don' boder wid me. Come down! Le's make peace!" So Ber Rooyster slap his wing, "Kukukuku!"- "Come down now, make peace!" Ber Rooyster say, "0 Ber Fox! who dat comin' yonder? 'E look like a man an' a dawg, an' 'e got er gun." So he say, "Oh, goodmornin', Ber Rooyster! Don' min' fo' comin' down den. Dawg ain't got no sense, yer know, an' de man got er gun." Ber Rooyster say, "Yes." He flee to de swamp den. So Ber Rooyster say, "T'ank Gawd! I save my life by studyin' dat plan." 1 Informant 17. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 27: 243), Vandau (Curtis, 47). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 79 70. RELAY RACE. I.1 All dem rich men dat countree dey got up a race. De fas'es' race-horse was ter race wid Cootah. So dey set a day fo' de race. An' dese big mans put de money up. Now, Cootah know what was de amoun' o' money, an' de fas' race-horse know what was de amoun' o' money. So Cootah ax fo' a day. Dey 'gree to gi' Cootah dat day ter decide what he goin' to do. De race was twenty mile wid dat race-horse. An' dat day he get his fam'ly o' cootah, an' set a cootah to ev'y mile. So de nex' day was de race. When de race come off, de judge, all dem big people was dere to decide de race. Well, de judge decide when de race mus' start. Dey start off. An' de man 'rive to wan [one] mile, 'cause de cootah was dere. 'Rive to anoder mile-pos', dere was a cootah dere. Judge at bof en'. When de race-horse 'rive up to de twenty mile, de cootah was dere. Dey had to decide in cootah an' race-horse favor, an' each get half. De en' of de story. When it rained, it rained on Cootah. II.2 De terripin an' de deer ha' a race. Mr. Terripin git all his kinspeople togeder an' place one at each mile-pos'. W'en Mr. Deer git to de fi's' mil'-pos', Mr. Terripin say, "Ise heah, Mr. Deer." Mr. Deer jum' to de nex' mil'-pos', but Mr. Terripin was dah; and so 'twas at ebery mil'-pos'. Mr. Terripin say, "Well, which one can run de fas'est, Mr. Deer?" - "I can't fo' say, fo' I still t'ink Ise de fas'est runner in de worl'." - "Maybe you air, but I kin head you off wid sense." 71. ASLEEP IN THE RACE.3 Hare an' Cootah goin' to have a race. Man count, "One, two, three! Le's start off!" Hare look back, didn' see de cootah. Say, "I goin' to sleep." When he woke, he hurry to de river. Cootah say, "Man, it's good down here." 4 1 Informant 17. For bibliography see MAFLS I3:I02 (note I). See also Benga (Nassau, 95-98); Bulu (JAFL 29: 277); in Chindau, D. Jones, 12; Bechuana (Jones and Plaatje, 8); Cherokee (BAE 19: 270-27I); Apache (Goddard); Philippines (MAFLS 2: 428-429; Cole, 89); Taulipang, Guiana (Koch-Griinberg, 139); Chiriguano (Nordenskiold, 292). 2 Informant 77. Recorded by Sadie E. Stewart. See JAFL 32:394. 3 Informant 25. For bibliography see MAFLS I3:I02 (note 3); also Cherokee (BAE 19: 290-29I). 4 The only other version I heard of this tale was a race between Rabbit and Turtle, and it had been learned, said its narrator, from a book. 80 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 72. FROG PAYS.1 Frawg been down in de well. So he wan' to get out de well. Well so deep, been down so long, an' hongry. So he ax Ber Rattlesnake to bring um out de well, he pay um. So Ber Rattlesnake bring him out de well. An' he wouldn' pay Ber Rattlesnake. Ber Rattlesnake meet him in de wood one day, grab him hol', "Yas, I pay yer!!! Yas, I pay yer!! Yas, I pay yer!" 2 As Frawg tell dat, Rattlesnake chaw him up. 73. ESCAPE UP THE TREE. I.3 I been out in de woods one day. I had two dawg de name o' Jimmie Bingo an' Jim Bolden. I said to my moder befo' I gone, I had a lot of woods to go t'rough, an' dere was a lot of fox, wil' beasties was in de wood. I says, "Now, mamma, when I get in de woods, an' you hear dese dawgs start ter holler, you mus' tu'n dem loose." De dawgs start to holler. My moder dropped to sleep. I wen' up de tree f'om de wolf. I cried out,'-116. g G -- -O- G r \ Jim-mie Bing - o, J:m Bol - den, r-. — '..... i -' V 1- - 7 i I?- \ ' Yon - der ba-rook soo - ka ba- rook, So as ma lul - la come home,ding,dingl Grow,ma ar-row,grow! Jim-mie Bing-o, Jim Bol - den, r9-w^i ---<1- -P-r —P-? —f r — r -~ —5-* — --- Yon - der ba- rook soo - ka ba - rook, So ma lul - la come.. _-....... _home,ding, ding! Grow, ma ar-row,grow! 1 Informant 17. 2 Voice weaker each time. 8 Informant 27. For bibliography see MAFLS I3:66 (note 2); also comparative (Parsons, Zt. f. Ethnologie I922 [in press]); MAFLS I5 (Pt. II): 122. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. Den I tell de tree mus' grow a little bottom an' a big top. Dat time de fox was gnawin' down de tree bottom, cut de tree down to kill me. Den I made de second cry: - "Jimmie Bingo, Jim Bolden, Yonder barook sooka barook, So as ma lulla come home, ding ding! Grow, ma arrow, grow! Jimmie Bingo, Jim Bolden, Yonder barook sooka barook, So ma lulla come home, ding ding! Grow, ma arrow, grow!" Here comes Jimmie Bingo an' Jim Bolden. De wolf tu'n to a witch. I tell 'em, "Take him, Jimmie Bingo an' Jim Bolden, because life is in it!" When dey commence to eat 'em up, den he cried out. Dey cut him up, an' den I had a chance to come down out de tree. Den I said, "I believe I go back home." II.1 Said once upon a time a boy had a sister. An' de moder sent 'em to de store one day. An' he wait until sundown, an' he didn' see his sister comin'. An' de nex' mornin' he get up an' put some water in de basin. An' tie his two dawgs. An' he tol' his moder dat when de water in de basin tu'n to blood, mus' tu'n de dawgs loose. An' when he got to de bridge, de ol' man was sleepin'. An' he saw his sister clothes underneat' de bridge. An' he went up on de sycamore-tree. An' de ol' man he woke up. An' he started up de tree. He tol' de ol' man he better stay down on de groun', les' he hu't hisse'f. An' he began to call his dawgs:" Whoa Eva whoa! I am goin' down de riber."2 An' de dawgs come a-runnin'. An' when de dawgs get dere, he say, "Take um, Cut-Throat and Suck-Blood!" Dat was de las' of de ol' man. III.3 Once upon a time there was a girl name Mary, and a boy name Johnny. Johnny was a shepherd-boy, and Mary keep the house. There was a giant live not far off. And the giant want to eat 1 Informant 25. 2 Chanted. a Written by informant 68. 82 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Mary and Johnny. Early one morning Johnny went into the wood to look after his sheep. While Johnny was away, the giant came. And Mary was upstairs looking out of the window for her brother. The giant open the gate, and went in the yard and into the house. There were ten steps to climb before he could reach Mary. He rap on the first step, "Bam, bam, bar! Come down there!" Mary said, "Just wait till I stick a pin in my red dress, sir!" He climb up two steps, and then he rap again, "Bam, barn, barn! Come down there! Johnny coming yet?" Mary said, "No, sir! All I see is the blue sky and green grass." He rap again, "Barn, bam, bam! Come down there! Johnny coming yet?"-"No, sir! All I can see is the woods far off, but I haven't seen Johnny yet." Now the giant was getting angry, and he want to eat Mary before Johnny come. Mary knew that the giant was going to eat her, so she won't tell the giant that her brother was coming. But she stood up in the window; and, while the giant coming higher and higher upstairs, she begun to turn round in the room just as if she was dressing. The giant rap on the ninth step, "Bam, barn, bam! Come down there!" Meantime Johnny step right in. The giant jump round, and said, "B'oder, B'oder, B'oder, your dog bite?" Johnny said, "No, sir! If you don't trouble them, they won't trouble you." The giant was afraid of Johnny: so he said, "Johnny, I have a job for you." Johnny said, "Yes, sir! What is it?" He said, "Do you see the tallest tree in that wood yonder?" Johnny said, "Yes." So he said, "Well, I want you to climb the very tallest tree. And I don't know what I won't give you." Johnny was very kind-hearted: so he said, "All right, sir!" But the giant didn't trust the dogs: so he said, "Johnny, tie those dogs! Tie them to each block at the corner of the house." Johnny said, "Yes, sir!" So he did. Then the giant call Johnny, and said, "Let us go!" Johnny went in the wood, and he climb the tallest tree. When he got to the top of the tree, he saw Mary in the window looking for him. Then he look down, and there was the giant cutting the tree with his teeth, trying to kill Johnny. First, then, he would go and kill Mary; but when Johnny saw him, he called out in a loud and long tune, "You Cut-er-Throat, you, you! You Suck-er-Blood, you, you! You Crack-er-Bone, you, you! You Smash-er-Meat, you, you! Your master life is almost gone." The dogs heard this, and they started off; but they couldn't get 'way from the house. Johnny called again, "You Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 83 Cut-er-Throat, you, you! You Suck-er-Blood, you, you! You Smash-er-Meat, you, you! You Crack-er-Bone, you, you! Your master life is almost gone." The dogs heard their master, and they make another je'k. The dogs started 'cross the field. Johnny saw his dogs, and he called again in a low tune, "You Cut-er-Throat, you, you! You Suck-er-Blood, you, you! You Smash-er-Meat, you, you! You Crack-er-Bone! Your master life is almost gone." The dogs heard their master's voice. And they ran faster and faster. When they got there, the tree just about to fall. Then Cut-er-Throat cut the giant throat, and Sucker-Blood suck the blood, and Smash-er-Meat smash the meat, and Crack-er-Bone crack the bone. And Johnny came down out of the tree, and t'rew his arm around the dogs' neck and kiss them. I step on a tin, and the tin bend, And my story end. 74. THE DESERTED CHILDREN: ESCAPE UP THE TREE: RESCUE OF THE KING'S DAUGHTER.1 An ol' man an' his wife had eight chil'run. An' dey come a fam'ly [?famine], couldn' get anyt'in' to eat, time was so hyard. An' in dat countree were wil' people. He took fo' o' de chil'run, - two boy, two girl, - an' t'row um out in de fores', an' keep fo' home. Dese fo' chil'run been out in de woods fo' night an' fo' day. De two oldes' fumble away an' fumble away until dey finally fin' deir way back home. So John an' Mary dey couldn' fin' de way back home. So dey staid in de woods, an' John fin' a holler. Him an' his sister staid in dat holler. An' ev'y day John would go out hunt fo' food, wil' berries, shakeapen [chinkapin], an' diffun' food for him an' his sister. So one day more'n all John went out to hunt food. He fumble an' fumble until he get on de aidge of de wood, an' he saw a buil'in'. He t'ought he'd go up an' see what it was. An' when he wen' up, dere was a shop, big shop. He saw dese cake an' t'ings in at de winder. He didn' see no one. He stepped in, an' he reach his han' an' get fo' o' dese cake. Whils' he comin' out de do', he heard, "Squizz...z!" He look 'roun', an' he saw a woman in de corner was blin'. Dis 1 Informant 17. Compare, for the tale as a whole, Spain (De Soto, XXI, XXII); for "Rescue of the King's Daughter," Jamaica (P. C. Smith, 57; Milne-Home, 68-69; Pub. FLS 55: XVII), Antigua (JAFL 34:78); comparative, JAFL 25:258 (note 4).Initial part, Bolte u. Polivka, I: 551-553. 84 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. woman take him fo' a kyat, yer know. So he wen' into de woods wid de cake, an' he give his sister one an' a ha'f, an' he eat one an' a ha'f. His sister say to him, "O Broder Johnnie! whey you get home-made grub?" He tell his sister dere is a house out dere he fin'. So his sister says to him, "0 Broder Johnnie! kyarry me, an' le' me go wid you an' le' me get some mo'!" So his [her] broder said to him [her], "Sister Mary, I'll kyarry you; but dere is an old woman dere blin', an' when she say 'Squizz...z!' you [will] run an' laugh, an' he ketch us." He [she] say no, 'e wouldn' laugh. So he 'blige his sister, 'e kyarry him dere de nex' day. When Johnnie step into de shop, he step a w'ong boa'd, an' de boa'd crack. An' de ol' lady say, "Squizz...z!" An' he run off from de do', an' say, "Ke, ke, ke, ke...e!" An' de wil' man was bakin' out on de side, run out an' ketch bof of dem. Dey was people eat people. So he had a big kyage to fatten 'em in right in f'ont of de do'. So he put John an' Mary bof in de kyage. An' 'bout twelve o'clock he take Mary out de kyage an' put Mary in de house wid his wife to wait on his wife till dey ready to eat him. Dat evenin' dey was to kill John. Was near de swamp. A big rat run t'rough de kyage. Whils' de rat was goin', John ketch de rat an' cut off his tail. De ol' man come to de kyage to see wheder John fat o' not. John poke de rat-tail to him. You know he had no sense, he t'ought dat was John finger. So he wen' back to de house, tol' his wife he can't kill dat feller, ain't fat yet. So nex' mornin' Mary wen' to de kyage, play wid de rat-tail, lose de rat-tail. De ol' man come to de kyage an ax' John show him his finger. John had no rat-tail den, had to show him his finger, all 'ca'se of his sister. John poke his finger t'rough de kyage. 01' man says, "Fat, fat, fat!" Unlock de do', take John out, kyarry him to de choppin'-block. When he get John to de choppin'-block, start to put John head on de choppin'block, John make a groan, says, "I'm a man f'om my fader." 01' man was sca'd den to kill John, so he tu'n John loose. He said, "Boy, I will sen' you out on my farm to min' my cattle." John said, "All right, sah!" So he sen' John out, an' he give John a gun an' two dawg. An' John name dese dawg Cut-de-T'roat, Suck-de-Blood. Now, de ol' man said to his wife in de house, whey Mary wus now, "When dat boy come home to-day, I'll put pize [poison] in his victual, an' I'll kill um." Man step out de do'. Mary sing, - Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. J=72. ~ O~~~~-~ ---~- -- ~,F~ ----~-~ ---'~;tEhl Broder John-nie! 01 - ee man say When you comin' home, He ace. a tempo.._.....f la. - -. * w --.. —. | O r- n d v v v. e, I sure to put pi -zen in your victuals,An' he sure ter kill yer dead. An' John understan' his sister. He sing, Eh! Sis - tub Ma - reel An' I un - 'er stan' you. John come home, wouldn' eat. Nex' day, now, ol' man conclude to shoot him. "01' Lady," say, "I get dat boy, I'm goin' up to de gate wid er deer-skin on. I sure to shoot him dead when he come home." Mary sing, — J=72. Eh BroderJohn-nie! 01 - ee man say When you comin' home, He _ acc. a tempo., sure to go up on de gate,An' he sure ter kill yer dead. John walk to some road, an' when he comin' home, he missed de ol' man. De ol' man up on de gate in his deer-skin. John come up underneat' de bush an' shot de ol' man in de deer-skin dead. Say, "Sister Mary, I got him. I kill him. He's right in de road dere." An' de ol' man wife fell sispicious den. An' jus' befo' he dead, he call John an' Mary: "John an' Mary, come here!" Dey bof wen' to him. He said, "See dis prupe'ty? All dis prupe'ty belongs to yourn. But see dat well dere? If you sweep di't into dat well, a mighty beas' arise an' 'stroy you all." So John min' de cows as usual, an' he leaves de homestud fo' his sister. 'E take ca'. One day Mary 'member what de ol' lady say: "If you sweep di't into dat well, a mighty beas' arise an' 'stroy you all." "I goin' to sweep di't in de well." Go an' get de broom. John been in de fiel' den mindin' de cow. So soon 86 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. as Mary sweep de di't into de well, de beas' come up to Mary. Say, "Ain't you de sister of John?" He [she] say, "Yes." Say, "John have got two dawg; an' you adwise John to keep dem dawg home to-morrer, I won' do anyt'in' wid you." John was a witch. He knowed right off dat his sister been done an' sweep di't in de well. He come home, an' he didn' said anyt'in' to his sister. So dat night his sister said to him, "John, when you gone in de mornin', mus' left Cut-de-T'roat an' Suck-de-Blood home wid me, 'cause me 'fraid to stay here." So John said to um, "Sister Mary, dis is de firs' trouble you eber bring me into. I don' wan' you to bring me into no mo' trouble; but, anyhow, I lef' de dawg home wid you." So John take his gun an' his bow arrow, an' wen' an' min' his cow jus' de same. When John get out in de fiel', he fin' dat de lan' was a distan' off f'om his house. John saw de beas' come up to him. John say to de beas', "Ah, you a wise man!" De beas' say to John, "You still wiser." John say to de beas', " Beas', if you 'low me to go up on dis tree an' shoot my bow five time, an' if my dawg ain't come, I'm yer man." So de beas' so sure he got John, he tol' John, "You can go up an' shoot 'em a hundred time." But John never have but five arrow, you see, so he couldn' shoot a hund'ed time. Den John shoot de firs' time. Dis was John cry, — =-66. -U _ -' I. t: — --, i E. Grow, my ar-row, growl Grow, my ar-row, growl Wid a -R- -A-".r...- -Fwide bottom an' a wide top, Dis yer massa's firs' ar - row gone. Dat time Mary got de axe home, drivin' de stake down deeper an' deeper [to fasten the dogs]. Cut-de-T'roat jumpin'. John cry again,-.L I.. ri: Fr G. '. e Eh! Come,Cut-de-,T'roat! Eh! Come,Suck-de- Bloodl Wid a wide bottom an a wide top, Disyer. row gone. wide bottom an' a wide top, Dis yer massa's secon' ar - row gone. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 87 He had to sing to give 'em time. Grow, my ar-row, grow! Grow, my ar-row, grow! Wid a o-n - '-.-4 - -R-g-g- %f -,-P* - f ~. m _t- t X i wide bottom an' a wide top, Dis yer mas-sah third ar-row gone. Cut-de-T'roat got loose, cut off Suck-de-Blood chain. One t'ousan' mile to go. Soon as his mossah got down to put his foot in de beas' mout', dey been dat distance to save de mossah life. He said, "Cut his t'roat!" Nex' word, "Suck his blood!" Den John come off de tree, an' take his two dawg an' gone on home. Said when he got home, "Sister Mary, dis is de secon' trouble you got me into. I leaf you. Take all de t'ings." Take his dawg an' gone. Walk twenty mile. Meet up wid a sign: "Any man dat enter de city an' kill de mighty beas' would marry de king daughter." So de direction was on dat sign whey de king house was. De beas' had been done kill ten or twelve mans cou'tin' de king daughter. So John an' his dawg enter into de city an' make right fo' de king house. An' when John get up on de step, put his firs' step, de beas' caught his laig. John cry, "Cut-his-T'roat, cut his throat!" De dawg cut his throat. John say, "Suck-his-Blood, suck his blood!" De dawg suck his blood. John wen' into de house. Saw all de mans in de house. Had no pertection, glad when John come an' kill de beas'. John didn' know de king daughter; but de king daughter walk right to John, hug him an' kiss him, said, "Dis my husban'." Said, "Now, befo' we married, you got a sister, go get yer sister. Tell my fader hitch up de fas'es' horse he got in his stable." An' so dey did, go de twenty mile, get back dat night. When John get back to de do' dat night, de weddin' was goin' on. Dese big man couldn' kill de beas', but dey could have de weddin'. John get mad 'bout dat. John didn' go into de house. John sent his dawg into de house to clear way de house fo' him. De dawg take all dem big man an' t'row dem outdoors. Den he an' Mary went in. Den after dey married, John wife chose Mary for his maid. She made up all dat bed, weddin' bed an' all dat. An' one of dose big men gib' Mary t'ousan' dollars to put somet'in' on his [her] broder's head.' 1 To "fix" him by putting something under his pillow (see p. 212). 88 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Nex' mornin' John was dead. In dose days, not like to-day,dead to-day, an' wouldn' bury until to-morrow,- buryde same day. Fam'ly all set up on de box [coffin], Mary an' king daughter. Oder people walk. To-day dey go in kyarridge. John dawg wen' on; an' dey 'mos' get to de potter fiel', stop de wagon, an' Suck-de-Blood pull Mary an' de queen off de box, an' Cut-hisT'roat, he brave dawg, break de box open. When he bruk de box open, John rise an' stan' 'mongst de congregation, an' said to his sister, "Ah, Sister Mary! dis is de t'ird trouble you brought me to. Now I'm goin' leave you forever." John an' his two dawg fly away to heaven. Mary an' de king daughter an' all dem big man dey went to hell. 75. THE RICH OLD MAN.1 Once upon a time a ol' man git married to a ol' 'oman. De ol' man los' all his money, an' the ol' 'oman wanted to left 'im. So she cook 'im a good dinna. When de ol' man git t'rough fu eat, de ol' 'oman led 'im down to de crik-side, an' tied his hands behin' 'im. Den de ol' 'oman went way back from de ol' man, and ran down de hillside as fas' as she could. When she get almos' to de ol' man, he step aside an' let her go overboa'd. She begin to cry and cry for he'p. De ol' man look at her and shake his hade [head], and said, " I - wish - I - could he'p - you, but me hands are tied behin' me." 76. THE DOCTOR AND HIS MAN.2 Story 'bout a doctor. Doctor had a feller name John, an' he kyarry him 'long wid him de time he go to see de sick patien'. When de doctor got a lot o' patien' on han', he generally sen' John 'roun' to see how dey wus, wheder dey gettin' wo'se or better. So John generally see what de doctor do; so he like ter play doctor part. So some of de patien' complain to de doctor 'bout John. When he go up to de patien' house wid de doctor, he drive jus' like de doctor. Watch how he kyarry grip in ter sick, how he walk. So was a wery sick woman, de doctor sen' him to see how he [she] feel. De doctor wan' to break him up playin' de doctor part. So he sen' him to dis sick woman, but he didn' tell dis sick woman what to do when he come in. So when he wen' in de 1 Informant 81. Recorded by Sadie E. Stewart. See JAFL 32:395-396. Compare North Carolina (Campbell and Sharp, No. 45). 2 Informant I7. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 89 house, "Howse you dis mornin'?- "Ise too sick, suh." Feel de woman pulse, ketch her han', say, "Oh, you goin' to die!" Dat time her husban' flee out de room, grab John, an' give John de bigges' beatin'. An' in 'bout five minutes de doctor come out de room, an' say, "O Mr. John! I stop you playin' de doctor part." Dat show when you workin' wid anybody, you mus' do exactly as dey tell yer. Don' go ahead! 77. THE THREE SWEETHEARTS.1 Woman had a husban' an' had t'ree sweethearts. An' he husban' used to wo'k out. An' he [she] go an' tell dat firs' sweetheart. Dat night Monday; all dat day he [she] cook big cake, roas' duck, and eb'ryt'ing fo' him [her] an' his [her] sweetheart have a fine time. But somehow or 'noder some one mus' ha' put de husban' on to de scheme. An' dat Monday night de husban' stay in de woods. Firs' dark, he [she] heard a rap, sweetheart come. Jus' as he [she] start to fix de table good, he [she] heard anoder rap. Dat firs' sweetheart gone up de lof'. Was de second sweetheart. (T'ought it was he husban'.) Talk an' talk an' talk, fix to go in de room. Jus' as dey fix to go in de room, heard a rap. 'E remembers dat de husban' hab a big ches' whey a man could get in an' hide. Second sweetheart get in dere. Open de do'. Was de husban'. Husban' look wery suspicious. Make um make up de fire. Whils' de husban' sittin' by de fire, suspicious, dis woman didn' know dat de t'ree [third] sweetheart was dere, he bein' underneat' de baid. Whils' she been to de well, de husban' happen to look towards de baidside, an' he saw dis feller foot draw way up underneat' de baid. An' de husban' beat dat feller. Spark flew out o' his eyes. Dat nigger bu's' de do' an' run out. De man get so mad, he run upstairs to get his gun. Foun' dat oder feller. Fight upstairs. Still a-fightin', come rollin' down, upset de lamp. House on fire, bu'nin' down. Dis nigger gets away, gone. Dis woman runnin' 'roun' de fire. Woman cryin' an' whoopin', say, "Charlie, don' forget de ches', don' forget de ches'!" Nigger say, "Damn de ches'!" Went an' grab de ches', 'member he had some boots in dere. T'row de ches' out so hard, de ches' bu's' open an' de nigger jump out. Woman save dat man. 1 Informant 17. Compare Georgia (JAFL 32 372), North Carolina (Campbell and Sharp, No. 42; JAFL 30: I86, No. 3I). go Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 78. MAN UNDER THE BED.1 Man had a little boy an' a wife. Ev'y time he come home from work, he learn he little boy to tell him story, riddle an' t'ing. Ef de boy is sleepin', wake him up. "Come, son! come, son! tell story." Husban' been gone t'ree weeks. Wake up de boy. Boy wen' to bed, lef' de man settin' down. Know what de moder was doin', was bakin' open [?oben?oven] bread. Didn' have time to eat um 'fo' his husban' come home. Woman t'ink de boy was sleepin'. When he [she] hear de husban' rap, tell dis sweetheart get underneat' de baid. Dis boy heard 'em. Time de ol' man get in de house, he wake up de boy. "Come, son! come, son! tell papa a story. Tell him a good riddle, now!" Say, "Pa, I'm goin' to tell you a good story to-night. Dis evenin' I saw a rabbit. I take a brick. I knock 'em dead. An' dat rabbit as big as dat b'ead in dat safe dere, an' his eye was jus' as shine as dat man eye underneat' dat baid." 01' man look in de safe an' see de b'ead; look under de baid, an' see dat nigger eye shine jes' as bright. Dat man haul out dat nigger. An' he beat dat man, beat dat man until dat nigger get out dat house an' away he flew. 79. THE TWO COWARDS.2 Dere was two 'fraid fellers. Dey was livin' in de same city. Dey bof afraid. After dark dey don' walk no way. Couldn' get dem to go outdo'. So de bof moder were po'; scarce get a t'in' to eat. Big sons 'fraid to go anywhey to work. All dem rich people dere got up a bet, an' dey raise amount little ower fo' hund'ed dollar to pay on de two ob dem to go in de graveyard, an' dey was to bring a head-stick back to prove dat dey went in de graveyard. De graveyard been a half a mile from de hall. It was dark as pitch, fawggy, fine rain fallin'. Now, dey had de two 'fraid feller in de hall now to take up dis bet. One would go to de do', look out, come back. Anyhow, one pick up feet, say, "I'll go." Run right out de hall. He gone. Time dat one run, de oder foller right behin' him. He take a white sheet, dis las' one. Dis oder 'f'aid feller what ben befo', when he look behin', he seed t'in' look white. "I goin', anyhow." When dey go near de graveyard to get in, when de firs' feller run in to get de head-stick, de oder feller 1 Informant 17. For bibliographylsee MAFLS I3]: 79 (note I). 2 Informant 17. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 91 cry out, "Don' take dat stick! Dat my head-stick." - "Gawd!" he say, "dat sperit right heah!" He left dat head-stick. Gone to anoder head-stick. Grab dat head-stick. Shake um. " Don' take dat head-stick, dat my head-stick!" -"Damn! I kyarry dis.". Gone down de road now, runnin'. De oder 'fraid feller, robed all white, right behin'. Run in de hall, judge, dem people on one side de hall, people on de oder side. "Heah de head-stick, but he comin' fo' um!" People was fallin' from side to side, faintin'. Secon' feller run right in, pick up all money. De fus' feller didn' get any. But de nex' day dey fin' out dat it was de oder 'f'aid feller, an' make him diwide up wid de oder feller. 80. MINSTREL MONOLOGUE.1 A feller was goin' to see a girl. He said to dis girl, "We will go 'roun' to de livery-stable. Dere is a four-wheel horse an' a bob-tail buggy." She says, "No, Hon [Honey], we'll hire a fourwheel buggy an' a bob-tail horse."- "Yes, dat's right, Plum. We'll go 'roun' by de railroad-track. Whoa! dis horse right yere. Ah heard dat depot blow. Ah see de track comin' down de train. He's stop right yere, Baby." - "No," says, "us is on de track. I gotten out. Ma horse is lyin' on de right-han' side, ma buggy lyin' on de lef'-han' side, ma girl lyin' in de middle o' de track." - "Whey was you lyin' da, Charlie?" - "I'm lyin' about ev'yt'in' I said. An' after dis, Hon, us will go down to dis decot." - "No, Plum, you don' mean decot." - "What do Ah mean?" - "You mean depot." - "Yes, I thought so. Le's go an' get right on dis train. An' go down to Lick Licker, S.C." An' jus' as us got dere, de cow-doctor come aroun', hollerin' 'Tea-cat!' "- "No, Baby, you talk jes' like a Guichy. You mean de conductor come 'roun', hollerin' 'Ticket!'" - "Yeah, das what I mean. 'Course I had my double-barrel dawg wid me." - "You mean your doublebarrel gun."- "Yes, I thought 'twas somet'in' like dat, 'cause ev'y time I pull his tail, his brains flies out. Wait, Hon! I got a little joke ter tell yer right now. An' dis will be de las' of 'em. I went to kiss my gyal de oder night, An' I thought I would do it a-sneakin'. I missed her mouth, an' kissed her nose, An', God bless my soul! it was leakin'. 1 Informant 22. Original. 92 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 81. ON THE LOG.1 Pat an' Jim was goin' down de riber, goin' on a travel, an' see de lawg floatin'. An' Jim said to Pat, "Heh! Pat, look a dere! Dere's a man goin' down de riber sailin'." An' Jim said, "No, dat's a lawg, Pat." Pat say, "Dat's a lawg? Ah'm goin' to ride on it." Pat jumped on de lawg in de river, an' de lawg went to tu'n over an' duckin' Pat under. Jim said, "Hol' to it, Pat! Youse nigh as good a man as his is. You firs' on top an' den under de bottom." 82. GOOSEBERRY GALLOWS.2 Colored fellow an' a Dutch was goin' to be hung in Kushaw, S.C. De jailer he was tol' to let um be hung on any tree dey wanted to be hung on. So dey asked de Dutch firs'. Dutch say, "I want to be hung on a pine-tree." Dey asked de colored feller. He said he want to be hung on a oak-tree wid a big limb off on de right. Says, "All right. You all can have dat." Said to de Irish, "What kind of tree you want to be hung on?" He said, "Who, me?" - "Yes, you." Said, "I want to be hung on a gooseberrybush." Say, "Dat ain't large enough." He said, "By Jesus!" Say, "Me will wait till it grow." 83. USED TO IT.2 De Dutch an' de Irish was to be hung togeder. An' tied de rope 'roun' both neck. An' de Dutch went to cryin'. De Irish looked on de Dutch. Say, "Whatshyer cryin' about?" Dutch say, "I cryin' because I got to be hung." Say, "Ah, by Jesus! Look at me! Ah'm not cryin'." Said, "No, you not cryin'. You don't have to, 'cause all Irish is used to dis." 84. LANDING IS HELL. I.2 Two Irish was goin' through de fiel'. An' dey see de buzzard on de tree. An' de buzzard flew. He said, "Heh! Look at dat man sailin'!" He said, "He jes' opened his owercoat an' jumped off too." - "Well, you take my owercoat, Charlie, an' you sail off wid my owercoat." So he taken his overcoat, an' went up de tree. 1 Informant 2!2. H~eard at Elmira, N.Y. 2 Informant 22. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 93 He ketch each side his overcoat with his han', an' jump off de tree. Flopped his overcoat jes' like he was flyin'. An' he hit de groun'. An' de oder feller said to him, "How's flyin', Charlie?" He said, "Flyin' is easy. But when you go to land, it's hell." II.1 Once on a time there was two young mens did want to fly off a tree. Then one of them went up in the tree an' got tiptop of the tree an' start to fly down the tree. When the fellow ask the other one what was flying down the tree, "How do it feel flying down a tree?" the other one say, "It was easy flying, but it was bad lighting." 85. LUCKY HUNTER. I.2 Man went huntin' one mornin', an' he met a deer, an' he shot him. De gun kicked his coat off, an' it cover a covey of partridge. He went down to de pon', an' saw six English ducks. An' he saw a rattlesnake in de same time. Had his mouth open jus' ready to bite. So he study which it was bes' fo' him to shoot,- de duck, or de snake. So he shoot de ducks, an' kill all six. An' de ramrod went down de snake throat an' choke him half to deat'. An' de gun kick backward owerboa'd, an' he come out wid a boot-leg full o' fish. II.3 Oncet I was goin' in de woods, an' I had a muskit-gun. An' I look down de riber, an' I see a duck. I look up on de hill, an' I see a rabbit. I look down in de woods, an' I see a drove of wil' turkey. Now, I study how I was goin' to get all dese t'ings, an' I didn' have but one gun. So den I say, "Well, I take my chances, I shoot down de riber at de duck." I shoot down de riber at de duck. De shot kill de duck. Ramrod come back up an' kill de wil' turkey. De hammer jump off de gun an' kill de rabbit. I t'ought to myself dat was well done. 86. LUCKY HUNTER: TOOTH OUT.4 Once upon a time in slavery the slaves used to call their boss "Mawser." So one day Mawser told him to go out hunting, and 1 Written by informant 40. 8 Informant 27. 2 Informant 22. 4 Written by informant 69. 94 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. gave him a rifle and a plenty of balls. So he went out. Well, when he got out into the woods under an old oak log, he saw a very large rattlesnake, and on a tree not far away he saw some quails, and in the pond he saw some fishes; and he said, "Lord! what a glorious chance!" When he shot at the rattlesnake, the ball killed the quails; when he shot at the quails, the ball flew and killed the rattlesnake; and then he got in his boots and caught all of the fishes. When he had all gathered up, he went back for the wagon, and told his mawser what luck he had. He carried out the wagon; and when he had put all the things in, he went back to his mawser. His boss gave him a paper, and told him that he would be free for the rest of his life. When the boss took up the quails, he said, "My! These will be good to wear in men's hats." When he took up the rattlesnake, he said, "And these will be good to make a belt for man." Then he took up the fishes, and said, "Men shall eat fish until they die." Not long afterwards the boss went back into the woods, and under the same log he saw another rattlesnake. He thought that this rattlesnake was dead, like the other; but, just as he went to pick it up, the rattlesnake jumped up and hit him down and knocked out his teeth. While he sat there, he wondered how he should get his tooth fixed. After a while he thought that he could get it fixed by carrying it to the dentist. And he carried it to the dentist, and that is going on 'til to-day. I went around the corner, I stepped on a tin, the tin bend, And that's the way my story end. 87. THREE MORE DAMN FOOLS. I.1 Oncet dere was a man been travellin' t'rough a foreign lan', far ways f'om home. He get hongree. He come up to a house. He gone to de house, an' he ax de man an' de woman who was in dere fo' somet'in' to eat. Dey tell de girl mus' go an' cook him some bread. De girl, after done t'rough bakin' de bread, she tell her mamma dat she t'rough cookin' de bread. Dey had a little greasy house off in de yard. Her moder tell de girl mus' go to de house an' get um some surup fo' dis gen'mun to eat wid his bread. 1 Informant 27. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: I28 (note 3); also Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: I8-19). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 95 De girl gone. An' de girl stay so long. An' dey still waitin' an' waitin', an' de girl didn' come back. Dis man didn' mention a t'in' 'bout marryin' when he get there. De ol' lady say, "Ma daughter stay so long, I goin' an' see what she doin'." When she get dere, she ax de daughter what she been doin' so long. Her daughter tell her, "I'm studyin' what I'm goin' to give ma firs' chil' name." De ol' lady say, "Dat's a good t'ing to study of, too." So she was studyin'. De ol' man see his wife an' his daughter stay so long, he say, "Well, I'll go an' see what dey doin'." (He tell de man dat now he have de man right in de house.) When de ol' man get dere, de ol' lady sayin', "I meet my daughter studyin' what he [she] goin' to give de firs' chil' name when he [she] marryin' to dis man." De ol' man say, "Dat ain't a bad idea. Dat a good t'ing to study, too." De man see him stay so long, de man say, "Well, I'll go an' see what dey doin'." When de man get dere, dey tell de man, "I meet my wife an' my daughter studyin' when she get married to you what she goin' to give de firs' chil' name." De man said to dat, "I'll go furder down de street; an' if I fin' t'ree more damn fools like you, I come back an' marry your daughter." He gone on down de street. He meet a man had a pants hang up. Den he start off an' run, an' try to jump in de pants. De man say, "Youse anoder damn fool." Den he make him unhang his pants, an' he show him how to get in it. He gone a little ways down de street, he meet a man scrub his house out. (Oh, yes! dat is crazy again!) He shut up all de do' an' winders after done scrubbin'. Den he take a wheelbarrow an' go out in de sun; an' ev'y time de sun shine in his wheelbarrow, he run in his house an' dump de sun in his house. Dis man ax him, say, "Me man, what you doin'?" He say, "I scrub me house jus' now, an' I'm tryin' to get some sun in it." Den he mek him put de wheelbarrow down, an' open up de do's an' winders. Den he said, "An' now I've got one mo' damn fool to fin'." Den he gone a little lower down de street. He meet a man up in de trees. Had de cows tied by de head, an' he up in de trees by de rope tryin' to pull de cow up in de tree. De man said to him, say, "Whatsher doin', me man?" He says, "Some nice moss up in dis tree, an' I want my cow to get some." De man said to um, "Tu'n yer cow loose now, an' pick de moss an' t'row him down." Den he say, "Well, I fin' t'ree damn fools." He gone back an' marry de man daughter. 96 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. II.1 Was a man goin' to see de woman. Ax her fo' a drink o' water. An' she gone to get him a drink o' beer. So she tu'n de beer off. An' she goin' to study. An' de ol' lady said, " My daughter, what you studyin' about?" Said, "Mamma, I am studyin', when I get married, whey I'm goin' to get a cradle to rock my baby." An' de moder said, "Daughter, dat's somet'in' to study about." An' de ol' man came an' axed her what dey studyin' about. She says, "My daughter is studyin' 'bout when she get married whey she goin' to get a cradle to rock de baby." An' de ol' man say, "Dat's somet'in' for we all to study 'bout." Den come de man, dey stay so long. He said, "I'll go on. If I meet up wid t'ree mo' damn fools like you all, I'll come back an' marry your daughter." So he went along. An' de first one he meets was a woman done scrub, had de wheelbarrow, kyarry de sun in de house. Ax him [her] what he [she] was doin'. De woman tell him was rollin' de sun in ter dry de flo'. Said mus' open de do' to let de sun in. An' he meet a man had a oxen to try to pull up de tree to get de moss. An' he ax de man what he was doin'. Said he was tryin' to get de oxen up to eat de moss. An' he tol' um mus' get de moss an' t'row it down to de oxen. Meet a man dat had a boots puten ower his head to get dem on his feet. He ax him what he doin'. He tell him was tryin' get his boots on. He tol' him to put 'em on to de feet side. So he went back an' marry de man daughter. III.2 Dis was a man goin' to see a man's daughter. Daughter name Sallie. So he said to de ol' man, "01' Man, I want to marry yer daughter. Can I have her or not?" He says, "Ah don' know." Says, "Ah'll ask daughter." He said, "My daughter Sallie, do you want to marry dis preacher?" Daughter said, "Popper, we need some fresh water, an' Ah'll go to de spring an' get it. An' Ah'll tell you when I come back whether I'll marry dis preacher or not." So she went on down to de spring. Stay two hours. Spring was no more dan one hund'ed yards from de house. 01' Man says, "Ah'll go down an' see what is de matter wid dat girl." So 01' Lady said, "Yes, you mus', Jim. Snake might been an' bit her." So he wen' on down to de spring, an' met de girl settin' down. He said, "Daughter, what's de matter?" Says, "Ah'm 1 Informant 34. 2 Informant 22. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 97 studyin' whether Ah ought to marry Mr. Jim or not." 01' Man say, "Daughter, Ah'm goin' to study, too." An' he set down. He staid two hour. 01' Lady said, "Well, Ah mus' go an' see what's de matter wid dem people." An' she went on down. Says, "What in de name of de Lawd you all studyin' about down here?" 01' Man say, "Ise studyin' whether daughter ought to marry Jim or not." An' so de ol' lady said, "Well, I mus' study, too." An' Jim he stayin' in de house two hours after de ol' lady was gone. An' he went down. He said, "What you all doin' down here so long?" De ol' man said, "Jim, us studyin' whether Sallie ought to marry you or not." He said, "Well, I will go, an' if I fin' t'ree mo' fool like you all, Ah will marry your daughter." So Jim went. De firs' fool he foun' was a man had t'ree pigs with a rope aroun' deir necks, tryin' to let them down in er well to drink water. Dat was one fool. He went on furder. He foun' an ol' lady had done scrub de house, had a water-bucket tryin' to kyarry de sunshine in dere to dry de flo'. Dat was two fool. Went on furder. He met a man had put on his firs' pair o' breeches, an' he was twenty-five yeard old; an' he went to bed that night, an' had to pull off his new breeches, an' didn' know how to put 'em back on. He come out in de yard without his breeches on, an' hung dem up in a big tree in his yard, tryin' to run an' jump into dem. An' dat was t'ree fools. An' den he went back, an' had to steal Sallie befo' he could marry her. 88. UNRULY CHILDREN.1 De hawk circlin' 'round de big public road, an' dat public road white san'. An' de little chicks like to play in de san'. An' eve'y time de hen kyas' his head up, his eyes sideways, he saw de hawk. An' de hen says, "Crick, kick, kick, kick!" De little chick will run to his moder. An' when his moder kyas' his eye up again, he saw de hawk was lower an' lower. De little chick was off from his moder again. He said, "Crick, crick, kick, kick, kick!" De hawk mek a sail down. De t'ird time de little chick went off from his moder. De moder cry, "Crick, kick, kick, kick, kick!" Sewen chicken, an' dey all come but one. De hawk get dat one. De hen cower dem six, an' los' one. Dat was de ondust'ious, unruly chil' dat wouldn' min' his moder. De hawk get him. Like we get unruly chillun now. 1 Informant 17. 98 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 89. SPLINTER IN HIS TOE.1 De man walk ower de bridge of London. He heard a rumblin'. He looka underneat' de bridge to see what it was. It was a red bug had a splin' [splinter] in his toe, an' tryin' to get it out with a grubbing-hoe. 90. THE GIANT PUMPKIN.2 Well, oncet I been up to Jamaica. Up a railroad-track I get to a house. House was made out o' punkin. Punkin was so big, 'tel it was a school-house in dere. One par' I ran aroun'. Same punkin oder part de train run t'rough. When I ready to come back down, railroad was breakin'. In my pawket I had a sodabiscuit. I take de biscuit, make a railroad-track. I step on a t'in', an' de t'in' break, An' den de story en'. 9I. HACKUMSAW.3 Oncet we been up in Hackumsaw. We come up to some white folks. He ax me, "Boy, could you run?" I tell um, "Yes, sah!" He get up, an' sing, - " Come, John, Come hang de baby! Come, Sal', Le's eat sweet pertater! I ain't made no cotton an' corn, But, Lawd Gawd! de onion!" 92. THE BIG BULL.3 My fader had a bull. An' de bull was so big until when I been up to New York, an' dey cut down a tree, tree fall across de bull head, an' dey had to telephone to New York to tell me dat de head was dead. 93. GALLINIPPER AND THE OYSTER-BOAT.3 I was comin' up Broad River on a schooner wid oyshter. I stopped at de creek to wait on de tide. When I wake up, Gallinip1 Informant 22. 2 Informant 27. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I90, No. 4I),Kabyles (Rivi&re, 83-86), Arabs (Spitta-Bey, IV). 3 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 99 per done kyarry my boat to de fa't'ry an' unload um. Had de check goin' up to de sto' to cash um. 94. GALLINIPPER ON THE BRIDGE.1 Oncet I been up de countree. Gone to an ol' man house. 01' Man had two daughters. De ol' man ask me, "Don' you want to take a walk in de wood wid me?" I tell um, "Yes, suh!" We goin' in de woods. After we get in de woods, was no axe in de kyart. He ax me, "Would you go back an' get de axe?" I tell um, " Best fo' two of us go." When we get back in de woods, we look all aroun', an' couldn' fin' de ox. I heard a cu'ious noise up in de tree. When I look up dere, dey done kill de ox, an' was up dere suckin' de bone. I take a stick an'chuck um at de gallinipper. Dey fly. Come down at me. I had to out an' run. Runnin', I come up to a bridge. Den dey was so near upon me, I had to run underneat' de bridge to save my life. He come on de bridge, t'ought he had me, drive his bill t'rough de plank. I take an axe an' brad [?] it underneat' de bridge. Dat how I save my life. 95. SUNDOWN.2 Oncet I been up in New York. Had a horse wid a gol' saddle. Bridle was gol'. I say one day dat I'm goin' to see whey de sundown at dis evenin'. Des' befo' de sundown, I had to knock 'em [the sun] down f'om my horse. 96. THE WIDOW'S SON AND THE LION.3 Dere was a little willage a widder live on de outskirt of de town. De house he [she] was stayin' in was so po', he couldn' afford fo' to pay up his tax. An' he had a little boy name John growin' up. So in dat town dese rich man get up a bet. A wil' lion used to go t'rough dat town. So dis man ketch dis lion. He had him a little tame, but he would fight de boys. So John was goin' to school, an' de lion jump after him. He run off from de lion, an' said to de lion, "Ef you jump after me again, I kill you de nex' time." Dis man heard him, what he said, who owned de lion. He said, "Why, dat lion will eat you, boy!" He said, "No, I kill 1 Informant 27. Compare Georgia (Jones, IX), Natchez (JAFL 26:No. I2). 2 Informant 27. 8 Informant 17. w ~ ~:eo I 00 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. him, knock him dead." So dis rich man get up a bet 'twixt de lion an' de boy. De fight come off de p'int o' day. De man who owned de lion have plenty o' money. De boy didn' have no money, but de oder rich people back dis boy up wid money. So when de day come off fo' de fight, de boy ax his moder to make him a buryin'-gyarmen'. Say he eider make his moder rich or dey buryin' him to-day. So in dat gown he ax his moder to make him a long pawket. He goin' to put dat gown on to fight wid. So dat day dat boy full up his pocket wid stone dat big (pebblestone). Dat's all he was goin' to fight wid. Took um to dejudge stan', one t'ousan' an' one t'ousan' bettin'. De moder right dere weepin'. When de man loose de lion, he grab John an' flung him underneat' de judge stan'. An' John was passin' dese stones, hittin' de lion as fas' as he could fling. De las' stone hit de lion dead. De moder get de pile o' money. Show dat some boys can put dere moder an' fader in wealt'. 97. IN ARKANSAW.1 I been up in Arkansaw. An' my fader have some lan' up dere. De lan' was so strong until he plant out okra, an' he bear pum'kin. He have another piece. He plant cotton, an' he bear root pertater. He have anoder piece. Was so po', dat until when he talk he couldn' hear de woice. Den in dat acre was a church. De church was so po' until de preacher couldn' give out a hymn. In dat acre was a deer come t'rough. De dawg went behin' um. De groun' was so po' until de dawg couldn' get foothol' to run. Den I see 'tis time for I to move f'om heah. 98. TORNADO.2 I been goin' to Sawannah. As I get in de middle of Calybogy (riber, sea), I see on de hill a tornado comin' t'rough, diggin' up trees, an' torn down houses, an' scatterin' dem about. I cry out to de sailors, I say, "Boys, low' away, 'cause dere's a storm comin'!" One o' de sailors made answer to me dat we can sail on t'rough it. We down sail an' we stop. When de storm was ower, we went asho'. Den what you t'ink I see? When I go asho', I see a well blow up out de groun' a hundred feet deep. Den I say to myself, "It's time fo' I to leave dis place." 1 Informant 27. See Bolte u. Polivka, 3: I69. 2 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. IOI 99. RATTLESNAKE PILOT.1 In ol'-time slavery, white people had servan' to wo'k fo' dem. An' some of de slaves wus too lazy to wo'k, get lick all de time. So dis man he made up in his min' not to wo'k. He go into de woods dis day. So he been in de woods t'ree days an' t'ree nights. So he come up to dis den. Foun' a good den to sleep. He t'ought he would go into dis holler. So he wen' in dere jus' befo' daylight shut in good, into dis holler. An' pull off his coat, put him at his head. He dropped to sleep, but he wasn' sleepin' very soun'. So in his sleepin' he feel somet'in' stretch across him. He kinder open his eye. He saw dere was a rattlesnake pilot. (Rattlesnake always got a pilot, you know.) Went in behin' 'em, hol' up an' whistle. He couldn' move. When he looked towards de holler again, towards de do' part he see anoder rattlesnake comin' in. He lay still an' hol' his breat' like a lawg. Let de rattlesnake crawl across him. Cross him, den pile up. See anoder one comin'. So he lay down 'til mornin'. Jes' time rattlesnake travel, fo' day, he pilot hol' up his head an' whistle, an' crawl out ower him. He still lay down. An' de oder five rattlesnakes foller right behin', right across him. He looked back into de holler. Sure he see all gone out de holler. He crawl out de holler. He grab his coat an' his hat in his han'. An' he have twenty mile to go to his mawsah place. He went right home. "Mawsah," he say, "me hurry come. I come to tell you what trouble I come t'rough." Say, "Mawsah, I sleep in de den wid de rattlesnakes an' de pilot, suh. Dat what bring me home to you." - "All right, Harry, to-morrow you kyarry me dere; an' ef it so dat you sleep wid de snake, I give you freedom." An' Harry kyarry dem dere. Mawsah get his gun, take Harry an' went over to de nex' plantation, an' get white people, an' travel ower to de holler. Mawsah stood Harry beside him, an' jes' 'bout dus' here come de pilot. Dey see de five rattlesnakes right behin' de pilot. Put 'em in de wagon, kyarry 'em home. F'om dat day de mawsah free Harry 'til Linco'n come t'rough. Rattlesnake ile [oil] 2 p'oduce from dat rattlesnake. 1 Informant 17. 2 "Melt up de fat. Rub with fo' pain. Po' ur on skin, go right t'rough." The oil is also drunk. 102 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 100. SPORT ON SUNDAY. I.1 Dis man go huntin' ev'y day, Sunday an' all. So dis day mo' dan all, Sunday, went to de tree to hunt 'possum. Star' to climb de tree. See somet'in' wid eyes a-shinin', sparit. Drop down de tree, faint away. Go home, don' live long after dat. II.2 He go fishin' every Sunday. He kep' on dat way. Little in de boat. He ketch it himself on de line. Begin to grow larger an' larger. Den he fall. Dey bring him out o' de boat. Dat was a sign. IOI. THE BAG OF STORIES.3 Oncet an ol' man had a boy. Boy name John. Dis was a colored boy an' a white man. He had a flock of sheep. He said, "John, could I get you to min' dese sheep?" John said to him, "Yes, sah!" He said, "But I don' wan' none los' away. Any los', I'll kill yer when I come back." He gone home. He had three daughters. After he get home, he sen' his younges' daughter firs' to try John. He younges' daughter dress in a differun' form. He come, an' he ax John, say, "Little boy, could I buy one o' dem sheep?" John tell him, "If I sell yer one of dese sheep, Massa will kill me." (Mind, dat was his own daughter.) John slip down to 01' Lady house. De ol' lady give John a horn. Say, "Now, John, you can sell one of dem sheep; an' when he get a little way wid de sheep, you blow de horn, an' de sheep will come back." She start out, an' gone. John blow de horn, an' de sheep come back. De nex' day de middle-age daughter come. Says, "Boy, could I get one o' dem sheep?" De boy say, "I'll give you one of de sheep fo' de same price I give de oder lady, fo' hundred dollars an' somet'in' else." 4 She take de sheep, an' she gone. When she get a little ways, John blow de horn, an' de sheep come back. De oldes' daughter come. De oldes' daughter 1 Informant 17. 2 Informant 8. Compare Bahamas (MAFLS I3: No. 89). 8 Informant 27. 4 At the conclusion of the tale I suggested that at this point something had been dropped o/ u out. As I had heard the tale from Cape Verde Islanders, John should have asked each woman to lie with him. "Yes," admitted James Murray, "I leave out a little bit." He added, "I know twenty-five or t'irty man stories, funny too, but I wouldn' tell dem." 1s, }, S 1;, Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 103 say, "Boy, could I get one o' dem sheep?" De boy say, "I'll give you one of de sheep fo' de same price I give de oder lady, fo' hundred dollars an' somet'in' else." She take de sheep, gone. Time she get a little ways, John blow de horn. De sheep come back. (Dey was tryin' John all dat time.) Soon after dat de ol' woman come. De ol' woman say, "Boy, could I get one o' dem sheep?" John tell um, say, "Yes'm, I sell one to yer fo' fo' hundred an' fifty dollars." She take de sheep, she start off. John blow de horn. De sheep come back. De ol' man den come. Dress up in sojer-clothes on a mule back. He ax him, say, "Boy, could I get one o' dem sheep?" John tol' him, "Yes, I sell one to yer fo' five hundred dollars an' a good whippin'." De ol' man start. John blow de horn. De sheep come back. Dat evenin' when John come up, de ol' man count de sheep. Den dey all commence tellin' what John done wid dem. John said, "De young lady come firs'. I sell her one fo' fo' hundred dollars. De nex' daughter come. Sell her one fo' fo' hundred dollars. De nex' daughter come. Sell her one fo' fo' hundred dollars. Den de ol' lady come. I sell her one fo' fo' hundred and fifty dollars." De ol' man say, "Get a bag, an' le's put all John story in it!" By dat time dey was holdin' de bag. John said, "De ol' man come, an' sell him one fo' five hundred dollars, an' give him a good whippin'. (He didn' want John to bring out his deed.) Jus' as soon as John star' to say "De ol' man come," de ol' man cry out, "De bag is full! De bag is full!" 102. THE BALD-HEADED WIFE.1 Man adwertise fo' a wife, de mos' fines'-lookin' woman. She came. De man was so glad, said, "I get a wife now all right." So he married dat woman fo' t'ree days an' t'ree nights. An' she had all dis fine t'ings like wig, you know. So de man know dis woman always take off de wig sleepin'. So dat evenin' dat man goin' along studyin'. "My Gawd! I married dat woman now sleep in de bed, never take off dat wig. See 'bout dat to-night." So dey had supper an' went to bed. So 'bout midnight dis woman drop asleep. Husban' drop asleep. Man wake up, an' he 'member what he said dis evening about wig. So he loose de pin softly on de piller. His [her] head was bal', jus' like yer face. He get up out his bed, put on his clothes. He went to de trunk, 1 Informant 17. Io4 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. take out all he had in dere. He wen' an' wake up his wife. "Ma lover, get up!" - "What is de trouble, deah?" -"Oh, get up! Have to leave my house. I adwertise fo' a wife, but fo' a wife wid hair on her head." (No monkey, heh?) So de woman had to go out wid her trunk. I03. BOILING WATER ON THE RICE.1 Buh Wolf have a rice-fiel'. He always plant rice, have very putty rice. An' den Buh Rabbit tell Buh Wolf, "Buh Wolf, you have de putties' rice I ever see yet dis year." Buh Wolf say, "My rice ain't better dan yours." - "Oh, yes, man! your rice too much better than mine. Ber Wolf, if you want yer rice to shoot out, to-morrow mornin' you take a big pot an' put em in de middle of your fiel'. Boil de water, an' t'row dem to yer rice foot. An' to-morrer all yer rice will shoot out an' bloom." An' Buh Wolf gone, an' he put on de pot an' kyarry de water, an' t'row de water to all de rice foot. Den de nex' mornin', when Buh Wolf gone in de fiel', all de rice lay down in de fiel' dead. Den Buh Wolf meet Buh Deer, an' Buh Wolf tell Buh Deer what Buh Rabbit do him. An' Buh Deer say, "Buh Wolf, Buh Rabbit do you dat! Short as you see my tail, I'm goin' to see Buh Rabbit out to-morrer." 104. RABBIT ENVIES CRANE.2 Ber Crane an' Ber Rabbit dey inwited to a dance one night. An' Ber Crane was white. An' all de girls choose Ber Crane, an' didn' choose Ber Rabbit. An' Ber Rabbit get angry wid Ber Crane, didn' like how Ber Crane outdo him. An' de nex' night say how he goin' to fix Ber Crane to de dance. Ber Crane say, "Ah'll tell you what ah'll do to-night when we go to de dance. Ah'll len' you shoes, an' Ah'll len' you sawks, an' Ah'll len' you er pants, len' you er coat an' shirt, an' collar an' tie." An' now dey wen' on to de dance. An' dey start to dancin', none choosin' Ber Rabbit at all again. All crazy 'bout Ber Crane, an' choosin' Ber Rabbit out de ring again. An' Ber Rabbit get angry again 'bout Ber Crane get choosen an' he not choosen. Ber Rabbit say, "Ah'll play you a trick right now. We'll sit in de middle of de flo'. Now he start to play a riddle now. 1 Informant 30. Compare comparative, Clouston, I20. 2 Informant 28. Compare Bahamas (MAFLS I3: IIo). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 'O los Ting-a - ling, ding-a - ling, ding-a - ling, ding-a - ling! 0Ber Crane! I want 'em! Ting -a - ling, ding -a - ling, ding -a - ling ding -a - lingl 0 Ber Crane! I want 'em! Ting -a -ling, ding - a - ling, ding - a - ling, ding - a -ling! 0 Ber Crane! I want 'em! Heah you ol' shoes! "Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!1 Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!1 Ting-a-Iing, ding-a-ling, ding-a —ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!". Heah you ol' sawks! "Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!1 Ting-a-Iing, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em! Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!"' Heah yer ol' pants! "Ting-a-fing, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane! I want 'em! Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-li'ng! o Ber Crane! I want 'em!1 Ting-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling! o Ber Crane!1 I want 'em!"' Heah yer ol' coat an' shirt an' collar an' tie. An' he leave Ber Crane naked. An' Ber Crane didn' choose [wasn't chosen] again dat night at all. Io6 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 105. SENDS FOR HER HUSBAND.1 Oncet dere was a man. Man had a daughter. He had a wife. He leave his wife, an' gone off in a far countree. His wife get sick. An' he [she] wonder whey he [she] could fin' Colonel Pego. He [she] had a duck. He [she] call up de duck. He ax de duck, "Kyan you call Colonel Pego name?" De duck say, "Yeah." Den he tell um to call um. De duck say, "Sqwah, Sqwah, Sqwah, Sqwah!" He say, "Duck, no, you wouldn' do." He call up de turkee. Says, "Turkee, could you call Colonel Pego?" De turkee say, "Yes." He tell de turkee, "Well, call um!" De turkee say, "Gawbel, Gawbel, Gawbel, Gawbel, Gawbel!" He say, "No, you wouldn' do." He call up de rooyster. He say, "Rooyster, could you call Colonel Pego?" De rooyster say, "Yes." He say, "Well, call um!" De rooyster say, "Kukuku!" He say, "No, you wouldn' do." He call up de guinea. Say, "Guinea, can you call Colonel Pego?" De guinea say, "Yes." He say, "Well, call um!" De guinea say, "Be frank! Be frank! Be frank!" - "No, you wouldn' do." He call up Peafowl. He say, "Pea-fowl, could you call Colonel Pego?" De pea-fowl get up an' stretch a wing. De pea-fowl say, "Colonel Pego! Colonel come pee! (Kinder low.) Don' you hear me? Dry-bone religion goin' to die." Den he [she] write a letter an' give um. He [she] was in an awful state. He [she] tell him to kyarry dis letter an' give um. When he get dere, he met Colonel Pego fixin' to marry. He 'quire fo' Colonel Pego. De state dey sen' him in, Colonel Pego wasn' dere. He sen' him in anoder state. He ax fo' Colonel Pego. Dey tell him Colonel Pego is in de house, dey fixin' to marry. He fly, an' gone in de winder. He light down in de winder an' droop his wing. [Narrator dropped his shoulder.] An' drop his letter. Den he call um: "Colonel Pe - gal!" He call ur again: "Colonel Pe - gal!" He call um again: "Colonel Pe - gal!" Den ev'ybody run out de house, an' done gone, get frighten'. Den de pea-fowl make his way on to his master. io6. THE DREAMER.2 Oncet dere was a woman stayin' in a little country town. Was a fine-lookin' woman. An' all de mans want him [her] fo' a 1 Informant 27. For bibliography see MAFLS I3: II2 (note i). 2 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 107 sweetheart. She wouldn' have none for her sweetheart. So one man gone fo' to tell de oder one dat dat's a woman yonder nobody can have fo' a sweetheart. An' dis man tell um dat: "I'll have um fo' a sweetheart." An' he tell um dat: "Ef you have um fo' a sweetheart, I'll give um a t'ousan' dollars." An' de firs' t'ing he do, he goin' an' buy him a ring. An' he put de ring over de fron' do'. An' after he put de ring over de fron' do', he gone an' buy him a bracelet. An' he take de bracelet an' put um underneat' de back step. Den he get a piece of stick an' walk up an' down de yard wid a stick in his han'. De woman comes out. He [she] ax him, "John, what dat you got?" John said, "Dis is not'in' but simply a dreamer. He [she] said, "Well, John, could you le' him dream somet'in' for me?" John tell him [her], say, "Yes. But he don' dream not'in' 'less you goin' have me fo' a husban'." He [she] said, "Well, John, does he dream anyt'in' good?" John tell him [her] yes, how de presen' high as two hundred dollars. He [she] said, "Well, John, could you done dream someti'n' fo' me?" John tell him [her], say, "Yes, but he ain't goin' to dream 'less dan you married me." She tell John, "Well, John, let him dream somet'in'!" So John hol' him up in his han' like dat, an' been talkin' to him like he a baby (but simply a piece o' stick). John tell him dat he dream dat dere was a gol' ring ower de fron' do'. She den ran back, holler, "0 John! dat is true. Here is de ring. Dat is trut'." Den he [she] ax John, "John, could you le' him dream some mo'?" John tell him [her] dat he don' dream but two time at a time. Den he [she] tell John mus' le' him dream. John tell him dream dat dere was a gol' bracelet underneat' de [back step] fron' do'. She run an' den cry. "0 John, John! he sure dream right, de bracelet was dere." Den John gone back, an' he [she] decided to marry. (Little mo'. I would n' finish um.) 107. THREE MEN IN A BOAT.1 Three man was in a boat. A blin' man look down in de bottom of de riber an' see somet'in'. A no-han' man reach down an' get it. An' a naked man put it in his bosom. Dat's all in dat tease. 108. ONE-FOOT MAN AND ONE-ARM MAN.2 Two men went fishin',- one-foot man, one-arm man. Dey start to fish. Dey been out in de big stream. One hook a shark, 1 Informant 17. Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, 3: 115. 2 Informant 17. Io8 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. an' one hook a stingre. De one dat hook de stingre got de stingre in de boat befo' de one dat got de shark in. Take his knife an' cut off de stingre tail, an' he t'ought he'd kill de stingre den. He didn' 'member dat he was in de boat. He was a one-foot man, had on a wooden laig. Stan' up in de boat, an' t'ought dat he would kill de stingre wid de feet. Raise dat wooden laig up, come down in de boat, kill de stingre, an' drive um right t'rough de boat bottom. Boat start to spring a leak. Dis man dat was playin' de shark had to give de shark his line, an' run an' hawl up de anchor, to run asho' quick to save deir life. He started to take his feet out de hole. "No, suh! You keep yer foot in dat hole." De one-arm man make him keep his foot down in de hole 'tel dey got a-sho'. "Keep your foot in, man! Keep your foot in, man! " I09. WORM-TRACKS.1 Man had a oly (?) melon-patch. Boy used to steal de oly melon from him. He know ev'y boy track on dat plantation. So when he track de boy, he always go to his parents an' tell um 'bout him.2 So finally he could raise some watermelon. De boys kinder slack up wid um. So one day mo' dan all, when de boys wanted a watermelon, dey study a scheme to get one o' Uncle Ned watermelon. Dey was five boys togeder goin' along by Uncle Ned patch. So one o' de boys said, "I goin' to get one o' dese melon to-day." So he climb de tree an' picked some moss. An' he made de res' of de boys start. De moss was t'ick. Tied de moss de deir feet. He went into de fiel', pick bagful o' watermelon. Went in backward, come out de same way. Away dey went wid Uncle Ned melon. So Uncle Ned come, saw de watermelon pick'. Look fo' de track, couldn' see any track. Know worm don' kyarry melon, yet it was worm-track. So Uncle Ned didn' discover de track, didn' discover de melon. I IO. IN THE OVEN.3 Oncet Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf make a 'greement to make up a fire. An' Ber Rabbit tell Ber Wolf, say to git a big oven an' put it on de fire, an' one mus' git in de oven at a time. An' Ber Wolf tell Ber Rabbit he mus' git in first. An' den Ber Rabbit tell him 1 Informant 17. I Compare Thonga (Junod, I:420). 3 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. Io9 any time he holler "Chillalou, Ber Wolf!" Ber Wolf was to tu'n him out. Now was Ber Wolf tu'n. He goin' in. After he git in, he holler, "Chillalou, Ber Rabbit!" Ber Rabbit tu'n him out. Den Ber Rabbit git in. He holler, "Chillalou, Ber Wolf!" Ber Wolf tu'n him out. Den now was Ber Wolf time again. After de pan get hot, Ber Wolf holler, "Chillalou, Ber Rabbit!" But Ber Rabbit wouldn' tu'n him out. An' he still hollerin', "Chillalou, Ber Rabbit! Chillalou, Ber Rabbit! Chillalou, Ber Rabbit!" An' Ber Rabbit holler, "Bear um, Ber Wolf!" An' when he open de pan, he was stiff dead, done crisp. Ber Rabbit take him fo' his dinner. III. ON THE HOUSE-TOP.1 Oncet a ol' man was cou'tin' to a young woman, an' he do eve'yt'in' to get her to marry to him. An' de girl didn' want to marry to him, as he was ol'. Ev'y night he go to dat girl house to cou't dat girl. An' de girl wan' to get rid of dat ol' man. An' it was a freezin' night. De kyandle 2 was hangin' on de tree on de house. An' de girl tell him, "Now I decide to marry you ef you get naked an' go on to top of de house an' holler, 'Young woman in de mornin'!' 'til day clean." An' de man done so. He get naked, an' go on de top of de house. Was so glad now! An' he was so glad, he get on dere now so spry. "Young woman in de mornin'! Young woman in de mornin'!" An' he holler 'tel in de mornin' dey could hear his woice, "Young woman in de mornin'" [very faintly]. An' he roll down. An' he was stiff dead. II2. UNDER THE GROUND AND OVER THE GROUND. I.3 Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf join togeder to plant a patch o' peanut. After de patch ripe, Ber Rabbit ax Ber Wolf, "Ber Wolf, what part you want?" An' Ber Wolf say, "Don't know, Ber Rabbit; what part you t'ink I mus' take?" - "Well, I tell yer, Ber Wolf, you take de top, an' le' me take de bottom." An' so dey gader de peanut; Ber Wolf take de top, Ber Rabbit take his'n. An' so dey went to sell. An' so Ber Rabbit goin' 'roun' to sell, Ber Rabbit say, "Peanuts!" Ber Wolf say, "Top!" Ber Rabbit 1 Informant 28. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 194, No. 49). 2 Icicle. 8 Informants 27 and 28. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30:I75, No. 7); Biloxi Indians, Louisiana (JAFL 6:48). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, 3:355. IIO Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. sell out his peanut, an' Ber Wolf couldn' sell his top. Ber Rabbit sayin', "Peanuts!" Ber Wolf say, "Top!" Ber Rabbit sell all his peanuts. Ber Wolf ain't sell his top yet. [Here James Murray interrupted with, "I'11 finish dat story. "] Den dey gone to work, say, "Le's plant rice!" Dey get qua'ellin' about de top an' de bottom. Ber Rabbit say, "I'll take de top dis time, you take de bottom." 1 De time dey cut de rice now. Ber Rabbit tell Ber Wolf, say, "Now I had de bottom firs', now I'll take de top." After done ha'ves' een de rice, den Ber Rabbit t'rash up his rice. An' he had rice, an' Ber Wolf had de rice root.2 II.3 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit and Ber Wolf were farming together. So that year they plant corn and pease. So at the end of the season Ber Rabbit went and took in the top, and Ber Wolf went and took in the bottom. So in the winter Ber Wolf went to Ber Rabbit house, and Ber Rabbit had corn and pease to eat. So Ber Wolf said, "Ber Rabbit, how you have corn and pease to eat, and my corn and pease I cannot eat it?" So Ber Rabbit said, "Well, Ber Wolf, next year let us plant some peanuts and potatoes! and this time you may have the top, and I will take the bottom." So at the end of the season Ber Rabbit had peanuts and potatoes to eat. So Ber Wolf went to Ber Rabbit house, and Ber Rabbit was eating peanuts and potatoes. So Ber Wolf said, "Ber Rabbit, how you have peanuts and potatoes, and my peanuts and potatoes I cannot eat it?" So Ber Rabbit said, "That is because you are foolish, you had only the vine." III.4 Brother Rabbit and Brother Wolf decided to plant together one year. So now Brother Rabbit say, "Let us plant potatoes!" After they through planting, and time to harvest, he said, "Now, Brother Wolf, you take the tops, and give me the bottom." An' Brother Wolf agree with this. And the next year they plant pease. So Brother Rabbit say, "Now, Brother Wolf, last year we plant potato, and I take the bottom and give you the top; so now we plant pease, you must take the bottom now, and give me 1 Variant: "Now dis year I'm goin' to turn it 'round." (Port Royal Island.) 2 Variant: (The series was pertaters, rice, peanuts.) So every time Rabbit come out ahead Ber Wolf. (Port Royal Island.) 3 Written by informant 88. 4 Written by informant 66. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. III the tops, and we will be even." - "All right!" exclaim old Wolf. And the next year they plant peanuts; and Brother Rabbit said, "Let me have the bottom, and you take the tops." The next time they plant corn; and the old schemy rabbit then said, "Let me have the tops now, and you take the bottom, and we will be even." So, after all, the rabbit get all the foods, an' the wolf get the stalks. II3. ENDURES MOSQUITOES.1 Ber Rabbit an' Ber Wolf gone in de fiel' to work. Ber Wolf tell Ber Rabbit dat dere so much musquiter dat dey kyan' work. An' eve'y time musquiter bite Ber Rabbit, he knock. [Here the narrator slapped herself.] An' he say he loosen his limb fo' work, he no hit no musquiter. An' when Ber Rabbit done work his tas', Ber Wolf ain't done a row - de musquiter too bad. Den Ber Rabbit gone. He take anoder tas'. Den Ber Rabbit star' fo' work he oder tas'. An' Ber Wolf gone now; get a piece o' cow-dun', set him on fire, to keep musquiter 'way fo' done hes work. Ber Rabbit say, "No, suh! you kyan' do dat, 'cause Mawsa said he wouldn' have no smoke or not'in'. We des' mus' work right in de musquiters." An' Ber Wolf say, "I kyan't work in dis musquiter, I gwine home." - "Man, you musn' go home, 'cause, if you go home, Mawsa give me one hund'ed lash to-day. See, I done lick in my tas', you better lick in." Den Ber Wolf gone close Ber Rabbit. An' Ber Rabbit shut [shirt] was all bloody up, how he done kill de musquiter off o' 'em. Ber Wolf say, "Ber Rabbit, how you done kill de musquiter?" - "Man, dat is not blood, dat is sweat out me skin." Say, "No, suh! dat is not sweat, dat is blood." - "Suh, dat is clean sweat, my sweat is red." Tell um, "Your mammy eat de rabbit head, but my urn [own] drunk de liquor." Den Ber Wolf say, "I gwine home out dis musquiter." Ber Rabbit say, "Well, if you gwine home, you go home; but you ain't goin' to get any fo' eat when you get home, 'cause man kyan' eat an' no work." An' Ber Wolf gone home. An' after Ber Wolf get home, here come Ber Rabbit good while, an' ask Ber Wolf, "Man, you done cook?" - "No, ain't you say I no done eat 'cause I no work? I no cook." An' Ber Rabbit say, "You no cook, Ber Wolf. I gwine to ma gyirl house now fo' get ma dinnah." An' Ber Rabbit come out, an' he gone in de bush, say he gone to he gyirl house. An' Ber Wolf put on he 1 Informant 30. Compare Georgia (Jones, VII; Harris 2: XXXVII). I I 2 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. meat fo' boil atter Ber Rabbit gone. An' Ber Wolf meet de pot dry, an' he gone to de well fo' water. An' whils' he gone, Ber Rabbit slip in de house, an' took Ber Wolf whole piece o' meat out de pot an' gone wid um. An' ven Ber Wolf come f'om de well, dere was no meat in de pot. An' Ber Wolf put on he bread to bake. An' when Ber Wolf bread mos' done, Ber Rabbit come, say, "Man, you ain't done cook yet?" Ber Wolf say, "Somebody come heah, kyarry all de meat out de pot." - "I see dat rascul come out de do', gone down in bottom, but I ain't see what cou'se he tuk. But I know him. Dat was Jim Feah. But I goin' ketch him to-morrow. I goin' put a decen' beat on him. We now have to eat dry bread fo' our dinnah, an' he kyarry our piece o' meat." 114. TOO LAZY TO LIVE.1 'Bout de lazy man, too lazy to work. Had a lazy man, too lazy to work, too lazy to do anyt'ing. When dey sha' de rations, he was too lazy to tote um. His answer was when dey done give um, "Will you kyarry um home fo' me?" Too lazy. Well, dey done cook de grub. He ax, "Are you goin' to feed me?" Too lazy to eat his own se'f. So his mawsa kep' him sev'al years, t'ought he would do better. He get wo'ser. So his mawsa couldn' sell him, so decided to bury him. So dey wen' an' get de box to put him in. Put him in, didn' nail him down. Put him in his ox-cart (use to drive ox with a yoke). Kyarry him 'roun' to eve'y plantation to skade [scare] him. Give him some meat. "You goin' to feed me?" -"No." Kyarry him to de nex' plantation. Bring him peck o' corn. "Here we got a mill right heah. You can grin' de corn right heah." - "No." Mawsa get disgusted wid him. Kyarry him back to his plantation whey de graveyard was. He was buried alive. So f'om dat man all de lazy people come f'om now. 115. THE MASTER THIEF. I.2 Was a rich lady. Sev'al gen'mun payin' her his 'tention, writin' to her. So her fader didn' want him [her] to be married, 1 Informant I7. For comparative, see Bolte u. Pol'vka, 3: 207. 2 Informant I7. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 11 (No. 3), Antigua (JAFL 34: 74-75). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, 3: 379. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II3 to lef' him at all. So dese gen'mun could write dere, but couldn' go to de home, had so much bull-dawg. Dawg would des' tear dem up. So his [her] fader always watch 'em in de night, watch all his [her] winders, walk t'rough his [her] room. So a great t'ief come in dat city, an' heard 'bout um. An' dis man said, befo' de t'ief come in dat house, any man come to dat house an' get dat di'mon' ring off his daughter hand, dat de man would marry his daughter. So de t'ief heard about it. So de t'ief he take dat bet up. "Oh, dat easy to be done! I'll get dat wealt'!" He located de place, see how he could get in. Dat night he went dere, an' he jump across de fence. He went in de ragged clothes. An' de six bull-dawg was tu'n loose, an' he tear de back o' de pants right on down. An' he walk backward up to dese bull-dawg an' squattin' down, dese dawg all droppin' in fits. He get up in dis winder. De lamp was bu'nin' low. He darken de room. De ol' man was back sleepin'. He talk like de ol' man. "0 ma daughter! you sleepin'?" He slip off dat ring, put it in his pocket. An' he slide down de winder. One o' de bull-dawg wake again. He done de same t'ing, reach de fence. All de dawg wake up. De ol' man wake up. He suspicious. He gone in to his daughter room. She look at her han', say, "0 my fader! de ring is gone." De fader pu'sue out in de yard, fin' all de dawg was alive. Nex' mornin' eight o'clock, dis t'ief dress hisse'f, an' take witness, an' 'went to dis man's house fo' de reward. He become dat man son-in-law. An' stop t'ief f'om dat day, an' got rich. II.1 Was two broders start out for a livin'. An' one choose to farm, an' one choose to steal, fo' his livin'. An' a rich man tol' him if he could steal his wife ring off her finger, he could have his wealt'. An' it was sign [signed]. An' the t'ief made an object before the gate. An' while de husban' was watchin' the object, the t'ief run in at the back, an' tol' the wife, "Give me the ring, for the damn t'ief is comin'!" An' she hurry up an' gi' him the ring, an' the t'ief gone. An' the husban' come an' ax his wife, "Where the ring?" The wife tol' him, "You get the ring a little while ago, befo' the t'ief come." An' the t'ief then get the rich man wealt'. An' he become rich. 1 Informant 34. II4 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. ii6. ALL MINE: I MIGHT, AND I MIGHT NOT.1 Man goin' to de gyirl house one day. An' so he said to de gyirl, "All dese is mine." [The narrator moved his hand across his jaw.] So dey was goin' on by a big plantation, - sheep an' cows an' ev'ryt'in'. So de gyirl t'ought dese t'in' was his'n. So he ask de gyirl to marry him. So de gyirl said, "Yes." But his [her] fader object to de marriage. So dey agree to run off an' marry. So de gyirl tell um mus' come dere 'bout middle night, when eve'yt'ing is still, an' dey would slip off an' go. So de gyirl ax him after dey got out, say, "You goin' to treat me good when you marry me?" He said, "I might, an' I might not." She ask him again, "You goin' to treat me good when you marry me?" He said, "I might, an' I might not." She said, "Oh, look here! Le' me run back to de house! I leave my purse dere." He stop de carriage, an' de gyirl run back to de house. An' de gyirl never did come back any mo'. II7. THE BLIND OLD WOMAN.2 Anoder man went to marryin' an ol' woman. She didn' have but one laig. An' she couldn' see hyardly. She tol' de servan' to go an' stick her needle in de pos' to de gate. So when dis young man come up, she say, "What dat stickin' up on yon pos' like needle [makin' out she had such good sight]?" When dey gone an' look, was a needle, sure enough. She look out in de yard: "What's dat out in de san'? Dat's a pin." When dey look, dat was a pin, sure enough. So dis young man says, "I t'ink I marry you, all right." Den dey went to work an' dey married. An' after marryen', time come to undress to go to bed. She had but one laig. So dis young man said, "I wouldn' need you." She said, "If you don' leave me, I'll give you a fortune." An' the young man said, "All right." He said, "What will be the fortune?" She said, "I'll give you a box with five handles." An' de five handles was five kicks. An' kicked him out all togeder. He was gone. 1 Informant 32. 2 Informant 32. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 32:365).-In the unpublished records of I899 of the Hampton Folk-Lore Society there is a variant of this tale. The near-blind old woman has a cambric needle stuck in the gate-post. The suitor stays to supper. On the table is a black molasses pudding. The old woman mistakes the dish for her cat, and says, "You Tom, what you doing on the table? Scat, sir!" and slaps the pudding to the floor. "Gee, my!" says the young man, "she is blind," and in silence leaves the table. For a quarter of an hour afterwards the old woman sits on, thinking that the gentleman is still there. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II5 II8. FEASTING ON DOG. I.1 Oncet 'pon a time ol' woman an' ol' man. 01' man went in de woods to hunt. An' ev'y time he don' fin' not'in'. An' de ol' woman start to cry. An' de man went back an' kyarried de dawg, an' skinned de dawg, an' bring it back. An' de ol' woman cook it an' call all de chil'en. An' dey start to eat it. An' dey went to de do' an' call de dawg. An' dey couldn' fin' de dawg. An' de ol' man say, "How you callin' Rover, an' you jus' done eatin' Rover?" [The teacher added,] Moral of this fable is: She mus' have a raccoon, because her neighbor have one. Woman want somet'in' above his means. II.2 Oncet dere was a hunter. Was two mens an' was two womens. An' ev'y night de two mens go out. An' ev'y time one o' de mens come back, he would bring somet'in', 'possum o' coon o' somet'in'. An' de oder man den bring not'in'. So one day his wife say to him, say, "How ev'y night John kyan bring some game back, an' you kyan' bring some?" Nex' night he been goin' out. He ketch a cat name Tommy.3 An' he kyarry Tommy along wid him. He stay out all night long. 'Fo' daybreak dat mornin' he come back. De ol' man say, "I got me a 'possum." De ol' lady den get ready to cook um right away. After she done cookin', she wake de ol' man up. Tell de ol' man dat b'eakfas' is done. De ol' man said, "I don' wan' not'in' to eat." De ol' lady den commence eatin'. She suckin' de bone. ["All de children was eatin'," interjected an auditor.] Den she commence to callin', "Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!" Den de ol' man says, "How you call um Tommy, an' you done eat Tommy meat?" Den she commence washin' her mout' out, an' hawk, an' tellin' de chillun, "Hawk, me chillun, hawk, hawk!" De ol' man start sing a song:"Eat Tommy meat, Suck Tommy bones, Call Tommy heah. Oh, yeah, Rover, yeah!" t Informant 31. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 9-20), North Carolina (JAFL 30: i88, No. 36). 2 Informant 27. 8 It is also a cat named Tommy that figures in a written version from St. Helena. II6 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. III.1 Once upon a time there lived a man and wife. So one day the lady said she wanted a raccoon. The man went out hunting for one, but he didn't find any. So he killed his dog and skinned it, and gave it the woman to cook. The woman cooked it now, serving it. She call her dog Ponto for the bones. The man said, "Oh, eat the thing! Isn't you eating Ponto now?" 119. OLD BONES.1 Once upon a time there was a man and his wife living together. And it was slavery. The man went to his house to work, came back home. His wife said, "How you can't get some old bones and bring them home some time?" The next day the man carried a bag, and picked up bones of the dead horses and dead dogs and cows, and all the bones he could find. He went home; and his wife said, "Oh, you bring a whole lot of bones!" The man said, "Yes." His wife said, "Let's see them!" So the man emptied the bones. All kind of large bones, little bones, come falling out. His wife said, "Why did you bring these kind of bones?" - "Didn't you tell me to bring some old bones?" 120. WOLF! WOLF!2 Ev'y day de little boy would go in de wood, an' say, "Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!" An' de people would go in de wood, an' dere was no wolf. An' de boy goin' in de wood five days hollerin', "Wolf! Wolf!" On de six days when he gone in de wood an' holler "Wolf! Wolf!" nobody didn' go. An' de nex' mornin', when dey gone in de woods, didn' see de boy. De boy was way up in de trees. An' dey call de boy out de tree, tell um mus' come down. De boy say he couldn' come down, 'cause dey all is wolf, all de people down on de groun' is wolf. An' de boy say, "Well, if you all ain't wolf, come up here whey I is! Let me look at you good!" An' de people went out de wood an' leave um. De nex' day, when dey goin' back in de wood to look again fo' de boy, de boy didn' know dat de wolf could climb a tree. Dey des' could see de pieces of de boy clothes. De wolf had done eat um. An' de boy had a little broder, not as large as him. An' he take up de I Written by informant 58. 2 Informant 30. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II7 same han' to go in de wood to holler "Wolf!" An' one day de wolf yeddy him, but de wolf didn' come dat day. An' de wolf t'ought dat he done eat up dat brother, didn' know any mo' was dere, t'ought was de air [echo] of de wood. When de boy was up in de tree, he shot de bear. An' in dat time de bear eat dat boy up. An' de moder los' two of de chillen by bear. 121. DEAD DUCK AND WOUNDED DUCK.1 De mawsa had an ol' man servan'. Said, "Uncle John, why is it de Devil is always after you, an' de Devil never worry me?" So Uncle John went on. After he get into de boat, made a shot into a covey of ducks. Said, "Uncle John, hurry, an' ketch de wounded duck fus'!" After dey gader all de ducks, den Uncle John said, "Now, massah, me ready to give you an answah. See! you say to me, 'Ketch de wounded duck firs',' an' dat is jus' what de Devil say. Say ketch me, because I'm scramblin' to get away f'om him, an' you are de dead duck. De Devil already got you, sah." I 22. THE SINGLE BALL.2 A feller shot a deer t'rough de hin' laig an' t'rough de head with only a single ball. You might ask how it happen. De answer to dat is, De deer was full o' ticks, an' de tick bite him in runnin', an' he stop, take up his hin' laig, an' scratch his head. An' de hunter shot him at same time t'rough de head an' t'rough de laig. 123. SPIT ON MY HAND.3 De moon was shinin' bright. Ar'shman was very fond of silver. One of dem come up an' said, "Pat, here's plenty of silver. Now, by Chris'! how will we get it? It's down in de well." 4 Den dey give a link to one oder. ("You ketch my hand, I ketch your feet.") De las' man was on de top, get tired o' holdin' de weight of de whole body of people. He said, "Ah wait, Pat. Be fait' an' be Chris'! wait until I spit into ma han'." An' let go all of dem. Dey all pile up in de well an' drown. 1 Informant 33. 2 Informant 33. For bibliography see JAFL 30: I9I; also Georgia (JAFL 32: 370). 8 Informant 33. Compare Virginia (Southern Workman, 28: 93), Creek (JAFL 26: No. 26). Comparative, Clouston, 46-47, 49-53. 4 Variant: Saw de moon down in de well. Thought it was a cake o' cheese. (Beaufort.) 'iI8 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. I24. WHO DARKENS THE HOLE? 1 Dere was an ol' bear lived in a den. De hunters was seekin' to fin' whey he stay. After a few day huntin', dey fin' de den. One went down in de den, in de hole. De oder stood outside. Dis time de bear comin'. De bear started in de den. De one dat was outside remember his frien' in de den. He ran up an' caught hol' of de bear tail. De one in de den sing out, "What dat what darken de hole? What dat what darken de hole?" De one on de top sing out, "Wait till I let go, an' you will see who darken de hole!" Jus' den he let go. 125. FASTING-TRIAL.2 I. Hawk tol' de buzzard, "Le' us fast an' see who could live de longes' widout eatin'!" An' dey set upon a limb, bof of 'em, side by side. De hawk would dart down, an' get a bird ev'y now an' den. While he do this, Buzzard say, "O Buh Fish-Hawk! sleep 'til he fall [not knowin' he feedin' hisse'f]." After de t'ird day, de buzzard began gettin' putty weak; but he still hol' his pledge, an' waited on de Lawd. Den de hawk make a dawdge, an' kill hisse'f against de fence. An' Buzzard went down an' eat him. Den Buzzard said, "It's a good t'in' to wait on de Lawd." II.3 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit and Ber Buzzard sign a degree not to eat for two weeks. You know that Ber Rabbit he is very tricky. He shut the buzzard up, and went home and eat his supper. And come back and say, "I am starving, starving, all the day long." So Ber Buzzard say, "I am starving, starving, the whole day." Ber Rabbit went back, and come the next day and say, "I am starving the whole day long." Buzzard was starved to death. So Ber Rabbit said, "He will not eat me." That was the end. 1 Informant 33. Heard by him on a boat. Heard by the editor from Charles Penny of Trinidad in New York City. Compare Georgia (JAFL 32:371). 2 Informant 33. For bibliography see MAFLS I3:No. 51. 3 Written by informant 46. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II9 126. WAIT UPON THE LORD. I.1 One day Ber Buzzard sat up on de stake. Ber Hawk come along, said, "Good-mornin', Ber Buzzard! What you waitin' dere for?" -"Waitin' for somet'in' to eat, waitin' for somet'in' to eat."- "Are you hongree?" - "Yes, I'm hongree." Said, "Ber Hawk, see dat sparrer dere yonder?" Sparrer sittin' up' on a sharp stick. Tell Ber Hawk to go an' ketch him. Ber Hawk dart at de sparrer, he fasten himse'f on de stick. Ber Buzzard come up after he saw him fasten, said, "Ber Hawk, it's a good t'in' to wait upon de Lawd." II.2 Once upon a time Buzzard was very hungry. During the time a hawk came by. So Buzzard said, "Hawk, here is a sharp stake. I bet you, I can fly down on that stake with all my weight, and the stake will not je'k through me!" So Hawk said, "I bet you, I kin, too!" So Buzzard tried the trick, and went on the side of the stake. Poor Hawk didn't know the trick. Buzzard said, "Now you try it, Hawk!" So Hawk did so. Came down on the stake with all his vim, and the sharp stake went right through poor Hawk body and killed him dead. So Buzzard tried the trick, and got the poor hawk for his dinner. 127. SUNRISE CALLS.3 De guinea an de duck was watchin' fo' day. An' dey watch 'til mornin' light appear. De guinea seen de day firs', but he didn't report it. Instead of reportin' it, he said, "Buh denk, buh denk, buh denk!" An' de duck sing out, "Day, day, day!" 128. GUINEA-HEN CALL.4 You know de meanin' of a guinea-hen when he holler? Go in peoples' fiel'an' eat depease. Eat his stomach full. Say, "Laugh play pay!" (Not fo' play.) 1 Informant 2. Compare Georgia (Jones, XII; Harris 2: LXIV). 2 Written by informant 20. 8 Informant 33. Compare Virginia (JAFL 32:362). 4 Informant 17. 1 20 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 129. PRAYER. I.' De schooner go on a rock. Two sailor get in de lifeboat. De lifeboat start to roll an' pitch. Pat tell John, "By fait' an' by Chris'! John, dis de time to talk to de bloody man." John tell Pat, "By fait' an' by Chris', you pray!" Pat answer back, "John, no, you pray! I was worryin' de bloody man all day." Pat cry out, "O Gawd, Gawd! If you help me cross dis bloody river, I wouldn't worry you no damn mo'." II.2 Oncet again was two Irishman been travellin' in a road. An' dey come up to a pertater-fiel'. Dey gone in de pertater-fiel', an' dey get some pertater. After leavin' de pertater-fiel', dey had to go across a riber. Dey all two git in de boat. After dey get 'bout half way across de riber, dere come up a storm. John say, "Pat, be fait' an' be Chris'! I believin' we' goin' to drown." He say, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! I believe we better pray." John tell Pat, say, "Pat, you pray!" Pat say, "No, John, you pray!" He said, "No, I been worryin' de man, an' I don' wan' to worry him no more." He say, "0 Gawd, Gawd! if you help me across dis time, I'll give you a big pertater. De 'tater will be as big as a peck tub." John tell Pat, "You know you ain't got no 'tater like dat." Pat tell him, "Hush, hush, hush! I jes' foolin' him. I jes' want him to get me 'cross de river." 130. CINDERELLA.3 Po' little Cinderella was livin' with his [her] auntie. De woman had two daughter of her own. An' she live in de fireheart'. Wouldn' let her sleep in no bed no' not'in'. An' ev'y night her an' de two girls dress up des' as fine as dey could be, go out to de dance, big feas', havin' all kind of fun. Po' little Cinderella had to stay home in de ashes, nakin' [naked], an' havin' not'in' to eat. Ev'y time dey come home, dey huff up po' little Cinderella. Say she ain't do what they leave her to do. De two girls d'ess up in rove [robe] in diamon's all ower, an' was goin' to de dance, goin' t'rough de woods. So de king an' de queen give a dance. An' de king inwited dem out. An' he had a gol' slippers 1 Informant 27. 2 Informant 28. 3 Informants 27, 28. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I21 (I think he was number two). An' dese fancy girls had wanted dem. An' de king said who de slipper fitted would be his wife dat night. De dove come an' bring some clothes fo' Cinderella. Den Cinderella gone out to de dance, an' dey didn' know her, dress so much. Dey was wonderin' what strange woman dat is. Den de king tryin' on de shoe on dey all feet. Some cut off deir toe, tryin' to make de shoe fit dem. Some trim deir heels off, tryin' to make de shoe fit dem. After all, de shoes couldn' fit none of dem dat been dere. Den po' little Cinderella she come right on up in dat time, an' she grab de shoes. An' fit her right on de feet. Den she become de queen, married to de king, an' ride in de firs' chariot. 131. NICE TO THE LADIES.1 Oncet dere was a miller. An' ev'y Saturday dey would t'rash corn to go to de mill. So one Saturday dey t'rash de corn, dey sen' de younges' daughter kyarry it to de mill. Dis miller wan' de younges' daughter to be a sweetheart. Nex' Saturday dey t'rash corn, dis younges' daughter commence to tell her moder an' two sisters what kinder nice man dis miller is. Den de nex' younges' daughter ax her fader to let her go dat Saturday. Her fader tell um yes. She out an' she gone. When she come back, she commence to tell him what kinder nice man de miller is. De miller wan' her fo' a sweetheart. De nex' Saturday dey t'rash corn, de oldes' daughter say, "Well, two of you gone an' tell what kinder man de miller is. I'll go dis time." De oldes' daughter went. De oldes' daughter come back. De miller want her fo' a sweetheart. She come tellin' what kinder nice man de miller is. De ol' lady say, "You all been see what kinder man de miller is, I'll go dis Saturday and see." De ol' lady come back sayin' what kinder nice man de miller is. Want her fo' a sweetheart. De ol' man say, "You all'n gone an' say what sorter man de miller is. I gone now." Den after de ol' man get dere, de miller strip him naked an' put him across a barrel. An' give him a hundred lash. After he come back, he commence grumblin', say, "How you all say de miller such a nice man?" De ol' lady an' de t'ree daughters say, "We'll have to say so, 'cause he treat us nice." De ol' man say, "Well, I kyan't say so, because I fin' him to be a hell of a man." (An' I leave it dere.) 1 Informant 27. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: ISo. 122 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 132. THE WIDOW WON.1 A woman husban' died, an' dey had to kyarry him 'cross de riber, an' bury him, in a boat. So dey drive de boat down to de riber-side, an' put him in a boat. So dey put de box in de boat. An' de woman sat on de box, an' de rest of de people sat up to de head. An' dey shove de boat off f'om sho', an' dey start a song. De man rowin' de boat cry out,Don' min' de man dat's dead an' gone, but min' de man dat rowed de boat a - sho'! Don' min' de man dat's dead an' 4 - ---------- -,... g-_~..............~_-Q _-,... gone, but min' de man dat rowed de boat a - sho'! De woman pay no 'tention. Put um asho'. Sing again,"Don' min' de man dat's dead an' gone, but min' de man dat rowed de boat a-sho'! Don' min' de man dat's dead an' gone, but min' de man dat rowed de boat a-sho'!" De nex' day de man come an' marry to her. 133. THE MURDEROUS MOTHER.2 I. De little girl, he ma an' pa live in one house. An' de ma was complainin' fo' some time to eat an' kill de little girl fo' de moder eat. An' dey take up supper. An' de fader went to supper. An' de ol' man was eatin', an' he look aroun', an' ax de moder, "Where is little Mary?" An' de ol' woman was very frighten', but she didn' tell de ol' man. She say, "Oh, she is over to de auntie." De man eat on, worryin' 'bout de little girl. When he look aroun' to her again, ax about de little girl again, she says, "Is ower to he aunt." De man say, "You mus' bring um home, go 1 Informant 17. 2 Informant 28. For bibliography see JAFL 30: 96 (note 8); also Aiken, S.C. (AFL 34: 17, No. i8). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 123 fo' him!" She says, "No, she ain't comin' back to-night, she goin' to stay all night." De man eatin', but yet still was worry. Den de little spirit come right up to de man, an' sing,J -,138. I U ff In 01' De bil, ol De - bil, don' you pull ma hair! My mo - der has killed me fo' t'ree green pear, My fa- der, my fa - der, don' you _F _____=.-N ---~ —k-| -- i _ _-_. ' p ___-___ i - - F-4 '_= ---Z -- pull my hair! My mo-der has killed me, an' bu - ry me there. My mo - der kill' me, my mo - der kill' me. My t'ree lit - tie sis -tub get all my bone. Bur -ied un - duh de lit - tie white mar - ble stone. (When I hear dat song, you couldn' get me out o' door nohow. I been scared dat little song.) 134. THE APPLE-TREE. I.1 One day Annie's mother had some apples. So the mother wanted to go to see her sister. So she said, "Annie, don't give any of these apples away!" - "No," said Annie. So she went on her way to her sister's house. A long time the mother came back, and said, "Little girl, your mother said give me some of those apples."-"No, I won't." -"Well, I will cut off your head." - "All right, I will give you one of the apple." So Annie give the lady an apple. Then the lady went away. Soon the mother come, and said, "Annie, where is all the apples?" - "A lady was here, and said that you said I must give her one. And I give her one."- "And I will kill you." So the mother killed Annie, and buried her by the gate. Soon the father came home, and said, "Where is Annie?" - "I don't know." So the father 1 Written by informant 56. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 129 (note i). I24 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. went out to the gate. And some hair was at the gate. So he try to pull it off; but something said, "Papa, papa, don't you pull my hair! for mamma have killed me for one apple." So her father went into the house and boiled a pot of water, and pour it down her mother ear and killed her. II.1 Once upon a time there was a woman and her husband and daughter. So the woman kill her daughter, cook it her husband for his dinner. After he got t'rough eat, a little bird come. Sings,"Mamma kill me, Papa eat me." III.1 Once upon a time was a woman. She had a little girl. She had two peach-tree. So she tell her not to give nobody none of those tree. An old woman ask the little girl for one. The little girl said, "No." Her little playmate come and ask for one. She give her one. The woman come, cut the little girl neck off. 135. FISH TO EVERY CUT.2 Oncet dere was a man out fishin'. An' ev'y mornin' he come along, an' bring two an' t'ree fish at a time. So one mornin' one of de girl ax him, say, "Mister, please give me a fish!" An' after givin' him [her] de fish, say, "If you le' me give you a good whippin'," say, "I'll give you a fish." So, as he start to whip him [her], he say, "I'll give you a fish to ev'y cut." An' he start to lick de woman. An' after he start lickin' um, she cry out, "One!" An' she cry, "One!" She cry again, "One!" An' after she cry "One!" she cry again, "None, none, none!" Den she had a sister home. She come home, an' ax um, "How many fish yer get?" She tell um, say, "I ain't got none." Tell um, say, "You su' is a triflin' girl. Nex' time I'll go." So de nex' mornin' de fisherman come along again. De oder sister ax um fo' a fish. He tell um dat: "I'll give yer a fish to ev'y cut." So after he start to whip um, she cry out, "One, one, one!" She come back. De ol' moder ax her how much fish she get. She tell I Written by informant 44 - 2 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I25 um, "I didn' get but one." De ol' moder say, "Well, none o' you'n ain't no good." Say, "I'll go dis time, an' I'll betshyou I bring back ten." De fisherman ax um den, "You ready?" She say, "Yeah." He start to whip her. She cry out, "One, one, one!" She cry out, "One, one, one!" until he get tired. When de whip get nex' to her, den she cry out, "None, none, none!" (An' dere I leave off.) I36. BURIED TREASURE.1 I'm goin' to tell yer how a po' man come by his richness. It was an ol' Rebel taby-house [tavern]. It was a good house fo' people to sleep in. Dis man was trabellin' along de road. De white folks was so mean, dey wouldn' le' him stop wid 'em. So he went down de road, an' he come to dis taby-house. So he went in, an' he strike his match, an' he saw half a chimbly. He went back outdo', an' he take up some ol' bresh, an' he make up some fire. He hang his knapsack an' his canteen. An' he set down on de flo' by de fire. He trabel so far 'til he was so sleepy, he said to hisse'f, "Well, by Jesus! I come along, de do' was half shut, I t'ink I shut ur, an' I go to bed." He strain, an' he strain, an' he get um shut. He come back by de fire, an' he drops asleep. In his sleep he heard de do' shut open. He den a little frighten'. He strike his match. He saw nobody in de buildin'. He went back, an' he shut de do' again. He didn' lay down dat time. He keep a-noddin'. He heard de do' shut again. He said, "By Jesus! I'm not goin' to shut dat do' again. Come in!" He was sittin' down on de money what was buried dere, de gol' an' silver. He keep a-noddin'. When he wake, he foun' hisse'f on de oder side. De sparits was a-pullin' him off f'om de spot. By dat time he wake. De do' still ajar. He get col'. Too scared to go out fo' wood. He popped de chimney-heart' up. He take up de *chimney-boa'ds. Dere was a jar. "By Jasus! I fin' a bloody stone dere now." Sit on um. Day clear now. He popped open de jar. De mo' he shake um, de mo' de silver an' gol' come out. He full up his knapsack. He get his riches right dere. 137. CURRY-COMB FODDER.2 Oncet dere was an Irishman been goin' to buy a horse. After he done buy de horse, he ax a man, say, "What can I do to keep 1 Informant 17. 2 Informant 27. 126 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. dis horse fat?" De man tell um, say, "You mu' give 'em corn; but you mus' be sure to get a curry-comb, 'cause a curry-comb is de bes' feed." He gone to de sto' an' he bought him a currycomb. Now, den his corn run out. He said to his wife, "Patsy, de bloody horse is gettin' po'er an' po'er." He said, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! if curry-comb can keep him fat, by Jesus! I'll go an' buy anoder one." An' he still curryin' de horse. One day de horse get po' an' fall down. He gone to de doctor. He tell de doctor, he said, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! I had a bloody horse, an' a man tell me dat a curry-comb would keep him fat." He say, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! I believe I'll buy me a box o' currycombs." An' after he get home, he take out all de curry-combs an' put 'em aroun' de horse. Den he say, "Be fait' an' be Chris'! if one curry-comb can do so much good, God damn you! a box mus' cure you." 138. NEVER SHAKE NOR SHIVER.1 Once was a boy loose him pa, ma, sister, all. He sleep all about in de woods, graveyard. Sparits walk ower him, he never shake nor shiver. He sleep in a house where no one was but him alone. De sparit take de bed an' walk all ower de house. Yet he never shake nor shiver. A kyasket come in wid a dead man, half open. He shut 'em back. Yet he never shake nor shiver. Dead man get up out de kyasket wid de napkin on his jaw. Yet he never shake nor shiver. One half a dead man come down t'rough de chiminey. De oder half come behin' dat. He said, "Here's two half a man." Try to put dem togeder. Yet he never shake nor shiver. [The rest of the tale was forgotten.] 139. THE LION'S TOSS.2 Oncet I been travellin' on a train. I been goin' up to Hackinsaw. My fader live up dere. I get on de train, an' I pays my fares. De train roll off. I tell de conductah to put me off at Hackinsaw. On de way goin' we meet a lion. De lion was standin' on de track. De conductah blow de whistle. De lion wouldn' move off de track. Here come de train run into de lion. Me an' ma broder been on de train. Ma broder name was John. 1 Informant 28. The tale was referred to under this title. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 195, note 2), Portugal (Braga, II), Spain (Caballero, XII, 447-460). 2 Informant 27. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 127 De lion take his mout', an' t'row de train so high,l until when I was goin' up, I meet ma broder comin' down. An' on de way ma broder comin' down, I tell him, "Well, if you get dere befo' me, tell my fader I'm on de way." 2 140. A LITTLE WHILE I GONE.3 It was a church. An' dis church had a minister very like to drink liquor. So he was 'bout dat high [indicating about four feet]. An' de pulpit dat high [five feet]. Put a little stool to stan' on, so dat de congregation could see him. But always sen' his son ahead, an' kyarry half a gallon an' put um underneat' de pulpit. His tex' was about John dat Sunday mornin'. "Well," he says, "my deah hearers, I'm here dis mornin' to tell you abou' de wor' of Gawd. An' you all mus' remember dat when Chris' commanded John to baptize him, Chris' said to John, 'John, I command you to baptize me. A little while I gone.'" (He stoop an' take his drink.) He says, "I look back ower yonder, an' I see Paul. Little whiles," he said, "he wid you, an' little whiles he gone." (Stoop again.) "O my sisters! you backsliders! Gawd is wid you, an' a little whiles he's gone." (Stoops.) An' he never did rise. De head deacon give out, "Praise Gawd f'om whom all blessin's flow!" De jug was leanin' on de side. De deacons squat down an' dry dat. Dey tu'n to de do'.4 De church was dismiss'. 14I. HARD-BOILED.5 I been up to New York, an' I had a rooyster about four foot high. An' de rooyster was so big (I had t'ree little chillun), 'tel my chillun would get on his back, an' he would ride 'em off. One day he get so hot, an' my hen lay an aigg. I had to take ice an' make de aigg not to be a ha'd-boil' aigg. 142. PAUL.3 Minister had a son name' Paul. He was a great drinker. Ev'y Sunday mornin' he'd sen' Paul to de Dutchman (sto') to 1 Compare Cronise and Ward, 58. 2 "Dat's good! good!!" commented an auditor. 3 Informant 17. See p. 2o5. s Informant 27. I28 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. get him a pint to kyarry to church wid him. So one Sunday mornin' dere was baptism. Dat mornin' he had to go early. He said, "Paul, my son, run quick an' bring dis t'in' f'om de Dutchman!" So crowded, couldn' get in. 01' man know Paul would bring it on to church. Paul staid so long, de ol' man went to church. Done baptize de two candidates. His tex' den was 'bout de apostle Paul. When his son came up to de do', he heard his fader say, "0 Paul! I tell you all 'bout Paul, was a great man." Son gone an' set down. "I tell you all 'bout Paul." Son gone an' get up. "Ef you don' stop, I tell all de congregation now." Said, "I tell you all 'bout Paul." Paul said, "De Dutch wouldn' sell dat pint, 'cause you didn' pay fo' de las' one." 143. CHANGING PLACES.1 01' lady had a young daughter. An' de young daughter had a frien'. An' dey gone out to see de frien'. An' de frien' come back in de night. Frien' gone to bed. De ol' lady put de daughter in front of de bed, an' put her daughter Fannie in de back, an' put de little boy on de flo'. An' de little boy tell de lady, say, "Lady, I wants some water." An' de ol' lady say, "Little boy, I ain't got no water. I will go to de well an' get some." Den after he gone to de well an' get de water, de little boy went in de room an' tell he sister, say, "De ol' lady goin' to kill um." An' after de ol' lady done give de little boy de water, de ol' lady went back in de bed an' sleep. An' de sister an' broder git up an' gone. An' de sister comb off some of he hair an' put um on de piller, an' de ol' lady daughter see de frien' hair dat lay on de piller. Little boy leave his cap on de piller to de fire. An' de ol' lady take her iron an' chuck him up he daughter mout'. An' after he fin' out was he daughter, say, "Do, Jesus, he'p me fo' dis time! I wouldn' kill nobody again." An' de nex' mornin' he woke up, an' meet his daughter dead. An' de ol' lady went on prayin'. An' he pray so 'til he get tired. When he get tired, he stop prayin'. Tell de Lawd would kill nobody again. 144. THE MURDEROUS HUSBAND.2 Was a gen'um used to married, an' always take his wife off in a fureign place. An' he had deep place dig', walled, where any one 1 Informant 37. For bibliography see MAFLS 13:132 (note 2), also Benga (Nassau, 92). 2 Informant 34. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I29 fall in couldn' get out. An' he usually married, an' always stay a while with his wife, an' then kyarry 'em to this place an' make them strip an' shove them in. But this las' woman he married, when he kyarried her down there an' tol' her to strip, she sing this song, sayin',4=72 i - - P I v L.I., v _ - _-______ - Turn your back on me,sweet Charlie! Turn your back on me, I say! Fo' I. ace. nev-er did hear it in my life be - fo', Na-ked wo - man a E: -*...... - i- -... - - -.... man should see, should see, Na- ked wo - man a man should see, a tempo. Na - ked wo - man a man should see. Turn your back on me, sweetlo - ver! Turnyour back on me, I say! Fo'I nev-er did hear it in my life be - fo', Na-ked wo-man a ace. man should see, no, no! Na - ked wo - man a man should see, Na-ked wo-man a man should see, Na-ked wo-man a man should see. An' he turn his back on her, an' she shove him in. I45. ROBBER BRIDEGROOM.1 It was a woman had a daughter an' two servants. An' she were goin' away. So she ax her daughter which one she would ruther stay with her, - the man-servan' or the woman-servan'. 1 Informant 34. See Bolte u. Polivka, I: 370, 398. I 30 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. An' she choose the woman-servan'. An' the thief eleven broders came by night to rob. An' they bo'd a hole t'rough the do', an' put the gun t'rough the hole, an' kill ten of the brothers. An' eleven[th] kyarried all the horses back. An' the ol' lady tol' her son to see if he could marry this woman. An' he cou't the woman, an' marry her. An' kyarry her home to his mother. An' she been seven years lettin' her finger-nail grow. An' when she bring her, she says, "My son, is you got her?" He says, "Yes." An' she stripped de woman an' hang her up. An' t'ree times a day she would go an' scratch her down with her long finger-nail. An' the man-servan' tol' the woman to keep good heart, an' some day he would loose her. An' one night he make toddy an' give to her. An' she sleep sound. An' this man take a sheep-skin an' put on the flo', an' loose her down. An' tol' her to make her escape. An' she sawn a wagon goin' along. An' she stop the wagon, an' tol' him to t'row away one sack of his salt an' put her in, an' kyarry her home to her mother, an' they would pay him well. An' the man come along, an' ax the teamster, "Do you see a crazy woman went by here?" He said, "I seen a woman went across the quicksand." He said, "The quicksand has swallowed her up." But she went home, an' went upstairs, an' shave her hair off her head untel she got better. Then she give a time to tell riddles. An' she was to be the las' one to tell hers. An' when she began to tell her riddle, the man jumped up to run. But the other men seized him an' killed him. I46. THE CLEVER COMPANIONS.1 Sev'al mans have gone to see de king daughter. An' de meracle the king put befo' dem no one could do it. So Jack say he would go an' see if he could marry de king daughter. So de king tol' Jack dat he mus' go an' pitch his tent one hund'ed miles from him, an' come back nex' mornin'. An' he tell him what meracle he want him to do. So Jack goin'. He meet one man dat standin' up lookin'. An' Jack ax him what was his name. He say his name Seer-All. De nex' man he meet, he had a long ear. Jack ax him what was his name. He say his name is Hear-All. He ax him if he want a job. Tell him, "Yes." Tol' him, "Jump in!" De nex' man he seen, he seen a man brushin' de dus' off his 1 Informant 34. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 32 (note i). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I3I feet. He ax him what was his name. He say his name was Run-Well. He ax him if he want a job. Tell him, "Yes." Tol' him, "Jump in!" De nex' man he meet, he met a man jumpin' up an' down. He say his name was Hard-Bottom. He ax him if he want a job. Tell him, "Yes." Tol' him, "Jump in!" So dey pitch deir tent one hun'ed miles from de king dat night. Nex' mornin' Jack went to de king. Say dat a flock of ducks are comin' over de house, an' one particular duck he mus' shoot. An' ven de flock of duck come over, Seer-All pick up de gun an' pint at de duck. An' the ol' lady come down, an' say, "Don't shoot! It's me." So de king tol' Jack he mus' go two hund'ed miles dat night an' pitch his tent, an' come to-morrow mornin', an' he will tell him what meracle he will want him to do. Nex' mornin' Jack gone to de king. De king had an orange-tree in de garden, an' he tol' Jack one particular orange he mus' shoot. An' Seer-All pick up the gun an' pint at the right orange. An' the ol' lady come down, an' say, "Don't shoot! It's me." So the king tol' Jack that he mus' go one t'ousan' miles an' pitch his tent, an' come tomorrow mornin', an' he will tell him what meracle he will want him to do. An' Jack went. An' nex' mornin' Jack come. So de king tol' Jack it was a bull in de pen, an' he mus' go an' tie dat bull. An' de bull were ravin'. Jack jumped up, an' come down between de bull-horns, an' began to tie him. An' de ol' lady come down, an' began to sing, "Don't tie um, my son! it is me." So de king tol' Jack dat he mus' go two t'ousan' mile an' pitch his tent, an' come to-morrow mornin', an' he will tell him what meracle he will want him to do. Nex' mornin' Jack gone to de king. An' de king tol' Jack dat his wife was very sick, an' he mus' go an' get some healin'-water, an' he mus' go t'ree t'ousan' miles, an' he mus' make it back in five minutes. So Run-Well start off. An' de ol' lady tu'n a witch, an' stop Run-Well in de road, an' began to look his head until he didn' had but two minutes more. An' Seer-All look up, an' seen de ol' lady lookin' Run-Well head. An' Seer-All pick up de gun an' p'int at de ol' lady. An' Run-Well gone an' git de healin'-water, an' made it back in five minutes. Den Jack married de king daughter. An' Jack moder been put up on a steeple, an' had one grain of rice to eat, 'til Jack married de king daughter. An' she was so glad Jack married de king daughter, 'tel she fell down an' break her neck. I32 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 147. MR. HARD-TIMES. I.1 A man had a wife. An' he had a good many head of cabbage in de garden. An' he tol' his wife, "Wife, we has meat enough fo' every head of cabbage." While he went out to work, he [she] took de meat, cut it up in pieces, an' kyarry it, an' put a piece on eve'y head of cabbage in de gyarden. An' when de husban' come, she say, "Husban', I done what you tol' me to do." Says, "What is that?" Says, "I put de meat in eve'y head of kyabbage in de gyarden." De husban' got mad, den leave her an' gone. An' he tol' his wife, "Wife, water de hawg!" While he went out, she drown all de hawg. After a while, he tol' um dat have money enough fo' hard time. So she seen a man comin' along. An' he ax um what was his name. She said her husban' had leave some money for Mr. Hard-Time. De man say, "I am de man." So she give him all de money. So when her husban' come home, she says, "Husban', I have seen Mr. Hard-Time, an' I give him the money." So de man leave her. An' she take de do' off an' follow de man. So de man gone up a tree. An' she climb de tree with the do'. An' some gamblers gambled there. An' de do' was heavy. An' de gamblers been done gambling. An' ev'y time she say "I'm goin' to tu'n it loose," de husban' say, "Don't tu'n it loose!" De do' was so heavy, dat she tu'n it loose. Den de gamblers all run. An' dey come down de tree. But one was bol'er dan de res', name Jack. So he stan' off. An' she say, "Don't run! because I am one come down f'om Gawd to sc'ape all sinner tongue to make speak proper." So Jack want ter speak proper. So dey start to sc'ape Jack tongue, an' den clip a piece off. An' all Jack could say was, "Woman!" An' dey all run. An' den dey take de money an' go back home. II.2 Dis man was workin' f'om home twenty miles. An' in dat part o' country de corn dat dey grin' used to be red grits, an' dey tu'n out red meal. An' he come home ev'y t'ree weeks. Ev'y t'ree weeks, when he come home, he bring a peck o' grits an' two peck 1 Informant 34. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 22, No. 31), Bahamas (MAFLS 13: No. 47), Antigua (JAFL 34: 81-82). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, i: 335, 520. 2 Informant 17. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I33 o' meal, gallon o' surup, meat. An' on Monday mornin' he gen'ally go back to his work. His wife bake him a co'n-bread. In t'ree weeks he come again. "Wife," he said when he come home dat week, "we got a bushel o' corn-meal, an' I guess we got a peck o' grits, an' you got some surup. Dishyere week alone you mus' be very particular, 'cause you got to save dem t'ings fo' Mr. Hard-Times when he come along." So dis nigger never does work. He been underneat' de house when he say he lef' dese t'ings fo' Mr. Hard-Times. So dat night his wife bake him a big co'n-bread. He put 'em in his bag, an' went back to his work. Des' about daylight he came to de do'. Rap. "Good-mornin', ma'am!" - "Good-mornin', suh!" - "Ah'm de man Mr. HardTimes." -"0 Broder! you de Mr. Hard-Times?" - "Yes, ma'am! Ma'am, has your husban' lef' anyt'ing fo' me?" - "Yes, suh! Jes' gi' me a chance to dress." Get de jug o' surup, put 'em by de do'. T'ree peck o' corn-meal, put 'em by de do'. Meat, put 'em by de do'. Peck an' t'ree quart grits, put um by de do'. "Thank you, ma'am!" - "How far you live, Mr. HardTimes?"- "Up de road quite a distan'." Dat same day de husban' an' de man fall out. Couldn' get any pay fo' six mont's. He wheel out an' walk home. So tired an' done. When he got home, set down fo' 'bout two hours res'in' up hisse'f. So den say, "Sister Sukie, cook somet'in' hot to eat!" -"01' man, dere been not'in' here. Broder Hard-Times been here kyarrin' all de t'ings."- "What t'ings?"- "I gi' him jug o' surup, t'ree peck o' co'n-meal, peck an' t'ree quart grits." - "Sister Sukie, what you done? Tell me!" - "I tell you, been Mr. Hard-Times." Look out, fin' de house dry. 01' man pack up all his clothes an' leave him [her] in de house jus' so. See what a fool she was! III.1 Once upon a time there was a man and wife living in the country. They had a large farm, and raised a lot of hogs and cabbages. The man killed half of his hogs, and put the meat in a house in the yard. So one day he went to work, and told his wife to cook a lot of cabbages and put a lot of meat in it. The woman didn't quite understand: she went and carried all the meat out of the house to the garden, and stuck a piece in each head of cabbage. In a few minutes her husban' came home hungry. He said, "Give me my dinner." She told him she 1 Written by informant 58. 134 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. thought he told her to put the meat in the cabbage in the garden. So the man didn't say nothing. So the man went back to work next day, and told his wife to give the hogs plenty of water. The woman took the hogs one by one, and threw them in the well. The man came home again. So he called the hogs to give them shrill [swill]. No hogs came. So he asked his wife, "Where are the hogs?" She said, "They are in the well. Didn't you tell me to give them water?" The end. IV.1 Once upon a time lived a man and his wife. So one day he went out and left his wife to cook. The woman went in the pantry to get something. The barrel of rice turned over. She threw the flour after the rice, and she threw the barrel of syrup after the flour, until all was gone. He husban' came. He asked her what was the matter, and she told him. 148. THE GIRL WHO LEARNED TO TALK PROPER.2 Young feller went off to study doctor business. In dat country de people talk very bad. So it was t'ree sisters. An' de moder an' fader were dead. De two younges' sister stay wid de oldes' sister. They were very fine-lookin' girls. Dis colored feller he came from New York to spend a season. He went t'rough dat country, an' he liked one of de girls. Sunday he pay a wisit to them. So one of de sisters he talk so bad, so de eldes' sister say, "Mind, now, when dat doctor come, don' you talk!" Sunday was col'. Little bit o' fire. He meet de t'ree sister in de house. De one dat tell um don' talk was standin' to de do'. De doctor say to her, "Oh, my deah! why should you standin' to de do' in dis col'?" His answer was, "Me ain' col', suh!" So de doctor say, "Put a little bit o' wood to de fire. Come to de fire!" -" Me got on t'ick clodin'. Me got on me sho't t'ick flannel coat." She lif' her skirt up. "See me canteen-flannel coat, suh!" De doctor married de younges' sister, kyarried her to his country, where she learn to talk proper. Take her out travellin' an' change her woice. Dat's de reason, you go in differen' climate now, yer woice change. 1 Written by informant 58. 2 Informant I7. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 32: 369). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I35 I49. SUITORS WHO WOULD TALK PROPER.1 Three men go to a girl's house to cou't her. Want to talk proper.2 One says, "It's quite fluky dis mornin'," meanin' foggy. De oder say, "Dat not pluffer," meanin' proper. De oder say, "Hurrah fo' blow fiel'!" I50. OLD THIEF AND YOUNG THIEF.3 'Bout de ol' t'ief an' de young t'ief. In dat part of de countree was ol' t'ief an' young t'ief. When de ol' t'ief go out to t'ief, he bring a small bag. When de young t'ief go out to t'ief, he bring big bag. So de ol' t'ief mad wid de young t'ief. An' dat's de way de mad begin. 151. GALLINIPPER AND MOSQUITO.4 Gallinup an' de musquiter. Oncet I was travellin' 'long de road. An' I was in quite of a haste. An' it was a very thick pon'; an' I heard in that pon' a cur'ous noise, but the noise was very serious. An' I stop an' listen. An' I heard a man sing, "O Lawd! O Lawd!" Say, "Have mercy!" An' I say, "I wonder what is dat!" An' de noise continue goin'. An' I say, "I will go an' see what is dat." An' when I get dere where de noise was, dere was a gallinupper pullin' a rail out of musquiter rib. An' I leave him, but I don' know what become of dat musquiter. I t'ink he mus' be died. 152. THE IMITATIVE CHOIR. I.6 Dere was a preacher. Oncet after he open service, he said, "Sisters an' broders, ma eyes is dim. I kyannot see. I leave my spec's at home." De choir den raise de soun'. He said," Hol' on! I don' mean for you all to raise dat song." De congregation den 1 Informant 34. 2 When suitors want to "outcut" one another, Portia Smiley tells me, to make a show, they will use long words and phrases which they do not understand. In illustration she repeated the following "courtship words" heard at Charleston, S.C. "Miss Letty, I come fo' ter cou't you, but I 'f'aid fo' to ventu', pervidin' if you have any dejection, ma'am. I come wid a few current tickles an' a few current tags to mix my seed wid your generation, pervidin' if you have any dejection, ma'am?" 8 Informant 17. 4 Informant 36. 6 Informant 38. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 32:369-370). 136 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. raise dat. He said, "What a damn fool you all are!" De congregation den raise dat. Say, "You are de damnes' fool I ever meet up wid you." De congregation raise dat. He get his hat an' say, "Youse are de damnest fool I ever meet up wid." II.1 Once upon a time there was a preacher. One Sunday he went to church and went up in the pulpit to preach. He said to the members, "My eyes are dim. I can't see. I left my spec' at home." His members began to sing, "My eyes are dim. I can't see. I left my spec' at home." He said, "I didn't mean for you to sing. I said my eyes are dim." His members sang again, "I didn't mean for you to sing. I said my eyes are dim." 153. BY GOD!2 Dis was anoder minister. He was a drinker. Went into de bar. Took two drink. Clerk know he was a preacher. Look at him very hard. Come out, gone. De nex' Sunday dis clerk went to church to see if he was goin' to preach. He tell differen' white people about him. Went into a sto' to buy a beaver. "Vhat de price?" - "Five dollars." - "By Gawd! I don't want dat." - "You cussin'?" - "No, I say dat in my church." - "If you say it in your church, I will give you de beaver." Nex' Sunday, say, "My dear hearers, Paul do everyt'ing Gawd command him to do. I tell you we mus' believe. An' by Gawd we live, an' by Gawd we die." De clerk jump up an' say, "By Gawd! here is yer beaver." 154. BOOT OR NO BOOT.3 De preacher went to church, an' took his sermon 'long wid him. An' when he got to church he was to preach dat Sunday, he curse in de road. Den, after he got to de church, began to preachin'. An' John got up an' said, "Great Gawd awmighty preach it." An' de preacher came out de pulpit, an' tol' John dat he mus' not say dat. An' John, after he went back started to preachin', John said de same t'in' again. An' he stop again, an' tol' John dat he would give um a boot ef he done repeat de word over. An' John got up an'said," Boot or no boot, great Gawd awmighty preach it." I Written by informant 6-2. 2 Informant 17. 3 Informant I9. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I37 I 55. IN THE WELL. I.1 "Mornin', Bro' Fox!" -"Mornin', Bro' Wolf!"-"Want sumpin' fo' eat?"- "Yah, beca'se I be hungree." - "Well, follow me to de well to git so' [some] cheese." When dey git to de well, Bro' Fox say, "Jum' in de bucket, Bro' Wolf." - "Me no trus' you, Bro' Fox. You jum' in fi's'." - "Ef you no wanta go, I da gwine down. Me git de bes' cheese, dough." Bro' Fox jum' in an' gone. Time Bro' Fox git down, he sta't fo' eat all de cheese. Den him slip back in de bucket, an' say, "Bro' Wolf, ain't you fo' ready to come down ag'in?" Bro' Wolf da jum' in de bucket and gone down. Bro' Fox been da come up. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Well, Bro' Wolf, me gone. When you da comin'?" II.2 Once upon a time a fox was in the well, and a goat came along. The fox said to the goat, "This water is so nice and cool down here, come down and take a drink!" So the goat jumped into the well with the fox to get some of the cool water. The fox said to the goat, "Come close up side the well, and let me get on your back and jump out! Then I will help you out." The goat came close up side the well, and the fox jumped out. But he didn't look to see whether the goat could get out or not. I56. THE MERMAID.3 Once upon a time there was a man and his wife who had one daughter. They lived very well. So the mother die, and so the father married again. And this woman had two daughters. They treated his child very cruel. So the first wife daughter went to the river and began to cry. So a mermaid rise up, and said, "What are you crying for, my lady?" - "My mother die, and my father married again; and step-mother has two daughter, and they beat me and won't give me nothing to eat." So the mermaid took her down, and gave her plenty to eat and drink. So she went home. And what they had she did not eat it. The next day she went to the river and commence to sing,1 Informant 79. Recorded by Sadie E. Stewart. See JAFL 32:394. Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: I6, No. I7), Georgia (Harris: XVI). 2 Written by informant 47. Compare Pennsylvania (JAFL 30: 214, No. 5). 8 Written by informant 82. For bibliography see MAFLS 13: 6I (note i). I38 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. "Thee, thee, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" And the mermaid rise up and take her down. And gave her plenty to eat and drink. And bring her back up. So she went home again, and did not eat. So the mother and daughter began to wonder why she don't eat. So the eldest daughter say that she will go the next day and see. The next day the girl went to the river, and began to sing again,"Thee, thee, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" So the mermaid rise up and take her down. And gave her plenty to eat and drink. And bring her up again. So the step-mother daughter went home, and told his [her] mother and father. So the next day all went to the river. The father sing,"Dady, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" The oldest girl said, "That is not the way, father, to sing it. Father, sing it this way:"Dady, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" But nothing rise. The youngest said, "That is not the way, let me sing!""Thee, thee, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" And the mermaid rise up. And his father shot the mermaid and kill him. So the poor girl did not know. So she went to the river, and began to sing,"Thee, thee, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" But the mermaid did not rise up. And she went down low to the water, lower and lower, and sing,"Thee, thee, dady, Take me down, pretty Joe!" But the poor mermaid was killed. And the girl did not know. And went down in the river and drown herself. Step on the t'in', t'in' ben', That the way my story ended. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I39 I57. cow PARTNERSHIP.1 Jim and Bill went in partnership, and bought a cow for forty dollars. And Jim claim the head, and Bill claim the tail. So Jim gave his half of cow hay and water three times a day, but Bill don't give his cow anythings to eat. And every day [Bill,] with his pail, milk the cow, and Jim couldn't get any. So Jim said, "I will kill my cow, and Bill cow will dead too." So he killed his cow, and Bill cow drop dead. I 8. PRIZE JUMPER.2 Once upon a time there was a dance given for the one who could jump the longest without stopping. Mr. and Mrs. Wolf and Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit were invited. The invitation said it would begin at 7.30 o'clock to 8.30. So they leave home about 6.30 o'clock in order to get there in time. There was a prize for the one who could jump the longest without stopping a moment to rest. Mrs. Wolf had herself fix in order that she would jump the longest and fastest. Mrs. Wolf had herself all pump up with wind and Indian rubber so she could jump high and fast. So Mr. Rabbit saw that Mrs. Wolf would get the prize. So he said, "I am going to see this very night what make her jump so high and fast without stopping." Mr. Rabbit went out on the porch, and begun to think why is it that Mrs. Wolf can jump so much better than Mrs. Rabbit. So he went back in and stand by Mrs. Wolf to see what making her jumping so fine. So the end of rubber was showing. Called her, "Mrs. Wolf, come here, quick! Something is pop! Let me see! Oh, yes! I see what it is,- a piece of string. Wait a minute! it is off." He pull the rubber. And she just run to Mr. Wolf, and say, "I can't jump no longer, for my fait' in all I trust is gone." All that time Mrs. Rabbit was just jumping up and down. Say to herself, "I know I will get the prize this very night." So, after all, Mrs. Rabbit get the prize. She said to herself, "I am slow but sho' [sure]. I shall wear this fine brown overcoat home to-night." The dance was given by Mr. and Mrs. Jim Crow. ILWritten by informant 84 - 2 Written bsy informant 39 - 140 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. I59. THE FRIGHTENED GUEST.1 There was once a man an' his daughter stayin' together in a house. An' one Sunday her father went to church, an' leave the girl home to bake the duck an' have it ready for dinner. So the girl fellow knock to the door. An' the girl said, "Come in!" An' he went in an' set down a while. An' he said, "Well, I think that I will go now." Then the girl say, "If you don't go, I will give you a duck." An' he eat the duck. An' after a while he say, "I am going this time." An' the girl say, "If you don't go, I will give you the other duck." Then he eat that one. An' he say, "I have to go now." Then the fellow went on back home. Then, when her father an' the preacher 2 came from church, the man ask his daughter to give him a knife. Then he get the knife an' start to sharpen it. Then the girl tell the man that her father is going to kill him. Then the preacher told the girl to get his hat. An' he went down the road just as fast as he could. Then the father said, "Please leave one of the duck." The preacher said, "Not a one shall I leave with you. Good-by! I am going." 3 I60. THREE PREACHERS.4 Some people tell, say a preacher don't steal; but I tell you, I caught three in my corn-field. One had three peck of my precious corn, and the other had one peck of my precious (?), and the other a couple of dozen of cornstalk hanged round his neck. After seeing them, I say, "Yea, you preachers, come here!" When they heard that, they all cut out for the woods. I took a shot after them; and this fellow with the stalk fell down on his face and began to hollow for the other, saying, "O gad! John, come help me! I am in the ditch, and I cannot get out." Guess what the other say: "You can be in the ditch instead of being the hitch." The other telling the feet, "Come, foot, save the body!" That was the last of the three preachers. I6I. ILLUSION.4 One upon a time, about fifty years ago, I went off from home, an' went to Key West, Floriday. And staid about three years. 1 Written by informant 4o. Compare Bahamas (MAFLS I3: XXXVI), Portugal (Braga, 117), comparative (Bolte u. Polivka, 2: 129). 2 Variant: The Reverend. (Port Royal Island.) 3 Variant: Said, "Bring one back." The Reverend said, "Not a one." (Port Royal Island.) 4 Written by informant 41. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I4I In the fourt' year I cut for home. When I got about one mile from my stopping-place, I went stood on the outside on the step. In the same time I saw my girl was waving her handkerchief to me. When I got there, I got on the outside and kissed her. Instead of kissing her, guess what I kiss, - a cow twenty-five miles from me. Why, it frightened me so, until I went off in stranse for five hours before I had come to my senses. I62. THE END OF THE FAMILY.1 Once upon a time there was a woman which had three childrens, - one boy and two girls. They live in a little house near by a river-side. The woman husband was away in trouble. So one morning the woman said to her son, "John, will you please go in the river and try to catch me some fish!" So his [her] son would do anything to please his mother. He didn't know any better, he went right in the river without any boat. The more he went, the deeper the water, until at last the water close 'cross his head, and he never had been seen again. The woman look all day for her son, but no son she could see. She told her daughters that evening to go and look for his son. The oldest and youngest girls went. They went, and saw where their brother's tracks went down to the river, but did not see any tracks where he had come from the river at all. So the two girls got into a row-boat and went way out in the boat. And at last saw their only brother floating on the water. The oldest girl jumped out of the boat to catch her brother; and there she went down, but never did rise in the sight of her only sister. Her sister cry and stay in the boat, because she did not know the way back. The poor girl stay there and perish. Night came on, and the woman did not see any her childrens come back. She began to fret, until she went crazy. And she run right in the river and drown. So this was the end of their all life. I63. SUNDAY DINNER.2 Once there was Ber 'Gater an' Ber Rabbit went to church. Every Sunday Ber Rabbit would come to Ber 'Gater house, and said, "Ber 'Gater, come, let us go to church!" Ber 'Gater said, "I ain' eat my dinner yet." Ber Rabbit said, "Don't worry to 1 Written by informant 42. 2 Written by informant 43 - 142 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. eat no dinner, because I left mine." Then Ber 'Gater dress and went to church. So Ber 'Gater got almost to church, and stop and said, "Go on, Ber 'Gater! I will catch you." He went back in Ber 'Gater house and clean out Ber 'Gater pot. When Ber 'Gater come home from church, met his pot clean. The next Sunday he done the same thing. The next Sunday Ber 'Gater said, "I will see you out to-day." Ber 'Gater dodge, and then Ber Rabbit went back. When he get through eating all Ber 'Gater dinner, Ber 'Gater stepped in and caught Ber Rabbit covering the pot. He just shut Ber Rabbit up in the house, and whip him half to death. 164. JACOB'S CALL.1 Once there was a lady name Sur Hayet Hayward. She was to go to a meeting on one Saturday night. So she went across the bed to sleep. She drop 'sleep. When she woke up, it was Sunday morning. She went to the door. She heard a singing to the meeting. So she jump out of the door, and took up her dress and run every step of the way to the praise-house. When she got in the door, she hear when Jacob call her name and said, "0 Sur Hayet Hayward! all gone, all gone!" She roll up her sleeve, and said, "Great God! Why, I been way down yonder in Bluebud (bird) bottom, I hear when Jacob call my name." (All gone.) I65. JOHN BUNYAN.1 There was a man. Once side the road a lady met him, and ask him what was his name. He said, - "My name is Ber John Bunum, The Devil never tu'n um." I66. CRANE LOSES HIS FISH.2 Ber Rabbit and Ber Crane. Ber Crane could catch fish, Ber Rabbit couldn't. After Ber Crane came back, got half way in the road, Ber Rabbit saw him. Then Ber Rabbit went in the house, begin to say, "O God! ainder [enty?] me dere, Ber Crane." So Ber Crane drop his sack of fish in the road to see what was the matter with Ber Rabbit. And Ber Rabbit went and hide. Then 1 Written by informant 43. 2 Written by informant 45. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 143 Ber Rabbit wait until Ber Crane went into the house. Then Ber Rabbit went and took the whole sack of fish and carried it home, fry them up. Then Ber Crane went to Ber Rabbit house, and he smell the fish. So Ber Crane said, "Ber Rabbit, didn't you took my fish?" Ber Rabbit said, "No me, God! I ainder take yer fish." Ber Rabbit tell so many tales, that why he has short tail to-day. I67. THE GIVE-AWAY (MOCK FUNERAL). I.1 Oncet Ber Wolf an' Ber Rabbit had a confusion [trouble] over somet'in'. Ber Wolf an' Ber Tiyger was fixin' a plan to ketch Ber Rabbit. Ber Tiyger tol' Ber Wolf he mus' go in his house an' lay down, an' do like he was dead. Ber Tiyger he went out, an' tol' Ber Rabbit he mus' come to see Ber Wolf 'cause Ber Wolf wus dead. An' after Ber Rabbit went to Ber Wolf house, de firs' t'in' he said was, "Dead people raise up some time." Ber Wolf raise up. Said, "I never seed a person what was dead could raise up." An' he ran all de way home. II.2 Ber Rabbit steal a hog once. And the people went to his house, and asked him did he steal a hog from Ber Wolf. He declared that he don't know anything about it. So they call a meeting to test about the hog. Ber Rabbit was guilty of the crime. So he took sick. When the people went to his house, he acted like he was dead. So they send for the preacher to preach his fun'al. When he begin to preach, these was the words he said: "0 Ber Rabbit! if you gone to heaven, I will know by raising your left leg. O Ber Rabbit! if you gone to heaven, let us know by raising your right leg. O Ber Rabbit! if you gone to glory, let us know by sitting up." When Ber Rabbit sit up, he jump out the coffin, and they never seen him any more. So they search his house for the hog, and find it all ready salt down in a barrel. So Ber Wolf got his hog back. III.3 Once upon a time a rabbit and a deer were good friends. But Brother Rabbit was afraid of his friend, and wouldn't let him put ' Informant 4. For bibliography see JAFL 30: 79 (note 2); also South Carolina (Christensen, 22, 70-72). 2 Written by informant 45. a Written by informant 67. I44 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. hand on him. Brother Deer had wanted to catch him so bad, until he didn't know what to do. But the rabbit was too schemy for him, of course. So one day he said, "I am going to catch Brother Rabbit this very day." He said to his wife, "I am going to lie down like I am dead; and you must send the children and tell Brother Rabbit the last word I said when I die, he must come to wash me." Brother Rabbit was afraid of a dead person. So when the deer-children went to the rabbit, crying, and said, "Brother Rabbit, Pa dead, and the last word he said, you must come and wash him," Brother Rabbit was eating; but when he heard these word, he jump up, and said, "I am afraid of dead people." So he said, "I am coming in a little while." So he finish eating, and went to Brother Deer house. The nearer he came to the house, the scareder he get. After he get to the house, he went in, and said, "What did he do before he die?" The children said nothing. And he get near to the door, and said, "Did he roll over and grunt before he die?" At that same instant Brother Deer roll over and grunt. Brother Rabbit said, "A man can't roll over and grunt after he is dead." And he run away. I68. THE MUSIC-BOX.1 Once upon a time there was a man who had a music-box. It was the best music you have ever heard in your life. And guess what was in that box! - a twenty-five years old rattlesnake. No one didn' know what was in this box but himself. He also had some hornets in one part of the box. The music was so good, that everybody heard it wanted to buy the music-box. So he met a man who had wanted to buy this music-box. So he sold it for one hundred dollars. He told the man, when he want to change the music, he must go in the middle of the river in a small boat, and pull the cork out of the hole of the box, and the music will change. So the man did so. When he pulled the cork out the box, hornets stung him, the rattlesnake bit him. The poor fellow said, "If you'll come to me one by one, I'll knock you down." So he said, "My God! I got as much music as I want." So he fell into the river and drown. This was the last of the man and his music. 1 Written by informant 20. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 145 1 69. THE HAUNTED HOUSE.1 Once upon a time there was some people who lived in a large house. And they all died. So the people didn't want to stay in the house. One night one family went to spend the night. And one man said there was a whole lot of money under the step. And the one who could stay there a night can get the money. That night, when the family were getting ready to go to bed, the ghost come in, and start to make a whole lot of noise. The people had to leave, and went home. So the next night some more people came. And they had to leave. So one night a widow and her children came to stay. The people said she can't spend a night there, for the noise the ghost were going to make. The lady put her children in their bed. And she get her Bible and started to read by the table. About twelve o'clock the ghost came in and start their noise. But the widow wasn't afraid. So the ghost went back. The next morning the woman went and get the money. And she live there until she die. My story is ended. 170. INCRIMINATING THE OTHER FELLOW. J.2 Once there was a man by the name of McKinlaw. One night Ber Rabbit went to McKinlaw house and steal McKinlaw goose. And McKinlaw went to Ber Rabbit house, and said, "Ber Rabbit, you steal my goose last night." Ber Rabbit said, "I did not steal your goose." So McKinlaw said, "I will carry you in jail if you don't tell the truth." And Ber Rabbit said, "You will find out who steal your goose after a while." So Ber Rabbit went home and studies up some trick. And went to Ber Wolf house, and said, "Ber Wolf, boy, I was to the young girl house last night, and she tell me must bring you with me when I go back. So let us study a good song to sing when we go there to-night! I know a song, and this is the way it go,"'Who steal, who steal, who steal McKinlaw goose? The me, the me, the me, steal McKinlaw goose.' An' you must sing the bass, and I will sing the other part." And they practise it. And went to McKinlaw house and began to sing it. So they start to sing,1 Written by informant 49. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I95). 2 Written by informant 59. For bibliography see MAFLS 13 70 (note i). I46 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. "Who steal, who steal, who steal McKinlaw goose?" Ber Wolf said,"The me, the me, the me, steal McKinlaw goose." So McKinlaw carry Ber Wolf in jail. And so you see that Ber Rabbit put it on Ber Wolf, and escape himself. II.1 Once upon a time was a man by the name of Brother Kinley. He had a goose. And Brother Rabbit steal Brother Kinley goose. And Brother Kinley said that he was going have a court about it. While going to court, Brother Rabbit met a fox. He say to Brother Fox, "There will be a court to-day, and I want you to go with me to sing." -"All right," said the fox. When the fox and the rabbit 'most got there, "Let's sing! When I say 'Who steal Brother Kinley goose?' you must say 'It is me who steal Brother Kinley goose.'" So Brother Kinley ran up to the fox and hit the fox back neck. III.2 Once upon a time there was a rabbit and a wolf and Mr. Gillerson. So every night Mr. Gillerson lost one of his sheep. And time went on an' on, until one day he met Mr. Rabbit. "Goodmorning, Mr. Rabbit!" exclaim Mr. Gillerson. "Can you tell me who are stealing my sheeps?"-"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" he said. "I will bring Brother Wolf here to-morrow if you will give me some nice fresh milk." -"All right, all right!" exclaim Mr. Gillerson. "If you bring him, your reward is good." So he ran and tell Brother Wolf like this: "Brother Wolf, Mr. Gillerson is inviting us to have a frolic. And I'm going to select a song. It is like this. Every time I say 'Didn't you steal Mr. Gillerson goats?' you must say 'Yes, oh, yes! I did it."' So Brother Wolf agrees with the song. And Brother Rabbit was so cunning, the more he gets up to Mr. Gillerson, the more he and Brother Wolf sang, until they get up to Mr. Gillerson, and he chop Brother Wolf head off. And Brother Rabbit get up on him and drink his milk. I step on a tin pan, And now my story is end. I Written by informant P. 2 Written by informant 66. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 147 I71. THE BOY AND HIS CAP.1 Once upon a time there was a little boy, and his mother made a cap for him. And it was a pretty cap. One day he was going out, and he met a boy, and the boy had wanted him to swop; but he said, "No, for this is the cap my mother made." And he went until he met the king. And the king did want to give the boy his crown for the cap; but the boy said, "No, for this is the cap mother made." And he never swop the cap. When he get back home, he tell his mother all about it. I went up town and step on a t'in', and the t'in' ben', And that is the place my story end. 172. DUCK-EGG, HEN-EGG, AND GOOSE-EGG.2 Once upon a time there was a man, and he live upon a hill in a little house. One morning this man saw a little boy passing along his house. The little boy was carr'ing his father's dinner. The man asked the boy what he got in the pail. The little boy said he have fruit, banana horn, horn. The man ran after the boy and catch the boy. And put the boy into a horse-stable. And said, "I will not let you go unless you give me a duck-egg, a henegg, and a goose-egg." The boy did not give the man those eggs, because he did not have any egg at all. Now the man threw the boy into the water. And tell the boy to get that poor horse and bring him there. The boy bring the poor horse. And the man said that he could make this horse fat. The man carry the horse to the river, and said, "Horse, you drink! I drink that time." The man was not drinking at all. The horse bu's' up hisself and died. The man was still alive, after all. 173. THE MILK THAT WOLF GOT.3 Once upon a time there was Ber Rabbit and Ber Wolf. Rabbit said, "Ber Wolf, let's go fishing! but you must bake a bread too. I am going to bake one." The rabbit went home to bake his bread. The wolf asked Ber Rabbit, "Are you eating your bread?" Ber Rabbit said, "Yes. Are you eating yours?" -"Yes, I am almost finished." The time came for the rabbit and the wolf to 1 Written by informant 53. 2 Written by informant 54. 8 Written by informant 58. See Bolte u. Polfvka, 2: x46. I48 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. go. The rabbit got hungry, said, "Now I will eat." The wolf thought he had eaten his bread, but he hadn't. So Ber Wolf begged for bread; but Ber Rabbit told the wolf to go to the cow and get some milk to eat with the bread. Ber Wolf did as he was told. When he got to the cow, he told him to give him some hay, and he will give him milk. Ber Wolf ran to the farmer for the hay. The farmer told him if he would help him farm in the summer, he would give him some hay. The wolf said he would. So the farmer gave him the hay, and he gave the cow. The cow gave him the milk, and he gave the milk to Ber Rabbit. But when he got back, Ber Rabbit was through eating his bread. Wolf went to all the trouble for nothing. The end. 174. A PRAYER IN THE BULRUSHES.1 Once upon a time there was a little boy staying with his aunt. So one day her [his] aunt send him to get a piece of fire next door. The boy went, and staid so long that his aunt went after him. She saw a smoke in the bulrushes, and she went to see what was there. She found the boy sitting down, and asking the Lord to please give him some candy and fruit. So the aunt asked him what he was doing. He told his aunt that he was asking for some candy and fruit. His aunt gave him money to go and buy some. I75. WATCH OVERBOARD.2 Ah'shman dropped his watch owerboa'd in de prow o' de boat. So he marked de place. Big ship was goin' up to New York. So he got a diver, an' tol' him he wanted him to dive fo' his watch. De ship was at de wharf, but he kyarried de man to de place he had marked. I76. HOW CAN A BOAR-HOG HAVE PIGS? 3 Once upon a time Ber Rabbit and Ber Wolf were two good friends. So they said they would buy some hog. Ber Rabbit bought a boar-hog, and Ber Wolf bought a she-hog. One day Ber Wolf hog had six fine pigs. That night Ber Rabbit went to Ber Wolf pig-pen, and take all of Ber Wolf pigs and carry it home 1 Written by informant 58. 2 Informant I6. Comparative, Clouston, 99. 8 Written by informant 64. Compare South Carolina (JAFL 32:358), Jamaica (Smith, No. It). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, 2: 370. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I49 to his hog-pen. The next day Ber Wolf meet Ber Rabbit, he said, "Ber Rabbit, my hog have six fine pigs." Then Ber Rabbit said, "Ber Wolf, my hog have six fine pigs, too." When Ber Wolf went back home, he went to his hog-pen. But he didn't see one of his pigs. Then Ber Wolf went right on back to Ber Rabbit, and said, "Ber Rabbit, you is too schemy. You took all of my pigs and carry it home to your old hog. If you don't give me my pigs, I am going to carry you court." Ber Rabbit said, "No, no, no! I have not got any of your pigs. You can go court, I don't care." So Ber Wolf carried Ber Rabbit court. Ber Rabbit get Ber Crane for his lawyer. The day when court were going to try, all the people were there. But Ber Rabbit didn't come. After a long time Ber Crane came in. He was blowing like he came from sixty-five miles. Ber Crane said, "People, my daddy had a fine boy-child." Then Ber Rabbit said, "How can your daddy have a child?" Then Ber Crane said, "Well, how can boa'-hog have pigs?" 177. BIBLE, OR CARDS.1 Oncet upon a time dere was a preacher come along de road. Had his Bible under his arm, one Sunday mornin'. An' he met some boys was gambolin'. Say, "Boys, you all are gambolin' on de Sabbat' day." So de boys had fo' piles o' money on de groun', where dey was playin' wid cards. An' de boys said to de preacher, "Rev, kneel down 'pon dishyere groun' an' try yer han'!" De preacher did so. De firs' time he started to play, he won five dollars; de secon' time he won twenty-five, which was t'irty; an' de t'ird time he won ten, which was fifty. So he picked up de fifty dollars, an' said, "Boys, I believe I will go out in de worl'." An' he lef' his Bible dere. Said, "Dis de sweetes' game I ever play since I born." I78. STICK-LICK.2 'Bout a lickin'-stick, speakin' 'bout my ol' gran'fader storee. My gran'fader, in his time, dey always, when an ol' puson die - dey always meet to de graveyard. An' dey always meet in de night-time, dey didn' have no time to bury dem in de day (de white people bury dem in de day). By fat light wood (very pitchy 1 Informant I9. "Read in a book." 2 Informant 2. 150 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. pine-knot) light up de whole place, dat dey all can see. An' when dey done bury de dead, dey tek de walkin'-stick, lay it 'cross de grave (like ten). Each man will go pick up dat stick, an' stan' 'cross de grave, one on each side de grave, one on de oder side. Den said, "Firs' cut fur half pint." Dat time dey have fo', five, six, seven, gallon o' rum. Den de smartes' man now who goin' to lick de stick. Every time he strike de oder man, wheder in his head or his side (can take de button off widout harmin' you), he will receive a half-pint o' rum. So my gran'fader said every time dat he meet, he will get de seven gallon o' rum. An' he don' drink it, but he gi' it to his crowd o' boys who bear witness to him.1 1 This practice was "common right straight t'rough de countree." It was considered analogous to duelling. "White people fight duel;" but colored people were not allowed to use knives, only "stick an' yer musel." The stick was "hick'ry stick, four square." Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 151 RIDDLES AND PROVERBS. RIDDLES. THE riddles, like the tales, are an interesting mixture of old and new,- a mixture which, in the case of the riddle n particular, it is not always easy to aistinguishn. Kidles I-I 9 seem to me, frdfrf ii~iW s c f comparison with riddles collected elsewhere, more especially in the Carolinas and in the Bahamas, and intrinsically from subject and language, to represent in larger part an older stratum, so to speak, than Riddles I20-I87. There are riddles in both groups which are without any doubt, from this point of view, correctly placed. "The black man sit on a red man head" (Riddle i6) is certain archaic; whereas ' 6 itt gii4af ite and red all over" (Riddle 174) is certainly modern. Ri'3des 46, 62, 69, 8 07, Io, however, not to mention others, although they have a more or less antique appearance, may have been learned more or less recently from riddle-books. Some of the riddles contributed in writing by the school-children have, I judge, literary sources. A number of them which read as if copied directly from a booITie omitted. '-tt tempting to speculate a to the European and African SQ"S t riddles'but our Afircan collections tare too6lim to jUifstj much have contstetni#&my wiii7tT King in juxtaposition, in certain instances the English riddle with.what seems citurialy t ~N*egrro or, rat eri, merocan o (compare itali'an 4an 7r7 esiII, 22, 34, 38, 56, 95, i60, are paralleled in my Portuguese Negro collection, and may have either an Iberian source or an African source. In one or two cases the riddle may have been learned in the United States by the Cape Verde Islander. Riddles I and 5, perhaps the two most current riddles in the Sea Islands, and Riddle 88, were collected in Sierra Leone, and Riddle i also among the Hausa. Perhaps Riddles 13, 58, 59, 6o, o6, I117, should be considered as instances of the figurative speech or elaborate innuendo so characteristic of African peoples rather than as riddles. Such elabo I52 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. rations are subject to repetition, and may in time attain the general circulation of riddles. A few riddles are patently the outcome of individual or partly individual inventiveness. Riddle 120 was claimed as an original, andx-Rid dls 122-I42,w.ereo go ttena onm^ a g rgues on Defuskie who were "making up" as best they could for gha aesl4 C Qthej ex pected and got. I. Horse in the stable, mange [mane] outside.l - Ans. Pertater in de bed, wine [vine] outside. 2. Whitey sent Whitey to run Whitey out er Whitey.2 - Ans. White man sent a white boy to run a white cow outer cotton-field. Variants: (I) Blacky wen' in to Whitey an' drive Blacky outer Whitey. - Ans. Black boy and cotton-field. (2) Ber Whitey drove Whitey out o' Whitey. What's dat? 3. Run up Willy Whelly Whackam Met Tom Takam, Tell Broom Shakam To run Tom Takam Up to Willy Whelly Whackam.3 Ans. Lady tell the boy to take the dawg an' run the cows to the cotton-fiel'. Variant: Tom Tagam sen' Ping Packam to drove Bing Rackam out de Holly Wicky Wackam. - Ans. Boy sen' de dog to drive cow out de fiel'. 4. I went to Brigham Bragham, I looked down Strigham Stragham, I saw Tom Tagham Drawin' de worl' wagon. Ans. Kyart, man, an' horse. Brigham Bragham is name o' wagon. 5. Chin (or chick) cherry up, chin (or chick) cherry down. No man can climb chin cherry hill. Ans. Smoke.4 1 Compare Cape Verde Islands (MAFL 15 [pt. 2]: 235, No. 127), Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, I93), Hausa (Tremearne, 58, No. 3). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 34, No. 66; also JAFL 32: 375, No. 3), Virginia (Southern Workman, March, I894), Bahamas (JAFL 32: 439, No. 4), Antigua (JAFL 34: 87, No. 52). 3 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 34, No. 67). 4 Compare Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, 193) Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I53 Variants: (I) Chip chip cherry, No man could climb chip chip cherry. (2) No man could climb chin chee but chin chee se'f. (3) Ma shinee high, Ma shinee low, No man can climb ma shinee. (4) Tritter, tritter, tritter tree, No man can climb tritter tree. (5) Chip cherry up and chip cherry down, No one knows where it belongs. What's that? 6. A house full, a yard full, a chimney full, No one can get a spoonful.1 Ans. Smoke. Variant: The whole house full, And can't catch a mouth full. Guess what it is. 7. A house full, a yard full, And yet can't get a teaspoonful. Ans. Air. 8. Something blow day and night, And you cannot catch a handful. [No answer.] 9. Mout'ful, han'ful, kyan't get a spoonful.- A-ns. 01' man wid all de chillun. io. Somet'in' holler all day an' holler all night, an' never stop holler. - Ans. Tree holler.2 Variants: (I) Something in the wood holler day an' night. (2) Somet'in' in de worl' all time holler an' don' stop holler. (3) Somet'in' all de time hollerin' an' hollerin' right now. (4) Something was hollowing all its life, and keeps on hollowing. What's that? II. A little man was runnin' off all de time, an' big man was tryin' to ketch him an' couldn'.3- Ans. A wagon-wheel. Variants: (I) Big thing run behind little thing, and can't ketch him. - Ans. Buggy largest wheel run behind littlest wheel, and can't ketch it. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:26, No. 8), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 20o, No. 3), Bahamas (JAFL 32: 440, No. x6). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 26, No. Io). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:35, No. 71), Cape Verde Islands (MAFL 15 [pt. 2]: 240, No. 152). I54 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. (2) Little baba (brother) run all day, an' big baba kyan't ketch him. - Ans. Dat's a buggy-wheel. (3) Little sister ran big sister all day, an' couldn' ketch her. (4) Big sister always run to catch a little sister. (5) Big titty run all day, an' can't ketch little titty. 12. Me riddle, me riddle, me ree, Under de oak-leaf I do stand, Under de grabel I do trabel, I rode a filly dat never won't pull, Shake an' dancel in my han'.1 Variant: Me riddle me riddle me riddle me ree, You tell me a riddle, I give you my fiddle.2 or I'll give you my fiddle, If you'll turn it back to me. Under oak-leaf (or gravel) I will travel. IAns. Ant. I3. Ma riddle, ma riddle, ma ree, Suppose I can tell you a riddle, An' you can't answer 3 me.4 Yes, I kin. -Well, what is de riddle? Suppose you go over to my sho' a-fishin', an' de same fish bite, bite, on your sho'. What you want on my? -A ns. My girls know my trick, an' de girls over dere don' know mine. 14. A little t'in' have fo' feet, an' run night an' day, an' don' stop, so small kyan' shum [see him]. - Ans. Ants. I5. Two looker, Two hooker, Four standers, One switcher.6 Ans. Cow. 1 No answer was forthcoming. The informant was Stephen Hamilton of Spanish- /' ville, Hilton Head. He was a man past seventy; and, in spite of Mr. James Murray's persuasiveness as we talked at the ferry-landing, he remained suspicious of our purposes, and, after this first riddle, uncommunicative. "Dese ol'-time people, dey mus' know,,,iddle," commented Mr. Murray, "but dey too scary.", 2 A school-child in St. Helena writes,"If you tell me my riddle, I will give you my fiddle." 3 Or "turn it back to me." 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 29, No. 32), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 276, Nos. i, 2, 13, I9; 32:440, No. 17). s Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 201, No. 7), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 227, No. 73). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I55 16. The black man sit on a red man head.l - Ans. Pot sit on a fire. Variants: (I) Black bud [bird] sit on red bud nest. (2) A black hen sit on a red hen nest. 17. Dere's somet'in' dead in de middle, an' live at de two en's. - Ans. Plough in de middle, man on one side, horse on de oder.2 Variants: (I) Flesh befo' an' flesh behin', wood an' iron in de middle. - Ans. Horse, man drivin' him, an' plough. (2) Flesh on the two end, an' the middle is wood. - Ans. On one end is a man, and the other is a horse, and the middle is the plough. 18. Somet'in' live in de middle, an' dead on de two en'. - ns. Baid (bed). Variant: 'Live in de middle, an' dead in between. - Ans. Pusson in baid. 19. Somet'in' sof' in the middle and hard all 'round. 3- -ns. Bed. 20. Feather it have, an' cannot fly; Feet it have, an' cannot walk.4 Ans. Dat's a baid. Variant: Four legs has it, an' cannot walk. Feather has it, an' cannot fly. Ans. Bed. 21. Something has a ear and can't hear. What is that? - Ans. A ear of corn. 22. Was a house. In de house was a table. On de table was a plate. In de plate was a saucer. In de saucer was a cup. In de cup was a spoon. In dat spoon was a drop o' somet'in' you kyan't do widout. - Ans. Drop o' blood. Variant: There is a ship, and in this ship is a window. In this window is a table. On this table is a cup; and in this cup is something you neither drink it nor eat it, but you must have it. - Ans. Your ear-vax. 23. Somet'in' goin' up to de step an' never come in.5 — Ans. Pa' [path]. 1 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 30: 276, No. 12; 32: 440, No. 5), Mexico (JAFL 25: 230, No. 20), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 236, No. 132). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 36, No. 77), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 201, No. 6; 32:388, No. 4). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 3I, No. 45), Bahamas (JAFL 32: 39, No. 3). 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 32, No. 5I). 6 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 26, No. 9), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. i2; 32: 390, No. 25). I56 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Variant: Somet'in' come to de do' an' kyan't come in.Ans. Pat'. 24. Something goes all around your house and never comes in. Guess what it is. - Ans. A fence. 25. Somet'in' come to de home an' don' make no track. — Ans. Pa' [path]. 26. Somet'in' ran 'round de house an' didn' make but one track.1 - Ans. Wheelbarrow. Variant: Goin' an' comin', make one track aroun' de house. 27. Dere's somet'in' goin' t'rough de wood an' don' touch a limb. - Ans. Dat's yer voice. Variants: (i) Somet'in' go t'rough de branches an' never touch a limb.- Ans. Echo of your voice. (2) Somet'in' go t'rough de bush widout touch. - Ans. Woice. (3) What go through the woods an' don't touch nothing? - Ans. A voice. 28. Round as a biscuit, Deep as a sea, Ten horses kyan't pull it up.2 Ans. Well. Variants: (I) Somet'in' deep as a sea, Ten t'ousan' horse cannot pull it up. (2) Roun' as a saucer, deep as a cup. Ten hundred mule kyan't pull it up. (3) Roun' as an apple, ship [shaped] like a cup, All de king oxen can't pull it up. (4) Black within, red without, Deep as a cup. All the king's horses can't pull it up. 29. De ol' lady lay down an' forgot it. De ol' man lay down an' forgot it. De ol' lady went to sleep an' forgot it. De ol' man went to sleep an' forgot it. De ol' lady woke up, pulled it up. De ol' man got up an' put it in. Ans. Do' peg an' a do'. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 29, No. 30), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 9; 32:390, No. 24). a Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 27, No. 13), North Carolina (JAFL 30:201, No. I; 32: 389, No. I6). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I57 Variant: Was an ol' lady an' an ol' man gone to bald. An forgot to slip it in. An' de ol' man got up an' put it een. - Ans. Do' ba's [bars]. 30. An ol' man have a stiff t'ing, An ol' lady have a hairy t'in'. 01' man take de stiff t'in' An' lick 'em in de hairy t'in'. Ans. Hawg. 3I. 01' lady an' ol' man was under de tree. An' de ol' man shook it, an' de ol' lady take up her dress an' took it.' -Ans. Apple. 32. De ol' lady was willin', an' de ol' man was willin', but de t'in' what dey had wasn' willin'. Guess what dat was. - Ans. Mule. 33. Got two years [ears]. Hoist up yer foot, sho' it in, go flippity flop. What's dat? - Ans. Boots. 34. Bit [bif?] it to the bottom, Bit it on top. Right in the middle Go flippity flop.2 Ans. Churn. 35. Pig run t'rough de grass an' leave de tail behin'.- Ans. Needle. Variants: (i) What goes t'rough de water an' leave he guts behin' 'em? - Ans. Needle. (2) Somet'in' goin' t'rough a crack an' always leavin' a tail behin'. - Ans. Dat's a needle. 36. Something has one eye and one foot. - Ans. A needle. 37. I set down on Love, An' I hol' Love in ma han', An' Love died for de sake of me.4 Ans. Dat was a young girl, and dey was goin' to hang her. An' dey said if she could fin' a riddle dat nobody could guess, dat dey wouldn' hang her. An' she had a dawg name o' Love. She killed dat dawg, an' put a piece on de chair an' sat down on de chair. An' she had a piece in de glove on her hand, an' said, "Love died for de sake o' me." An' nobody couldn' guess dat riddle, so she got clear. 1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 5). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:34, No. 63), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, WNo. 16; 32:390, No. 21), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 252, No. 2I9). 8 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 34: I Io, No. 3). 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 26, No. I I), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 203, No. 23). I58 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Variant: Beauty I sit, Beauty I stand, Beauty I hol' fas' in my han'. Ans. A man have a dead dawg. An' after de dawg die, he skin de dawg an' mek shoes. An' he mek a stool, mek a glove. 38. In de dead de livin' lay. Seven set de prisoner free. Guess dis riddle or hang me.l Ans. Dere was an ol' dead ho'se in de fiel'. Seven pa'tridge lay in de dead ho'se. Said dere was a man would be hang. Dey tol' him dat if he could tell dem a riddle dat none of 'em could get, would let him free. Say dat if he tell one dey could get, dey would hang him. He tell dat one. 39. Oncet was a man goin' hang. De jedge call him up to trial, an' he tell him dat, "Ef you could fin' a riddle dat no man could answer, I'll set you free." He gone out. An' after he get de big pot, he tu'n somet'in' down underneat' de big pot. He call um,"Fo' feet down, flesh an' bone. T'ree feet up, hard as stone." Ans. Man gone out, he ketch a hawg, an' he get a big pot, tu'n him down on de hawg. 40. Five ship on sea, an' one pepeller tu'n um. - Ans. You could put five pot on de fire, an' cook um wid one spoon. Variants: (I) One pepeller carry twenty-five ship. (2) Twelve boats on the ocean, and only one could stir up.Ans. Twelve pot on a fire, and one big spoon stir them. 41. A whole lot o' little red-head chilrun stay in a flat-top house.- Ans. Matches. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 30, No. 38), North Carolina (JAFL 32: 390, No. 19), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 263, No. 290). Comparative, Bolte u. Polivka, XXII. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I59 Variants: (I) A red-head man on a red-top house. (2) A straight white man wid a red face an' a black head. (3) A tall white man with red face and blue hair. What's that? (4) Somet'in' in de house have red hair. - Ans. Matches in de box. 42. Higher than a house, Higher than a tree, Oh! whatever can that be? Ans. Star. Variants: (I) Higher than a house, Higher than a tree. (2) Hide in de house, Hide in de tree, Oh, ever what can dat be? 43. Higher dan a tree, What kyan a little t'in' be? ins. De moon. 44. I got so much money I couldn' done count it.1 - Ans. That's a star. 45. I got so many claw [clothes] until I couldn' done unfol' it.2 Ans. Cloud. 46. Back in de road I met an ol' man. De mo' I shake his han', de mo' he bleed. - Ans. Dat was a pump. Variants: (I) I wen' down de road. I met a man. Shook his han'. An' I draw blood. - Ans. Pump. (2) I went out walking one day. I met a man, an' I shook his han'.. An' he began to bleed. An' I say, "Why are you bleedin'?" (3) Oncet I was walkin' down a road, an' met a man who shook his head an' drank his blood. (4) When I was goin' to London, I met a man, I shuk his han', An' leave him still a-standin'. 1 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 32: 440, No. 2I), Antigua (JAFL 34: 87, No. 49). 2 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 30: 276, No. i ). I6o Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. (5) Once I was goin' to London, I met somebody standin', Cut his throat an' suck his blood, An' leave his body standin'.,ns. Jug o' whiskey.' (6) I went down the road, I met a man. I cut off his head and dranked his blood. What's that? - Ans. A man with a bottle of whiskey. (7) Oncet I was goin' a-walkin', I met ol' Mawllie on de way. I break his neck an' suck his blood, An' leave his body dere. Ans. Foun' a bottle of whiskey on de way, break his neck, drink de whiskey, an' leave de bottle right dere. 47. Something swim on the water and never go bottom. When I get my full, I go bottom. - [No answer.] 48. Some man has never seen it done, and God have never intended for it to be so. Guess what it is. - Ans. Your little finger. 49. A woman tell me I must come her house. Tell me I must not walk nor ride, but come. - [No answer.] 50. On de water I may lay, Ne'der kyas' nor drown away. Dis ma parents I have no make my stomach swell. Ans. Jug. Variant: On the water I will lay, I will neither drink nor cast away Water make stomach swell. 5I. Somet'in' run all day an' all night.- Tide. Clock. Variants: (i) Somet'in' go night an' day an' never stop.Ans. Tide. (2) There is something that run all time and never stop.Ans. That's the river. (3) Go day an' night an' never get tired.- Ans. Wind. (4) Is somet'in' goin' all day an' never get tired.- Ans. Sun. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 24, No. 2), Virginia (Southern Workman, March, I894), South (JAFL 32 375, No. 6), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 277, No. 20), Antigua (JAFL 34: 83, No. 2). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I6I 5' 2. Hicky mo, lacky mo, On de king kitchen do'. All de king horses an' all de king men Couldn' pull it off.1 Ans. Dat was de sun. Variants: (I) Hicky mo, hangy mo, Hangin' ower de kitchen do'. Ans. Sun. (2) Somet'in' shine in de king wind'. An' all de king man an' all de king horse couldn' take it off.- Ans. Sunshine in de do'. (3) Something shines on the king's door, and twenty-four men can't take it off. What's that? - Ans. The sun............ y 53. ridd le, me riddle, me riddle, me row,.I b My fader had some seed to sow. \ ^4 me 4. De lan' were white, de seed were black, My fader gave me half of a pint. \Pe a X Ans. Pen an' ink.2 I 54. BlacIlwater in t'ree lette's.- nsi. I......... 55. Spell hard water in three letter.- Ans. Ice. ^ 56. Dis was ferry-boat. An' Fox, Duck, corn, an' de man all to go in dat same boat. Ef de man kyarry de duck an' de corn togeder, de duck will eat 'em. Ef he kyarry de fox an' de duck, de fox will eat de duck. An' all couldn' go in de boat at one time. - Ans. He have to make two trip. So he kyarry de corn an' de duck, an' he left de duck ower dere. He bring de corn back. An' he get Ber Fox an' he kyarry Ber Fox an' de corn. When he get ower dere, he have all ower dere. He save de duck, an' he save de corn, an' he get Ber Fox ower.4 Variants: (I) A farmer moving has a fox, geese, and a basket of corn. If he carry the fox, and left the geese, the geese will eat the corn; and if he carry the corn, the fox will eat the geese. Find the answer. -Ans. Carry the geese 'cross, come back, carry the fox 'cross. Bring the geese back. Carry the corn 'cross. Then come back for the geese. (2) A man weighed two hundred pounds. De corn weighed fifty pounds. De geese weighed fifty pounds. De fox 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: ^ No. 26. /fAejW-worWrlg i and^^ M ars."iia 'iddjle ton pointed to mypen an'd-Is 3 Compare Antigua (JAFL 34: 86, No. 35).. 4 Compare South (JAFL 32: 375, No. I), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 26i, No. 279). I62 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. weighed fifty pounds. De ship kyan't take but two hundred and fifty pounds at a time. He wanted to take all dese t'ings across de channel, but he kyan't take de corn an' lef' de geese on dis side of de channel, because, if he lef' de geese an' de fox on dis side, de fox will eat de geese. If he lef' de corn an' de geese on dis side, de geese will eat de corn. So want to know how he take it across de channel.- Ans. He takes de geese across firs', an' den come back an' get de corn. Take de corn across, an' den de geese back on dis side. Den he take de fox, an' lef' de geese on dis side, den come back for de geese. (3) Dere was a 'ooman an' a man an' two boys. An' de 'ooman weigh hundred poun', an' de man weigh hundred poun', an' de two boy togeder weigh hundred poun', an' dey all want to get 'cross.- Ans. De two boys went over firs', an' one de boy bring de boat back. An' de man went ower. An' de boy ower dis side bring de boat back, an' de two boys went ower again. An' one de boy bring de boat back. An' de woman went ower. An' de boy ower dis side bring de boat back, an' de oder boy went ower, an' bof get ower. (4) Three man going across a creek. Boat carry hundred pounds, and so the three man want go 'cross. How get 'cross? - Ans. The two wa' hundred pounds go 'cross first. One come back 'cross (unfinished). 57. There was a man had a hund'd an' fifty hawgs. He started across de riber. An' dey all was boars. All of dem drink water an' come out on de oder side. An' dey all was sow. - Ans. Mr. Boar had dose hawgs. Dey was his'n. An' Mr. Sow bought um during de time dey was drinkin'. An' when come out on de oder side, dey all was Mr. Sow's. 58. A rose in de garden an' a rose outside. What one you take? -Ans. De rose in de garden is married man; de one outside, unmarried. 59. There was t'ree ships. One was rig, one was half rig, an' one was unrig. Which one would you like to go on? -Ans. The one dat is unrig. De one dat is rig is a married man, the one half rig is fixin' to be married, the one unrig is a single. Variants: (i) There was once t'ree ships. One was rig'; one, half rigged; one wasn' rigged at all. (2) Three glasses on de table, one half full, one all full, one not full. - Ans. One married, one fixin' to get married, one unmarried. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. x63 (3) A bird flyin', an' one sittin'. - Ans. A woman married, an' one single. 60. If you walkin' along an' have a bunch of withered flowers, would you throw yer withered flowers to get a bunch of f'esh ones?- Amns. 01' beau an' new beau. 6I. Two laigs sit up on t'ree laigs with one laig in his han'. In comes two laigs, took away one laig, two laigs jumped up an' take t'ree laigs an' throw it after two laigs, an' make him bring back one laig.1 — Ans. T'ree footstool, hock of ham, fo'-laig dawg come in. He take de stool an' t'row it after de dawg, an' make him bring it back. Variant: Two laig set on t'ree laig Wid one laig in his lap. In came fo' laig, picked up one laig. Up jumped two laig, picked up t'ree laig, Make him bring one laig back. Ans. A man been sittin' on a stool wid a laig o' meat on his lap. In come a dawg. 62. Once I was goin' up de heeple steeple, An' met a crowd of little people; Some was black, some was white, Some was color of a ginger-snap,2 Ans. Ants. Variants: (i) I went up a heaple steeple, Met a crowd of colored people; Some was red, some was black, Some was de color of a ginger-snap. (2) Some was Nick, Some was Nack, Some was de color of a ginger-snap. 63. Round as a biscuit, Busy as a bee, The prettiest little thing I ever did see. Ans. Watch.8 Variants: (I) As roun' as an apple, as busy as a bee.Ans. Clock. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:34, No. 62), Bahamas (JAFL 32: 44z, No. 22). 2 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 2o2,No. 10; 32: 390, No. 20), Virginia (Southern Workman, March, 1894), Antigua (JAFL 34: 85, No. 23). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:28, No. 17), North Carolina (AFL 30:201, No. 2; 32:389, No. I7). I64 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. (2) Somet'in' roun' as an happle, busy as a bee. — Ans. Watch. 64. Somet'in' have two han's, an' too dirty to wash his face.Ans. Dat's a clock. 65. Somet'in' large, an' somet'in' small, Has two han's, no feet at all. It always runs, yet cannot walk, You might be still to hear it talk.' Ans. Clock. Variant: Somet'in' have two eyes an' cannot see; have two hands an' cannot feel, two feet an' cannot walk, an' one face. -Ans. Clock. 66. It runs all day, But never does run away. Ans. Clock. 67. Have a tongue an' kyan't talk, but kyan run all de time.2 - Ans. Wagon. 68. Walk all day, and at night sat down with his tongue hang out.3 -Ans. Shoes. Variant: What walk all day and when night comes she go under the bed and rest. Guess what it is. - Ans. Shoe. 69. Once I was goin' to London, I met an ol' man. I ask him his age. He hol' up his walkin'-stick, An' said, "Look in my stick, You will see my age." Ans. Rattlesnake. Variants: (I) Ah met a man, an' ax him his age. He tell me to look at his walkin'-stick. - Ans. Dat's a rattlesnake, his age on his tail. (2) Said, one day I walk, I met an ol' man. I asked him how ol' he was. Said look at de en' of his walkin'-cane. 70. Crooked as a rainbow, Slim as a ja'. Guess all de riddles, But you can't guess dat. Ans. Snake. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 32, No. 53), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 204, No. 24). 2 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 203, No. 22). 3 Compare Aiken, S.C. JAFL 34:30, No. 40), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 204, No. 25; 32: 389, No. 8). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I65 71. Crooked as a rainbow, Smooth as a slate, Twenty-five George horse Can't pull it straight.1 Ans. Riber. 72. Roun' as a rainbow, Teeth like a kyat. You can guess all de riddle, But you kyan't guess dat.2 Ans. It's a bramble briar. 73. Patch [i.e., brick] on top o' patch, wid a hole in de middle.s -- ns. Chimney. 74. Humpy Dumpy sat on a wall, Humpy Dumpy had a fall. All the king horses an' all the king men Could not put him up again.4 Ans. Aigg. Variants: (I) Humpy Tumpty wen' to town one day, He had a fall, Broke his head, An' all de doctors in de town couldn' cure it.5 (2) Humpty Dumpty had a fall. No man could cure Humpy Dumpy. (3) Humpy Dumpy went up town, Humpy Dumpy ta' [tear] his gown. All the king horses, all the king men, Could not put him together again. 75. Something go up white, Something come down red.6 Ans. Aigg. Variants: (I) Somet'in' goes up white, an' come down yeller. - Ans. Egg. (2) Somet'in' go in de air w'ite, an' come down yaller an' w'ite. (3) Throw it up white, and comes down yellow. What is that? 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:36, No. 76). a Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 35, No. 74), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 204, No. 23). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 29, No. 32). 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 25, No. 4), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 206, No. 5i). 6 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 32: 44o, Nos. I3, 17). 6 Compare Aiken, S.C. (AFL 34: 34, No. 64), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 275, No. 2). I66 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 76. What is red an' white inside, an' white outside? —,ns. Aigg.1 77. Wha' yeller inside, an' white outside? 2- Ans. Cantelope. 78. Black widin, red widout, Fo' corners all about.3 Ans. Dat's a chimney. Variant: Black within, white without, Fo' corner roun' about. Ans. Chimley. 79. Somet'in' throw (go) up green an' come down red. - Ans. Watermelon. Variant: What green outside, an' red inside? 80. What go up green as grass, white as cotton, and something in it black as ink, and come down red? Guess what it is. - Ans. A watermelon, because it white on the inside before it is ripe. 81. Something white as cotton, green as grass, and blue as ink, and sweet as sugar. Guess what it is. - Ans. Huckleberries. 82. Something white as paper, green as grass, red as fire, large as a marble. Guess what it is. -Ans. Blackberries. 83. White, but not white as snow. Green, but not green as grass.4 Ans. Cocoanut. 84. Something grow green, white, green, red, and then black.' -Ans. Blackberries. 85. You go over de bridge, Water below, Water up top.6 Ans. Watermelon on yer head. 86. Riddle, ma riddle, as I suppose, Hundred eyes an' never a nose. Ans. Sif [sieve]. Variants: (I) A riddle, a riddle, as I suppose, A hundred eyes and never a nose. Ans. It is a sifter. (2) What got ten t'ousan' eyes 7 an' no nose? 1 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 30: 275, Nos. 3, I3), Antigua (JAFL 34: 87, No. 43). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 29, No. 28), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 276, No. 9), Antigua (JAFL 34: 88, No. 60). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 29, No. 29), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 206, No. 52). 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:32, No. 48), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 11), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2]: 219, No. 22). 6 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:32, No. 49), North Carolina (JAFL 32: 388, No. 5). 6 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 31, No. 47). 7 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 28, No. I2). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I67 87. Somet'in' round, have one do' an' one t'ousan' winder.1 -Ans. Sifter. 88. My fader has a dwellin'-house. Nobody can tell how many winders in it. - Ans. Net.2 89. Somet'in' got one hundred chillun, hang all 'round um.Ans. Net (bullet all aroun'). go. I ride [walk] across a bridge, an' yet me ride across.3 - Ans. Yetme is name of dawg. Variant: Man was ho'seback-ridin', an' yet walkin'.Ans. Dawg's name was Yet. 9I. Bench 'bout dat long (have to measure with yer hand) [indicating two feet and a half]. Guess how many can sit on dis bench. - ns. "One." - "Mo' yet." - "Two." - "Mo' yet." "T'ree." - "Mo' yet.... De man's name was Mo' Yet." 4 92. What chew all the time and don't swallow? - Ans. It is a cane-mill. 93. There's a house wid two winder upstairs. Is red, an' downstairs is white. An' two doors. - Ans. Face. Variant: A large theatre has two window upstairs, two window downstairs, a large door with white people, a red stage. What is that? -Ans. A person's head. 94. Something short and stout with two heads.5 What is that? — Ans. A barrel. 95. Two sisters set in an upstairs winder. Dey kyan't see each oder.6 - Ans. Eyes. 96. Twenty white horses in a row. When one star', all begin one time.- Ans. Teeth. Variants: (I) Lots o' white horses in a row. When one start, all start. (2) Twenty-fo' horses set upon a bridge. - Ans. Teet' in yer gum. (3) Twenty-four horses in stall, one red man whipping hard.7 - Ans. That teeth. (4) White horses sit on a red hill. An' ev'y time dey gallup, dey gallup. 1Compare Bahamas (JAFL 32: 44o, No. 6). 2Compare Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, I97). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 25, No. 6), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. I7). 4 Compare JAFL 32: 375, No. 5. 6 Compare Bahamas (JAFL 32:440, No. 19), Antigua (JAFL 34: 86, No. 31), Virginia (Southern Workman, March, I894). 6 Compare Cape Verde Islands (MFLS 15 [pt. 2]: 250, No. 209), Sierra Leone (Cronise and Ward, 197). 7 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 24, No. 3), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 276, No. I7). I68 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 97. Whitey up an' down, Whitey, whitey, all 'roun' town. Ans. Dat's yer feet. 98. Smood inside, Rough outside. Ins. Ashter [oyster]. 99. Somet'in' cry, No water come out his eye. Ans. Shoe. 0oo. Somet'in' bark yere, an' bitesher yonder. - Ans. Gun. o10. Somet'in' goes in green, goes out green an' stickery all ower, an' come out mahogany color. - Ans. Chinkapin. I02. Tall daddy, sticky mammy, black nurse, white child. What is that? -,ns. Chinkapin-tree. Variants: (I) A white chil' an' a black nurse an' a red mother. - Ans. Chinkapin. (White inside, black outside, on his en' reddish brown. Grows on tree in fall.) (2) Black mother, rough nurse, white baby. - ns. A cocoanut. 103. A tree got a whole lot o' limbs, an' one ain't got none..ns. A woman got a whole crowd o' chilrun. I04. Hitch it to the upstairs, Hitch it to the downstairs. No man can do without it. Ans. Broom. 105. Somet'in' go all aroun' de room, an' stop in one corner. - Ans. Broom. Io6. In de gyarden behin' de house, Under de peach-tree it was done. Through the ring the streams run, An' I drank it. Ans. When my great-grandfather was a baby, my great-gran'mother took him into de garden behin' de house, an' his mother nurse him. My brother tol' me. 107. Dere was a baigger. Dis baigger had a brother. The brother died. The man that died didn' have a brother. So who was the baigger? - Ans. De baigger was a lady sister. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 30, No. 39), North Carolina (JAFL 32: 390, No. 23). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I69 Io8. Was twelve pear hangin' high, An' twelve pear hangin' low; An' twelve king came ridin' by, An' heach 'e took a pear, An' how many leave hangin' dere? Ans. Dat was twenty-fo'. De man dat took de pear was a man name Each, an' he leave twenty-t'ree hangin' dere. Variants: (I) There was a pear-tree had on twelve pears. Twelve men came along on twelve horses; and each took one, and left eleven hanging there. What was the man's name?Ans. Each. (2) Seven pears on a tree. Seven hundred ridin' by. An' each pick a pear. How much he leave? Ans. Seven hundred. One man was de name o' Each. Io9. There was a man going to Surniver. He met a lady. The lady had seven sack. The seven sack had seven cats. Seven cats had seven kits. Guess who all was going to Surniver.2 - Ans. One man. l 1o. When walking t'rough a field of wheat, I pick up something good to eat. It was neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor bone. I kept it till it run along. 3 [No answer.] II. Little Nancy Hetticote in a white petticoat An' a red nose, De longer she stan', De shorter she grows.4 Ans. Candle. Variants: (I) Little Miss Mary Sat on de washstan'. De mo' she wear her petticoat, De shorter it get. Ans. Lam'-wick. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 32, No. 55), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. 13; 32: 389, No. I2), also South (JAFL 32 375, No. 4), Antigua (JAFL 34: 86, No. 39). 2 Compare South (JAFL 32: 375, No. 2). 3 Compare Virginia (Southern Workman, March, 1894, Ans. Egg). 4 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 24, No. I), North Carolina (JAFL 30: 202, No. i9; JAFL 34: I o, No. 2), Bahamas (JAFL 30: 275, No. 5; 32: 440, No. 20). 170 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. (2) Once there was a little girl white as snow, The longer she stands, the shorter she grows. 113. Look like a kyat an' isn' a cat. Eat like a kyat an' isn' a cat. Walk like a kyat an' isn' a cat. Ans. Kitten. I 3. Oncet dere was a man goin' to hunt. An' all he kill he leave it dere, an' all he didn' kill he kyarry it back. - Ans. Dat was a man was travellin', an' he get full o' lice goin' in de woods. All he kill he leave it dere. All he didn' kill he kyarry out. I 14. Once I walk out to my compeeniun, Meet a crowd o' nickerdemas. Ef I had ma comsecunsee, I wouldn' le' him have it. Ans. I went to my pease-patch, met a crowd of partridges. Ef I had my gun, would a shoot dem. II5. A duck behin' a duck, A duck befo' a duck, A duck between two duck. How much dat a duck? 1 Ans. T'ree duck. 116. Two ol' ladies was po'. One day was rainin'. One of de ol' ladies didn' have any grits, an' dey went to a man to get some. De man give her a small box. An' when she open de box, it was a whole lot o' little t'ings in it. An' de oder lady she have some grits. She was long eye. She wasn' satisfy wid hers. An' she took an' wet her grits. An' wen' to de same man. An' de man gave her a large box. An' guess what was she had in de box.- Ans. Box o' mosquito. II7. Oncet dere was a girl an' a boy. He was to Savannah. He write fo' she to come whey he was. She couldn' ride, neither walk. He had a string from Savannah to Befut [Beaufort]. An' when she get in de middle of de water, de string pop.- Ans. Fall in love. 118. Somet'in' foller you ev'ywhey you go.-A-,ns. Dat's yer shadow. II9. What's on you I use mo' dan you use yo'se'f? - Dat's a name.2 1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 34: I o, No. 6), Antigua (JAFL 34: 84, No. 20). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:33, No. 56), Bahamas (JAFL 32: 441, No. 24). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I7I 20o. Two frawg in a double pond, an' all speakin' t'rough his laig.- Ans. Telephone.' I2I. There is somet'in' right over de water hollerin' for it an' kyan't get it.- Ans. A bell 'roun' de cow's neck. 122. Wha' sit up on fo' block? - ns. House. 123. Somet'in' had fo' foot an' one back. — Ans. Cheer (chair). 124. Somet'in' have hoof, no head, no tail.- Ans. Table. 125. What bear on a cob? - Ans. Corn. 126. What ready to receive yer any minute? - Ans. Deat'. 127. Wha' live in de river? - Ans. Fish. 128. What live in de river an' crawl on fo' feet? - iAns. Crab. I29. What can walk on eart' an' ain't got no feet? —Ans. Snake. I30. Wha' is de king o' bird? - Ans. Eagle. I31. Wha' is de king o' bea's? - Ans. Lion. 132. Wha' is de king o' rat?- Ans. Kyat. 138. Wha' is de king o' de rabbit? - Ans. Dawg. 134. Wha' you lay on de baid an' bank wid de hoe? - Ans. Pertater-wine. 135. Wha' hang on de tree like kyandle? 2-tAns. Pail. 136. Crowd o' people in de house. An' somet'in' come in de house an' don' touch one.- Ans. Smoke. 137. Wha' flies in de sky an' come down low an' ketch people chicken? - Ans. Hawk. 138. Wha' fly up, an' when he see yer comin', he dive?Ans. Duck. 139. What's goin' 'roun' cleanin' up de earth?-Ans. Buzzards. I40. Wha' makes de nes' on de ma'sh? —Ans. Ma'sh-hen. 141. Somet'in' in de wood fat all de time, an' don' eat not'in'. - Ans. Fatwood. 142. Somet'in' bloom in de mornin' an' wilt in de evenin'.Ans. Flowers. 143. De kyat had two kittens. One name was Minch, one name Pinch. W'ich was de ol' kyat name? -Ans. Witch. Variants: (I) 01' kyat have t'ree kittens. One name Trap, one name Trip, one name Tripet Trap. What was de ol' kyat name? (2) Once upon a time there were three little kittens, - 1 The riddler claimed that this riddle he had made up. 2 Icicle. 172 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Trim, Trick, and Scheme. Which was the old cat's name? -Ans. Which. 144. I was goin' along de road. I met a man. He tipped his hat an' drew his feet. What was his name? -Ans. His name was Andrew. Variant: Once I was goin' to London, I met a London boy. He drew his feet on top his hat, An' what was his name? Ans. Andrew. I45. I have a daughter, an' married a man name o' Sip. What is my daughter's name? - Ans. Ann. I46. Las' t'ing you take up at night when you go to bed?Ans. Foot. Variant: What is de las' t'in' you pull off when you go to yer bed? - Ans. Take yer feet off de flo'. I47. What goes an' never comes back? - Ans. It's yer breat'. I48. There were eleven blackbirds sittin' in a farmer cornfiel'. De farmer shot one. How many was lef'?2 - Ans. Not any lef'. I49. Did you ever seen a dawg wid an iron tail? -Ans. An eye an' a tail. I50. Why is de President wife nightgown like de United State flag? - 'Cause dey bof go off at his command. 151. What's dat de mo' it leak, de mo' it go? - Ans. Kyandy. 152. I know a man shave twenty time a day. - Ans. Barber. I53. Ef one drawp of rain come to a pailful, what would a shower come to? - Ans. To de groun'. Variant: Ef one drop o' rain cos' ten cen', how much a shower come to? - Ans. A shower will come to de groun'. 154. Ef one drawp of rain come to a dollar, what would a shower cost? - Ans. A shower would cost a coat. I55. If a hawg an' a ha'f cos' a dollaw an' a ha'f, what will a whole hawg come to? - Ans. Come to corn. Variant: A man had a hog and a pig. The pig worth a dollar and a half. And what will the hog come to - Ans. The hog would come to his feed. 1 The literary source of this popular riddle was written by two school-children: - As I was going over Westminster Bridge. I met with a Westminster scholar. He pulled off his cap and drew off his gloves, And wished me a good-morrow. Compare Antigua (JAFL 34: 84, No. I7). 2 Compare Antigua (JAFL 34: 84, No. 19). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 173 56. A stove cost ten dollars, a pipe cost five. What will the wood come to?1 - Ans. Wood come to ashes. 157. A hen an' a half lay a egg in a day an' a half. How much did it take a hen an' a half to lay an aigg? - Ans. It will be one hen an' an aigg, an' den a dead hen. Variant: A hen an' a half laid an' egg an' a half in a day an' a half. - ns. A hen laid an aigg, an' de oder one was no good. 158. Somet'in' haven' any skin or bone, but in two week time it have skin an' bone. - Ans. Chicken hatch out. 159. As roun' as a moon, As black as a coon (cook), Wid a long tail.2 Ans. Fryin'-pan. I6o. Who made it don' use it. Who use it don' see it.3 Ans. Cawfin (coffin). Variant: Dere is somet'in' de man dat made it don' want. De man dat use it don' know what it is. I6I. Why does a woman look in de moon? -Ans. 'Cause a man is dere. 162. Nebichudnezzer, the ruler of the Jews, Bow down his head and took off his shoes. Spell dat in four letters, and also spell it in two. Ans. That it. Variant: Nebuchanezzer, King of de Jew, Spell it in four letter an' den in two. Ans. The way to spell it in four ' letters is "that," in two is "it." 163. Constantinople is a wery long word. Can you spell it in two letters? - Ans. It. I64. What kin is the door-mat to the door-sill? —Ans. The door-mat is its step-father. Variant: What kin are the door-mat and the sill? - Ans. Step forward. I65. De man who haven't got it don't want it; an' de man who 1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 34: Io, No. 7). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 28, No. 19). 8 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 33, No. 59), Cape Verde Islands (MFLS I5 [pt. 2.]: 256, No. 249). I 74 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. got it wouldn't take a thousand dollars for it. - Ans. Bald head. 166. Something turn and you can't see when it turn. What is that?- Ans. Milk (or milk turns to clabber). 167. Why a chimney smokin'? - ns. Because he kyan't chew. 168. Something was here since the world first made, and just a month old. What's that? -Ans. The moon. Variant: Somet'in' was yere since de wo'l' was firs' made. 169. If you go to the store for ten cent worth of tin long tacks, what you want them for? - Ans. Ten cents. I70. If a bear go in a dry-goods store for a musel [muzzle?], what do he want them for? -Ans. He want them for himself. I7I. One day as I pas't by, I met two shoes, - a button and a string-up. The string shoes said, "Good-morning!" and the button did not say nothing. Why? -Ans. Because the string shoes have tongue. Variant: If you go along the road and meet a string-up shoes and a button-up, the string-up tells you, "Good-morning!" and the button-up don't. Why is that? 172. What is it that fly high and fly low, but haven't got any wings? - Ans. Dust. I73. I went to a house. I knock at the door. A little boy open it name George. I went upstairs. I saw a woman was washing. I went another room. I saw a ton of coal. - - ns. George Washington. I74. Something black and white, and red all over.2 —Ans. Newspaper print black, and the paper is white, and you read it all over. I75. Why a colt and a egg are so much alike?- Ans. A colt has to break before using it, and a egg has to break before using it. I76. Why is the man next to the President wear the largest hat? - Ans. Because he has the largest head. I77. Why lazy people go to school?- Ans. Just because the school can't come to them. 178. Spell frying-pan in three letters. -Ans. Pot. I79. Did you ever see a buzzut fly and a dog sit its tail? — Ans. You have seen a buzzet fly, and a dog sit on its own tail. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34:36, No. 84), North Carolina (JAFL 30:204, No. 34; 32: 389, No. 14). 2 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 31, No. 44), Antigua (JAFL 34: 88, No. 67). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I75 80o. What is the different between a umbrella and a woman?Ans. A umbrella can open without breaking its bones, but a woman can't open without breaking her bones. 18I. Round as a bando, shut up as a trap. Guess all the riddles, but you couldn't guess that. Ans. Umbrella. 182. When you step on the live, the live wouldn't cry; but when you step on the dead, the dead will cry.- Ans. Trash (thrash?). I83. The rich don't want it, the poor want it, and the dead live on it. What's that? - Ans. Nothing. 184. I went to the wood and got it. I sit myself down and look at it. The more I look at it, the less I like it. - Ans. Thorn. I85. John and Brook went out hunting. John killed Brook. What did he kill? -Ans. He kill 13 rook. 186. Something goes from hand to hand, and has no owner.Ans. Money. 187. A man had twenty sick sheep and one dead. How much it leave?1 -Ans. Nineteen. PROVERBS. i. 'Mos' kill bird don' make soup.2 2. Take care better than beggin' pardon.3 3. A man ain't any more dan a man. 1 Compare Aiken, S.C. (JAFL 34: 36, No. 85). 2 "Dat's so. Mos' kill a bird ain't a makin' a soup," amplified an acquaintance. One feller might say to the other, commented Maria Middleton, "Great Gawd! Ah mos' kill um " And the other would retort, "How you 'mos' kill, when you ain't got urn?" ' Compare Gonzales, 332. 176 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. TOASTS AND OTHER VERSES. TOASTS. I. Whin I was a little boy, My moder give me pap. Here I am a big boy My moder give me strap. But now I can smoke a cigarette, I can smoke a pipe. I can kiss de putty young girl At ten o'clock at night. 2. TOAS' FOR GEN MUN AN' LADY. Crosspatch drew de latch. She sit by de winder an' spin. She took a cup an' drank it up, An' inwite de wisitors in. (Dat's de lady's.) Ev'y fall is a roas'in' ear. Ev'y spring dere's a pum'kin. An' ev'y man dat has a wife Compel to give her somet'in'. (Dat's de gemmun's.) 3 -When I die, Bury me neat an' bury me deep, Bury me at de foot of Broaden Street, Have a good-lookin' woman 1 step 'cross my grave, Den tell to de worl' dat Ah'm gone to res'. 4 -Whiskey when Ah'm dirsty, Water when Ah'm dry, Money when Ah'm brek, Heaven when Ah'm die. 1 Means "sweetheart." Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I77 OTHER VERSES. 5. JOHN BROWN'S BODY. John Brown body lie in silent in de clay, An' ma soul goes marchin' home. Glory, glory halleluhyun! Jesus lived an' reign forever, An' ma soul goes marchin' home. We will hang Jeff Davis on de sour-apple tree, An' ma soul goes marchin' home. 6. GRIZZLY BEAR. A preacher went out huntin', Was on a Sunday morn. He t'ought it was against his religion, But he take his gun along. He kyarried hisse'f in a bery bad place, De bear come tremblin' down. He cried out, "Lawd! If you kyan't help me, Don' yer help dat grizzly bear."1 7. THE ROSE IS RED. De rose is red, De viol' is blue, De prink are pretty, An' so are you. Jus' as de grass grow 'roun' de stump, I choose yer fo' my sugar-lump. You live between de city an' bay, An' I will get marry whenever you say. 8. JORDAN. De Devil an' his wife was playin' six, seven up. De Devil beat his wife wi' a dollar. So he take up his'n stick an' he crack up 'cross de head. De people 'cross Jerden (Jordan) had to holler. Pull off yer overcoat an' roll up yer sleeve, Jerden was a hard road to trabel, I believe. 1 Compare South in general (JAFL 32: 360-36I). 178 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 9. SO, MISTER BROWN! (A DANCE-SONG.) I cou't de widder's daughter. So, Mister Brown! I ax her wouldn' she marry me. So, Mister Brown! Oh, she said she would marry me. So, Mister Brown! Oh, what is de fortune? So, Mister Brown! Ha'k (hark?) back,1 lady! So, Mister Brown! Honer yer partner. So, Mister Brown! Choose in anoder one. So, Mister Brown! IO. LITTLE SISSIE. (A DANCE-SONG.) Say, little Sissie, won't you marry me? Stan' back, Bob! don' come anigh me! Run 'long, Bob, wid yer han' all aroun' me! Sissie an' Bob join in de weddin', Putties' couple dat you ever did see. Stan' back, Bob! don' come anigh me! Bounce 'long, Bob, wid yer han' all aroun' me! II. TRUE-LOVE, TRUE-LOVE.2 True-love, true-love, Go an' ax yer moder Can you be a bride of mine. If she say yes, Come back an' tell me. If she say no, I'll marry you. 12. LIFEBOAT. Let me in de lifeboat! He can stan' de ragin' storm. Oh, let me in de lifeboat! 1 Compare South Carolina (JAFL 27: 253). 2 Sung by narrator, but not recorded. Compare North Carolina (JAFL 22: 246; Campbell and Sharp, No. 47), Bahamas (MAFLS 13: i6i). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 179 He can bear my spirit home. Come, brother sailor! Don' fall asleep! Pray night an' day! We are sinkin' in de deep. Oh, pit' de ancho'! Fo' dat we all will see, Efyou wan' to sit wid Jesus in de lifeboat.1 1 Sung, but not recorded. I 8o Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. GAME-SONGS AND OTHER SONGS. GAME-SONGS. I. NANCY BEULAH..1=88. Ah, Nan-cy Beu - lah I Ah, ma lit -tieone! Run, Nan- cy Beu-1lah, Ah, ma lit-tie one! Pull her down an' ketch her, Ah, ma lit-tie one! Pull her down an' ketch her! Run, ma lit- tie one! Ah, Nan-cy Beu-1ah!. — -.-t4-t — t -- Ah, ma lit- tie one! Pull her down an' ketch her! Run, ma lit-tie one! 2. SUN AND MOON. J144. Nan,Nan,t'read de needle! Nan, Nan,t'read de needle! Nan, Nan, t'read de needle! ritt have e-nough ter roas' yer an' boil yer an' ter eat yer. I have e-nough ter roas' yer an' boil yer an' ter eat yer. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 18I 3. LADY, STRING THOSE BEANS! -= 132. t —.i t _. -.I~.. - -- -11- -1t- -4 i --- — IOh, La - dy, stringdose beans! Oh, La - dy, string dose beansl Oh, -4 —e. - 4. - La - dy,string dose beansl Oh, La - dy, string dose beans! Le' me he'p you - ) J.^ ^.' —> -" FD -.' --- —— T — - string dose beansl Oh, La - dy, string dose beans, string ___ -. —.,. string dose beans,Oh, La-dy,string dose beans! Le' me he'p you-string dose beans! Oh, e, - edose beans! Oh, La- dy, string dose beans Ma' brothuh goin' ter beat cha to e~~~~~J + — 0 - e string dose beans, Oh, La-dy, string dose bes! Le mehe'pyoustr dose beans! Oh, La - dy! Oh, La-dy,string dose beans! Oh, Lady, string dose beans! Oh, \: _ _ ---- ~___m __- -,.-._., _ ~.- -_ - Le' me Ohep you string dose beans! Oh, La - dy, string dose beans! I82 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 4. LONDON BRIDGE. = 144. Legato. s G-'w-_ac _ _-_ __ G ' j Lon - don Bridge goin' ter wash a - way. Lon - don Bridge goin' ter wash a-way. Lon-don Bridgegoin' ter wash a-way. Lord, I kyan - not help from cry! My moth-er is gone, an' I must go. My moth-er is gone, an' I must go. My moth-er is gone, an' I must go. Lord, I kyan-not keep fromcry!Wrote me a let-ter an' send it by mail. Wrote me a let - ter an' send it by mail. rote me a letter an'send it by mail, Lrd, I yan-not help from cry Wrote me a let-ter an'send it by mail, Lord, I kyan-not help from cry! 5. HERE COMES A BLUEBIRD! J=72. Here comes a blue-bird, tra la la lal Herecomesa blue-bird, tra la la la! Oh, here comes a blue -bird, tra la la la! l- _ - I. ' I I CFz ZiZv v-ZZ Z ~ZZ c.[ - Comeon o - ver an' get him! Goin' down to Richmon',trala la lal! _. __-J -0- - - Goin' down to Richmon', tra la la la! Oh. zoin'down to Richmon'^ 1 Compare South Carolina (JAFL 34: 38), North Carolina (JAFL 34: III-II-). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 183 _ s_. __^ _.3 ____ tra la la lal Who loves su- gar an' can - dy? Oh, go choose your lover, __ ' --- ~._..-F ~ *,. tu ' f -- j'; tra la la la! Gochooseyourlov - er, tra la la la! Oh, L= gochooseyourlov - er, tra la la lal Come on o - ver an' get him! Show me your mo - tion, tra la la la! Show me your motion, tra la la la! Oh, showme your mo - tion, tra la la la! -0 -Who loves su gar an' can - dy? Ver-y fine mo- tion, tra la la lal Ver- y fine mo- tion, tra la la la! Oh, ver-y fine mo- tion, tra la la la! Who loves su - gar an' can. dy? 6. OLD GRANDMOTHER IN THE DINING-ROOM. 01' grandmother in de din -in'-room, Set-tin' by de fire, Widher head hangin' down,an' her feet turned up,an' her back a gin' de fire! Now, _ 77 771 choose de one dat you love de bes', Choose de one dat's read-y.... Choose de one dat you love de bes', Choose de one dat's read-y. I84 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. OTHER SONGS. 7. THE FARMYARD.1 N.-0172. -— A A 1. I hab a little cat. De cat loves me. Ah feed macat unduh yonduh tree. CHORUS, VERSE 1. Cat say, "Mew, mew, mew!" De cat say, "Fid-dle, fid - dle, dee!" CHORUS, VERSE 2. Dawg say, "Bow-wow,bow-wow, bow-wow I" Cat say, "'Mew,mew,mewl" De CHORUS, VERSE 3. cat say, "Fiddle, fiddle, dee!"Hen say, "Cluck, dclc, duck, clck, cluck, cluck!" De M r rn I' R R.r~ { i LWU41u~ Vt dawg say, "Bow- wow,bow-wow,bow-wow!"De cat say, "Mew,mew,mew!"De CHORUS, VERSE 4. N cat say, "Fiddle, fiddle, deeI "Duck say, "Quack,quack,quack, quack, quack, quack!"De [I LI& hen say, "Cluck, cluck, cluck,cluck,cluck,cluckl" De dawg say, "Bow-wow, bow - wow, bow - wowl"De cat say, "Mew, mew, mew!" De CHORUS, VERSE 5. I —LI cat say, "Fid - dle, fid. die, dee!" De tur- key say, "Gob - ble, gob - ble, gob - ble, gob - ble, gob - ble, gob- ble!" 1 Compare North Carolina (Campbell and Sharp, No. iii; and bibliographical note p. 335). The last measure of the chorus has only i sixteenths. 2 In subsequent verses (2-Io) substitute for "cat," in the order named, "dawg," "hen," "duck," "turkey"(,k 4C P, ), "guinea," "cow," "pig," "horse," Ccsheep." Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands,TSouth Carolina. i85 '"T "....e 2'. '. " Duck say,"Q'uquackacquack,quack,quack,qnack!"De hen say, "Cluck, cck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck!" De dawg say, "Bow-wow,bow-wow,bow-wowl"De cat say,"Mew, mew, mew!"De cat say, "Fiddle, fid - dle, deel" Other Choruses.1 6. Guinea say, "Buckwheat!" 7. Cow say, "Ba, ba!" 8. Pig say, "Ouf, ouf!" 9. Horse say, "Eye, eye!" o1. Sheep say, "Baa, baa!" J=63... I 8. SANDY GREY. -0,- -a 1:1. 1; K_, _! 4 *rtl, II - I had a lit - tie po - ny whose name was Sandy Grey. I - --- -1- _ -- loan 'im to a la - dy who rode a mile a - way. She _F___ -.- -. ---F — whip 'im an' she lashed'im, an' she rode 'im t'rough de mire. I,E.~ ". ~' ' "w~" ' - EL t —L\ _-~ ---L-r —"]_ wad na lend my po- nya-gain,what-ev - er she will hire.2 1 In each of these choruses all that goes before should be added, as per examples above. 2 Variant: For all de lady hire. I86 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 9. JOHNNY SMOKER. = 104., v.- -I- i My did-dle diddle dee, my d'um d'um d'um, my ding ding ding. Dat is my drum, suh,Johnny Smo- ker, Johnny Smoker, Can you 4= sing, suh? Can you play, suh? I can play' on my drum, suh, my -0 -rub-by dub-by dub. Dat is my drum, suh, Johnny Smoker. Johnny -, - s,- y - d -by Ib D, - Smo- ker. Can you sing, suh? Can you play, suh? I can play on my drum, suh, my rub-by dub-by dub. Dat is my drum, suh, - my rub-by dub-by dub; my wid-dy, widdy wee; my bom, bom, bom; my _. _. -,.! ding, ding,ding. Dat is my fife, suh,John-ny Smo. ker, John-ny Smo- ker. Can you sing, suh? Can you play, suhb? I can play on my __f I r a _,. _ drum, suh, my rub-by dub-by dub. Dat is my fife, sub, -my rub-by dub-by dub; my wid-dy, wid-dy, wee; my bom, bom, bom; my ding, ding, ding; my rub-by dub-by dub. Dat is my drum, sub. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 187 = 144. IO. WHO DAT A-TICKLEIN' ME? Oh, who dat tick- le - in' me? Quack,quack,quack,quack, 6 W I 5G quack-a, who quack-a, quack,quack-a,who dat a-tick - le - in' me? 1t L > v Some-bod - y's tick-le - in' mel Some-bod- y's tick-le - in' mel Quack,quack,quack,quack,quack-a, who quack - a, quack,quack-a, Some bod-y's tick- le - in' mel Oh, who dat tick-le-in' me? _-h Oh, who dat tick - le - in' me? Quack, quack, quack, quack, 4-F quack-a, whoquack,quack,quack-a,Some-bod-y's tick -le - in' mel 144 II. HE SHALL HANG TO-MORROW. -- -,.:-: -A 1 ___E _______ Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong,ding-dong! De caw- kus beat de rit..=72. spar-row. Lit - tie dawg come 'pon his tail, He shall hang to-morrow I a tempo. J=144. Ding - dong, ding - dong! He's goin' ter hang to - mor - row. rit. J=72. 4i- t L Edw o ' hs sha- o w Lit - tie dawg come'pon his tail, He shall hang to-mor-row! I88 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 12. OLD NED. J= 208. Prestoo, T I I - I-, I' r.- ' _ _,, 1 -,, V - -- - -1- -w 4 - - One day ol' Ned was a - walk - in' in de fiel' wid 'is 4 -N _, ^ _- - _- __ _ ban - jo hang-in' on 'is knee. Dere 'e stop ol' Ned wid a _ W-4 an's up, fid-dles an' bows, ol' Ned! han's up, fid-dles an',-bi- -.-. bowsl Fo' no mo' row fo' to hoe, ol' Ned, Have to go whar de good dar - kies go. You fin - ger wasn' long as de -t -t -e E... ':- -- -- -: q, -,1 kyane in de brake, An' you hav'n' had eyes fo' to see. Ye' hav'n' got teeth fo' to eat his hoe cake, In de place whar de wool ought to Had to leave his hoe cake for.LV 3 3 - 4, -- be! Oh, han's up, fid-dles an' bows, ol' Ned! han's up, me! fid-dles an' bows! Fo' no mo' row fo' to hoe, ol' Ned,Haveto Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I89 go wharde - - gol" When Ned were young, he mar-ried to a N - I | II _ ' i |: LD, '' I: ': II: i ][...J... - la-dy by name o' Nan- cy Lee. She had died three years by de __PAl - i ga - tor stump, Rightdown by de 'ol Pe - dee. She hav' -n' got ha'r by de top of de skull, in de -10t place whar de wool ought ter grow. Oh, han's up, fid-dies an' ]- --- t:l -.. -..... -i- -ebows, ol' Ned! han's up, fiddles an' bowsl Fo' no mo' row fo' ter _-I hoe, ol' Ned, Have to go whar de good dar - kies go! 13. THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS.1 J- 160. Allegro. Hang-man,hang-man,swing yerropeI Jus' tar- ry a lit - tie while, for. —'] -. I i, I- _ -- r I ----—:I yon-dercomes my moth - er. Jus' tar ry a lit - tie while. "Dear moth - er, dear moth - er, An' have you has your gol'?"- "Oh, 1 Compare North Carolina, Virginia, etc. (Campbell and Sharp, No. 24, and biblio-;graphical note, p. 327); Bahamas (MAFLS I3: No. o04; and bibliographical note, p. I52, 'note 2). 1go Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. no, my chil'! Oh, no, my chil'! fo' hangin' you shall be hung." 2D AND 4TH VERSES.! @ - - -~- H -*- v I Hang-man,hang-man,swingyerrope!Jus' tar-ry a lit - tie while, for V, --- - -i — Ty, yon - der comesmy fa - ther. Jus' tar- ry a lit - tie while. "Dear sis - ter. ir._ J.~fa - ther, dear fa - ther, An' have you has your gol'?"-"Oh, r, ster, sis - ter, - - ' 4 - no, my chil'! Oh, no, my Ichil'! fo' hang-in' you shall be hung." love! jlove! 3D VERSE._ 4 — Hang-man,hang-man,swing yer rope Jus' tar-ry a lit - tie while, fo' _,-: ' -:- - ~ -.. yon-der comes my broth-er. Jus' tar-ry a lit - tie while. "Dear broth - er, dear broth - er, An' hav'-n' you has your gol'?"-"Oh, no, mybrotherl Oh, no, my brotherl fo' hangin' you shall be hung!" 5TH VERSE. 40- W -4= W Hang-man,hang-man,swing yer ropel Jus' tar- ry a lit - tie while, fo' yon.dercomesmy lov - er. Jus' tar-ry a lit- tie while. "Dear Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. II9 lov - er, dear lov - er, An' have you has your gol'?" —"Oh, yes, my lovel Oh, yes, my lovel fo' hangin' you shall not be hung! " 14. TITANIC. J=72. i. Ti - tan - ic leaves Southamp-ton, Wid all huh spo'ts an' games; -- _- _ CHORUS.., — ' -- But when dey strike de oice - buhg, I know huh hea't was change. -F- __ -o — _~ _ -; 2. On de fo' -teen day of Ap - ral, nine-teen hun- ud an' twelve., -* -- -J __ CHORUS. De ship he strike de oice-buhg, An' dat's de en' of de ship. CHORUS, -- -* _ -— L "...- ' ' m RSES 1 AND 2. -- Man-y a hea't suh - ren - duh Ship-wreck on de sea, Hea't suh - ren - duh, Cry - in', "Ne'ah, ma' Gawd, to dee!" 3. Mo-duh say to huh daughtuh, "On a pled- jur -trip we go;" k- - -- -L, -- But when he strike de oice-buhg,Dey hav'n' been seen an -y mo', 4. Cap'n Smith was wa'n bya freight-boat. He would not take no heed. CHORUS. (Over) I92 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. CHORUS. In- stead of tak - in' wa'-nin', He run wid a great- uh speed. _ -e —D- -_ — v c 5. One man join Jo- nas As - tab, A man wid skill an' brain. While de ship was sink - in', All de wo-men he try to save. 1_ __ _F' ~ - -9 -[- v" 6. He kiss his wife fo' de las' time- pi- -lot - a sho'. He -- it. - CHORUS. he'p his wife in de life-boat, Cry-in', "I ain' goin'aseeyer no mo'."l CHORUS, VERSE8 3-6-. ~ -.. 4 5 4 4 -- - Man -y a hea't sur - ren - duh Ship-wreck on de sea,' -9-.. -9- --..-E6 - Man-y a hea't suh-ren-duh, Cry-in', "Neah,ma Gawd,to dee!" 7. Shipwreck was so painfu', When de news had reach' deir home, Deir frien's, an' deah relation, It leab deir hea't to mo'n. Chorus. 8. If you will foller Jesus, I tell yer wha' de cry will be. While leanin' a' de gate of destruction, Cry, "Neah, ma Gawd, to dee!" An' yet, we got ter wait on de Lawd. 1 Record cut off. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I93 15. SHIP ON THE OCEAN. J=69. Largo. i/T%7 AI - I F-_.f A ].. II, Hail, hail! I wan'ter join de ship on de o-cean. Hail, hail! Mo-na, you are fsee. Hail, haill I wan' ter join de ship on de o - cean. Hail,! Mo - na, you are free! acc. J= 100. sin-nu man, sinnu man, you bet tu pray, you bet - tu pray,you are free! 0 sin-nuh man, you bet-tuh pray. Be a tempo. J=69. fo' yo' die, yo' bet-tuh join de Bap- tis'. Hail, hail! I " — wan' ter join de ship on de o-cean. Hail, hail! Mo-na, you are — N — 100. freel I am a Bap-tist by myname. Mo - na, you are free.1 0 sin-nuh man,sin-nuh man, you bet - tuh pray,you are free! 1 Another line is "I hope to live an' die de same." 194 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. 16. DOWN ON MY KNEES. =96. How kin I pray? How kin I pray? How kin I pray? J-72.< 0 __ _ ____ -. - -r-'. How kin I pray? Oh, when my heart is bur-den, is way down, Down on my kfees, Down on my knees, Down on my knees, - - F-: - ' ~-" F 2 —i-^-A-p, 4 - _ Down on, Oh,when my heart is bur-den, is way down, E-"-...... 0 Lord, have mercyl 0 Lord,have mercy! 0 Lord,havemercy! 3 - - O Lord! Oh, when my heart is bur-den, is way down, -3 --.- -~ - j 2_ -- - - _ --- How kin I pray? How kin I pray? How kin I pray? How kin I? Oh, when my heart is bur-den, is way downl 17. GOOD NEWS, DINAH, GOOD NEWS! J=88. Good newsl Good news! Ar-che -an-gel, bring glad tid-ings,tiding down! Good news, Di - nah, good newsl an' I heah from Hea-ben to-day. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 195 ~J' -J — I A-. 'f - ' J7 w wi - -- Good newsl Good news! Ar-che - an - gel, bringglad tid - ings down I 1_4 -; J I t. Good news,Di - nah,goodnews! I heahfrom Hea-ben to - day. My 4-,y _p _ - - sis-ter hab acrown,an' I'm so glad! Fight on, sis-ter,fight on i~ — r yN _ __, Sis-ter hab a crown,an' I'm so gladl I heah it from Hea-bento-day.,- -t - My sis- ter hab acrown,an' I'm so glad! Fight on, sis ter, fight on! OAeSis-ter hab acrown,an' I'm so glad! I heah it from Hea-ben to-day. Good news! Good news! Ar-che - an - gel bring glad tid - ings downl Good news, Di - nah, good news! an' I heah from Hea-ben to-day!l I8. THE WHOLE WORLD ON FIRE........ _. One day, one day, When we all will have glo- ry! Oh, glo-ry hal. le - lu - jah! An' I hope to meet my Other lines were,"Heaven so high, an' I'm so low, I wonder in my soul if I ever reach dere." [96 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Je - sus when dis whole worl' on fire. Sing, oh, glo - ry hal - le - hiu jah! One day, one day, When we all will cry, I"Gbo ry, _ _ _ _~ z ~ __ _ _ _ _ oh, glo, - ry hal -l ln jah!" An' I hope to meet my 4,-9 -J e - sus when dis whole worl' on fire. Sing, oh, glo - ry hal - le - lui jahl Sis - ter,why should you tarry? Hal-le - lu, hal - le - lu- jahl Ah, why should you tar - ry? Hal - be - lu - jahi When de sweet Hea-ben. is _P_4-t was-tin', hal - be- lu, hal -lbe -lu -jahi When de sweet Hea- ben is was-tin', hal - le - lu -jahl Yer af - fec-tion in de Hea-ben, hal - le - lu, hal - be - lu-jahl Yer af - fec - tion in de Hea-ben,hal-le - lu - jahi Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 197 FOLK WAYS AND NOTIONS. BIRTH AND BABIES. FOR every death there is a birth. "When some one dies, a baby will be born in de worl' in de place." - " Ef you dream 'bout tarpin (or cooter), say it is a baby in de fahmilee;" "somebody in yer fahmily is breedin'." - "I ketch," a woman will say of conceiving. Mrs. Justine Brown referred to a certain root as a dontraceptive. "Dig root, dat stop 'em."-The familiar ideas about mothers' marks, and about the child being marked where the expectant mother touches herself, are entertained. I heard of one woman who "had a dawg she loved dearly. Somebody hit de dawg. She put her han' on her neck. De baby neck was marked wid a little dawg." 1 - To hasten labor, a tea made from ashes is drunk.- In labor a woman will be struck on the buttocks by the "midde" (midwife).-When the afterbirth is retarded, the patient will blow into a battle.- Dark cloth is preferred for vulva dressings, in the belief that it arrests flow. "White make it flow too much." - The cord may be dressed with burned cotton or with lard. Cobweb and soot are mixed together and applied to stop bleeding.-After the birth a woman may be "goin' 'round" at two, three, or four days or a week. Mrs. King, the visiting nurse at Penn School, told me that here, as elsewhere, it was exceedingly difficult to prolong the customary confinement. A woman would say, "My moder taught me dat way, started me dat way. Keep up de way she started me." One born "foot fo'mos"' or a twin cannot be kept in bonds. "You kyan' put um down in de jail, come right out." If you tie him, he will "cross his feet, sleep, rise right up an' go 'way; take out his han' an' feet, rope don' go loose. Kyan' tie him nohow, kyan' put 'em down in de jail. He stay dere as long as he not aworried. In confusion [trouble] de oder twin loose him, my gran'moder say, an' de sperit loose him dat born foot fo'mos'." I heard of one remarkable child born foot foremost and "in double caul." There is the familiar belief that a child born with a caul will see 1 For prenatal influences see Tale I 3. I98 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. ghosts, is "double-sighted." For those born "in caul," as well as for others, the way to see ghosts is to "peep" over the left shoulder sudden. Once on doing this at mid-day, an old man told me that he "saw ghos' white as snow, a crowd of 'em.... Wen' home. I sick two weeks.1... My moder tol' me mus'n' tell anybody when you see ghos'." In another case of a child with double sight, I heard that her mother would dip the child's fingers in tar to keep her from "seein' things," were she to be "goin' t'rough woods." To "blin'" a child, that is, to ghosts, the caul should be kept; but were it lost, another caul might be secured, bought from "de docter shop." The doctor has a supply, because "dese midwife steal de chillun caul an' kyarry an' sell 'em to de doctor." 2 The familiar belief about the distinguished quality of a seventh son is to be found. "Seven boys straight would be wise." A baby is named on the ninth day. At this time, or when she first gets up, a mother will carry the baby around the house, "walk right 'roun' de house." -The mother or some friend will give the name, probably a family name - "keep de name right in de fahmbly." - If the baby is "very bad [fretful], hol' its head out o' doors, an' le' de rain fall on its face." There is a white root called "quiet root" good for a crying child. You scrape off the outer skin, "scrape off de firs' bark, get de nex' bark," boil it, and in it boil the child's food,- a method which has advantages over that followed at a later age, when you threaten to "sen' fo' de bugyman to scare de chillen" into quietness. Still another way for babies is to "blow smoke on mole o' de head [fontanella], get um drunk, le' um go to sleep, smoke go right on t'rough." Besides, you can draw some of the milk from the mother, smoke it, and give it to the baby.- Pease are said to increase the flow of milk,- "pease give yer plenty milk." So does moss (i.e., the so-called Florida moss, which so heavily festoons the trees of the Carolinian shores)-"have to hunt very close to fin' mawse when green, draw [steep] it, den drink." - To dry up the milk, "hang some ol' rusty nail roun' de neck, an' le' it hang between de breas'. T'row it in de fire or in some ol' ant-nest. When de ant go down, de milk dry up." To the same end camphor will be rubbed on the breasts.- Artificial feeding is uncommon, but it is known. "Too weakly to nu'se, give baby suck 1 Compare Tale ioo. 2 Compare Georgia (Jones, 153-157). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. I99 bottle." - If you have to "go a distance wid de chil', you notify de sperit, call, 'Come, baby!'" Unless you called back in this way, wherever "you stop dat night, you wouldn' get any res' at all, 'cause de sperit lef' behin'. Call him at eve'y cross-road you come to." 1 -To hasten dentition, "draw milk from de dawg, rub on flannil, rub on gum;" or "take droppin' from de rabbit, draw tea out it, wash de gum in it,- rabbit is quick, dawg too, bof quick." Another way is to "take de dawg-teet' and put 'em in a little bag an' hang 'em 'roun' de baby neck, an' ev'y teet' will jes' pop out one after de oder." - When a "chil' sheddin' teet', take an' put 'em in a corn-cob, an' fling it right over de house." This practice was referred to as "callin' de new teet' back."When a child is slow to walk, "you takes off de napkin, dig hole, but him in de eart'. Bury him all day to his waist. Nex' day you do dat again untel he takes de foot in a short time." I also heard that before "you dig a hole, bury de foot down dere," you "tie a little kyar [cord] strin' 'roun' de ankle." - If the child is slow to talk, "you kyarry him to de doctor, clip de tongue." GAMES. School-children appear to be fond of several ring or running games, - games which are of comparatively recent introduction. They were unknown to the older women to whom I would describe them; and they have superseded, in part at least, an older type of game. CAN'T DANCE JIBBER. One day I arrived at Edding's Point school during recess. About a dozen girls, large and small, were crowded together in a compact circular group. Their knees were bent, their buttocks protruding; they shuffled from one foot to the other as they clapped their hands. Only one word was clearly articulated, - 'jibber;" and the game or dance was, I suspect, that described by Mrs. Maria Middleton as " Kyan' dance Jibber," or by another acquaintance as "Ye kyan't dance Jubba, de Yankee Jubba," in which dance you "stan' close in ring," move your right foot side1 This calling-practice I have heard of among the Zuni Indians, who have taken it, no Zdoubt, from their Mexican neighbors. 200 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. wise, draw up the left foot, and slap your thighs or "keep arappin'." 1 The words to " Can't dance Jibber " are,Love my wife like I love my life. Kyan' dance Jibber. Get up ol' ho'se! What I feed you fo'? Kyan' dance Jibber. You bake yer bread, you gi' me de crus'. Kyan' dance Jibber. You rear yer gri's, you gi' me de bran. Kyan' dance Jibber. You call yourself Virginia girls, An' you kyan' dance Jibber. Eighteen cents er haul an' a fence. Girls ain't got a bit o' sense. Kyan' dance Jibber. Not long after the girls noticed me watching them, they broke up their game, drew nearer, and re-formed to play "The Farmer in the Dell." Other ring-games are what may be called "Have you seen my Turkey?" and "Jump over Yonder." In both games the leader stands in the middle of the ring, and the ring rotates slowly anticlockwise, while a shouted colloquy between leader and ring takes place. HAVE YOU SEEN MY TURKEY? LEADER. Mary, have you seen my tukry? RING. Mam? LEADER. What side did it go? RING. So. LEADER. Will you help me ketch it? RING. Yes, mam! LEADER. Den let us go! Sho! Turkey. LEADER. Mary, have you been to the hen-nest? RING. Yes, mam! LEADER. Did you get any aiggs? 1 According to Portia Smiley (see JAFL 32: 357-383), Jubba is a Virginia dance. There is a row of rhythmical clappers, and the dancers are " a-wingin' it," not in a circle. What I saw danced by the girls at Edding's Point was like the circle-step Miss Smiley describes as danced in the "shout" at Calhoun, Ala. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 201 RING. Yes, mam! LEADER. Put 'em in the corn-bread, kyarry up town. RING. Yes, mam! LEADER. How did it eat? RING. Sweet, sweet. LEADER. Good ol lady, come chase ur, chase ur! 1 JUMP OVER YONDER. LEADER. Big fat biscuit, RING. Chew de loo, LEADER. Just from de kitchen, RING. Chew de loo, LEADER. Clara, jump over yonder!2 Thereupon Clara, or the girl named, changes places in the ring as indicated by gesture. HEN AND HAWK. In "Hen and Hawk" the leader representing the mother-hen stands in front of the line of "chicks;" each "chick" behind the other, with arms around the waist of the "chick" in front. Up comes the "hawk." HEN. Good-mornin', good mornin'! what have you come for? HAWK. I came for a chick. HEN. Where is the chick I gave you last night? HAWK. I went to the well to wash my face; and when I came back, the chick was gone. HEN. Go away! You sha'n't have a chick! HAWK. I shall have a chick. HEN. Le' me see how you fly! HAWK. See how I fly, one wing up, one wing down. HEN, I see how you fly. I don't kyare! You sha'n't have a chick! HAWK. I shall have a chick. Thereupon Hawk darts at the line, Hen spreads open her arms, and the line behind her swings away from Hawk. Hen and Hawk keep up their "You sha'n't have a chick!" "I shall have a chick!" As Hawk catches the chicks, she takes them out of line and stands them to one side.3 1 Compare Georgia (JAFL 30: 218-2I9). 2 Compare Georgia (JAFL 30: 219). 3 Compare South Carolina (JAFL 32: 376; 34: 38), Virginia (JAFL 34: i 6). 202 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. For songs in other modern ring-games see pp. I82-I83. In " Lady, string those Beans" (see p. 18 I) the rotation and movement are the same as in "Can't dance Jibber," but in conclusion the ring breaks up and runs. Similarly played, I surmise, was the ring-game with the song Mamma plant pease an' pertatoes. O Lawd! pease an' lice. Other snatches of "party-sing" or "play-song" given me were, - Dorinda rinda rinda, My love gone away. O Mis Timbal Jubbalee! Cut yer motion Jubbalee! The "pitiful air" of "London Bridge" (p. 182) was sung in a ring, sitting, "hand to jaw." SUN AN' MOON GOIN' TER FIGHT. "London Bridge is falling down" was played, but not under that name. It was referred to as "Sun an' Moon goin' ter fight." The arch-makers represented Sun and Moon; and as those going under were caught, they were asked, "You rather de Sun, or de Moon?" Those going under sang, — "Nan, Nan, t'read de needle, Let de King George's army pass t'rough De do', de do', de do'!"1 The arch-makers sang, "I have enough to roas' yer," etc. (p. 180). The arch-makers would sway their raised arms up and down in a lively fashion; and after all were caught, the lines behind were formed, as usual, and "dey commence to brace."... The account of the outcome was divertingly mystical. "More or less de Sun always whip." NANCY BEULAH. "Nancy Beulah" (p. I80) was referred to as a snake-song. In the game the mother-snake is singing to her young one, who is pursued by the children with whips. It was Mrs. Maria Middleton who sang and played the foregoing games for me. And she recited the following countingout rhyme: - 1 See p. xxi. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 203 COUNTING-OUT RHYME. Henery is a good fishermun, He caught hen and put it in de pen. Some laid aigg, an' some laid none. Jack he bear on limber log. He set his clock at twelve o'clock. De clock fell down, an' de mice runs 'roun. You have hammers, an' I have nails. Whatshyer goin' to bring to-morrow afternoon? A dish an' a spoon an' a fat raccoon. Wake snake, de peas in de pot.' BALL AND HIDE-AND-SEEK GAMES. From a woman from the mainland, from Waterborough, I heard that there, of Tuesday evenings, the young people would meet at a "hick'ry rally" and play a game that sounded much like cricket,-"roll ball t'rough iron ring, hol' dat base." They likewise played the "tou'namint game." To a cross-piece on an erect pole was a hook on which hung little iron rings. You ran on foot and struck a stick through the ring. If you got the ring or rings, "den you gain dat game, oderwise you loss dat game." The prize was a cake or a ring. "Hoop an' Hide" was another game known to the Waterborough woman. "Hide de switch, an' den I hoop to let yer know I hide de switch. An' den yer come an' look." When you get close to the hidden switch, "say, 'Oh, yer hawk!' you des' bu'nin' up, yer des' scorchin', yer on fire!" SMOKING. Boys will be told by their fathers not to smoke, and, in theory at least, they do not smoke until they are twenty or so. Even then they would not smoke before their father, but would "go an' hide to smoke - never seed 'em smoke befo' fader." The older women smoke a pipe. Pinky Murray was the youngest woman I saw smoking. She had taken to smoking after her two children died - "worryation make a puson smoke." 1 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: 207), Virginia (JAFL 32: 377). 204 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. HAIR AND EAR-RINGS. Women, old and young, quite commonly wear kerchiefs around the head and tied at the back. Underneath, the hair is likely to be "wrapped." You "wrap um" (i.e., wrap strings around wisps of hair), beginning at the roots of the hair, and winding to the ends, "to make um grow." Thereby the hair is supposed to grow long and straight. "Ef I keep it plat, it don' stretch." Thus wrapped, the hair is "due to comb out ev'y day," but often it will not be combed out until a person is "going somewhere." Ear-rings, plain gold circlets, are quite commonly worn by women, the ears "bo'" (bored), and I saw a few older men with,4arrgs. JOINING THE CHURCH, OR INITIATION. Thirteen or fourteen is about the age "fo' joinin' de church." A period of dream-experience and of partial segregation is expected of the candidate.1 The dreams are bad and good. The first dreams should be bad. "You have to have dem to get yer way clear," and, "befo' yer kyan get on a level, mus' explain all de bad dreams.2 After dat not'in' come to you but good." It is to your spiritual father or mother these dreams have to be explained, and the person to hold this relationship to you has also been revealed through dreams. "Go out in de wilderniss (the phrase is metaphorical), get an answer. Will come in slumber, get in yer sleep. When you rose up, you fin' de pusson, go to dem, give dem fellowship." This dream-experience is sometimes known to the spiritual father or mother before the child seeks him or her out. "Some teachers know before the child comes." Thereafter the relationship continues for life, and the "father" is so addressed; e.g., Mr. George Brown becomes "Fader George." Spiritual parents will give presents at marriage, and come to the wedding. The "spituel fader" may tell the child that the dream-experience is to be enlarged. "You don' see eve'ytin'." During the dream-experience, and after for two or three weeks, "until dey done baptize," the candidate has "to walk jus' accordin', kyan't play, whistle, sing." Around the head is tied a little white cloth 3 or a string "jus' to mark 1 See JAFL 32: 373 -374. 2 Dreams of trouble, of sickness and death (see p. 211). 3 A kerchief, according to Miss Towne, made into a banda. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 205 deirse'f diffun' f'om de res'." During this time, "whils' prayin' to come through," some children attend school, some do not. "De res' o' chillun teazin' dem to try to make dem tu'n back." The niece of Pinky Murray, her "dead sister chil'," "came t'rough in t'ree weeks, baptize' in fou't'." This was in October, I918, when she was twelve years old. Eleven children started in the same month to "come through" or to "pray through." The niece was the first to complete her experience, and therefore the first of the nine who came through to be baptized.- After the spiritual parent is satisfied, he or she notifies the "committee," who notifies the "leader," who notifies the deacons, who notify the minister. On the appointed Sunday, minister, candidates, spiritual parents, and congregation go to the bridge, "marchin' an' singin' slowly. So pitiful, jus' like a funeral, march down wid de candidate." Before the immersion the minister gives a talk. In "long white gown wid cotton in de ear, head done up," the candidate stands waiting; then the "deacon up in de lan' hook you up by de han', kyarry you to de oder deacon on de sho', ketch you by de han'. One deacon in de water, side o' de minister. You stan' wid de minister on de right, deacon on de lef'. Whole body cover, head cover, only eyes out. De minister say, 'I will baptize my sister in de Lawd in de name o' de Holy Ghos'. Amen!' When say 'Holy Ghos',' you is down; when say 'Amen,' you is up." After the rite of immersion is repeated for each candidate, all go on to the church. Here the candidates stand in a row for "communion." "Dey give dem de right han' o' fellowship, an' den give dem wine. Call dat initiate. Become a whole member jus' like de res'." Besides the more elaborate churches, there are little cabinchurches, so to speak, known as "praise-houses." Throughout the Islands, services are supposed to be held in these houses Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings. The Thursday night we visited the praise-house on Frogmore Plantation, St. Helena, there was, before we arrived, no congregation. As we stood outside on the step, we heard, between the piercing yells of a pig that was being slaughtered by fire-light in a near-by yard, the prayer of the solitary sexton, Mr. Joe Wynne. The prayer came near being a chant, with the refrain of "Dis evenin', O Lawd!" After another prayer and a little discourse, we faced the door for the benediction, and were "dismissed," 1 Mr. Wynne "drawing, 1 See Tale I40. 2o6 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. his foot." Mr. Wynne complained of the lack of a congregation; in poor weather the people would not come out. " But dey woted me up to sex' [sexton], an' I has to ring de bell." Even had the benches been filled, it is doubtful if the congregation would have "raised de shout," for they know that the rite is not in favor with the white "teachers." At Beaufort, in churches on the outskirts, they still raise the shout; but in the town itself, according to Mr. Jack, they have "cut it out." 1 Into it "too many rags" [dancemusic] had been introduced, and that was unseemly. In early days, when Defuskie was a "wil' place," I heard of a man who had gone to the praise-house "full of liquor," and raised the shout. His uncle, a deacon, had heard him "cussin'," and said he "mus' sit in de back seats." From description at second-hand I understood that, in raising the shout, a circle is formed and the feet are shuffled along inch by inch. The feet are not crossed: that would be dancing.2 MATING. Not only cauls, but, as we would say, love-charms, may be bought in the "doctor shop." Men will buy them.-Pinky Murray married at eighteen,- "married in my eighteen,"and this appears to be about the usual marrying-age for girls. Men marry at a later age.- The Murray courtship lasted five months - "five months dis young man cou'tin' me." -Sometimes suitors will write to parents 3 - "some 'shame' to ax wid de mout'."- A girl would wait for a man to propose - "she got to wait for him." - As far as I learned, there are no other restrictions on marriage choices, but cousin 4-marriage appears to be in favor. "De bigges' run of de people heah marry deir firs'-cousin." - There seems to be little or no convention about the period for second marriage; although of an impatient widow it might be said that she "didn' t'ink so much of his [her] husban', wouldn' marry so soon." And it might be suspected that when her "husban' sick on baid, have some one in view, intriguein' dis 1 Just as they have "cut out" "baptizin' in de riber." They now baptize in a pool in the church with water from the foundry. In the Methodist churches of Beaufort, unlike the Baptist churches, where, "as soon as you come t'rough, dey baptize," the probation is six months, and instead of immersion they sprinkle. 2 Between dancing and religion there appears to some to be incompatibility. Said one acquaintance, "Since I went back to de church, I done studyin' dese dance-tunes." 3 See Tale I 5. 4 Incidentally I note that "Coz" was a common form in speaking to cousins. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 207 man." On the other hand, a widower who remarried in two months was cited as furnishing no occasion for gossip. Others, widowers or widows, would remarry in three or four years; and some, "dese times," at six months. "Best time, I t'ink," said Mrs. Justine Brown, "year an' a half." - Weddings are usually celebrated in the autumn, after "gatherin' the crop." Saturday night is a favored time.- Except in Beaufort, the church wedding is rare. Mrs. King has been eight years on St. Helena, and during that time she has heard of but three church weddings.Weddings, like funerals and other events, are announced by word of mouth. Some one will go around and "get out the message." -Wedding-rings are uncommon, except perhaps in Beaufort, where the custom of church wedding is coming in. And at Beaufort "de minister will call fo' dat ring, wheder dey have it or not." The ring is worn on the index-finger of the right hand.-At Beaufort I heard, too, that a girl's parents might give her presents,- glass, a table, a sewing-machine (at Christmas the suitor would have given presents to the girl and her parents,- handkerchiefs, cut glass, etc.),- and I heard of the practice of ricethrowing. "When dey'fixin' to have de flo', get a little handful of rice an' t'row across deir bof head to make dem live lovin' togeder." - Young men will escort the bride home; i.e., either to the house of the groom's father or to the groom's own house. The couple seldom stays on at the bride's own house. "She had to foller her husban'," will be said of a bride, or "Dey pick up an' foller de man." 1 - Women take their husbands' names. Husband's name as well as father's name may be referred to as "trimmin'." A husband, whatever his age, may be referred to or addressed as "01' Man." 2 Husbands vary in their treatment of infidelity: "some of 'em beat dem, some of 'em leave 'em jus' so." Similarly, when a woman suspects her husband, either "dey fuss an' qua'el" or "pick up an' go." They go back to their parents' house, or, in some cases, "to de city to live with mans." On the island - my informant was Mrs. Justine Brown of Hilton Head- there is no prostitution. "Kyan't have de mans at her paren's house, so dey go to de city." 1 In this connection, of considerable interest is Miss Towne's observation that, as a result of emancipation, men arrogated new power over their women (Journal, p. I84). 2 See p. I14. 208 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. ECONOMY. On going to live in a new house, people may have a "time" - as they always say for a party 1-"christenin' de house." — The houses - ordinary little frame houses, white, and quite commonly with gayly-painted door and window frames - may be raised about two feet from the ground, on posts made of oak or palmetto ("pillers or blocks 2 of palmetter").- Palmetto is stripped and woven into baskets by a few older people. On Hilton Head there was but one old-man weaver left,3 "an' he don't boder wid um." The few baskets I saw on Hilton Head and Defuskie were shallow baskets, used "fo' rakin' grits;"4 i.e., washing corn. Under slavery, cotton-pickers were expected to gin three tasks a day. To each task there were twenty-one rows, and each row was sixty-three feet or twenty-one paces. There are four tasks to the acre. The terms "row" and "task" (tas') are still used. 5 Still in use, too, as district designations, are the plantation names, - Frogmore Plantation, John Fripp Plantation, Marshland Plantation, Indian Hill Plantation, etc. After Emancipation the farms were distributed in ten-acre lots; but the size of the holdings has of course changed since that distribution. The history of the holding of James Murray is probably more or less characteristic. Mr. Murray has three brothers,- one in Washington, one in Boston, one in Savannah. He farms his own inheritance or "po'tion" as well as the undivided land of his brothers. From their father the brothers got a hundred and twenty "acres; and from their mother, eighty-four acres. Their mother got her land from her first husband. A widow would inherit all the land, to be divided after her death among the children. When Mr. Murray wanted to build, he bought ten acres of land, so that, when the brothers came to divide up, he would be sure to be owner of the land his house stood on. On Hilton Head every man works his own land (any form of co-operative farming appears to be unfamiliar); and every farmer 1 See p. 42. 2 See p. 17I1 a On St. Helena, Penn School has revived the industry, and diversified the basketry forms. 4 See pp. 132, I70. 5 See pp. 9, 6i. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 209 has his own horses,- two, three, "as high as five." On this island, oxen are unpopular. "Not more than five on the island... too slow... I'd ruther walk," said Murray, who could outwalk horse as well as ox. On Defuskie and St. Helena, oxen are used not only in farming, but as draught-animals; and wooden-wheeled ox-carts, the ox harnessed with rope or chain, are not uncommonly met.- Florida moss is raked down from the trees, and used as fodder.' You should begin to churn on the flood-tide: "butter would come quick," "will come wid de tide." A child from Paris Island said that her mother would sing as she churned, "Churn de butter wid de tide." If the butter did not churn, she would say, " Butter, why dontsher churn?" calling it "ebb-tide butter." Watermelon and potatoes should be planted on the flood-tide. "Sutin seed, sutin p'oduce, you plant on de tide, like watermelon; plant dat when de tide comin' up." Some will plant at the springtide (the highest of tides) or at the nip-tde(the next highest). Besides, on the spring-tide, when "fo' days ev'y day come higher an' higher," you shoot game, - "all de warmint come asho'." Pease or peanuts should be planted at full moon, otherwise the pods will not "fill up." "Plant on de full moon, full den, large;" otherwise, "small, come to no perfection." Corn and cotton should be similarly planted, "'cause dey bear up on top. What come to dem come on de outside." Contrawise, potatoes should be planted "on de dark nights, -will bear more fruit in de groun'." 2- The familiar belief about the influence of the moon on pork is entertained. "If you kill a hawg when de moon large, de meat will swell when you cook de meat. Kill on de waste o' de moon, de meat will sh'ink to not'in'." - When crabs or fish are poor, people will say, "Dese are moonshine crabs, moonshine fish;" for "on a moonshine night all de crabs are po'." "If you work de firs' day in de new year, will kyarry de year across, work all year." - To keep melon thieves away, people, "wicked people," may put poison on the stem of the melon. If the watermelon thief has left the stem behin', "you t'row it in de creek, an' dat will kill um." 3 -To get money, "take a black cat, black all over, an' boil him. Take all de meat off de bone. Take a sutin bone what you kyan't see yourself in de glass, an' dat's de 1 See Tales 87, 109. 2 Compare South Carolina (JAFL 27: 245). 8 Compare Thonga (Junod, I: 420), Bahamas (MAFLS I3: 26). 210 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. one you kyarry in yer pawket. Brings yer money." - "If you' right hand eatches, you' money comin'; lef' hand, you' money goin'." Good and bad luck beliefs in general, and practices, may be entered here as part of the general economy or adaptation. - If you plant a cedar-tree, it is bad luck, - "some one in de fambly will die." If you plant an orange-tree, "de very year de tree bear," you will die. - If a rabbit cross de road, "you mus' pull a thread from yer clothes an' drop it befo' you go any furder, 'cause bad luck" [for the rabbit to cross the road]. - "If you start from home an' tu'n back, you mus' tu'n back t'ree times," or with foot or hand you must make a cross. - "You mus' not step over a broom fallen down." - You must not sit on a table, "'tis disappointment." - "If you butt you' right foot, good luck; left foot, bad luck." - "When you' lef' eye jump, 'tis good luck; right eye jump, trouble." - Unlucky to kill a lady-bug. - "Good luck to have creekit in de house." - Fin' a pin an' pick it up, All the day you'll have good luck. Fin' a pin an' let it lay, Bad luck you'll have all day.Sing befo' breakfas', cry befo' supper. - "When yer foot itches, you will go a strange place." - "When yer right ear bu'n, somebody talkin' good of yer; lef' ear, bad." - "Ef a rooyster come in de door an' crow, means some one (stranger) comin'."- "De firs' time you sleep in a strange house, make a wish, an' it comes true;" and Pinky Murray added, speaking the morning after my arrival at her house, "if you made a wish las' night, you could get it." WEATHER-SIGNS AND STAR-LORE. "Ef a cat wash her face, it goin' to rain." - "Kill a halligator an' tu'n it on her back, it will storm." - "Studgeon jumps out of de water: when his head tu'n in any direction, the win' comin' from dat way. What way he hol' his head, we know way the win' comin'."-"Po'poise drill is bad weder. De whole regiment jump one time, bad weder at oncet." - "Ef blow heavy all night an' all day f'om de sout'-east, sto'm on de coas'." - "Sun down, cloudy, an' de sun peep out, nex' mornin' good mornin'. Ef you don' see de sun, nex' day same bad weder." - "Sun go Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 211 down red in winter, sign o' col'." - "Ca'm all night, win' rise wid de sun." - Sailors "on the coast" will blow a bugle or foghorn for a wind. "B'ow cow-horn in ca'm, air light, will spring up an' get heavier an' heavier." As we sailed in the early hours of the morning to Savannah, the wind fell; and now and again Henry Bryan would whistle for it - a short calling whistle - as one whistles for a dog. And he would address the wind directly: "Come heah, Wind! Why you hidin' away in dat sail?" Sailors would stick a pin into the sail, "an' de wind come up at oncet." Jack Brown had heard of the device, familiar in the Bahamas, of throwing a piece of money overboard in a calm. - Mrs. King had heard of the belief that a "speerit," not a "hant," showed itself in a whirlwind. Names for the stars as known to Henry Bryan and Jack Brown were limited. "Fore-runner" is the star "befo' Wenus," the morning star. The Pleiades are called "Seven Star." A star which rises in September is called "Job's Corpse." For the Dipper the two sailors had no name. They referred, unintelligibly to me, to "Cawmic," saying, "J. C. an' Cawmic work togeder." - "If a star run [fall], an' you tell anybody, you will die." DREAMS. "Dream about water means rain." - "Dream 'bout snakes, have somet'in' to fight, some kin' tem'tation." "Dream 'bout a snake is yer inemy." - "Dream 'bout colored people is yer inemy, same as a snake." - "Dream 'bout white people, 'bout a baby, 'bout paper doller, is good luck." -" Dream of fire or small money or silver is confusion (trouble) or deat'." - Dream of a funeral, sign of a wedding; of a wedding, sign of a funeral. - "Dream of marryin', of watermelon, fish, fresh meat, is death." - "Dream dat somebody is dead, dey will live a long time." - "See anybody right sick, dream he is better, is deat'; dream he is dead, will be better." -" Dream of buil'in' a house is deat'." SICKNESS, BLACK MAGIC, AND CURE. "Point yer finger at the graveyard, an' it will rot off unless you put it in water or in de groun'." - "If you want to do somet'in' to a person, take de track up where dey stan' on de groun', an' 1 "Kill snake when you meet him, 'kaze snake give us sin in de worl'."-Another acquaintance said,' 'When I see a snake, it make me cross." 212 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. t'row it in de riber." In this connection I heard of a child who was drowned, and whose mother went blind. "Somebody had put somet'in' under her piller.1 Was meant for chil' moder to teaze her into de creek. But she only got a little of it; so she wen' blind, an' de chil' was drowned." The blinded woman sent a friend to Savannah to consult Madame Roy. In St. Helena this lady has a well-known reputation for soothsaying. Once she had foretold that in four months a certain house on the island would burn down, and so it happened. People are said to come as far as from New York to see her.- As elsewhere,2 "fix" is the usual term for practising black magic. You may "fix dem so dey couldn' stay home" or "so dey get crazy." To Jack Brown, at least, the idea of working black magic through soil from a grave, and leaving a coin on it, - a common idea in the Bahamas,was not unknown. "Go to get dus' off de grave, pay de grave." - There were and probably still are, in the Islands, practitioners called "root-doctors" or "wood-doctors" or "nigger doctors." s I heard of one old woman who was a "nigger doctor." She was a fortune-teller, a "witchcraf' woman." "Goofer doctor" is a term used elsewhere in South Carolina,4 but it is not current in the Islands. To most of my acquaintances it seemed quite unfamiliar. I met one middle-aged woman who was not a doctor, but who claimed that she knew when her neighbors' children were sick without seeing them; and she and others believed she had the gift of dreaming true. Salt is eaten for sore throat, and salt and pepper used as a gargle. Salt meat is also tied around the neck. Mullein-leaves and life-everlasting are steeped as teas for fever, and the body is covered with the leaf of the castor bean. The bark of the red oak is steeped as a tea for pain and for rheumatism. A rattlesnakeskin is bound around the wrist for rheumatism.5- Soda and vinegar are taken for "bu'nin"' or indigestion. -For sickness in general, a dime with a hole in it will be tied on a string around the ankle; and for headache, a string will be tied around the head. "Let the knot come in de fron', right in de middle, to draw de pain. 'Stead of come ower yer eye, go back, draw f'om de fron'." 1 See Tale 74, p. 87. 2 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: i8o, No. 19). a See p. 62. 4 See, too, JAFL 32: 380. 6 For a like practice in Andros Island, Bahamas, see MAFLS 13: 56 (note i). For the use of rattlesnake-oil see p. o10, and compare Cherokee (BAE 19: 295, 296). Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 2I3 — A girl told me that her mother, in dosing her, considered the phase of the moon,- "give tonic almos' full moon." - For "jerking fits" [epilepsy?], you should shoot a buzzard, and take out two wing-feathers1 and burn under the nose, and inhale. Buzzard-feathers are good, too, for rheumatism. - "Ef two in de house sick, an' one die, de oder one will feel better." - As indicated in Tale 53, there is the familiar belief about hags, - women who shed their skins and victimize sleepers,2 - "ol' haigs what ride people in de sleep." And the precautions to be taken are likewise familiar. "Say if you want to ketch dat haig, you scatter mustard-seed fo' de do', 'cause mustard-seed so fine, pick dat up 'til mornin'," 3 or, again, you put salt and pepper in the discarded skin.4 DEATH, BURIAL, AND MOURNING. Deceased relatives may call the living. "Sister an' broder may come back to you." 6 I heard of a certain woman who was going insane, and it was said that a neighbor had dreamed that the woman's deceased sister-in-law was coming back for her. "Dead moder will hant de baby, worry him in his sleep.6 Dat's de reason, when moder die, dey will han' a little baby 'cross de box7 [according to others, across the grave] same time dey fixin' to leave de house, befo' dey put um in de wagon." - "What time de tide?" watchers by the sick may ask, believing that the "ebb would kyarry 'em out." - "Ef a man drown, put fodder, what yer strip corn 8 fo' horses, in water whey he fell ower, an' dat fodder will follow whey de man is, if he ain't rise yet. At de en' of t'ree days he rise. Fodder stay dere. Show yer whey to drag." - After the corpse is taken out of the house, you "mus' sweep de flo', and de sweepings out of de do'," otherwise you would be the next to follow. More exactly, after washing and dressing the corpse, as soon as the coffin comes, "put you right out doors, out all night" (i.e., the night of the "wake" or "settin'-up"); and the house is swept up for the pile to stay until the following 1 Compare Cherokee (BAE 19: 284). 2 Compare Thonga (Junod, 2: 344). 3 Compare North Carolina (JAFL 30: I88, No. 35 and note 4). 4 See pp. 63-64. 5 Compare Tale 33. 8 Compare Bahamas (MAFLS I3: I52, note i). 7 As the coffin is always called (see pp. 88, 122). 8 This fodder is kept in the open, stacked around a pole. 214 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. day, and be swept out of the door just as soon as the coffin is driven away. "Ain't suppose to sweep no dust out 'til de body goes out." -To keep the deceased "from frettin', -goin' back," - the cup and saucer used in the last sickness should be placed on the grave.1 The medicine-bottles are placed there, too; and if any medicine is left in the bottle, the bottle should be turned upside down, and the cork loosened, "so med'cine suck up de grave." On most graves a cup or piece of cut glass, bottles, and quite often a lamp, may be seen.2 According to some, it is "somet'in' de bes' in de house, not partikler belong to dead," which is placed on the grave. On the grave, too, will be placed cut flowers and conch-shells, - "jes' a dressin' up de grave." Flowers may be planted, "jus' to keep remembrance of de puson." - Anything in the house "what have glass, cover up or tu'n back on de wall; an' stop de clock from runnin'." Not to take these measures is bad luck. "What kind of bad luck?" - "Jus' say bad luck." But one woman answered, "I hear it spoil de looks of de glass, pictu' fades." Mr. Brown and I reached the house of James Murray on Hilton Head the day after the funeral of his uncle. There was no lack of reference to the deceased; and when the daughter of the deceased came in a day or two to visit us, there were renewed references. Nevertheless a St. Helena acquaintance opined that the dead were put out of mind as quickly as possible. "When done have de fun'ral feas', done forgotten. Call it passover oder parts o' de country." At a "buryin"' I went to on St. Helena's Island, the "box" was outside of the house, the mourners sitting in a circle around it. After prayer and hymns, and addresses by neighbors,3 the top of the coffin was removed, and those present were invited to look at the deceased. The "box" was placed on a farm-wagon; and the mourners followed on foot 4 to the cemetery, a mile off,- one of those ragged patches of live-oak and palmetto and brier tangle which throughout the Islands are a sign of graves within, —graves scattered without symmetry, and 1 See Tale 33. 2 See JAFL 27: 248. Toys are included. 3 There were from forty to fifty persons present. On Defuskie, the oyster-openers I spent an afternoon with on the shore told me there were comparatively few of them at work that day,- only six or seven instead of twenty-five or more,- because "there was a deat' on de island." As elsewhere, funerals are sociable, and for all not altogether dreary occasions. Still they are not what they used to be in the days of stick-lick and rum (see Tale 178). 4 Compare Tale 74. Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 2I5 often without head-stones or head-boards, or sticks, 1 but invariably dug east and west, the head to the west. In these bush cemeteries, as a rule, the family appears not to preserve its grouping. However, were a widower to say, "When I die, put me whey my wife is," they would "kyarry him whey his wife, don' matter how long after he die." Similarly respected would be the wish of the widow who had said, "Put me side o' my husban'." A baby dying with its mother is buried in the same grave, - "put moder an' baby togeder, baby res' in moder arm." Funerals at Beaufort are church affairs, with hearse and carriages. When the deceased is a Mason or an Odd-Fellow or a '1r \ Good Samaritan (the women's society), there is the elaboration 3 t characteristic of these secret benefit societies, whose members -^ ^r " fo' respec' tu'n out." They turn out in black coat and trousers,. over which hangs a white satin embroidered apron suspended from the neck, and they wear white gloves. The two leaders BA. carry gayly-painted wooden staves, of which they make an arch for the members to go under, as I observed on one occasion when two by two they entered a church-door and later their own assembly hall. "At ev'y fork of de road dey cross de staff again, an' dey go under." As for the women, "diffun' lo'ges dress diffun',- some all in black; some white waist, black skirt." And the women wear badges. "Badge on right, ain't no fune'al; badge on lef', fo' fune'al." The badge is blue on the upper side, and black on the under side. For a funeral it is turned. When an Odd-Fellow dies, "de body cover up, nobody mus' touch. Six men come to bade an' dress de body." Similarly, on the death of a Good Samaritan, "de body cover up, no one can touch de body 'til de Sisters come. Sen' to de Wordy (Worthy) Chief. Fo' sisters come wash de body an' lay out. Nobody can look at de face widout de Sister say so. Say, 'Can I look at de face?' - 'Yes.' Each Sister has to watch de body fo' one hour." At the death of an Odd-Fellow, two hundred dollars will be "tu'n over to de widow." The "deat'-benefit of a Good Samaritun is a hundred and twenty-five dollars." It is paid "widin t'ree months to whomever you will dat money." The sick-benefit of an Odd-Fellow is two dollars a week; of a Good Samaritan, the "tribute" rendered is from each Sister paying a dime a week. Besides, the Sisters will sit up, two by two, with the patient. On joining the organization, a new member pays "tribute"1 See Tale 79. 216 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. twenty-five or fifty cents in case of the Odd-Fellows - to each member. For the Good Samaritans there are four officials, - "de Wordy Chief, de Daughter of Funk, de Daughter of Les'n, de Daughter of Key." Certain rules or rites, as-given in the words of a member, are of interest: "When I go into de lodge, I rap like dis [raps twice] on de vitree window. F'om inside dey rap like dis [raps once]. Den I put my ear to de vitree window, an' dey give me de password....Tell de password only to de Daughter of Les'n an' de inside sensal [sentinel?]. Tell any oder body, dey fine you one dollar. Dey open." Here followed a pantomime of ritualistic gesture. She stood with her back to the group supposed to be inside the room just entered. She slowly raised her right arm to a position across her breast, hand on heart, and then, with elbow bent and palm out, she held the arm up at right angles to the body. These gestures "means all de pewty [purity] an' tru' [truth]." The hand "on de heart suppose to keep all de secre' ob de order." After this twofold gesture,- a gesture "one o' de deep an' solemn," - my informant wheeled about, repeated the twofold gesture, and, continuing the rehearsal, said, "Good-evenin', Sisters!" An official "says, 'How is you on de book?' If you is all right [dues paid], you enter into de room."... On passsigns - "You see somebody on de oder side of de street, an' wan' to call 'em. Do dis [the index and middle fingers of the right hand were placed slowly and emphatically in the crook of the left elbow]. De answe' is dis [the index and middle fingers of the right hand were placed on the left wrist]. Little furder away you see a member. Wan' to call 'em. Do dis [the palm of the right hand was drawn slowly and measuredly across the forehead, from left to right], or do dis [the right arm was held down close to the body, palm first upward, and then turned slowly downward]. Good Samaritans meet de fou't' Sunday an' t'ird Wednesday;" and in June they hold a meeting in a church, which they enter under arched staves. The day of the Odd-Fellows' funeral I have referred to was the fourth Sunday; but," 'cause of de fune'al," the Good Samaritans postponed their meeting to the day following. At Beaufort and throughout the Islands black is worn by everybody in mourning; but the period seems variable. For a parent it may be five or six months, or it may be much longer. A widow may dress in black for years - "never hardly see dem come out um widout dey goin' to marry again." THE SEA ISLANDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. (Reprinted, with permission of editor, from "Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne.': Defuskie, to the southwest, is not included.) Publications OF THE American Folk-Lore Society. JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE, VOLS. I-XXXV (i888 -1922). MEMOIRS OF THE AMERICAN FOLK-LORE SOCIETY: Vol. I. HELI CHATELAIN, Folk-Tales of Angola. Fifty Tales with Ki-mbundu text, literal English Translation, Introduction, and Notes. 1894. xii + 315 p. (With two maps.) $3.50 net. II. ALCEE FORTIER, Louisiana Folk-Tales. In French Dialect and English Translation. I895. xi + 122 p. $3.50 net. III. CHARLES L. EDWARDS, Bahama Songs and Stories. With Music, Introduction, Appendix, and Notes. Six Illustrations. 1895. xiii + III p. $3.50 net. IV. FANNY D. BERGEN, Current Superstitions. Collected from the Oral Tradition of English-Speaking Folk. With Notes, and an Introduction by WILLIAM WELLS NEWELL. 1896. vi + I6I p. $3.50 net. V. WASHINGTON MATTHEWS, Navaho Legends. With Introduction, Notes, Illustrations, Texts, Interlinear Translations, and Melodies. 1897. viii + 299 p. Out of print. VI. JAMES TEIT, Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia. With Introduction by FRANZ BOAS, and Notes. I898. x + 137 p. $3.50 net. VII. FANNY D. BERGEN, Animal and Plant Lore. Collected from the Oral Tradition of English-Speaking Folk. With Introduction by J. Y. BERGEN. 1899. 180 p. (Second Part to Vol. IV., with common Index.) $3.5o net. VIII. GEORGE A. DORSEY, Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee. With Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations. 1904. xxvi+366 p. $6.oo net. IX. M. R. COLE, Los Pastores. A Mexican Miracle Play. Translation, Introduction, and Notes. With Illustrations and Music. 1907. xxxiv + 234 p. $4.oo net. (218) Vol. X. ELEANOR HAGUE, Spanish-American Folk-Songs. I917. I I p. $3.5o net. XI. JAMES A. TEIT, MARIAN K. GOULD, LIVINGSTON FARRAND, HERBERT J. SPINDEN, Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes. Edited by Franz Boas. 19I7. x + 201 p. $3.50 net. XII. Filipino Popular Tales. Collected and edited, with Comparative Notes, by DEAN S. FANSLER. I92I. xix + 473 p. $5.oo net. XIII. ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS, The Folk-Tales of Andros Island, Bahamas. I918. xx + 170 p. $3.50 net. XIV. MERCIE L. TAYLOR, Index to Volumes I-XXV (I888-I912) of the Journal of American Folk-Lore. WILLIAM WELLS NEWELL MEMORIAL VOLUME. In preparation. XV. ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS, Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands. Part I. In English. Part II. In Portuguese. In press. XVI. ELSIE CLEWS PARSONS, Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina. 1923. xxx + 2I6 p. (Map.) $3.50 net. XVII. MARTHA WARREN BECKWITH, Folk-Lore of Jamaica. In press. (219) I I I 14 'lIt1 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DATE DUE MAY 7 1 994 A -. h UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 3 9015 01912 1188 GR. GR 1 1. A v. I