Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales From the Gulf States
Page 20
“How can I hold him when my feet can’t touch the ground?”
Brother Fox decided to get even with Brother Rabbit. He called all of his friends together and told them what had happened. He said that he was going to play like he was dead and he knew if Brother Rabbit knew he was dead they could catch him. He sent one of them after Brother Rabbit. He came up and looked at Brother Fox and shook his head and said the latest style was, if a man is dead, he would turn over and Brother Fox turned over. Brother Rabbit said that that was a lie as no dead man could turn over, and he left.
—L. O. TAYLOR.
The snail wuz crossin’ de road for seben years. Jus’ as he got crost, a tree fell and jus’ missed him. He said, “Gee! it’s good to be fast.”
Know why possum ain’t got no hair on his tail? Ham cut it off for banjo strings.
Once a rabbit and a fox wanted to go with the same girl. The rabbit had told the girl already that Brother Fox was his riding horse. So one day Brother Fox went to Brother Rabbit’s house and said, “Brother Rabbit, you going to see the girl today?”
“No,” says Brother Rabbit, “I am sick, I can’t go I tell you.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, I will ride you half way down there.”
“Then all right,” says Brother Rabbit, “but you will have to let me put a saddle on your back.”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Well, I can’t go.”
“All right, you can put it on.” So he put it on.
“I will have to have a bridle in your mouth.”
“All right.” He put it on.
“I need some spurs on me.” He put those on. “Now I need a switch.”
So they started to the girl’s house—they ran and ran and ran. When Brother Fox saw the house about fifty feet away, he said: “Get off now,” but Brother Rabbit put the spurs to him and away he ran right up to the house. Brother Rabbit jumped down and ran into the house and said: “I told you Brother Fox was my riding horse, I told you Brother Fox was my riding horse, I told you. Ha! Ha!”
—JERRY BENNETT.
DE Gopher in Court
De gopher wuz called intuh court. De judge an’ all de jury wuz all turtles. An’ de gopher got up and looked around, an’ ast de court could he be excused. De judge ast him why, an’ he told de judge: “Blood is thicker dan water.”
—MARTIN WHITE.
Hawg Under De House
Ole man and woman was in de bed trying to sleep an’ uh ole sow was under de house wid her pigs uh gruntin’ an’ scratchin’ an’ makin’ so much noise till he said: “Le’s git up an pour some hot water through de hole an’ run dat sow out from under dis house.”
So they did an’ when de hot water hit de sow, she said: “Whoosh! Shoosh! Who scald?”
De little pigs, they say, “Us, us, us, us, us, us.”
—MARY DASH.
Once a ole goose uster live down in a holler log. She wuz settin’ an’ uh fox grabbed her. She tole him, “You don’t wanta eat no ole po’ settin’ goose. Wait till I git fat, then I’ll let you eat me and you kin git some meat off me. You kin eat de lil geeses, too.”
De fox said all right. He kept on coming back every day or two to see if she wuz ready. De goose took her lil geeses and hid ’em, and went and got some dogs and hid ’em in de log. De fox come long pretty soon and says, “Ready or no ready I’m going to eat you today.”
She says, “Don’t eat me, eat dem tender lil geeses in de log.”
So de fox went to de log and dashed in and turnt right round and tore out wid dem hounds right after him. De dogs says (chant): “Ah, ah, Ooo-ah…If you don’t come go with me you won’t get to town today.”
De goose hollered, “Ketch him, ketch him,” and geese been hollering dat ever since.
—JERRY BENNETT.
Tarrypin an’ de fox run uh race for uh girl. It wuz uh five mile race. De tarrypin took an’ fooled de fox. He got some uh his friends an’ put one at each one uh de posts an’ one at de startin’ place; den he went on over tuh de girl’s house an’ set on de porch an’ crossed his legs.
When dey set out on de race de fox sprung way ahead. He figgered he had done left de tarrypin way behind. He jus’ knowed he wuz gwine win dat race; but when he got tuh de fust mile post dere wuz de tarrypin scufflin’ long uhead uh him. He hopped on past de tarrypin tuh de next mile post; but when he got dere, he seed de tarrypin uhgin. He strained on down de road cause he wuz sayin’ tuh hisself: “Ah knows Ah kin beat dat ole tarrypin runnin’.”
He lit out an’ run lak lightnin’ tuh de next post an’ dere wuz de tarrypin waitin’ agin. De fox laid out he wuz runnin’ so fas’ tuh beat de tarrypin tuh de house an’ he took an’ run up de steps an’ fell down he wuz so tired, an’ dere wuz de tarrypin settin’ crossed legged on de porch laffin’ an’ talkin’ wid de girl. De fox ast de tarrypin, he says: “Brer Tarrypin, Ah knows Ah kin beat you runnin’. How come you beat me tuh de house?”
De tarrypin lit uh seegar an’ said: “Ah, Lawd! Uh heap sees, but uh few knows.”
—LARKINS WHITE.
Once there was a rabbit and uh bear. The rabbit would go round to Brother Lamb and steal a lamb every evening for supper. So one evening he went round; they wuz eating and they begin to tell ’bout somebody been stealing they lambs.
So de rabbit told ’em every time he go to the bear’s house he have roast lamb. So he told ’em that he wuz gointer make Brer Bear tell them the truth about it.
So he went and got his fiddle and went over to Brother Bear and told him that Brother Lamb wanted them to play for him tonight.
So they begin to practise and de rabbit says, “Did you, did you, did you?”
The bear says, “Yes, I, yes, I, yes, I.”
They said dat twice, last verse was: “Didn’t you steal Brother Lambkin’s sheep?”
“Yes, by God, I did it.”
So that night they both dressed and went over to Brother Lamb’s house. Brer Rabbit, he took a seat by the door and de bear over by de chimbley. So they begin to play. Rabbit said, “Did you, etc.” Bear said, “Yes I, etc.” Said dat twice. So last time Brer Rabbit said, “Did you steal Brother Lambkin’s sheep?”
“Yes, by God, I did it.”
So all de lambs jumped on Brother Bear and beat him, and the rabbit grabbed him uh lamb and run.
—EDWARD MORRIS.
When we lived in the country one day I went out in the field and I heard a noise, and I look around and saw a tick calling a red bug to get some trash out of his eyes. And the red bug got the rail off of my fence and got the trash out of the tick’s eyes.*
—JERRY BENNETT.
The Snail and his Wife
De snail’s wife got sick. She was rollin’ from side to side in her bed. So she tole her husban’: “Oh Lawdy, I’m so sick. Please go get de doctor for me an’ hurry up. I don’t speck I’m goin’ be here long.”
So he said, “All right.”
So she laid there seven years rollin’ an tumblin’ wid misery. So after seven years she heard a scufflin’ at de door. So she said: “Oh, I’m so glad. Dat’s my husban’ done come back wid de doctor.” So she hollered an’ tole him: “Is dat you, baby, wid de doctor?”
He say: “Don’t try to rush me. I ain’t gone yet.”
—PETER NOBLE.
The Snail Crosses the Road
The snail was crossin’ de road for seven years an’ jus’ as he got across a tree fell an’ it would uh hit him if he’d a been where he was six months befo’. So he tole everybody: “See, dat tree jes’ missed me. So that jes’ goes to show you it’s good to be fast.”
—PETER NOBLE.
* Hurston includes this tale earlier, attributing it to Arthur Hopkins.
* In her original manuscript, Hurston had prefaced this tale with the following statement about William Jones: “William Jones is an ex-slave. He tells many anecdotes of his share in the Civil War. By the gospel according to Jones, it would have availed the North l
ittle had they twenty U. S. Grants and had they not one William Jones on their side.”
* Hurston includes this tale earlier, in a slightly different version.
* The dirt-dauber has a very small waist.
* Hurston had written “Tall Tale” in the margin next to this tale.
Appendix 1
Negro Folk-tales from the
Gulf States*
SOURCES:
I. Alabama (Mobile & Suburbs, i.e. Plateau, Magazine Point, Prichard)
Collected Dec. 16, 1927–Jan. 12, 1928
June 4, 1928–Sept. 3, 1928
A locale of sawmills, lumber camps and fishermen. Illiterate and barely literate, except some school boys who told me tales.
I. Florida (Loughman Sawmill, Eatonville a purely Negro village, Lakeland, Mulberry, Pierce in the Phosphate Mines Country, Eau Gallie, a Truck-farm and fishing village; and Miami, a tourist town with more than half of the Negro population being Bahamians.)
Collected: Loughman Sawmill:
Jan. 15, 1928–March 20, 1928
Eatonville: March 20–April 18, 1928
Phosphate Country: April 19–June 2, 1928
Eau Gallie: April–Aug. 1929
Miami: Aug.–Nov. 1929
III. Louisiana—(New Orleans and Bogaloosa)
New Orleans is a huge and cosmopolitan city with many and marked characteristics. Very European, very American. Bogaloosa is a huge industrial center, sawmills, paper mills, chicken hatcheries and reforestation nurseries.
Collected: New Orleans: Sept. 1928–March 1929
Nov. 1929–March 1930
Bogaloosa: Nov. 1929
* This second partial title page was originally page three of the Hurston manuscript
Appendix 2*
Della Lewis: An illiterate woman around 70 years old. Born in West Florida. Mother of 11 children by 9 different fathers. Has always lived in Florida. Occupation: Midwife.
Eugene Oliver: About 3rd grade education. About 20 in 1928. Occupation: Sawmill hand.
Mary Dash: About 35. Married, from Georgia. Domestic.
Tarryson Parlor: About middle age. Sawmill worker, from Miss.
Mae Oliver: Sister to Eugene Oliver, of about the same educational level. About 22 in 1928.
R.T. Williams: About 40. Works in an orange grove. Born in Georgia.
Julius Henry: Illiterate. About 14 in 1928. Born in the neighborhood.
Belle Williams: About 13 in 1928. Sister to Julius Henry. Married.
Robert Bailey: Middle age. From Georgia. Worker in orange grove, barely literate.
Fred Cooper: About 20 in 1928. Grove worker, barely literate. Born in South Florida. Grandson of Della Lewis.
Willie Roberts: Bootlegger. About 33. Born in Eatonville, Florida.
John Smith: About 33. Born in Georgia. Sawmill hand.
Christopher Jenkins: About 21. Born in Florida. Worker in phosphate mines.
Cliffert Ulmer: About 23. Born in Florida. Sawmill hand.
James Moseley: About 45. Born at Eatonville, Fla. Chauffeur and yard man.
Sarah Sewell: Born in Eatonville, Fla. Age 41. Housewife.
Matthew Brazzle: Born in Fla. About 70. Gardener and mayor of town.
Soddy Sewell: Born in Florida. About 21. School boy.
Isiah Hurston: Born in Alabama. Age 31. Preacher.
“Nigger” Bird: Born South Carolina. About 25. Grove worker.
George Brown: Florida. Truck gardener. Age 28.
Louvenia English: Born in Georgia. About 30. Domestic.
Jonathan Hines: Florida. About 29. Waiter.
Louis Black: Born in Pierce, Fla. (a phosphate mining camp). About 11, in 1928. In 4th grade.
Hattie Reeves: Born island of Grand Command, West Indies. About 50. Domestic.
Lillian Green: Born Florida. About 12. School girl.
Catherine Hardy: Born Fla. About 10. A school girl.
Geneva Woods: Born in Georgia. About 20. A housewife.
Eliza Austin: Born in South Carolina. About 50. A laundress.
Charlie Jones: About 30. Born Florida. Laborer.
Dad Boykin: Born Georgia. About 80. Bum and roustabout.
L.O. Taylor: Tenn. About 30. Preacher.
Nora Lee White: South Carolina. About 23. Housewife.
Larkins White: Georgia. About 40. Sawmill hand.
James Presley: Musician, sawmill hand. About 40. Born in Georgia.
W. M. Richardson: Born in Florida. About 35. Orange picker and packer.
Handy Pitts: Middle Georgia. About 38. Sawmill hand.
Bertha Allen: Born in Georgia. About 55. Boarding-house keeper.
Ed Morris: Born Mobile, Ala. Age 15. 8th grade.
N.A. James: Born in Louisiana. About 40. YMCA secretary.
Peter Noble: North Alabama. About 22. Garage worker.
Jerry Bennett: Born in Louisiana. About 39. Sawmill hand.
J. Williams: Born in Mississippi. Sawmill hand. About 50.
Ed Edwards: Born in Alabama. About 17. About 6th grade.
Mrs. Louise Noble: About 48. Former country school-teacher. Born in Florida.
Baby Face Turl: About 65. Drives garbage wagon. Born in South Carolina.
Raymond McGill: About 35. Born in Florida. Works in phosphate mines.
Martin White: Born in Georgia. Age 50. Phosphate worker.
Floyd Thomas: Born in Florida. Age 23. Phosphate miner.
John Bird: Age 33. Born in Florida. Bootlegger and jail bird.
Carrie McCray: Prostitute. Born in South Carolina. Age 30.
Rebecca Corbett: Cook. Age 35. Born in Georgia.
Nathaniel Burney: Age 9. School. Born in Florida.
A. R. Cole: Laborer. Age 40. Born in Texas.
Louis Robinson: Age 11. School. Born in Florida.
Arthur Hopkins: Age 18. Born in Florida (reared in Alabama). School boy, but loads lumber at sawmill in summer.
George Mills: Born in South Carolina. Age 62. Deputy sheriff in Mobile, Ala.
David Leverett: Born in Alabama. Age 19. Sawmill.
Charley Bradley: Age 22. Sawmill hand. Born in Alabama.
Henry Edwards: Alabama. Age 19. Laborer.
George Harris: Farmer. Age 38. Alabama.
Douglash Shine: Age 26. Sawmill hand. Alabama.
Will Thomas: Boom-man. Age 28. Alabama.
Mannie Barnes: Born in Mississippi. Age 28. Sawmill hand.
Will House: Boom-man. Age 30. Georgia.
Hattie Giles: Age 39. Alabama. Housewife.
David Leverett: Age 19. Sawmill hand. Alabama.
Lorenzo Morris: Age 18. High School. Born in Alabama.
Richard Edwards: School boy. Age 15. Alabama born.
Armetta Jones: Domestic. Age 42. Georgia born.
Mack C. Ford: Age 55. Gardener. Florida.
Sarah Lou Potts. Born in Alabama. About 40. Tuskegee grad.
William Jones: Mobile, Ala. Ex-slave. Born near here.
Mrs. Sally Smith: Born in Tarkwa, Gold Coast. Brought to America in 1859.
Jessie Smith: Her son. About 60. Farmer of Bogue Chitts, Ala.
Russel Singer: About 17. Lumber mill. Alabama.
Clifton Green: About 20. Laborer. Alabama.
Uless Carter: About 20. Laborer.
Sam Hopkins: Born in Florida, reared in Alabama. About 14.
Gennie (Jenny) Murray: Born, Georgia. Moved to Ala. Age 40. Housewife.
Will Howard: Alabama. About 30. Lumber-mill hand.
Willie May McClary: Born Ga. Lives at Eatonville, Fla. Age 17 yrs.
Ed Langston: About 55. Born in W. Florida, now in Eau Gallie. R.R. section hand.
Clarence Beal: Eau Gallie. About 30. Garden hand.
Mrs. Annie King: Born in Florida. About 70. Cook.
Maybelle Frazier: Housewife, when out of jail. About 38. Born in Florida.
A. D. Frazier: Georgia. About 53. Barber when free.
Willie Fullwood: Turpentine worker. About 25.
Buster Williams: Age 20. Bo
rn in Georgia but reared in Mulberry, Florida.
Virginia Williams: Age 19. From Ga., but visited Mulberry, Fla.
Etta Lee Leonard: Pierce, Fla. School girl. 11 years old.
Jeannette Moore: Pierce, Fla. School girl. 10 years old.
Pearline Black: Pierce, Fla. School girl. 13 years old.
Catherine Williams: ′ ′ ′ 10 years old.
Pete Bryant: ′ ′ School boy. 11 years old.
Lulu Anderson: School boy. About 9.
Edward Frazier: Born, South Carolina, reared in Fla. Miner.
Tom Saunders: Age 42. Born, Va., keeps restaurant.
Rachael Moore: Age 60. Born Georgia. Laundress.
Marguerite Campbell: Age 22. Born in Florida. Domestic.
Lillian Green: Born Florida. Age 13. School girl.
Jessie Lee Hudson: Born Georgia. Age 28. Housewife.
Viola Ballon: Born in South Carolina. Age 33. Domestic.
C. S. McClendon: Florida. Age 40. Phosphate miner.
Louis Robinson: Born in Florida. Age 21. Laborer.
James Graham: Born in Miss. Age 42. Laborer.
Jesse Long: Age 56. Carpenter. Native of Tennessee.
Ed Davis: Bogaloosa, La. School boy, 17 years old.
Mrs. Fields: 1928 found her an invalid in New Orleans, Louisiana Hospital. She is about 70 years old.
Edith Knowles: School girl of Pierce, Fla. 11 years. old.
Gus Ramsey: Bahamian. Age 35. Laborer.
Ned Isaacs: Bahamian. Age 32. Sings.
Merle Wood: Bahamian girl. About 12 years old.
Dorothy Wood: Bahamian girl. About 14 years old.
Reuben Roker: Bahamian of Miami. Age 20.
Harold Tinker: Bahamian. Age 22.
William Weeks: Bahamian. Plantation owner.
Richard Barrett: Jamaica, B.W.I. Age 40. Chauffeur.
Mrs. Vera Taylor: Bahamian from Cat Island. Age 40.