Then the folks all said, “Lord, Brer Rabbit, you sure are brave!” “I’m just a man, folks,” said Brer Rabbit, and he picked up his cap and knocked the dirt off of it and set it back on the side of his head. “Just a man, folks, that’s all. Ol’ Brer Lion, he pitched and he cursed and he roared, but that didn’t scare me; and when he saw I meant business, he said he’d do just what the folks want him to do.”
Then the folks tried to decide who would be the first one to go and feed Mister Lion. Everybody said to everybody else, “You go first, you go first.” And there they stuck, arguing and quarreling until Brer Rabbit told them, “Let’s draw straws, and the one who gets the short one feeds the lion.”
They agreed to that, they did. Brer Rabbit held the straws, and Brer Goose, he drew the short one. When Brer Goose saw he had the short straw, he began to shiver and shake his wings and he said, “N-a-a nah! N-a-a nah!” “Y-e-h yeh!” said Brer Rabbit, “Y-e-h yeh! Go on down there and feed Brer Lion like you agreed to do.”
So Brer Goose went on down there and Brer Lion ate him up.
The next feeding time, Brer Pig drew the short straw. When he saw he was the next, he started crying and hollering, “W-a-i-t! W-a-i-t! W-a-i-t! W-a-i-t!” “W-a-i-t! the devil!” said Brer Rabbit. “You get on down yonder and feed Brer Lion like you done agreed to or else we’ll beat you half to death and drag you there.” So Brer Pig went on down there and Brer Lion ate him up.
Now Brer Fox and Brer Alligator soon saw that as long as Brer Rabbit held the straws he was going to send everybody else except himself down the road to feed the lion. So next feeding time, they fixed it so that Brer Fox held the straws. And sure enough, this time Brer Rabbit, he drew the short one!
When he saw that he had gotten the short straw, he said to himself, “Dear God! I sure got my business in a twist now.” Then he said out loud, “Folks,” he said, “it sure looks like my time has come. We have had a heap of fun and frolics together,” he said, “but that’s behind us now. And now I must go and feed that old lion’s belly. I have been a good friend to you all, folks,” he said, “and a good neighbor, too. I visited the sick and fed the hungry and helped to bury the dead. But now it looks like my time is done and I want you all to pray for me and promise me that when your time comes you’ll all meet me in the Promised Land where there isn’t anybody who goes but the pure in heart. Good-bye, folks, good-bye, everybody,” said Brer Rabbit, and then he started walking off down the road, slow and mournful.
Brer Rabbit sounded so pitiful that all the folks started crying, and just before he got out of sight, ’round a bend in the road, Brer Hound Dog, who was the gospel carrier, started singing:
Am I born to die,
To lay this body down?
And everybody joined in.
Brer Rabbit, he walked along mighty slow, he did, and then he decided that, even if ole Mister Lion did have to wait for his dinner, he was going to look over his big plantation one more time anyhow.
As soon as he decided that, he took off through the woods to his house. When he got there, he went all around and around. He went to where he was born and he went to the barn and the hog lot and the garden, and he said good-bye to everything. And then he went to the well for a last drink of water. He looked over in that old deep well of his, and when he saw his own face shining up at him from the bottom, it gave him an idea. So he slapped his leg with his hand and slammed the cover shut, and he put out through the woods for the old lion’s house. When he got there it was way after one o’clock.
He knocked on the door and he said in a trembly voice, “U-r-r-r, Mister Lion, here is your dinner.”
The old lion threw open the door and he roared out, “WELL, IT’S MIGHTY LITTLE DINNER YOU BROUGHT ME, AND HERE IT IS WAY AFTER ONE O’CLOCK.” And then Brer Lion pulled out his big gold watch and looked at it, and he showed Brer Rabbit his big teeth.
Brer Rabbit looked at them big ol’ teeth sticking out of old Brer Lion’s mouth and his knees shook worse than ever. Then he said, “Yes sir, Mister Lion, yes sir. I just couldn’t get here any sooner. I’m very sorry, Mister Lion, if I am not big enough for your dinner; but if you are real hungry I know where there is a heap of good fresh meat saved for you. And I’ll show it to you, too, if you’ll come with me, and that’s the God’s truth.”
“WHERE IS THAT MEAT?” the old lion asked him. “It’s not far, Mister Lion,” said Brer Rabbit; “it’s just a little way over toward my house where I got it stored for you.” “WELL, IT BETTER BE ENOUGH!” roared the old lion, and with that he and Brer Rabbit ran through the woods to Brer Rabbit’s house. Brer Rabbit opened up the well and looked in it and fell back! “Lord God,” he said, “if he isn’t in there eating your food right now!” When Brer Rabbit said that, the old lion knocked him away from the well and looked down it himself. He thought he saw another lion looking up at him, and he hollered, “WHO ARE YOU?” The voice came echoing back up out of the well, “WHO ARE YOU?”
Old Brer Lion began to get mad and he hollered down the well again, “WHO ARE YOU, I SAY?” And the voice came back up out of the well, “WHO ARE YOU, I SAY?”
Then Brer Rabbit nudged the old lion in his side and said, “You heard him, didn’t you, Brer Lion? Didn’t you hear him mocking you like that? Are you going to take that from him? All that loose talk, Brer Lion? Confound his fresh-meat-stealing soul,” he said. “If he’ll come up here, I’ll whip him myself!” The old lion looked over into the well again and he hollered, “WHO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!” The voice came back up from the well, “WHO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!”
Then the lion said, “STAND BACK, BRER RABBIT, HE’S MY MEAT!” And in he jumped!
As soon as Brer Rabbit heard him hit the water—kerchug!—he slammed the cover shut and locked it. Then he pulled his cap to one side of his head, took that cigar out of his pocket and lit it, and he sauntered on down the road.
The folks were all debating about who was to feed the lion next, and when they saw Brer Rabbit coming, they thought he was a ghost and they started to run. But he stopped them and then they all asked, hadn’t the lion eaten him up? Brer Rabbit said, “Ate who up? Me? No, God. I wasn’t aiming to be eaten up by that old lion nor nobody else for that matter.” “But what did he say, Brer Rabbit? And what did he do? Lord, Mister Lion is going to come up here right away and destroy us all.”
Then Brer Rabbit laughed hard. He said, “There isn’t any use in you folks being scared of nothing as long as you got a man with you, and that’s me! I’m a man, folks, just like I said. And when I said I’m a man, I mean I’m a man and I can prove it. That big old fool lion didn’t say anything and he isn’t going to destroy anyone, because when he tried to get rough with me, I beat the scoundrel half to death and threw him in my well and drowned him.”
The folks wouldn’t believe him, until Brer Rabbit took them all over to his house and opened that well and showed them the old lion drowned down in the bottom. Then they all said, “Brer Rabbit, you are too smart a man to be anything except a king. And from this time on, you are never going to have to work any crops because we are going to do it for you.”
And that’s just exactly how come it is, that from that day until this, Brer Rabbit has been living on other folks’ peanuts and potatoes and things.
—Mississippi
62
A LICENSE TO STEAL
Once upon a time was a very good time
When Monkey chewed tobacco and spit white lime.
Now, Massa Tom was boss of the office and Massa Sam was boss of the fields. Poor Rabby couldn’t get a job, but he was a tricky fellow, and even if he was always hungry, it wasn’t often he couldn’t find something to eat, and something good, at that.
Now, Mr. Rabby knew that Massa Sam couldn’t read. So one day he picked up a piece of paper from Massa Tom’s office and scribbled some lies on it and took it out to Massa Sam. Rabby said, “Massa Sam, Massa Tom sent this to you, sir.” Massa Sam looked at it and asked what it meant. Rabby took it and
said, “Tie Rabby at six in the morning to a post in that thick patch of cocoa peas; and then let him loose at six o’clock in the evening.” So Massa Sam thought it strange but went ahead, and Rabby had some good eating that day.
Later, Massa Sam went to Massa Tom and told him he could send Rabby every day like that if he wanted to, but those were their best shipping peas, and Rabby was destroying them all. Of course, Massa Tom said, “I never sent him! If he comes again, fasten him up good, and I’ll come down there and kill him.”
The next morning, along comes Rabby, whistling his tune. So Massa Sam had his rope all prepared for Rabby, and he lashed him up good. Rabby said, “Massa Sam, you’ve tied me harder than yesterday.” Massa Sam said, “That’s all right, you’ll just have to get by like that.” Well, Rabby ate and ate and ate, and then he put some more peas in his bag. He could see something was going wrong, so he cried out, “Oh, Massa Sam, I have a terrible pain in my belly. Would you let me loose, please?” Massa Sam said, “You know the letter says I can’t let you go until six o’clock in the evening. That’s Massa Tom’s rule.”
When six o’clock came, Massa Sam got his horse and left. Rabby cried, “Oh, Massa Sam, it’s six o’clock and you haven’t let me loose this evening.” Massa Sam said, “Stay there until I come back. I’m going to let you eat some more cocoa peas tomorrow, anyhow.” So Rabby dried up his tears and just kept eating and putting peas in his bag through the night.
Now, along came Mr. Elephant. Rabby started to cry out so that everyone that was passing could hear. “Oh, oh, they have me tied up here until I marry the king’s daughter, and I just can’t do that. She’s too rich for my blood.” So Mr. Elephant said, “Rabby, what is the matter?” Rabby said, “Man, they have me tied up here until I get good and sleek, so I can marry the king’s daughter, and the food is just too rich for my blood.” Mr. Elephant said, “Well, let me loosen up that rope, and you can tie me up. I’ll marry the king’s daughter!”
After Rabby tied Mr. Elephant, he went up in a big tree there. He saw them bringing down a whole wagon full of boilers to scald Rabby to death. Now, when they got to where Rabby was supposed to be, they said, “This is a bigger man than Rabby. This is Buh Elephant.” Mr. Elephant said, “Where is the king’s daughter I am going to marry? They must be going to cook up a big feast.” Well, they got those boilers real hot and they scalded poor Mr. Elephant. He said, “But I’m supposed to marry the king’s daughter, not get scalded,” and he started to rear and kick until he broke away.
So he ran right under that tree where Rabby was sitting. Rabby said, “What’s that you’re saying?” Rabby hollered, “You see the man here that you were scalding.” Mr. Elephant thought Rabby was talking to Massa Sam and his men. “You see that man you were scalding? Well, he went over there to the west, so you can cut him off if you run now.” Mr. Elephant started to run. Rabby hollered again, “Now he’s going east. Look out now, get ready. He’s coming your way.” Now Mr. Elephant was scared and he started running every which way, and he ran so much he ran himself to death, and Rabby got away.
If you think my story isn’t true
Just ask the captain of the longboat crew!
—Bahamas
63
THE RACE BETWEEN TOAD AND DONKEY
One day, Master King decided to have a race and he would give a big prize to whoever won. Both Toad and Donkey decided to enter, but Toad got Donkey angry with all his boasting about how he’d win.
Now, the race was to be for twenty miles. So when Donkey looked at Toad he wondered out loud how any animal so small and powerless could hope to keep up with him. “I have very long legs, you know, as well as long ears and tail. Just measure our legs, and you’ll see why you can’t possibly hope to win this race.” But Toad was stubborn—and he was smart, too—and he said that he was going to win the race. That just got Donkey more vexed.
So Donkey told the king that he was ready to start, but the king said that he had to make the rules first. At each mile every racer had to sing out to indicate he had gotten that far—for the king wanted to know what was happening in the race, you know.
Now Toad is a smart little fellow, and he said to the king that he needed a little time to take care of business, so would he let him have a day or two. And the king said to the two of them, “You must come here first thing tomorrow.” Donkey objected, for he knew that Toad was a very trickifying creature, but the king wouldn’t listen.
Now the toad had twenty children, and they all looked exactly alike. And while Donkey was sleeping, Toad took his twenty children along the racing ground, and at every milepost Toad left one of them. He told them that they must listen for Mr. Donkey, and whenever they heard him cry out, they should do so too. And Toad hid one of his children there behind each of those mileposts.
So the race began the next day. Donkey looked around, and he was so sure in his heart that he was going to beat Toad that he sucked his teeth, Tche, to show everyone there how little he thought of Toad. “That little bit of a fellow Toad can’t keep up with me. I’ll even have a little time to eat some grass along the way. Tche.”
So he just went a little way down the road and he stopped and ate some grass. He poked his head through the fence where he saw some good-looking sweet-potato tops and had a taste of some gungo peas. He took more than an hour to get to the first milepost. And as he got there, he bawled out: “Ha, ha, I’m better than Toad.” And the first child heard this, and he called, like all toads do,
Jin-ko-ro-ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
The sound really surprised Donkey, who of course thought he had gotten there first. Then he thought, “I delayed too long eating that grass. I must run quicker this next mile.” So he set off with greater speed, this time stopping only for a minute to drink some water along the way. And as he got to the next post, he bawled out:
Ha! Ha! Ha! I’m better than Toad.
And then the second child called out:
Jin-ko-ro-ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
And Donkey said, “Lord, Toad can really move, for sure. Never mind, there are a lot more miles.” So he started, and when he reached the third milepost, he bawled:
Ha! Ha! Ha! I’m better than Toad.
And the third child sang:
Jin-ko-ro-ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
Now the jackass got very angry when he heard Toad answer him, and he started to smash the toad, but Toad, being a little fellow, hid himself in the grass.
Donkey was then determined to get to the next milepost before Toad, and he took his tail and he switched it like a horsewhip and he began to gallop. And he got to the fourth milepost and he bawled:
Ha! Ha! Ha! I’m better than Toad.
And out came the answer from the fourth child.
When he heard that, he stood up right there and began to tremble, and he said, “My goodness, what am I going to do? I’m going to have to run so fast I really kick that hard, hard dirt.” And he galloped off faster than he ever had before, until he reached the fifth milepost. And now he was very tired, and out of breath. He just barely had enough wind to bawl:
Ha! Ha! Ha! Vm better than Toad.
And then he heard:
Jin-ko-ro-ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
This time he was really angry, and he raced on harder than ever. But at each milepost he bawled out the same thing, and at each he heard the same answer. And Donkey got so sad in his mind that he just gave up after a while, sad because he knew he had lost that race.
So through Toad’s smartness, Donkey can never be a racer again.
Jack Mandora me no choose one.
—Jamaica
64
CRAWLING INTO THE ELEPHANT’S BELLY
One time, all the animals were looking around for food, but there was none to be had. Anansi and his family were starving too, and he didn’t know what he could do about it. One day, he saw this old elephant come out of the king’s park and he got an idea. That night, he climbed the wall to the palace where all the elephants were kept. H
e crept up to one of them while it was asleep and went in there behind his tail and crawled way up into his belly. And when he got there he just chopped off a little piece of meat, and he sneaked back out and carried the meat home.
Anansi went back night after night, crawling into the belly of one of the elephants, and each morning, just before daybreak, he sneaked back home.
Now, Anansi’s friend Yawarri the Anteater saw that Anansi was getting fat and here he was as hungry as ever. He tried to get Anansi to tell him where he was getting his food every morning; but Anansi put him off the scent by telling him one lie after another.
Yawarri was so hungry that he got sick too. He told his friend Monkey about how he felt and how hard it was to watch Anansi growing fat while he and his family were starving. When Monkey heard all this, he told Yawarri to keep a watch near Anansi’s house at night, and to follow him to see where he was going to get his food. Yawarri took this advice. He watched Anansi’s house, and when Anansi came out he followed his footsteps until they got to the king’s palace. Anansi didn’t know Yawarri was there. He went to climb the wall of the king’s park; then Yawarri called out to him and told him that if he didn’t promise to take him in as a partner he would yell out that someone was sneaking into the king’s yard and stealing things.
So Anansi promised, and took Yawarri with him that night. Anansi told him how he did this every night. While the king’s elephants slept in the park, he went through the asshole and into the stomach of one of them, cut off a small piece of meat, and came back out without waking the elephants. And he made sure that he never tried this trick on the same elephant, so that none of them would ever know what he was doing.
African American Folktales Page 22
