African American Folktales

by Roger Abrahams

  When Anansi and Yawarri had gone ino the yard a little way, they came up to two elephants, and each went into the bowels of one of them. Anansi, after cutting his usual little piece of meat, came out of his elephant. But Yawarri was a selfish kind of animal, anyhow, and he had been hungry for such a long time that he stayed in there eating a long time. Anansi waited a long time for him, and finally yelled out: “Bru Yawarri! Bru Yawarri! Come out, or the day will soon be here!” Yawarri put his head out, and told Anansi: “Oh, Bru! What fat meat there is in here! I can’t come out yet. You go on and send back my wife and children to help me take home what I cut.” So Yawarri stayed in there, eating and eating until he was full—and just then the elephant dropped over dead because Yawarri had eaten so much of his belly.

  Now, the king was vexed, seeing that one of his best elephants was dead. So he ordered the belly split open to see why he had died. The elephant keepers came back and told the king that when they cut inside the elephant’s belly they heard this strange noise. The king sent them back to find out what was making this noise, and there they found Yawarri, still cutting off pieces of meat and eating them.

  Now the king was really angry. He told his men to kill Yawarri and to keep a better watch from now on. Now, Anansi had carried the message to Yawarri’s wife and children, and they got excited, since they were very hungry too. When they climbed over the wall that night, the elephant keepers were there waiting and shot the whole family.

  So that’s what comes of being too greedy.

  —Guyana

  65

  A STRANGE WAY TO SLEEP

  Every evening when Compere Rabbit returned from his work he passed through a yard where there was a large turkey sleeping on a perch; and like other turkeys, he had his head under his wing when he slept. Every evening Compere Rabbit stopped to look at Turkey, and he asked himself what he had done with his head.

  Finally, one evening, he was so curious that he couldn’t help himself. He stopped underneath the perch and said, “Good evening, Mr. Turkey.” “Good evening,” said Turkey, without raising its head. “Pardon me for asking, but do you have a head, Mr. Turkey?” “Of course I have a head,” Turkey said. Compere Rabbit asked, “Then where is it?” “My head is here,” the turkey answered, still speaking from under his wing.

  Compere Rabbit looked and looked, but he still couldn’t see Mr. Turkey’s head. As he saw that Turkey didn’t want to talk to him or show him where his head was, he went to his house and said to his wife: “Do you know that when they go to sleep that turkeys take off their heads? They can sleep better that way. Well, I think I’m going to do the same thing, because it is less trouble to sleep without a head. You don’t really need a head when you sleep that way, if you want to speak, because Turkey spoke to me just as easy as can be.”

  Before his wife had time to tell him anything, he took an ax and cut off his head. His wife tried to stick it back on again, but try as she might, she couldn’t get it to stay on.

  —Louisiana

  66

  GOOBERS GONE, RABBIT GONE

  Brer Rabbit saw Brer Bear one day setting out with his donkey and dump cart to dig up some goober nuts, those peanuts that taste so good. Brer Rabbit said to himself, me and Missus Rabbit and all those little rabbits sure are hungry for goobers. So he went home and found a red kerchief and he tied it around his neck and he ran and lay down in the road where Brer Bear would be coming by with the cart, carrying his sack filled up with those goobers.

  Bye and bye, Brer Bear came along and the donkey shied, almost upsetting the cart. Brer Bear got out and said, “Well, if it isn’t Brer Rabbit as dead as a doornail with his throat cut. Now that will make good rabbit stew for me and Missus Bear.” So he picked up Brer Rabbit and threw him into the cart and went on. As soon as his back was turned, Brer Rabbit threw out the bag of goobers and he jumped out himself and ran on home. On the way he met Brer Fox, and Brer Fox said: “Where did you get that bag of goobers?” And Brer Rabbit told him.

  As soon as Brer Bear come in sight of his house, way behind those dark pines, he hollered out to his old woman: “Hello there. Come here, Missus Bear. Goobers here; rabbits there!” Missus Bear, she ran out of the cabin, she was that hungry herself. She ran around the dump cart and looked in. There was just a few goobers rattling around in the bottom of the cart.

  She said, “Goobers gone, rabbit gone, bag gone!” Brer Bear turned around and looked. He scratched his head and said: “That rabbit has left me without anything.”

  Next day, he hitched up the donkey to the dump cart and started to the patch to haul more goobers home. His old wife told him: “Watch out now, don’t drop anything on the big road with this load.” This time, Brer Fox figured he’d just use Brer Rabbit’s trick and get his winter’s provisions by speculating with Brer Bear’s load, labor, and land.

  Brer Fox got a red string for himself this time. He tied it around his neck. He went to the big road, to the same place where Brer Rabbit had been lying down yesterday. Brer Fox, he lay down right in the same place. He kept as still. Right away, here came Brer Bear with another great heaping load of goobers.

  The donkey shied again at the same place. Brer Bear got off the cart, looked at Brer Fox, and said: “What’s happening here? Maybe that same thief that stole my goobers yesterday is back again. You got the same red kerchief around your throat. Maybe you are dead, too.” He felt Brer Fox, and he said: “You’re heavy, too; I’ll take you to my old wife and have her make good stew of you.”

  With that, Brer Fox thought he was going to get a good chance to get his fill of those goobers.

  Brer Bear lifted Brer Fox by his hind legs, and said:

  Maybe you are dead, or maybe no,

  But I will make you dead fer sho’!

  And with that he swung Brer Fox around and around and banged his head against the wheel of the cart.

  That just about killed Brer Fox. It was all he could do to jerk his hind legs loose from Brer Bear and run home through the dark pines. He had a banged-up head for a long time from that lick. You know, the same cunning trick just isn’t apt to work twice.

  —Alabama

  67

  ASSAULTING ALL THE SENSES

  One day, one of the animals brought back a coconut, but Anansi came and stole it. While he was carrying it away, a tiger saw him and asked: “What are you eating?” Anansi said to Tiger he was eating a piece of his stones (testicles). Then Tiger said to him, “What, Anansi? How does it happen that your stones are so sweet?” He said, “Well, Daddy Tiger, how sweet yours must be that are so much bigger and fatter than mine.” So Tiger asked him how he could break his stones off so that he could taste them. “Daddy, come to the corner, for a blacksmith is there and surely, with his hammer and anvil, he’ll be able to break your stones.” So they went there, and Anansi told Tiger to lay down. Just as he lay down, Anansi struck him with a hammer and broke his stones. Tiger died instantly. So he cut him to pieces, cooked him, and ate him up.

  The next day, he met up with Tiger’s brother. Now Anansi was drinking a gourd full of honey, and Tiger, smelling something good, and seeing Anansi drinking with such a happy look on his face, said, “Well, what are you drinking there?” Anansi said, “I am drinking a young monkey’s piss.” The tiger said, “Well, let me have a taste since you are smacking your lips so.” Then the tiger said, “I never knew that monkey piss was so sweet! How can I get some more?” Anansi said to him to go down to the creek and he will see lots of monkeys there, and he should have no trouble catching one.

  So Tiger did as Anansi suggested and caught a little one, who was very scared for his life. Tiger said, “Don’t worry, little one, I’m not going to kill you, but you must piss for me.” The monkey was amazed but he went ahead and pissed right on Tiger’s hand; but when Tiger tasted it, it didn’t seem as sweet as what Anansi had given him. So he said, “Boy, piss some more; if not, I’m going to kill you!” The monkey urinated until blood came out, but it never came out swee
t.

  Now Anansi came along and asked, “Tiger, didn’t the monkey piss for you yet?” Tiger said, “Well, it didn’t taste as sweet as what you were drinking yesterday.” Anansi said, “Well, maybe you didn’t tell him what you wanted in the right way. I’ll talk to him.” So Anansi said to the monkey, “You must run, and I will duck, as soon as you can.” Tiger said, “What are you telling him?” “I am telling him how to make the right piss for you. But the problem is, you are holding him too tight. Let him a little looser.” Well, as Tiger loosened his grip, the monkey ran, and Anansi ducked right under the water.

  —Surinam

  68

  BRER RABBIT’S RIDDLE

  Now, everyone knew that Brer Rabbit was quite a musician, because he was always singing or patting or doing some other kind of dance to get himself out of trouble. In fact, there wasn’t any tune that Brer Rabbit couldn’t pat. And when there is someone else there to do the patting, Brer Rabbit can jump into the middle of the floor and just naturally shake the eyelids off of all the others. And it wasn’t none of this bowing and scraping and slipping and sliding we’re talking about, with four hands around the way folks do these days. It was this up-and-down kind of dancing where they leap up in the air to cut the pigeon-wing.

  The time came when old Brer Rabbit began to put this and that together and the notion struck him that he better be home looking after the interests of his family, instead of frolicking all around the settlement. He thought about this in his mind until, bye and bye, he got determined to earn his own livelihood. So he up and cleared off a piece of ground and planted himself a potato patch.

  Brer Fox, he saw all this going on, and he suspected to himself that Brer Rabbit’s rashness had been subdued because he was scared. Brer Fox made up his mind that he was going to pay Brer Rabbit back for all his selfishness. He started in, and from that time forward he aggravated Brer Rabbit about his potato patch. One night he left the draw bars down, another night he flung off the top rails of the fence, and the next night he tore down a whole panel of fence, and he kept on this way until Brer Rabbit didn’t know what to do.

  All this time, Brer Fox kept on fooling with the potato patch, and when he saw that Brer Rabbit wasn’t getting upset, Brer Fox thought that he had scared him and that the time had come to gobble him up without leave or license.

  So he called Brer Rabbit, and he asked him if he would take a walk. Brer Rabbit, he asked where they were going. Brer Fox said, right out yonder. Brer Rabbit, he asked where is right out yonder? Brer Fox said he knew where there were some mighty fine peaches and he wanted Brer Rabbit to go along and climb the tree and fling them down. Brer Rabbit said he wouldn’t mind especially if it was what Brer Fox wanted.

  They set out, and after a while they came to the peach orchard, and Brer Rabbit picked out a good tree, and up he climbed. Brer Fox, he sat at the root of the tree, because he thought that when Brer Rabbit came down he had to come down backward and then that would be the time to nab him. But Brer Rabbit saw what Brer Fox was doing before he climbed up. When he picked the peaches, Brer Fox said, “Fling them down here, Brer Rabbit—fling them right down here so I can catch them.” Brer Rabbit hollered back, “If I fling them down there where you are, Brer Fox, and you miss them, they’ll get squashed, so I’ll just sort of pitch them out yonder in the grass where they won’t get busted.”

  Then he took and flung the peaches out in the grass, and while Brer Fox went after them, Brer Rabbit, he climbed down out of the tree, and hustled himself until he got some elbow room. When he got off a little ways he hollered back to Brer Fox that he’d got a riddle he wanted him to solve. Brer Fox, he asked what is that. Brer Rabbit, he gave it out to Brer Fox like a man saying a speech:

  The big bird rob and the little bird sing,

  The big bee zoom and the little bee sting,

  The little man lead and the big horse follows,

  Can you tell what’s good for a head in a hollow?

  Old Brer Fox scratched his head and thought and thought and scratched his head, but the more he thought, the worse he got mixed up with the riddle, and after a while he told Brer Rabbit that he dunno how in the name of goodness to unriddle that riddle.

  “Come and go along with me,” said old Brer Rabbit, “and I promise you I’ll show you how to solve that riddle. It’s one of those kinds of riddles,” said old man Rabbit, “which before you understand it, you have to eat a bit of honey. And I have my eye on a place where we can get some honey!” Brer Fox asked where it was, and Brer Rabbit said there in old Brer Bear’s cotton patch, he had bumped into a whole lot of beehives. Brer Fox doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but he wanted to figure out that riddle.

  They set out, and it wasn’t long before they came to old Brer Bear’s beehives. Old Brer Rabbit, he gave them a rap with his walking cane, just like folks thump watermelons to see if they are ripe. He tapped and he rapped, and bye and bye, he came to one of them that sounded full. And then he went around behind it, and he said: “I’ll just sort of tilt it up, Brer Fox, and you can put your head under there and get some of the drippings.”

  Brer Rabbit tilted it up, and Brer Fox jammed his head underneath the hive. He no sooner stuck his head underneath that beehive than Brer Rabbit turned it loose, and down it came—kerswosh!—right on Brer Fox’s neck, and there he was. Brer Fox, he kicked; he squealed; he jumped; he squalled; he danced; he pranced; he begged; he prayed; yet there he was, and Brer Rabbit got away off, and turning around to look back, he saw Brer Fox just wiggling and squirming, and right then and there Brer Rabbit gave one old-time whoop and just started running home.

  When he got there, the first man he saw was Brer Fox’s granddaddy, who folks all call Grandsire Gray Fox. When Brer Rabbit saw him, he said, “How are you, Grandsire Gray Fox?” “I still am not too well, thanks, Brer Rabbit,” said Grandsire Gray Fox. “Have you seen any sign of my grandson this morning?”

  With that, Brer Rabbit laughed and said that he and Brer Fox had been a-rambling around with one another having more fun. “We’ve been rigging up riddles and asking them to each other,” Brer Rabbit said. “Brer Fox is sitting off somewhere in the bushes right now, trying to figure one out that I gave him. I’ll just tell it to you,” said Brer Rabbit, “and if you solve it, I’ll take you right to where your grandson is, and you can’t get there any too soon.” Then old Grandsire Gray Fox asked what it is, and Brer Rabbit, he sang out,

  The big bird rob and the little bird sing;

  The big bee zoom and the little bee sting,

  The little man lead and the big horse follows,

  Can you tell what’s good for a head in a hollow?

  Grandsire Gray Fox took a pinch of snuff and coughed easy to himself and thought and thought, but he couldn’t make it out. And Brer Rabbit laughed and sang:

  The beehive is mighty big to make a fox collar,

  Can you tell what’s good for a head in a hollow?

  After a long time, Grandsire Gray Fox sort of caught a glimpse of what Brer Rabbit was trying to tell him and told Brer Rabbit good day, and shuffled on to hunt up his grandson. And he did find him. Brer Bear heard the racket that Brer Fox was kicking up, and he went down to see what the matter was. As soon as he saw how the land lay, he took a notion that Brer Fox had been robbing the beehive. And he got a handful of chicory and he warmed his jacket and then he turned them loose. It wasn’t long before all the neighbors got word that Brer Fox had been robbing Brer Bear’s beehives.

  —Georgia

  69

  THE HORNED ANIMALS’ PARTY

  All the horned animals decided to have a party. No one but those with horns were invited to that party. Dog and Pussy heard about it and really wanted to go, so they got busy, killed a goat, and took his horns. Bro’ Dog was to use the horns for half the night, then he was supposed to come out and tie them on Bro’ Pussy. So Dog took the first turn, but after he was in the party he didn’t give a thought to Pussy anymore. You know how once you start sing
ing and dancing you don’t think of anything else. After the time passed when he was supposed to come out, he was nowhere around. Pussy got near to the door, you know, and started to holler, “Bro’ Dog, Bro’ Dog!” He went on so about four times. And Bro’ Dog gave no heed to him. After this, Bro’ Cattle, who was the boss of the party, he came to the door and said, and he was really angry, “Go away there, go away there! There is no Dog in here!” Well, Bro’ Pussy got a little angry himself. He came back, this time shouting: “Bro’ Dog, Bro’ Dog, Bro’ Dog!” Then Bro’ Dog, he came out himself and hushed Bro’ Pussy—or tried to anyhow. He said, “Don’t bother that fellow in there now. No Bro’ Dog is in here.” Now, Bro’ Pussy was so mad he really kept up the calling. Finally, Bro’ Cattle said, “Maybe Bro’ Dog is in here. Let’s just see.” And they started to search. Bro’ Dog himself started, saying, “Let me see whether Bro’ Dog is at this party! Let me see if Bro’ Dog is in here!” After searching, they discovered Bro’ Dog, and they tore off his horns and started to beat him. And he started hollering, and ran out.

  When he ran out, you know, he met Pussy. They had an argument, which soon came to a fight. As Bro’ Pussy found that he was getting the worst of it, so he scratched Bro’ Dog on the corner of his lip.

  And if you notice a dog’s lip, in the corner it always looks raw. That’s why. And that is why a dog and a cat can never agree.

  —Antigua

  70

  ANANSI PLAYS DEAD