The Annotated African American Folktales

by Henry Louis Gates

Pick me up, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo picked him up.

  Then he sang:—

  “Carry me home, Sambo,

  Carry me home, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo carried him to the house.

  Then he sang:—

  “Clean and cook me, Sambo,

  Clean and cook me, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo cleaned him and put him on to cook,

  supposing that after he was in the pot he would stop singing commands to him, but he had no such good luck as that, for as soon as Sambo’s fish was sufficiently cooked he piped up from the pot in his old musical voice,

  “Now take me off, Sambo,

  Take me off, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo took him off.

  Then he sang:—

  “Eat me up, Sambo,

  Eat me up, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo began to eat him up, as he was commanded,

  but one can not imagine Sambo as being very hungry under such circumstances, so Sambo ate a mouthful or two and then stopped, but his dinner sang:—

  “Eat me all, Sambo,

  Eat me all, Sambo,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  Sambo ate him all, as he was told.

  By this time the slaves from several plantations had gathered, and great consternation and excitement prevailed among the Negroes and white people alike. The old colored people sang and shouted, and many of them said, “I knowed it would come, I knowed it would; case de Bible said so.”

  In the meantime, Sambo had swollen to enormous proportions, and he continued to swell till he burst open and the animal came out whole and alive, as he was when caught. He went back to the river singing:—

  “Don’t fish on Sunday,

  Don’t fish on Sunday,

  Domie ninky head, Sambo.”

  In a few minutes after the animal came out, Sambo died.

  2. Our second version comes from Danville, Va.

  Simon went fishing on Sunday and pulled out a big black animal as large as a pig. It frightened him so, that he dropped his hook and ran. The animal fell back into the water, saying, “Come pull me out, Simon, come pull me out, out Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  Simon went back and pulled him out. “Now carry me home, Simon. Now carry me home Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  “Now kill me Simon, now kill me Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  “Now wash me, Simon, now wash me, Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  “Now salt me, Simon, now salt me Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  “Now put me on, Simon, now put me on, Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  “I am done enough, Simon, I am done enough, Simon, for Mollie’s got to go home, ho! hey! Mollie’s got to go home ho! hey!”

  TWO GHOST STORIES

  Southern Workman 26 (1897), 122–23

  Both stories were told by informants who had grown up in Virginia, and the ending to each tale suggests a possible link with stories about flying Africans.

  The two stories that we give this month are rather unusual in their denouement and seem to be worth the preserving. Both come from the same section of Virginia.

  1. There were two slaves who used to pass an old barn at night when they went to visit their wives on a neighboring plantation. The barn seemed to be unused, except that whenever they passed it they saw a young heifer standing outside of it. This heifer, which was apparently a yearling, did not seem to grow any larger as the weeks went by, but it was nice and fat. At last Gibbie, one of the men, made up his mind that if the yearling was not taken by the time they passed the barn again, they would kill her and take the meat home. The next time they went by, there stood the heifer, and Gibbie went up to her and took her by the horns, calling to his chum to help him. The heifer pulled and twisted, so Gibbie jumped up on her back and tried to hold her. Yearling got jumping and jumped up off the ground. “Hold her, Gibbie,” shouted his chum. “I got her,” answered Gibbie, and held on. The heifer went on up until she got as high as the roof of the barn. “Hold her, Gibbie,” called out the man below. “I got her,” answered Gibbie. The heifer kept on going up until she was nearly out of sight. “Hold her, Gibbie,” shouted the other man, as Gibbie sailed off into the clouds. “I got her, she got me, one,” called Gibbie, as he disappeared entirely from view. That was the last that was ever seen or heard of Gibbie or the heifer.

  2. Before railroads were built in Virginia, goods were carried from one inland town to another on wagons. There were a great many men who did this kind of work from one end of the year to the other. One of them, “Uncle Jeter,” tells the following story.

  A number of wagons were traveling together one afternoon in December. It was extremely cold and about the middle of the afternoon began to snow. They soon came to an abandoned settlement by the roadside, and decided it would be a good place to camp out of the storm, as there were stalls for their horses and an old dwelling house in which they, themselves, could stay. When they had nearly finished unhooking their horses a man came along and said that he was the owner of the place and that the men were welcome to stay there as long as they wanted to, but that the house was haunted, and not a single person had staid in it alive for twenty-five years. On hearing this the men immediately moved their camp to a body of woods about one-half mile further up the road. One of them whose name was Tabb, and who was braver than the rest, said that he was not afraid of haunts, and that he did not mean to take himself and horses into the woods to perish in the snow, but that he’d stay where he was.

  So Tabb staid in the house. He built a big fire, cooked and ate his supper, and rested well through the night without being disturbed. About day-break he awoke and said, “What fools those other fellows are to have staid in the woods when they might have staid in here, and have been as warm as I am.” Just as he had finished speaking he looked up to the ceiling, and there was a large man dressed in white clothes just stretched out under the ceiling and sticking up to it. Before he could get from under the man, the man fell right down upon him, and then commenced a great tussel between Tabb and the man. They made so much noise that the men in the woods heard it and ran to see what was going on. When they looked in at the window and saw the struggle, first Tabb was on top and then the other man. One of them cried, “Hold him, Tabb, hold him!” “You can bet your soul I got him,” said Tabb. Soon the man got Tabb out of the window. “Hold him Tabb, hold him,” one of the men shouted. “You can bet your life I got him,” came from Tabb. Soon the man got Tabb upon the roof of the house. “Hold him, Tabb, hold him,” said one of the men. “You can bet your boots I got him,” answered Tabb. Finally the man got Tabb up off the roof into the air. “Hold him, Tabb, hold him,” shouted one of the men. “I got him and he got me, too,” said Tabb. The man, which was a ghost, carried Tabb straight up into the air until they were both out of sight. Nothing was ever seen of him again.

  HAUNTED HOUSE, BURIED TREASURE, THE SIX WITCHES

  Journal of American Folklore 35 (1922), 289, 290–91, 286–87

  For a special issue of the Journal of American Folklore, Elsie Clews Parsons and Alice Bacon included tales like the ones below about haunted houses, buried treasure, and witchcraft. In the last of the trio of tales, the theme of levitation is sounded once again, with witches who sing a siren song.

  HAUNTED HOUSE

  There was a traveling preacher who was looking for a place to stay just for one night. He went to a very rich family and ask them, if they had room, would they let him stay until morning. They told him that they did not have a room
there, but there was an old house that sat over there in the field, it was very haunty, and “If you can stay, you are welcome to it, for several men have been there, but did not come out again.” The preacher went over there to the old house, opened the door, and went upstairs, made himself a good fire in the fireplace, and sat there reading his Bible until twelve o’clock. He heard the dishes and pans rattling, and the chairs moving about, and some one scuffling around the floor. He said to himself, “I did not know that there were another family in here.” He did not pay any attention to that, he went on reading his Bible. After a while he heard some one come scuffling up the stairs. They said to him, “Mr. White said come down and have supper.”—“Tell him that I am not at all hungry, I have just been to supper.” The second time he sent a cat. It scratched on the door and said, “Mr. White says please come down and have supper.”—“Tell him that I do not care for anything. I have just been to supper.” The third time he said, “Mr. White says, if you don’t come down, you wish you had.” The preacher began to feel frighten’, and said, “I will be down there in a minute.” The preacher went down there to supper. There was a table all set with pretty dishes and plenty to eat. All the chairs around the table were filled with people except one, and that was for the preacher. When he sat down, they ask him if he would bless the table. He said, “Yes, I will.” This is the blessing that he said: “Good Lord, make us thankful for what we are about to receive, for Christ sake. Amen.” When he raised his head up, everybody was gone, and he was left there in the dark. He had to feel his way back up to his room. This was the only man ever lived there that did not get killed or ran away before morning. The next morning the preacher left the house, and thanked the people for letting him stay there.

  Written by ELSIE JOHNSON.

  HAUNTED HOUSE

  Once upon a time was a family of people who were different from all the people around them. They had very nice stock around them, a large orchard, all kinds of poultry, and a beautiful flower-yard. When one of the family died, they that remained buried the one that was dead. When all of them died but one, he became very lonely and died very soon. There was not any one to bury him, so he lay on his bed and decayed. After his death the house was said to be haunted, and no one could go inside of it. The next year after the last one of this family died, the fruit-trees bore a tremendous quantity of fruit but no one came to get it.

  When people rode along the road which was near the house, they were often tempted to take some of the fruit that hung over the road; but when they put their hands to get the fruit, some one would speak to them and frighten them, so that they would forget the fruit. One day an old man who was a thief came by the house, and saw all the fruit and the poultry, and a large number of eggs lying under the flowers. He asked the people around why they did not get some of those things that were wasting there. The people answered by telling him if he could get any of them, he might have them. “Very well,” replied the old man, “I will have some of those things before I sleep tonight.” So he laid his coat that had his arms down just a little ways from the house, and stopped there until night came. As soon as it was a little dark, the man arose and went inside of the orchard, and tied eight hens which were up a large apple-tree to roost. When he had tied the eight, he discovered a light somewhere, he did not know where. He looked down on the ground, and there were two large dogs with lamps on their heads, which were giving him a good light. When he saw this, he became so frightened that he turned the hens loose and fell backwards out of the tree. The dogs jumped after him just as soon as he got to the ground. The man jumped up and began to run as fast as he could, with the dogs right behind him. His home was about four miles, and he ran every step of it. When he got to his house, he fell in the door speechless, and lay speechless for a long time. When he came to his senses, he told his wife and family about what had happened to him. After that there was not a man in the community that was any more honest than he was. He had been a rogue all of his life up to this time. After this happened he always worked for what he got.

  Informant, DUNCAN. Recorded by A. M. BACON.

  BURIED TREASURE

  It is said once a very rich man died, and his store was haunted; and his brother wanted some one to stay there at night, but everybody was afraid. Then he said that he would give fifty dollars to any man to stay there one night. A doctor said that he would stay there that night; and he went in and closed the door, and took his newspaper to read. Now everybody was quiet, and he was reading away, he heard something walking on the doorsteps. Then he raised up his head, and the door flew open and in came a cow with no head; and he jumped up and ran out the other door. When the owner of the store heard this, he said, “I will give five hundred dollars to any one that will stay here the next night.” Then a preacher said, “I will stay”; and the preacher went in and closed the door, and took his Bible to read. He said to himself, “I will go upstairs,” and away he went. When all the town was still, he heard something coming in; he read on, then he heard it coming upstairs; read on, it came to him; then he looked up and saw four men without a head, with a coffin. Brought it to him, sat it down, and started toward him. The preacher left, and told the news; and when the owner heard this, he said, “I will give five thousand dollars to any one that will stay here one night.” Then a poor man said, “I will stay.” He went in and closed the door, and in a few minutes he heard something coming in at the door. He was very much afraid; but he said, “I will not run, but I will ask it what it wants here.” At this moment the door flew open, and in came a man without head and arms. The poor man said, “What do you want here?” Then he said, “That is what I have been coming here for, for some one to ask me that. Sir, my money is down the hill; and if you come with me, I will show it to you, and you may have two thousand dollars of it, and I want you to divide the rest with my brothers.” And he did so.

  Informant, JONAS MCPHERSON. Recorded by A. M. BACON.

  THE SIX WITCHES

  Once upon a time there was a house which was scarcely noticed, that stood just outside of a very famous little village. In this house lived an old lady and her five daughters. The house looked terribly bad outside; but if any one had gone inside of it, they would have found it very different from the outside. The old lady and her five daughters were witches, and it is said that they got all they wanted from the village stores. One afternoon two travelers happened by this house just about sunset, and asked if they might stay all night. The old lady told them they could if they would be satisfied with the place she would give them, as she was not a rich person. The men told her it was all right, just so they were not out of doors. She asked them to come and sit down, she would have them something to eat in a few minutes. So she did. And the two men ate, and then went to bed very soon, for they were very tired from walking so hard. One of them went to sleep very soon after he got into bed; but the other one would not go to sleep, because he thought the old lady and her daughters were up to something. Just as soon as the old lady and her family thought the men were asleep, they reached up the chimney and (each) got an old greasy horn, and put it to their mouths, then said a few words, and was gone. The man that was not asleep grew very much frightened for a while, but soon got over it. As soon as he got over his fright, he got up and put on his clothes, and looked for the horns that the old lady and the five daughters used. He succeeded in finding the horns1 up the chimney. And as soon as he got them, he put one of them in his mouth and said a few words,2 and out he went. When he stopped, he was in a man’s store in the village, where he found, to his surprise, the old lady and her daughters. He did not know how he got in the store; so he went up to the old lady and began to talk with her, but she gave him no answer. The old lady looked at her daughters, and said a few words which the man could not understand; and out they went, and left the man alone in the store. The man said as near as he could the same things that the old lady said, but could not get out. He would rise up as far as the ceiling of the store and strike his head,
but could not get out. When day came, the poor man was so afraid, that he did not know what to do. The clerk of the store came down very soon, and unlocked the door. “I have been missing things out of my store for a long time,” replied the clerk, thinking that the man had hidden himself in the store before he closed it the night before. “Oh, no!” replied the man. “If you will allow me a chance, I will tell you just how I happened to be here.” So he told the clerk all about it, and also took the clerk to the old lady’s house, where his partner was. When the clerk entered the old lady’s house, he saw several things that he knew he had in his store and had missed them. So he went back to the village, and sent the sheriff after the old lady and her daughters, and let the man go free. When the old lady and her daughters were brought to trial, they were guarded; and when they got ready to pass the sentence on them, they began to sing a little song, which every one wanted to hear. They sang for about fifteen minutes; and as they sang, they began to move directly upwards until they got so far up in the air that a person could hardly see them, and then disappeared. Those that were guards began to quarrel with each other because one did not shoot and the other did not shoot. So they got mad, and began shooting each other.

  Written in 1903 by W. S. BURRELL. Recorded by A. M. BACON.

  Click here to advance to the next section of the text.

  1.Variant: Gourd.

  2.Variant: “Flute, I’m gone.” The other witches respond, “I’m after you.”

  THE WITCH CATS

  Southern Workman 24 (1895), 49–50

  THE WITCH CATS

  There was an old grist mill, used by witches for a meeting place. Some thought it was haunted; no one could spend the night there; one after another tried but disappeared before morning. Finally an old preacher offered to try, a slave of the owner of the mill, who promised the man his freedom if he succeeded. He took his Bible and a sword and went to the mill early in the evening. He built a fire on the hearth, placed a lighted candle on the table and sat down to read his Bible. At twelve o’clock a spotted cat came in through the cat hole and lay down by the fire. It was a rainy night, and the water from the cat’s body, as it lay before the fire came near putting the fire out, but the old preacher built it up again before it was quite extinguished. After the cat had departed quite dried before the blaze, immediately a second cat appeared, a yellow one even wetter than the first, and lay down and dried itself, but this time the fire grew very low indeed before the cat departed. Again the old man replenished it, and again it was nearly extinguished by a third cat that came and went like its predecessors. A fourth and fifth followed, no two alike among the strange visitors; finally a sixth entered, a coal black animal with water running from its fur in such streams as to put out the fire completely, leaving the poor old man too frightened to rekindle it and not knowing what might happen next. A few minutes passed and then a snow white cat entered, and walking to the hearth, looked at the dead fire and then at the terrified preacher. Then she leaped lightly on the table and lifted one paw toward the candle, when suddenly the old man raised his sword and with one blow struck off the paw. The cat jumped down and ran whimpering away. The rest of the night passed quietly enough but just after sunrise the old man, glancing at the table was horrified to see that the paw of the white cat was gone and in its place was a human finger with a gold ring on it. Presently the master appeared, to find out what had happened to the old slave, and when the preacher told the tale of the night’s adventure and at its close showed him the finger with the ring, the master recognized the finger, but told the old man, to say nothing about the matter, and took the finger home. He found his wife sick in bed, and this strengthened his suspicions, which soon became certainty when he saw that one of her fingers was missing. After that the mill was no longer haunted, for with the discovery the nightly gathering of the witch cats had been broken up.