The Annotated African American Folktales
Page 61
SOURCE: Adapted from Gilberto Freyre, The Masters and the Slaves, in A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore, ed. Harold Courlander, 246–48.
Marriages between mortals and mermaids, selkies, nymphs, birds, and water sprites are often the subject of folktales, and those unions rarely end well. Either the avian or amphibious creature longs for a return to the natural habitat (sometimes coming across by chance the skin or feathers they shed to take on human form) or they are devastated by the abusive behavior of a spouse and leave. This Afro-Brazilian tale uses the folktale about marriage to a mythical being as a cautionary tale about spousal abuse.
THE GIRL MADE OF BUTTER
Once was a time, a very good time,
Monkey chew tobacco and spit white lime.
There was a woman. She had a daughter who was made entirely of butter. Tom and William used to come courting her, and they didn’t know this about her. So the woman never let those boys near her daughter, lest she melt with the heat. But, one day, she got so busy cooking for these two boys, the woman forgot to keep watch, and the boys saw their chance. They came and sat down next to the girl. The girl started singing while the woman was in the kitchen cooking, trying to remind her.
Momma, come wash my skin,
Momma, come wash my skin!
Move off, Tom! move off, William!
Till my momma has washed my skin.
The girl started melting because her mother wasn’t there to wash her skin with cool water. She melted from her head down to her shoulders.
Momma, come wash my skin,
Momma, come wash my skin!
Move off, Tom! move off, William!
Till my momma has washed my skin.
She started melting more. She melted from her shoulder down to her waist. She started singing again:
Momma, come wash my skin,
Momma, come wash my skin!
Move off, Tom! move off, William!
Till my momma has washed my skin.
She melted from her waist down to her knees. All that time the woman was in the kitchen cooking, while her daughter was melting. The girl starting singing again:
Momma, come wash my skin,
Momma, come wash my skin!
Move off, Tom! move off, William!
Till my momma has washed my skin.
She melted from her knees down to her feet. When the woman did remember, she cried out, “Oh, my butter daughter! Oh, my butter baby!” She had forgotten all about her daughter. When she did go back in the house, she only found a pile of melted butter but no one else. Tom and William were gone.
The bow bended, my story ended.
SOURCE: Roger Abrahams, Afro-American Folktales, 167–69, adapted from Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Tales of Andros Island, Bahamas, 125–26.
Loss is the major theme sounded in this story that gives us the strange case of a melting girl. As suitors, Tom and William are bent on luring the girl from her oddly neglectful mother, but neither one is successful in the courtship. The tale begins with a traditional rhyme that marks a story as a fairy tale and ends with a line that aims to give closure to a tale so enigmatic that it is guaranteed to generate conversation.
TIGER SOFTENS HIS VOICE
Once upon a time a woman had one daughter, an’ that daughter was the prettiest girl in an’ around that country. Every man want the girl to marry, but the mother refuse them as they come. Tiger, too, wanted the girl, an’ demands the girl, an’ the mother says no. Tiger said if he don’t get the girl he will kill her. So they remove from that part of the country and go to another part, into a thick wild wood where no one live. And she made a house with a hundred doors and a hundred windows1 and a large staircase; and the house is an upstairs, an’ there both of them live.
Tiger hear of it, always loafing aroun’ the house to see if he can catch the girl, but the girl never come out. During the day, the mother went to her work, leaving the girl at home. When going out, the mother fasten all the doors an’ windows; coming home in the evening, at a certain spot where she can see the house an’ notice that all the windows an’ doors are close as she leave it, then now she have a song to sing, go like this:
“Tom Jones, Tom Jones, Tom Jones!2”
(that’s the name of the girl). Girl now—
“Deh lo, madame!”
Woman said to her now,
“Fare you well, fare you well, fare you well,
Fare you well, me dear; fare you well, me love!
A no Tiger, deh la, ho, deh la, ho?
Me jus’ come, ho!”
Then the door open, so—
“Cheeky checky knock umbar,
Cheeky checky knock umbar,
Cheeky checky knock umbar.”
The door don’t open without that song now, and when it open, the mamma go into the house.
At that time, Tiger in the bush listening to the song. So one day while she was away, hear time for her to come home, Tiger approach the spot where she always sing. He now in a very coarse voice sings the song:
“Tom Jones, Tom Jones, Tom Jones!”
The girl look from the window, said, “Tiger, a who no know sa’ a you!” So now Tiger go ’way an’ hide till mamma come. When she come, he listen good. Next day, Tiger go to a blacksmith an’ ask de blacksmith what he t’ink can give him, Tiger, a clear v’ice. De blacksmit’ say he must hot a long iron an’ when it hot, mus’ take it push down his t’roat. An’ de blacksmit’ give him a bit of meat to eat after he burn the throat an’ that will give him a clear v’ice. So Tiger go away eat de meat first an’ den burn de t’roat after. Nex’ day he went to the spot where the woman always sing from. An’ that make his v’ice more coarser. He sing now:
“Tom Jones, Tom Jones, Tom Jones!”
The girl look thru the window an’ say, “Cho! a who no know sa’ a you!” So Tiger got vex’ now, an’ he went home, burn the throat first and afterward eat the meat, and that give him a clearer v’ice than the woman. The nex’ day, when most time for the woman to come home from her work, Tiger went to the spot where he can see the house. He begin to sing:
“Tom Jones, Tom Jones, Tom Jones!”
The girl answer (tho’t it was her mother now)—
“Deh la, madame!”
Then Tiger say,
“Fare you well, fare you well, fare you well,
Fare you well, me dear; fare you well, me love!
A no Tiger deh lo o-o-o
Me jus’ come, h-o-o-o!”
The door commence to open now,—
“Cheeky checky checky knock umbar,
Cheeky cheeky checky knock umbar,
Cheeky checky cheeky knock umbar!”
And as the door open, Tiger step up an’ caught the girl an’ swallow her.
And when the mother coming home, reach to the spot and saw the doors and windows open, she throw down what she carry and run to the house. And she saw Tiger lay down. And the mother then went away an’ get some strong men come an’ tie Tiger, kill him, an’ open de belly3 an’ take out de daughter. At that time, little life left in her an’ they get back the life in her. The woman then leave the house an’ go off away far into another country, and that is why you always fin’ lot of old houses unoccupied that no one live in.
SOURCE: Martha Warren Beckwith, ed., Jamaica Anansi Stories, 117–18. Told by George Parkes of Mandeville.
Related to “Little Red Riding Hood” as well as “The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids,” this story about a mother, a daughter, and Tiger is ostensibly a pourquoi tale, explaining why some houses remain unoccupied. In fact, it is far richer than that, telling a story about masquerade, deception, predation, and liberation.
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1 a hundred doors and a hundred windows: Excess and exaggeration are the mark of a fairy-tale style, and the mother relocates to a house that is seemingly inaccessible.
2 Tom Jones: A touch of humor comes in the use of a man’s name to designate the “prett
y girl.”
3 open de belly: In the Grimms’ “Little Red Riding Hood,” a huntsman cuts open the belly of the wolf. And in their “Wolf and the Seven Kids,” it is the mother goat who cuts open the wolf’s belly and liberates six of the seven children—the seventh managed to hide from the wolf.
A BOARHOG FOR A HUSBAND
Scalambay, scalambay1
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
Once upon a time—it was a very good time—Massa King2 had an only daughter. And all the young fellows were constantly talking with each other about who was going to be able to marry her. They all came by to call on her, but none of them suited her. Each time one would come, her father would say “Now this is the one!” But she kept saying, “No, Daddy, this fellow here, I just don’t like him.” Or “No, Mommy, this one really doesn’t please me.” But the last one to come along was a handsome young fellow, and she fell in love with him right away. And of course, when she fell in love, it was deep and wide—she just lost her head altogether. What she didn’t know was that she’d actually chosen a boarhog who had changed himself into a human to go courting.
Now the Massa King had another child, a little Old Witch Boy3 who lived there and did all the nasty stuff around the palace. He was always dirty and smelly, you know, and no one liked to be around him, especially the King’s beautiful daughter. One day after work the young fellow came in to visit his bride, and the Old Witch Boy whispered, “Daddy, Daddy, did you know that the fellow my sister is going to marry is a boarhog?” “What? You better shut your mouth and get back under the bed where you belong.” (That’s where they made the Old Witch Boy stay, you see, because he was so dirty.)
Now when they got married, they moved way up on the mountain up where they plant all those good things to put in the pot, roots like dasheen, tania,4 and all those provisions that hogs like to eat, too. One day, Massa King came up there and showed him a big piece of land he wanted his daughter and her husband to have for farming. The husband really liked that because he could raise lots of tanias—which is what boarhogs like to eat most.
So one day he went up to work, early early in the morning. Now there was this little house up by the land where he could go and change his clothes before he went to work. He went into one side of the little house, and he started singing:
Scalambay, scalambay
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
And with each refrain he would take off one piece of clothing. And with every piece he took off he became more of a boarhog—first the head, then the feet, then the rest of the body.
Scalambay, scalambay
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
Well, about noon, when he thought the time was coming for lunch to arrive in the field, he went back into the house and put back on his clothes, took off the boarhog suit and put back on the ordinary suit he came in. And as he got dressed he sang the same little song to change himself back into a handsome man.
Scalambay, scalambay
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
After a while, the Old Witch Boy as usual came with the food, but this day he came early and saw what was going on, heard the singing, and saw the man changing. So he rushed home and told his father again, “Daddy, this fellow who married my sister up there really is a boarhog. It’s true!” Massa King said, “Boy, shut your mouth,” and his sister said, “Get back underneath the bed, you scamp you.”
The next day, the Old Witch Boy got up very early and went up the mountain and heard the song again:
Scalambay, scalambay
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
All right, he thought, and he went down again, and he told his father what he had seen and heard. He even sang the song. Now Massa King didn’t know what to think. But he knew he was missing a lot of tanias from his other fields, so he loaded up his gun and went to see what was going on up there in his fields. Mr. Boarhog was up there changing and didn’t know he was being watched, but he thought he heard something so he kind of stopped. The Old Witch Boy started to sing, and Mr. Boarhog couldn’t do anything but join in with him. And so there they both were, singing:
Scalambay, scalambay
Coops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalamby.
And the man slowly changed into a boarhog. When the King saw this he couldn’t believe his eyes. He took his gun and he let go, pow! And he killed Mr. Boarhog, and carried him down the mountain. The King’s beautiful daughter couldn’t believe what she saw and began to scream and cry, but Mass King told her what he had seen and what he had done, and then she had to believe it.
They cleaned Mr. Boarhog’s body and had him quartered.5
SOURCE: Roger Abrahams, The Man-of-Words in the West Indies, 171–72. From an informant in St. Vincent.
In tales about beauties and beasts, the plot turns on a redemptive transformation from animal to human. But in this story about a boarhog, the animal tricks the girl into marrying him by turning temporarily into an attractive man. What makes this tale unusual in addition is the role of the Old Witch Boy, who is consigned to the hearth to carry out all the dirty work, but who is wise beyond his years. Old Witch Boy has a deformed foot in some stories in which he appears, making him a grotesque male counterpart to the Cinderella figure.
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1 Scalambay, scalambay: The nonsense words have no particular relevance to the story, but they are encoded in the musical refrain to retard the action and also to animate the tale.
2 Massa King: Also known as Master King and Marster King in other stories, this patriarchal figure makes all the important decisions in the tale.
3 little Old Witch Boy: The brother is akin to the Cinderella figure, relegated to the hearth and forced to live in an abject state.
4 dasheen, tania: root vegetables grown in the Caribbean
5 had him quartered: The narrator comes in to report at the end: “And I was right there on the spot, and took one of the testicles and it gave me food for nearly a week!”
PART XV
SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE: FAIRY TALES
Fairy tales have more than a touch of magic and mystery. How do you explain a German story about a girl named Thousandfurs, who dresses up in pelts made from the coats of many different animals and takes up residence in a hollow tree? Why does a young man named Don Juan break ranks with his brothers and marry a monkey named Chonguita in a story told in the Philippines? What is that old woman doing in the Russian woods, living in a hut built on chicken legs surrounded by a fence with posts made from human skulls?
Churchill once spoke of “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” (he was referring to Russia), and that same phrase can be used to describe stories that are at their core deceptively simple and simply deceptive. We decode them not just while we are reading them, but also when we talk about them with others who have been shocked and startled by their content. Fairy tales, once told around the fire by adults to multigenerational audiences, were meant to start conversation and also to promote collective thinking about cultural values and hot-button social issues. They added to the store of communal wisdom in cultures where nothing was ever written down.
CINDERELLA
Po’ little Cinderella was livin’ with her auntie. De woman had two daughter of her own. An’ she live in de fire-heart’. 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’
, an’ havin’ not’in’ to eat. Ev’y time dey come home, dey huff up po’ little Cinderella. Say she an’t do what they leave her to do. De two girls d’ess up in 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 (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.
This hand-drawn map of the South Carolina Sea Islands was published in 1912 with the letters and diary of Laura M. Towne, a white teacher on St. Helena Island.
SOURCE: Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Lore of the Sea Islands, South Carolina, 120–21.
Told by James Murray and his wife, Pinky Murray, who were living on Hilton Head Island, this version of “Cinderella” is remarkably like the Grimms’ tale in its unedited form, complete with hacked off heels and toes.
MR. BLUEBEARD
There was a man named Mr. Bluebeard. He got his wife in his house, an’ he general catch people an’ lock up into a room, an’ he never let him wife see that room.