The Annotated African American Folktales

by Henry Louis Gates

  Maybe, now, we used-to-be black African folks can be of some help to our brothers and sisters who have always been white. You will take another look at us and say that we are still black and ethnologically speaking, you will be right. But nationally and culturally, we are as white as the next one.1 We have put our labor and our blood into the common cause for a long time. We have given the rest of the nation song and laughter. Maybe now, in this terrible struggle,2 we can give something else—the source and soul of our laughter and song. We offer you our hope-bringer, High John de Conquer.

  High John de Conquer came to be a man, and a mighty man at that. But he was not a natural man in the beginning. First off, he was a whisper, a will to hope, a wish to find something worthy of laughter and song. Then the whisper put on flesh. His footsteps sounded across the world in a low but musical rhythm as if the world he walked on was a singing-drum. The black folks had an irresistible impulse to laugh. High John de Conquer was a man in full, and had come to live and work on the plantations, and all the slave folks knew him in the flesh.3

  The sign of this man was a laugh, and his singing-symbol was a drum-beat. No parading drum4 shout like soldiers out for a show. It did not call to the feet of those who were fixed to hear it. It was an inside thing to live by. It was sure to be heard when and where the work was the hardest, and the lot the most cruel. It helped the slaves endure. They knew that something better was coming. So they laughed in the face of things and sang, “I’m so glad! Trouble don’t last always.” And the white people who heard them were struck dumb that they could laugh. In an outside way, this was Old Massa’s fun, so what was Old Cuffy5 laughing for?

  Old Massa couldn’t know, of course, but High John de Conquer was there walking his plantation like a natural man. He was trading the sweat-flavored clods of the plantation, crushing out his drum tunes, and giving out secret laughter. He walked on the winds and moved fast. Maybe he was in Texas when the lash fell on a slave in Alabama, but before the blood was dry on the back he was there. A faint pulsing of a drum like a goatskin stretched over a heart, that came nearer and closer, then somebody in the saddened quarters would feel like laughing, and say, “Now, High John de Conquer, Old Massa couldn’t get the best of him.6 That old John was a case!” Then everybody sat up and began to smile. Yes, yes, that was right. Old John, High John could beat the unbeatable. He was top-superior to the whole mess of sorrow. He could beat it all, and what made it so cool, finish it off with a laugh. So they pulled the covers up over their souls and kept them from all hurt, harm and danger and made them a laugh and a song.7 Night time was a joke, because daybreak was on the way. Distance and the impossible had no power over High John de Conquer.

  He had come from Africa. He came walking on the waves of sound. Then he took on flesh after he got here. The sea captains of ships knew that they brought slaves in their ships. They knew those black bodies huddled down there in the middle passage, being hauled across the waters to helplessness. High John de Conquer was walking the very winds that filled the sails of the ships. He followed over them like the albatross.

  It is no accident that High John de Conquer has evaded the ears of white people. They were not supposed to know. You can’t know what folks won’t tell you. If they, the white people, heard some scraps, they could not understand because they had nothing to hear things like that with. They were not looking for any hope in those days, and it was not much of a strain for them to find something to laugh over. Old John would have been out of place for them.

  Old Massa met our hope-bringer all right, but when old Massa met him, he was not going by his right name. He was traveling, and touristing around the plantations as the laugh-provoking Brer Rabbit.8 So Old Massa and Old Miss and their young ones laughed with and at Brer Rabbit and wished him well. And all the time, there was High John de Conquer laying his tricks of making a way out of no-way. Hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick. Winning the jackpot with no other stake but a laugh. Fighting a mighty battle without outside-showing force, and winning his war from within. Really winning in a permanent way, for he was winning with the soul of the black man whole and free. So he could use it afterwards. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? You would have nothing but a cruel, vengeful grasping monster come to power. High John de Conquer was a bottom-fish. He was deep. He had the wisdom tooth of the East in his head. Way over there, where the sun rises a day ahead of time, they say that Heaven arms with love and laughter those it does not wish to see destroyed. He who carries his heart in his sword must perish.9 So says the ultimate law. High John de Conquer knew a lot of things like that. He who wins from within is in the “Be” class. Be-here when the ruthless man comes, and be here when he is gone.

  Moreover, John knew that it is written where it cannot be erased, that nothing shall live on human flesh and prosper. Old Maker said that before He made any more sayings. Even a man-eating tiger and lion can teach a person that much. His flabby muscles and mangy hide can teach an emperor right from wrong. If the emperor would only listen.

  II

  There is no established picture of what sort of looking-man this John de Conquer was. To some, he was a big, physical-looking man like John Henry. To others, he was a little hammered-down, low-built man like the Devil’s doll-baby. Some said that they never heard what he looked like. Nobody told them, but he lived on the plantation where their old folks were slaves. He is not so well known to the present generation of colored people in the same way that he was in slavery time. Like King Arthur of England, he has served his people, and gone back into mystery again. And, like King Arthur, he is not dead. He waits to return when his people shall call again. Symbolic of English power, Arthur came out of the water, and with Excalibur, went back into the water again. High John de Conquer went back to Africa,10 but he left his power here and placed his American dwelling in the root of a certain plant. Only possess that root, and he can be summoned at any time.

  “Of course, High John de Conquer got plenty power!” Aunt Shady Anne Sutton bristled at me when I asked her about him. She took her pipe out of her mouth and stared at me out of her deeply wrinkled face. “I hope you ain’t one of these here smart colored folks that done got so they don’t believe nothing, and come here questionizing me so you can have something to poke fun at. Done get shamed of the things that brought us through. Make out ’taint no such thing no more.”

  When I assured her that that was not the case, she went on.

  “Sho John de Conquer means power. That’s bound to be so. He come to teach and tell us. God don’t leave nobody ignorant, you child. Don’t care where He drops you down. He puts you on a notice. He don’t want folks taken advantage of because they don’t know. Now, back there in slavery time, us didn’t have no power of protection, and God knowed it, and put us under watch-care. Rattlesnakes never bit no colored folks until four years after freedom was declared. That was to give us time to learn and to know. ’Course, I don’t know nothing about slavery personal like. I wasn’t born till two years after the Big Surrender.11 Then I wasn’t nothing but a infant baby when I was born, so I couldn’t know nothing but what they told me. My mamma told me, and I know she wouldn’t mislead me, how High John de Conquer helped us out. He had done teached the black folks so they knowed a hundred years ahead of time that freedom was coming. Long before the white folks knowed anything about it at all.

  “These young Negroes reads they books and talk about the war freeing the Negroes, but Aye, Lord! A heap sees, but a few knows. ’Course, the war was a lot of help, but how come the war took place? They think they knows, but they don’t. John de Conquer had done put it into the white folks to give us our freedom, that’s what. Old Massa fought against it, but us could have told him that it wasn’t no use. Freedom just had to come. The time set aside for it was there. That war was just a sign and symbol of the thing. That’s the truth! If I tell the truth about everything as good as I do about that, I can go straight to Heaven without a
prayer.”

  Aunt Shady Anne was giving the inside feeling and meaning to the outside laughs around John de Conquer. He romps, he clowns, and looks ridiculous, but if you will, you can read something deeper behind it all. He is loping on off from the Tar Baby with a laugh.

  Take, for instance, those words he had with Old Massa about stealing pigs.

  Old John was working in Old Massa’s house that time, serving around the eating table. Old Massa loved roasted young pigs, and had them often for dinner. Old John loved them too, but Massa never allowed the slaves to eat any at all. Even put aside the left-over and ate it next time. John de Conquer got tired of that. He took to stopping by the pig pen when he had a strong taste for pig-meat, and getting himself one, and taking it on down to his cabin and cooking it.

  Massa began to miss his pigs, and made up his mind to squat for who was taking them and give whoever it was a good hiding. So John kept on taking pigs, and one night Massa walked him down. He stood out there in the dark and saw John kill the pig and went on back to the “big house” and waited till he figured John had it dressed and cooking. Then he went on down to the quarters and knocked on John’s door.

  “Who dat?” John called out big and bold, because he never dreamed it was Massa rapping.

  “It’s me, John,” Massa told him. “I want to come in.”

  “What you want, Massa, I’m coming right out.”

  “You needn’t do that, John. I want to come in.”

  “Naw, naw, Massa. You don’t want to come into no old slave cabin. Youse too fine a man for that. It would hurt my feelings to see you in a place like this here one.”

  “I tell you I want to come in, John!”

  So John had to open the door and let Massa in. John had seasoned that pig down, and it was stinking pretty! John knowed Old Mass couldn’t help but smell it. Massa talked on about the crops and hound dogs and one thing and another, and the pot with the pig in it was hanging over the fire in the chimney and kicking up. The smell got better and better.

  Way after while, when that pig had done simbled down to a low gravy, Massa said, “John, what’s that you cooking in that pot?”

  “Nothing but a little old weasly possum, Massa. Sickliest little old possum I ever did see. But I thought I’d cook him anyhow.”

  “Get a plate and give me some of it, John. I’m hungry.”

  “Aw, naw, Massa, you ain’t hungry.”

  “Now, John. I don’t mean to argue with you another minute. You give me some of that in the pot, or I mean to have the hide off your back tomorrow morning. Give it to me!”

  So John got up and went and got a plate and a fork and went to the pot. He lifted the lid and looked at Massa and told him, “Well, Massa, I put this thing in here a possum, but if it comes out a pig, it ain’t no fault of mine.”

  Old Massa didn’t want to laugh, but he did before he caught himself. He took the plate of brownded-down pig and ate it up. He never said nothing, but he gave John and all the other house servants roast pig at the big house after that.

  III

  John had numerous scrapes and tight squeezes, but he usually came out like Brer Rabbit. Pretty occasionally, though, Old Massa won the hand. The curious thing about this is, that there are no bitter tragic tales at all. When Old Massa won, the thing ended up in a laugh just the same. Laughter at the expense of the slave, but laughter right on. A sort of recognition that life is not one-sided. A sense of humor that said, “We are just as ridiculous as anybody else. We can be wrong, too.”

  There are many tales and variants of each, of how the Negro got his freedom through High John de Conquer. The best one deals with a plantation where the work was hard, and Old Massa mean. Even Old Miss used to pull her maids’ ears with hot firetongs when they got her riled. So, naturally, Old John de Conquer was around that plantation a lot.

  “What we need is a song,” he told the people after he had figured the whole thing out. “It ain’t here, and it ain’t no place I know of as yet. Us better go hunt around. This has got to be a particular piece of singing.”

  But the slaves were scared to leave. They knew what Old Massa did for any slave caught running off.

  “Oh, Old Massa don’t need to know you gone from here. How? Just leave your old work-tired bodies12 around for him to look at, and he’ll never realize youse way off somewhere, going about your business.”

  At first they wouldn’t hear to John, that is, some of them. But, finally, the weak gave in to the strong, and John told them to get ready to go while he went off to get something for them to ride on. They were all gathered up under a big hickory nut tree. It was noon time and they were knocked off from chopping cotton to eat their dinner. And then that tree was right where Old Massa and Old Miss could see from the cool veranda13 of the big house. And both of them were sitting out there to watch.

  “Wait a minute, John. Where we going to get something to wear off like that? We can’t go nowhere like you talking about dressed like we is.”

  “Oh, you got plenty things to wear. Just reach inside yourselves14 and get out all those fine raiments you been toting around with you for the last longest. They is in there, all right. I know. Get ’em out, and put ’em on.”

  So the people began to dress. And then John hollered back for them to get out their musical instruments so they could play music on the way. They were right inside where they got their fine raiments from. So they began to get them out. Nobody remembered that Massa and Miss were setting up there on the veranda looking things over. So John went off for a minute. After that they all heard a big sing of wings. It was John come back, riding on a great black crow.15 The crow was so big that one wing rested on the morning, while the other dusted off the evening star.

  John lighted down and helped them, so they all mounted on, and the bird took out straight across the deep blue sea. But it was a pearly blue, like ten squillion big pearl jewels dissolved in running gold.16 The shore around it was all grainy gold itself.

  Like Jason in search of the golden fleece,17 John and his party went to many places, and had numerous adventures. They stopped off in Hell where John, under the name of Jack, married the Devil’s youngest daughter18 and became a popular character. So much so, that when he and the Devil had some words because John turned the dampers down in old Original Hell and put some of the Devil’s hogs to barbecue over the coals, John ran for High Chief Devil and won the election. The rest of his party was overjoyed at the possession of power and wanted to stay there. But John said no. He reminded them that they had come in search of a song. A song that would whip Old Massa’s earlaps down. The song was not in Hell. They must go on.

  The party escaped out of Hell behind the Devil’s two fast horses. One of them was named Hallowed-Be-Thy-Name, and the other, Thy-Kingdom-Come. They made it to the mountain. Somebody told them that the Golden Stairs went up from there. John decided that since they were in the vicinity, they might as well visit Heaven.

  They got there a little weary and timid. But the gates swung wide for them, and they went in. They were bathed, robed, and given new and shining instruments to play on. Guitars of gold, and drums, and cymbals and wind-singing instruments. They walked up Amen Avenue, and down Hallelujah Street, and found with delight that Amen Avenue was tuned to sing bass and alto. The west end was deep bass, and the east end alto. Hallelujah Street was tuned for tenor and soprano, and the two promenades met right in front of the throne and made harmony by themselves. You could make any tune you wanted to by the way you walked. John and his party had a very good time at that and other things. Finally, by the way they acted and did, Old Maker called them up before His great workbench, and made them a tune, and put it in their mouths. It had no words. It was a tune that you could bend and shape in most any way you wanted to fit the words and feelings that you had.19 They learned it, and began to sing.

  Just about that time a loud rough voice hollered, “You Tunk! You Judy! You Aunt Diskie!” Then heaven went black before their eyes and they could
n’t see a thing until they saw the hickory nut tree over their heads again. There was everything just like they had left it, with Old Massa and Old Miss sitting on the veranda, and Massa was doing the hollering.

  “You all are taking a mighty long time for dinner,” Massa said. “Get up from there and get on back to the field. I mean for you to finish chopping that cotton today if it takes all night long. I got something else, harder than that, for you to do tomorrow. Get a move on you!”

  They heard what Massa said, and they felt bad right off. But John de Conquer took and told them, saying, “Don’t pay what he say no mind. You know where you got something finer than this plantation, and anything it’s got on it, put away. Ain’t that funny? Us got all that, and he don’t know nothing at all about it. Don’t tell him nothing.20 Nobody don’t have to know where us gets our pleasure from. Come on. Pick up your hoes and let’s go.”