The Annotated African American Folktales

891 Pages·2017·35.43 MB·English

by  Henry Louis Gates Jr.

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For all those before us who kept these stories alive by listening to the voices of others:
Talk got us here.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. dedicates this volume to Eleanor Margaret Gates-Hatley
“L’dor va’dor!”
Maria Tatar dedicates this volume to Lauren Blum, Daniel Schuker, Jason Blum, Giselle Barcia, and Roxy
Blum
This interlinking of the New World and all countries and ages, by the
golden net-work of oral tradition, may supply the moral of our collection.
—WILLIAM WELLS NEWELL, Games and Songs of American
Children
Mouse goes everywhere. She prowls through the houses of the rich, and she
visits the poor as well. At night, with her bright little eyes, she watches the
doing of secret things, and no treasure chamber is so safe but she can tunnel
through and see what is hidden there.
In olden days she wove a story-child from everything she saw, and to
each of these she gave a gown of a different color—white, red, blue, or
black. The stories became her children and lived in her house and served
her because she had no children of her own.
—Nigerian folktale
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword: The Politics of “Negro Folklore” by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Introduction: Recovering a Cultural Tradition by Maria Tatar
AFRICAN TALES
I MAKING SENSE OF THE WORLD WITH ANANSI: STORIES, WISDOM, AND
CONTRADICTION
How the Sky God’s Stories Came to Be Known as Spider Stories
Rabbit Wants More Sense
How Wisdom Came into the World
The Two Friends
How It Came About That Children Were (First) Whipped
How Contradiction Came to the Ashanti
II FIGURING IT OUT: FACING COMPLICATIONS WITH DILEMMA TALES
Who Should Marry the Girl?
Trackwell, Divewell, Breavewell
A Vital Decision
The Story of the Four Fools
III ADDING ENCHANTMENT TO WISDOM: FAIRY TALES WORK THEIR MAGIC
The Story of Demane and Demazana
The Tail of the Princess Elephant
The Maiden, the Frog, and the Chief’s Son
Adzanumee and Her Mother
The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children
Tsélané and the Marimo
IV TELLING TALES TODAY: ORAL NARRATIVES FROM AFRICA
The Filial Son
Men Deceive Women
Know Your Relatives or Else You’ll Be Mistaken for a Slave
Which of the Three Men Was the Most Powerful?
AFRICAN AMERICAN TALES
I DEFIANCE AND DESIRE: FLYING AFRICANS AND MAGICAL INSTRUMENTS
FLYING AFRICANS
The Flying Man
All God’s Chillen Had Wings
All God’s Chillun Got Wings
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Now Let Me Fly
Little Black Sambo from Guinea
Flying Africans
MAGIC INSTRUMENTS
How The Hoe Came to Ashanti
The Do-All Ax
TESTIMONIALS ABOUT FLYING AFRICANS
II FEARS AND PHOBIAS: WITCHES, HANTS, AND SPOOKS
WITCHES
Skinny, Skinny, Don’t You Know Me?
Skin Don’t You Know Me?
The Cat-Witch
Witches Who Ride
Out of Her Skin
Macie and the Boo Hag
HANTS AND SPOOKS
The Headless Hant
In the Name of the Lord
The Girl and the Plat-Eye
The Jack-o’-My-Lantern
III SPEECH AND SILENCE: TALKING SKULLS AND SINGING TORTOISES
The Talking Skull
The Skull That Talked Back
Dividing Souls
Talking Bones
Talks Too Much
The Hunter and the Tortoise
What the Frog Said
Pierre Jean’s Tortoise
The Talking Turtle
John and the Blacksnake
Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies
IV SILENCE AND PASSIVE RESISTANCE: THE TAR-BABY STORY
Spider and the Farmer
Tale of Ntrekuma
Tar Baby
De Wolf, De Rabbit, and De Tar Baby
The Story of Buh Rabbit and the Tar Baby
The Wonderful Tar-Baby
How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox
Tar Baby
Tar Baby
Anansi and the Tar Baby
The Rabbit and the Tar Wolf
The Rabbit and the Tar Wolf (Second Version)
Buh Wolf, Buh Rabbit, and de Tar Baby
V KINDNESS AND TREACHERY: SLIPPING THE TRAP
Gratitude
An Example of Ingratitude
The Boy and the Crocodile
Mr. Snake and the Farmer
The Tortoise and the Toad
VI JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS AND THE UNCLE REMUS TALES
Uncle Remus Initiates the Little Boy
The Sad Fate of Mr. Fox
How Spider and Kawku Tse Killed the King’s Cows and Took His Wives
(Africa)
Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox
Rabbit Makes Wolf His Horse (South Sea Islands)
Brother Rabbit’s Love-Charm
Brother Rabbit’s Laughing-Place
Brother Rabbit Doesn’t Go to See Aunt Nancy
The Adventures of Simon and Susanna
VII FOLKLORE FROM THE SOUTHERN WORKMAN AND THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN
FOLKLORE