African American Folktales

Table Of Contents

PREFACE • xv
INTRODUCTION • 3
 
PART I. Getting Things Started: How the World Got Put Together That Way • 37
1. Never Seen His Equal • 41
2. The Man Makes and the Woman Takes • 42
3. Bringing Men and Women Together • 45
4. The Fight Over Life • 46
5. The Wind and the Water Fighting • 47
6. The Word the Devil Made up • 48
7. The Knee-High Man Tries to Get Sizable • 49
8. Pig’s Long Nose and Greedy Mouth • 50
9. Getting Common Sense • 52
10. Hankering for a Long Tail • 53
11. The Devil’s Doing • 62
12. The John Crows Lost Their Hair • 63
13. Tadpole Loses His Tail • 65
14. The Owl Never Sleeps at Night • 66
15. Why Hens are Afraid of Owls • 68
16. The Gifts of Dipper and Cowhide • 69
17. Buh Nansi Scares Buh Lion • 72
18. Testing the Good Lord • 74
19. Mr. Possum Loves Peace • 75
20. Get Back, Get Back • 77
21. No Justice on Earth • 78
 
PART II. Minding Somebody Else’s Business and Sometimes Making It Your Own • 81
22. Meeting the King of the World • 85
23. Mr. Bamancoo Gets Dropped • 87
24. The Tug-of-War between Elephant and Whale • 89
25. Tiger Becomes a Riding Horse • 91
26. The Telltale Pepper Bush • 94
27. Making the Stone Smoke • 97
28. The Latest Song • 99
29. The Signifying Monkey • 101
30. The Singing Bones • 105
31. A Boarhog for a Husband • 108
32. The Woman Who Was a Bird • 111
33. My Mother Killed Me, My Father Ate Me • 113
 
PART III. Getting a Comeuppance: How (and How Not) to Act Stories • 115
34. What Makes Brer Wasp Have a Short Patience • 119
35. Between the Fiddler and the Dancer • 121
36. Being Greedy Chokes Anansi • 122
37. The Doings and Undoings of the Dogoshes • 123
38. Spreading Fingers for Friendship • 124
39. Don’t Shoot Me, Dyer, Don’t Shoot Me • 125
40. Little Eight John • 128
41. The Poor Man and the Snake • 130
42. The Little Bird Grows • 132
43. Tricking All the Kings • 136
44. The Feast on the Mountain and the Feast Under the Water • 140
45. Hide Anger Until Tomorrow • 141
46. Buying Two Empty Hands • 142
47. Cutta Cord-La • 144
48. Brer Bear’s Grapevine • 147
49. A Foolish Mother • 149
50. Old Granny Grinny Granny • 151
51. You Never Know What Trouble Is Until It Finds You • 153
52. He Pays for the Provisions • 159
53. The Cunning Cockroach • 163
54. Little Boy-Bear Nurses the Alligator Children • 164
55. The Girl Made of Butter • 167
56. Poppa Stole the Deacon’s Bull • 169
57. The Trouble with Helping Out • 173
58. The Rooster Goes Away in a Huff • 175
 
PART IV. How Clever Can You Get? Tales of Trickery and Its Consequences • 177
59. Why They Name the Stories for Anansi • 182
60. Brother Rabbit Takes a Walk • 183
61. The Lion in the Well • 185
62. A License to Steal • 192
63. The Race between Toad and Donkey • 194
64. Crawling into the Elephant’s Belly • 197
65. A Strange Way to Sleep • 199
66. Goobers Gone, Rabbit Gone • 200
67. Assaulting All the Senses • 202
68. Brer Rabbit’s Riddle • 203
69. The Horned Animals’ Party • 206
70. Anansi Plays Dead • 207
71. Anansi Climbs the Wall • 210
72. Dancing to the River • 211
73. “Trouble” Coming Down the Road • 214
74. No Chicken Tonight • 216
 
PART V. The Strong Ones and the Clever: Contests and Confrontations • 219
75. Golden Breasts, Diamond Navel, Chain of Gold • 223
76. The Flying Contest • 230
77. Loggerhead • 232
78. Trying to Get the Goldstone • 234
79. Stackolee • 238
80. Escaping, Slowly • 240
81. Turning into Nóuna—Nothing • 241
82. The Old Bull and the Young One • 244
83. Fasting for the Hand of the Queen’s Daughter • 251
84. Weak in the Day and Strong at Night • 253
85. Jack Beats the Devil • 255
86. Three Killed Florrie, Florrie Killed Ten
 
PART VI. Getting Around Old Master (Most of the Time) • 263
87. They Both Had Dead Horses • 270
88. You Talk Too Much, Anyhow • 274
89. Making the Eyes Run • 275
90. Making a Wagon from a Wheelbarrow • 276
91. The One-Legged Turkey • 277
92. John Outruns the Lord • 278
93. A Flying Fook • 280
94. Horses Stay Outside • 281
95. The Sinking of the Titanic • 282
96. Competition for Laziness • 283
97. John Outwits Mr. Berkeley • 284
98. Black Jack and White Jack • 288
99. Philanewyork • 291
100. The Barn is Burning • 293
 
PART VII. In the End, Nonsense • 297
101. Big-Gut, Big-Head, Stringy-Leg • 300
102. A Chain of Won’ts • 300
103. Animal Talk • 301
104. A Comic Conversation • 302
105. A Smoking Story • 303
106. The Things That Talked • 304
107. Endings • 305
 
APPENDIX: Sources, Annotations, and Index of Tales • 307
BIBLIOGRAPHY • 321
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • 325