THE JOHN CROWS LOSE THEIR HAIR
In a time before time, there lived a man who hated the John Crows (which is what we call those buzzards) because they were so greedy. Eat, eat, eat, they just always sat around preening themselves, waiting to eat. So he wanted to get rid of them if he could. But, one way or another, he never got the chance, and the John Crows kept on vexing him.
But John Crow thought of himself as a dandy, and it grieved his heart that he had never been christened. So he called a meeting of all his friends and relations, and they resolved to go ask the man to give him a proper name.
When the man heard this he rejoiced greatly, and he said to himself, “Cunning is better than strength. Now I’m going to get back at Old John Crow for all these years.”
So he named a day, and told John Crow to make a feast, and to kill a big hog, and to buy a little rum and a little port wine and plenty of salt fish and yams and other vittles, and to invite all the folks to come along to the big party. On the day he had picked, all the John Crows of that country gathered themselves together. And one brought beef, and another brought ham, and another a suckling pig, and another fowls; and there were yams and cocoas and sweet potatoes and everything, and plenty of liquor.
And when the man came to the place where the eating match was to be, he brought with him a big barrel full of white flour, which he said was his contribution to the feast. Then all the John Crows clapped their wings with joy and said: “Hi! the good buckra [white man]!” But the man only smiled to himself and said, “Today is for me, tomorrow for you; you shake my hand, but you don’t shake my heart!” Then he turned to the John Crows and told them to light the fire, for he said he would need to boil the flour and water together to make a grand cake for the christening.
When the barrel of flour was empty and the water was boiling, bubbling up upon the fire, he called all the John Crows around him and said, “You see this barrel here?” They all said, “Yes, we see it.” “Very well,” he said, “come around and put all your heads into it, and you mustn’t lift up your head or look around till I tell you, because I have something secret to make ready for the christening.” So they all put their heads into the barrel. Then the man took the cauldron of boiling water and stepped up behind them softly, softly, and he lifted the pot and poured all the boiling stuff on their heads. And he laughed and said, “Now listen to this and listen well: I now christen you, John Crow!”
Now, they all got scalded that way, but after all they didn’t die. When they got better they found all their heads peeled bald where the boiling water had fallen on them.
And this is why John Crows have bald pates to this day.
—Jamaica
13
TADPOLE LOSES HIS TAIL
When the people don’t do what they’re told to do, they always get into trouble sooner or later. And that’s just what happened with the tadpole.
Now, the Good Book doesn’t say anything about the creation of the frogs. But this business of the tadpole explains why it happened. The fact of the matter is that the Good Lord didn’t make the frog; he just made the tadpole, and the frog, he came along a few days later.
If you’ve ever made any tadpoles, you’ve noticed that it’s just as easy to make a hundred of them as it is to make one. And that’s the reason why the Good Lord, when he first made the tadpole, he didn’t make just one; he made a whole lot of them so they would be company for each other.
Well, he made a whole lot of tadpoles, just like I said, and when they were all finished there were so many that they were all around on the ground, in everybody’s way, and you couldn’t walk about without steping on a lot of them. So the Good Lord, just to get them out of the road as much as anything else, told them to go along down to the cornfield next to the creek and do some pulling weeds. And the tadpoles all went down in that field, but it was a mighty hot day and they felt mighty lazy. And Old Nick, he came along there about that time, like he always does, and he said, “Boys, there’s a mighty fine swimming hole right down there in the creek.”
And the tadpoles, they said, “Yes I guess there is, but the Good Lord sent us down here to pull these weeds.”
And Old Nick, he said that of course they should pull the weeds, but they could pull them up a whole lot faster if they just had a little swim first. Then he persuaded them that it wouldn’t do any harm just to take a look at the water. Well, no sooner did the tadpoles get a sight of that water then they forgot all about pulling weeds, and every one of them jumped in the creek and went swimming. They never did have such a good time.
The Good Lord was awfully busy in those first days, and he just completely forgot about the tadpoles. But one day Old Nick went up and remarked in a kind of offhand way that some of these new animals that the Lord was creating were pretty trifling when it comes to doing what they’ve been told. The Good Lord asked him what he’s talking about; and Old Nick reminded him that he had sent those fool tadpoles to pull up the weeds in the cornfield but instead of that they’d all gone swimming, and they hadn’t pulled a single weed, and the cornfield was getting to be terribly overgrown.
So the Good Lord called up the tadpoles and asked them what they had been up to, and they told him that they had been in swimming. And he told them that he didn’t so much mind their going swimming, but he couldn’t have folks around that didn’t act like he told them. And he told them that he’s going to cut their tails off because they didn’t mind him. And the tadpoles began to cry and to beg him not to chop their tails off because they couldn’t swim without them and if they happened to fall in the water they’d be drowned unless they could swim. But the Good Lord told them he’s going to give them legs so that they could swim a little, but he wanted them not to forget that there was something else to do in this world other than swimming. So he chopped off all their tails, but he gave them some legs and made frogs out of every one of them. Then he told them to go on about their business.
And to this day, you notice that the tadpole, when he grows up, he loses his tail, gets legs, and turns into a frog. And to this day, tadpoles are mighty poor hands at pulling weeds.
—American South
14
THE OWL NEVER SLEEPS AT NIGHT
Have you noticed that whenever a creature starts in this world with a habit, it stays with him all his life? Not only that, he passes it along to his children and his grandchildren. Whether the creatures have two legs or four legs or more legs, it works just the same. Another thing is that if you want to see anything, you must open your eyes.
There’s the case of the owl. At the very first, he was like the other birds; he had the same kind of eyes as the other birds, and he flew around and sang in the daytime, and when it came dark he went to roost and stuck his head under his wings and slept till daybreak, just like the others. But it wasn’t long before he got into the habit of sitting up nights and calling out “Who-who,” and he never has stopped that to this very day.
Here’s what happened. During the week that the creatures were all created and were just learning how to keep house, the Good Lord noticed that there was something going wrong in the night and he felt mighty nervous about the whole thing. One morning he found the pig’s tail curled up; the deer’s tail and the goat’s tail were cut clean off; the possum and the rat had had their hair all pulled off their tails; the duck had lost his forelegs, the snake had lost all of his; and the guinea hen and the turkey gobbler had lost all the hair off their heads; and nobody knew what was going to happen next. God had a suspicion that it was some of Old Nick’s doings, but he never said anything to anybody. He just asked the owl if he wouldn’t stay up that night and keep a lookout and see what the matter was and how it all happened. And the owl said he’d be mighty proud to stay up, only he’s afraid he couldn’t see very well in the dark. Then the Good Lord told him that all he had to do to see in the dark is to open his eyes wider. So they fixed it up that way. And when it turned dark, the owl never went to bed; he just opened his eyes a
little wider, and got out in the open where he could look around over the countryside. And every time it got a little darker the owl would open his eyes a little wider, and he didn’t ever have any trouble seeing all the carryings-on.
And sure enough, along about midnight he saw Old Nick tying knots in the horses’ manes. And the owl called out, “Who-who, who-who, who-who-ah?” With that, Old Nick was so scared that he ran away and left the horses, and struck out across the country in the dark. But the owl opened his eyes wider than ever, and he followed after him, and every once in a while he’d call out, “Who-who, who-who, who-whoo-ah!”
Well, he sure scared Old Nick away; but when it became day, Mr. Owl had his eyes so wide open that he couldn’t shut them, and the bright sun gave him a terrible headache. Then the Good Lord told the owl that as he’d been up all the night before he could find himself a shady place and sleep all day to make up for the loss of sleep the night before.
But when night came around again the owl was rested, and he didn’t have his headache anymore, and he felt so wide awake that he stayed up that night too. After that, he got the habit, and he’s had it ever since.
—American South
15
WHY HENS ARE AFRAID OF OWLS
Once upon a time, hens had dances every Saturday night. They employed Mr. Owl for a fiddler. He was always careful to go away before daylight so that the hens might not see his big eyes. The last time he fiddled for them, daylight caught him, and when the hens had a look at his eyes they were frightened into fits and all went squalling out of the room.
Ever since then, the hen cannot even bear the shadow of an owl.
—Kentucky
16
THE GIFTS OF DIPPER AND COWHIDE
It was famine time. Terrapin had six children and Eagle had three. Eagle hid behind a cloud and he went across the ocean and got palm oil and seed to feed his children with. When Terrapin saw it, he said, “Hold on. It’s hard times. Where did you get all that to feed your children? Can’t you show me where you get all that food?” Eagle said, “No, I had to fly across the ocean to get it.” Terrapin said, “Well, give me some of your wings and I’ll go with you.” Eagle said, “All right. When shall we go?” Terrapin said, “Tomorrow morning by the first cock crow we’ll leave.” So tomorrow came, but Terrapin couldn’t wait until dawn. Three o’clock in the morning, Terrapin came in front of Eagle’s house and said “Cuckoo—cuckoo—coo.” Eagle said, “Go on home now and lay down. It ain’t day yet.” But Terrapin kept on. “Cuckoo—cuckoo—coo.” And bless the Lord, Eagle came out and said, “What you do now?” Terrapin said, “You put three wings on this side and three on the other side.” Eagle pulled out six feathers and put three on one side and three on the other side of Terrapin. Then Eagle said, “Let’s see you fly now.” So Terrapin began to fly. One of his wings fell out. But Terrapin said, “That’s all right, I got the other wing. Let’s go.” So they flew and flew; by the time they got over the ocean, all the eagle feathers had fallen out and Terrapin was about to fall in the water. Eagle went out and caught him and put him under his wings. Terrapin said, “Gee, it stinks in here.” Eagle let him drop in the ocean.
So he went down, down, down to the underworld. The King of the Underworld met him there. He said, “Why are you coming here? What are you doing here?” Terrapin said, “King, we are in terrible condition on the earth. We can’t get anything to eat. I have six children and I can’t get anything to eat for them. Eagle, he only has three, and he went across the ocean and got all the food he needs. Please let me have something to feed my children.” King said, “All right, all right,” so he gave Terrapin a dipper, and he said to him, “Take this dipper. When you want food for your children, say:
Bakon coleh
Bakon cawbey
Bakon cawhubo lebe lebe.”
So Terrapin carried it home and went to his children and said to them, “Come here.” When they all had come, he said:
Bakon coleh
Bakon cawbey
Bakon cawhubo lebe lebe.
Gravy, meat, biscuits, everything appeared there in the dipper. His children had plenty to eat now.
Now, one time he said to his children, “Come here. This will make my fortune. I’m going to sell this to our king.” So he showed the dipper to the king. He said:
Bakon coleh
Bakon cawbey
Bakon cawhubo lebe lebe.
And all kinds of things came out of dipper, and he was able to feed everyone. So the king went and called everybody to see this miracle. Pretty soon everybody was eating and they ate and ate everything, meats, fruits, all kinds of things. So he took his dipper and went back home. He called his children, but now when he tried to get food, nothing came out of the dipper. When it’s out, it’s out.
So Terrapin said, “All right, I’m going back to the King of the Under-world and get him to fix the whole matter up.” So he went down to the Underworld and said to the king, “King, what is the matter? The dipper doesn’t give me food to feed my children anymore. So the King of the Underworld said to him, “Take this cowhide and when you want something, say:
Sheet n-oun
n-jacko
nou o quaako.”
So Terrapin went off and he came to a crossroads. Then he said the magic:
Sheet n-oun
n-jacko
nou o quaako
The cowhide began to beat him. It beat, beat. Cowhide said, “Drop, drop.” So Terrapin dropped down on the ground, and the cowhide stopped beating. So he went home. He called his children in. He gave them the cowhide and told them what to say, then he went out. The children said:
Sheet n-oun
n-jacko
nou o quaako.
The cowhide beat the children. It said, “Drop, drop.” Two children were dead and the others were all sick.
So Terrapin said, “I must go to the King of the Underworld and find out what he has done to us.” So he called the local king, he called all the people. All the people came. So before he had the cowhide beat, he had a mortar made and he got in there and got all covered up. Then the king said:
Sheet n-oun
n-jacko
nou o quaako.
So the cowhide beat, beat. It beat everybody, beat the king too. That cowhide beat, beat, beat right through the mortar that was on Terrapin and beat marks on his back.
And that’s why you never find Terrapin in a clean place, only under leaves or a log.
—Alabama
17
BUH NANSI SCARES BUH LION
Buh Lion and his wife had eight children, and once upon a time he decided to build a house because he had too many children for the one they were living in. So he started. But Buh Nansi saw what he was doing and he saw a chance for himself—he’s such a selfish person, you know. So for every board put on the house, Anansi came at night and put up another. When Lion put on one board, Anansi would go and put on one, too. Lion went to feed his cattle, and when he came back, he thought that something strange was going on. He asked his wife, “What is happening here? I find more boards than I put up myself. Girl, haven’t you seen anything?” She said, “What?” He said, “Well I put on one board and go away and come back, and I see that there is another one next to the one I put up.”
Anyway, that went on for a considerable time. For every board he put on, he counted the number and went away. And Anansi always sneaked in there and put on one more. Finally, Anansi saw that the house had gotten to the stage where someone could live there, and you know who that was going to be.
So one day he picked up his fiddle and went into the house. As Buh Lion was coming in the house, Buh Nansi started a song out on the road and everybody started to sing and dance with him.
I killed ten thousand Lions yesterday,
Lions yesterday, Lions yesterday.
I killed ten thousand Lions yesterday,
What do you think about ten today?
Now, when Lion heard that, he got a little
worried because he knew Buh Nansi was a clever, clever fellow, and he thought maybe he had found a way of capturing lions and eating them. Lion went to the house. He yelled out, “Eh, Buh Nansi, you having a fine time, man.” He said, “Yes, Buh Lion.” Lion said, “But, Buh Nansi, with all this music you are playing here, you must want something to drink. You do drink rum, no?” Nansi answered, “Yes, man.” Lion said, “Well, man, I’ll send one of my children for a bottle. Child?” he called. “Yes, Papa.” “Go by Mr. Noname’s and tell him I said to send liquor here, because we are having a fete.” When the child went off a little distance, Lion followed him and said, “Child?” “Yes, Papa.” “Wait there at the shop. Don’t come back, you hear?” “Yes, Papa.” He was worried that Buh Nansi was going to eat all his children.
So they sat there waiting for a considerable time. Finally, Buh Nansi got restless again and started to play his fiddle:
I killed ten thousand Lions yesterday,
Lions yesterday, Lions yesterday.
I killed ten thousand Lions yesterday,
What do you think about ten today?
Even more he worried when he heard everybody dancing and singing that song again. Buh Lion sat down; he said, “Buh Nansi, it’s been awhile since the child’s been gone.” “Why worry about that child? Maybe he lost his way.” After a while, Buh Nansi said, “Well, what are you going to do?” Lion said, “Man, I guess I must send another one.” He called to the next child and said, “Child, come here. Go by Mr. Noname and tell that child when he comes back I’m going to flog him.” He went on, “Go by Mr. Noname’s shop, tell him I sent for a bottle of liquor because we have a fete going on here.” When that child got a little way down the road, Lion said, “I wonder why that first one didn’t understand me. Let me make sure this one does.” So he said, “Child, wait for me,” and his child stood off waiting. Lion said, “When you go, don’t come back.” And this was what Buh Lion did with all the children. Each time Buh Nansi started playing his fiddle afresh, harder and harder:
African American Folktales Page 10