Do brother, do brother
Don’t mash me hard;
Do brother, do brother
Don’t mash me hard;
Do brother, do brother
Don’t mash me hard;
For mommy has buried me alive.
Well, the boy was amazed at what he heard. And, of course, he ran and he told his father. The father couldn’t believe what he said, and told him he must go and sit down because he wasn’t going to listen to all that stupidness he was telling him. So now the mother went out to pick the pepper. But every time she stretched her hand to take the pepper, the pepper tree pulled away from her, and she couldn’t get her fingers on a pepper to take back and put in the pot for her husband’s dinner.
She went in and he asked where the pepper was for the pot. She told him that she couldn’t pick the pepper. So now the king came out and he went to the tree and picked the pepper right away. But the bush started to sing in the little girl’s voice:
Do father, do father
Don’t mash me hard;
Do father, do father
Don’t mash me hard;
Do father, do father
Don’t mash me hard;
For mommy has buried me alive.
The father got a shovel and dug up the girl. He was so vexed and ashamed of what the mother had done that he made a big fire and threw it into the bottom of the hole. And he buried the mother there alive, just as she had done to the little girl.
And there is the end of the story.
—St. Vincent
27
MAKING THE STONE SMOKE
Well, once upon a time, Massa King had a beautiful daughter. He loved her so much that he didn’t want anyone to touch (much less marry) her, so he put her in a showcase behind glass. But the queen and all the others said she must be married to someone. So Massa King pointed to a large stone out in his yard, and he said that anyone who could come and dance this stone into smoke would receive his daughter, and the palace too. So all the men went and danced as hard as they could on this stone, but they couldn’t make it smoke.
Well, Little Anansi heard about this beautiful girl, so he decided he wanted to win her. He went to the tailor and had him make a beautiful coat with pockets all the way down to the ground. And he went to the sugar-boiling house and filled every pocket with the ashes he got there.
So he went down to Massa King. He said, “Good morning, Massa King.” He told him, “I heard that you had a task to perform here, sir, and I came to see if I could do this wonderful thing and win your beautiful daughter.” The king had trouble not laughing at little Anansi, but he said, “Yes, Compé Anansi, that is the girl in the showcase, and there is the stone in the yard. Whoever dances that stone into smoke receives my daughter.” He said, “Well, Massa King, let me go and try and see if I can do anything with that stone.”
So Compé Anansi went to that stone. And as he was going, his shoes really started into that dance, because Anansi is a wonderful singer and dancer, you know. So he went up to the stone and he started:
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
And he sang that four times.
Massa King stopped him. He said, “Wait, Compé Anansi, what did I hear you saying?” He said, “I was just humming a little tune, sir.” Massa King said, “Well, hum that tune again and let me hear it.” So he sang it four more times.
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
The song made the king want to sing and dance so much that he cursed Anansi and told him to go ahead. And Compé Anansi started dancing and flapping his arms hard against those pockets, up and down his sides.
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
Ying-ee-ding-ee-ding
The girl-a for me.
And every time he said “the girl-a for me” he slapped his sides. Ashes flew all over the place, so many that Massa King couldn’t see where Compé Anansi was dancing anymore. So he made him stop, for he had danced the stone into smoke.
And the wire bended, so my story’s ended.
—St. Vincent
28
THE LATEST SONG
One day, Anansi and Brer Tiger went to the river to wash themselves, and Anansi looked over at Brer Tiger and saw what a big and handsome man he was. So he said to Brer Tiger, “Brer Tiger, as you are such a big man, if you want to bathe in that nice spot, that big blue hole, with your big balls you’re going to drown yourself, you’ll be so weighed down. You better take them off and leave them here on the bank.” Tiger said to Brer Anansi, “Well, you have the same problem, so you take yours off too.” Anansi said, “You take yours off first and then I will.”
So Tiger took his off first, and Brer Anansi said, “Go on in the hole, Brer Tiger, let me see how light that makes you.” So Brer Tiger got in the water and started to swim, and he didn’t pay attention to anything else but how light he was in the water. Brer Anansi never did go in; instead he grabbed the balls that Tiger had left and ate them up.
But Anansi got frightened at what he had gone, so he ran away from the river and went to Big Monkey’s town. He found Brer Monkey, and said to him, “Brer Monkey, did you hear the latest song they are singing down at the riverside?” Anansi sang:
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Now Big Monkey was never much of a singer or dancer, so he drove Brer Anansi away, saying that he didn’t want to hear songs or any other kind of nonsense.
So Brer Anansi left and went on down to Little Monkey’s town, and when he met Little Monkey there, he said, “Brer Monkey, I was down by the riverside and I heard a sweet song there. Everybody there was singing it, it is so sweet.” Anansi sang:
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
And he sang it all the way through.
Now, Little Monkey, he was one who loved those songs. He said, “Sing that song again, so we can all hear it.” So Anansi began to sing again:
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Monkey just fell in love with that song, and had a dance that night just so everybody could hear it. And when Brer Anansi heard that he was glad, because now he could go back to Brer Tiger.
When he got back to the riverside, there was Brer Tiger looking all around for his balls. Tiger said, “Brer Anansi, I can’t find my balls any place.” Anansi said, “Ha! Ha! Just now I heard them singing a song in Little Monkey’s town.” And Anansi sang:
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Brer Anansi said, “Brer Tiger, if you think I’m lying, just come with me to Little Monkey’s town.” So he and Tiger went.
When they got there, Anansi told Tiger they had to hide behind a bush to listen. And when they did, there was Little Monkey dancing and playing that same tune, and Tiger heard. Anansi said, “Brer Tiger, what did I tell you? Didn’t you hear me say that they were singing songs about you and calling out your name making fun of you?” And all this time Monkey kept on singing:
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Yesterday about this time
I ate up Tiger’s balls.
Now Tiger heard that Brer Monkey was going to have a big dance that night. So he marched right up to Brer Monkey and asked him for his balls back. Monkey said that he didn’t know anything about
his balls, only the song that Brer Anansi had taught to them. So Tiger said that he was going to fight everyone there. But Little Monkey sent a messenger to Big Monkey and asked him to send a lot of soldiers quick to beat Brer Tiger and Brer Anansi too. So when Brer Tiger and Brer Anansi saw how it was going, Brer Tiger took to the bush and Brer Anansi to the housetop. And that’s where they have lived ever since.
Jack Mantora, me no choose any.
—Jamaica
29
THE SIGNIFYING MONKEY
Deep down in the jungle where the coconut grows
Lives a pimp little monkey, you could tell by the clothes he wore.
He had a camel-hair benny with belt in the back,
Had a pair of nice shoes and a pair of blue slacks.
Now his clothes were cute little things,
Was wearing a Longine watch and a diamond ring.
He says he thinks he’d take a stroll
Down by the water hole.
And guess who he met? Down there was Mr. Lion.
The monkey started into that signifying.
He said, “Mr. Lion, I got something to tell you today.”
He said, “The way this motherfucker been talking ’bout you I know you’ll sashay.”
He said, “Mr. Lion, the way he talking ’bout your mother, down your cousins,
I know damn well you don’t play the dozens.
Talking about your uncle and your aunt’s an awful shame.
Called your father and your mother a whole lot of names.
I would’a fought the motherfucker but looked at him with a tear in my eye.
He’s a big motherfucker, he’s twice your size.”
The lion looked down with a tear in his eye.
Said, “Where’s this big motherfucker that’s twice my size?”
That little monkey said, “I’ll show you the way.”
He went down and the elephant was standing by a tree,
And the lion said, “Hey, motherfucker, I hear you been looking for me.”
Elephant looked at the lion and said,
“Go on, chickenshit, pick on somebody your size.”
The lion made a roar.
The elephant sidestepped and kicked his ass on the floor.
The lion looked up with a tear in his eye.
Says, “I’m gonna beat you, motherfucker, though you’re twice my size.”
He looked back and squared off to fight.
The elephant kicked his ass clean out of sight.
Came back for ride or roar.
Elephant stomped his ass clean on the floor.
The elephant looked about, said, “What the fuck is this?”
The lion said, “You know you’re a bad motherfucker, put up your fists.”
They fought three days, and they fought three nights.
I don’t see how in hell the lion got out of that fight.
Coming back through the jungle more dead than alive,
Here goes the monkey in the tree with that same signifying.
He said, “Look at you, you goddamn chump.
Went down in the jungle fucking with that man
And got your ass mangled and drug in the sand.
You call yourself a real down king,
But I found you ain’t a goddamned thing.
Get from underneath this goddamned tree
’Cause I feel as though I’ve got to pee.”
The lion looked up, said,
“That’s all right, Mr. Monkey, if that’s the way you want to play.
The sun’s gonna shine in your ugly ass some day.”
Monkey looked down, said, “Long as the trees grow tall, the grass grows green,
You’re the dumbest motherfucker the jungle’s ever seen.”
Said, “You motherfucker, I heard you down there pleading for your life.
At the very same time I had my dick in your wife.
You motherfucker, when that man knocked you over the hill,
I was gonna throw a party ’cause I thought your ass got killed.”
The lion strode through the jungle to pick himself up.
The monkey called him back, said,
“Hey, you motherfucker, and oh, by the way,
Don’t you come ’round here with that hoorah shit,
Every time me and my wife get ready to get a little bit.”
Monkey started jumping up and down.
The left foot slipped and his ass hit the ground.
Like a bolt of lightning, like a streak of heat,
The lion was on him with all four feet.
Monkey look up with a tear in his eye,
Said, “Mr. Lion, I’se just kidding, but I apologize.”
Lion said, “No, you’re a signifying motherfucker and you always will.
You gonna fuck around someday and get somebody killed.”
The monkey jumped back, and said, “Get your feet off my chest and my head out the sand
And I’ll get up and beat you like a natural-born man.”
Now the lion squared back, he was ready to fight,
But the poor little monkey jumped clean out of sight.
He said, “I told you, long as the trees growed tall, grass growed green,
You’re the dumbest motherfucker the jungle ever seen.
Dumb motherfucker, I done tricked you again.”
So the lion said, “All right, Mr. Monkey, If that’s the way you want to play.
The sun’s gonna shine in your ass some day.”
Now what do you think? Down on Rampart Street
Who did Mr. Lion chance to meet—
The signifying monkey.
He stomped to the right and he stomped to the left.
Stomped the poor monkey clean to death.
Now I know some people think there is where the story ends.
But I’m gonna show you when it just begins.
You know how news travels in the jungle far and fast,
When it reached the monkey’s baboon cousin at last.
He looked in the mirror with a tear in his eyes,
He says, “I’ll get this motherfucker, he’s just about my size.”
He told his main whore he had to go
Down to the coconut grove to the water hole.
He packed up his whiskey and his bottle of gin,
He had a long ways to go, but a short time to make it in.
Coming through the jungle, swinging on the limbs,
Come the baddest motherfucker the jungle ever seen.
So by the time he got down to the coconut grove,
All the animals having a party ’round the water hole.
So Brother Lion was there, him and his wife,
When the baboon came up. In his hand he was carrying his knife.
He said, “Hey there, bad motherfucker, you did my cousin in.
Now I come down here to fight, to do you in.”
So the lion said, “Look here, Mr. Baboon, I don’t want to fight,
I want to get your ass out of my sight.”
He said, “Tomorrow I want you to come down here early in the morning.
And be ready to fight.”
So the lion went on home, preparing for the next day.
He knowed he had to fight, he had to fight in a hell of a way.
So now coming back to the fight, turn back down to the coconut grove,
Who was standing there looking so outright and fine,
But old Brother Monkey and Billy Lion.
While over there with real bad sight,
They naturally had to pick on Brother Bear to referee the fight.
So he introduced them.
He said, “In this corner we got Brother Lion,
He been bit by a tiger, scratched by a lion,
Tied in a barrel of lye, shot in the ass with a forty-five.
He’s a bad motherfucker, but he don’t want to die.
And in this corner we got Brother Baboon.
So far he’s d
one licked every ass from earth to the moon.
He’s better known as Big Jim,
He’s the baddest motherfucker that ever swing from a limb.”
So when Brother Bear jumped back off the grass,
Signal for the two motherfuckers to tear their ass.
Now they begin to fight and they begin to scuffle.
Soon the lion’s jaw begin to ruffle.
After a while I saw a mighty right to the lion’s chin,
And everybody thought the lion had come to an end.
But now when the bell rang for the first round,
The lion went back to his corner.
In his corner they were using Hadacol,
While in the baboon’s corner they were saying a prayer to the Lord.
Everybody thought that Big Jim was through.
But when they came back out, that’s when it turned to.
Brother Lion hit Brother Baboon to the face, on to the ribs,
Kicked him in the mouth, bust all his jubs.
Hit him in the ribs, hit him in the head.
That time the lion fell out for dead.
Brother Lion’s wife jumped up in a mighty roar,
Said, “You just knocked my husband down to the floor.”
She said, “I’m gonna have you put in jail.
And there ain’t nobody here gonna go you bail.”
So the monkey is standing on the corner with the same old signifying,
Said, “Don’t worry, I got a friend and his name is Billy Lion.
He’s the richest man ’round here in town. He’ll get you out.”
But where it ends, the baboon’s still in jail,
And the monkey’s not trying to get a dime to go his cousin’s bail.
—Philadelphia
30
THE SINGING BONES
There was a king and queen who had an only daughter and an only son. The king was getting old and started to think about who was going to get the kingdom. Now the king loved flowers and would always send the ladies from all around to go out and gather roses for him from the forest. So he got this idea that whichever of his children went into the forest and brought him the more beautiful bouquet would get the kingdom and all his riches.
African American Folktales Page 13