African American Folktales

by Roger Abrahams

  Now, Brer Rabbit took his grandmother by the hand and led her way off into the woods and hid her at the top of a huge coconut tree and told her to stay there quietly. (In those days there were lots of coconuts, you know.) He gave her a little basket with a cord tied to it, so that he could send food up to her.

  The next morning, Brer Rabbit went to the foot of the tree, cleared his throat and hollered in a fine voice:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Cutta cord-la.

  When the grandmother heard this, she let down this basket with the cord, and Brer Rabbit filled it with things to eat. Every day he came back and did the same thing; every day Brer Babbit came to feed his granny, saying:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Gutta cord-la.

  And she let down the basket.

  Brer Wolf, he watched and he listened. He crept up close and listened some more. Bye and bye, he heard what Brer Rabbit was saying and he saw the basket swing down on the cord and go back up again. When Brer Rabbit went away from there, Brer Wolf came up by the root of the tree. He hollered, saying:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Shoota cord-la.

  Now, Old Granny Rabbit listened closely, she listened well. She said, “Now what’s happening here? My grandson doesn’t talk like that. He never said ‘shoota cord-la’ like that.”

  So when Brer Rabbit came back to his grandmother, she told him about how someone was hollering “shoota cord-la,” and Brer Rabbit, he started laughing and he laughed so hard he couldn’t laugh anymore. Brer Wolf was hiding close by and heard Brer Rabbit cracking his jokes and laughing, and so he got very mad!

  When Brer Rabbit went away, Brer Wolf came back under the tree by the roots and hollered:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Gutta cord-la.

  Granny Rabbit held her head to one side and listened hard. “I’m very sorry, my son, that you have such a bad cold; you know your voice is sounding very hoarse, my son.” Then she kind of peeked out of the branches and saw Brer Wolf. “You can’t fool me like that,” she said. “Go on away, now, you hear!” Now Brer Wolf was really mad. He grimaced and snorted until his tusks were all shiny. He went to the swamp, scratched his head, and started to think about his problem. Bye and bye, he went to the blacksmith and asked him how he could make his voice less hoarse-sounding, so that it could sound fine like Brer Rabbit’s voice does. The blacksmith said, “Come on, Brer Wolf, and I’ll run this hot poker down your throat and it will make you talk nice and easy like Brer Babbit.”

  Then the blacksmith ran his red-hot poker down Brer Wolf’s throat, and it hurt so bad that it was a long time before Brer Wolf could even say anything. Finally, he took his long walk back to that coconut tree. And when he got there, he hollered:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Cutta cord-la.

  The voice sounded so nice and fine to Granny Rabbit that she thought it must be Brer Rabbit’s voice, and she let the basket down. Brer Wolf shook the cord like he was putting food in the basket, and he just got in it himself. Brer Wolf just sat there as still as can be. Then Granny Rabbit pulled on the cord. She said, “Lord, this load seems heavy. My grandson must really love me to bring me so much food.”

  Brer Wolf, he was just grinning away when he heard this, but he kept still. Granny Rabbit pulled, she pulled hard. She pulled until she was tired and had to rest, and there was Brer Wolf almost to the top of the tree. Brer Wolf looked down and his head started to swim. He looked up and his mouth started to water. He looked down again and he saw Brer Rabbit. He got scared then, and he jerked on the rope a little. Brer Rabbit hollered then:

  Granny, granny, o granny! Cutta cord-la.

  Well, Granny Rabbit cut the cord and Brer Wolf fell down and broke his neck.

  —Sea Islands

  48

  BRER BEAR’S GRAPEVINE

  Brer Bear used to be very, very fond of grapes. He was a good farmer, so he went out in the woods and dug himself up a grapevine and set it out on his farm.

  Brer Bear tended his grapevine like it was a baby, hoeing and watering it in the summertime, and wrapping it up in the wintertime. This went on for two years, and Brer Bear was really proud of himself when he saw the flowers on it the third spring that rolled around. He went into the house that morning and he said to old Missus Bear, “I am going to have the best grapes you ever saw this fall, you just wait and see.”

  Missus Bear started to grumble because she was ill-natured anyhow, and she said, “You ought to make some grapes, you nurse that old vine all the time. I suppose that the birds will eat them up before they get ripe, though,” Brer Bear said, “You are the crossest woman I’ve ever seen. You wouldn’t see a bit of sunshine in a pot of gold, that’s what you wouldn’t, and I know it.” With that he went back out to the grapevine.

  Brer Possum came along and stopped to watch Brer Bear working. When he saw that Brer Bear really had himself a grapevine, he laughed to himself. Then he just went on about his business because the grapes weren’t ripe yet.

  The summer wore on, with Brer Bear always nursing that grapevine and watching the little grapes grow. When they began to grow and when they started turning purple, Brer Bear was so proud that all day long he watched them to see that the birds didn’t peck at them. Meanwhile, Missus Bear just fussed and fussed at all the work he was putting in.

  Brer Bear’s grapes were ripening. One day, he said to himself that he wanted to eat some of them, but he just ate a few, because he wanted them to get nice and ripe before he ate them all up.

  That same evening, Brer Possum woke up from a long nap and remembered the grapes and decided to go see for himself how they were coming along. He sneaked up to the garden where the vines were and he looked around for Brer Bear. When he saw that Brer Bear wasn’t anywhere to be seen, he sneaked up and tasted one of the grapes. He just meant to taste the grapes to see if they were sweeter than the woods’ grapes as Brer Bear said they were, but they were so good that Brer Possum kept on tasting them for a long time.

  After a while, Brer Possum heard somebody coming and he climbed up on top of the vine just as Brer Fox crept up and started eating Brer Bear’s grapes quietly. Brer Possum lay there quietly until Brer Fox got a taste and left, then he started eating again.

  Soon he heard somebody else coming and he had to hide again. This time it was Brer Bear’s cousin, and I tell you, this Brer Bear could sure say grace over a powerful heap of grapes. Before Brer Bear left, Brer Raccoon came, and poor old Brer Possum had to lay there almost all night. At last it was getting to be daylight, and Brer Possum knew that Brer Bear would be there soon to shoo the birds away. He got up and he couldn’t see any grapes to save his life, but when he heard Brer Bear opening the door he jumped off the vine, and I tell you, he flew away from there.

  Brer Bear, when he found he didn’t have any grapes left, he went wild, at first with grief, then with anger, and he began to look for tracks of the thief. The other animals had stepped lightly, but Brer Possum when he had jumped off of the vine had planted his tracks in the soft dirt and there was no mistake about that being old Brer Possum himself that had left the tracks.

  Brer Bear was so mad that he looked for Brer Possum for a week to kill him, but Brer Squirrel warned Brer Possum and Brer Possum stayed hidden for a long spell. He had another advantage too, for Brer Possum slept during the daytime and Brer Bear slept at night.

  After that, Brer Bear never planted another grapevine, and he never had any use for Brer Possum anymore either. Until this day they don’t have a thing to do with each other, and Brer Possum is scared of Brer Bear. Of course, Missus Bear said to old Brer Bear, like a woman will, “Old man, I told you so, didn’t I?”

  —North Carolina

  A woman had a son and a daughter who were very devoted to her. The son used to go out and shoot game every day so that they could have something to eat. And every day that son would come back with his bag full of pigeons. One day, while traveling through the bush, he came upon a house. There was only one person—a girl—living in that house. He we
nt in and fell in love with the girl. And after that, when he went out to shoot game, he left a portion of his catch for the girl before he went home.

  Seeing the bag wasn’t full, his sister said to the mother, “Mama, why do you think that Brother is not bringing as many pigeons as he used to? He must be giving them away to somebody.” The mother said, “I was thinking that, my child. I will find out if he is giving them away.”

  She thought about it and took his shot bag and put some ashes in it. In the morning, when the sun woke up, he took up the bag and he went out and paid no attention to what was in the bag. On the road he took, those little ashes made a track as he was riding along, and his mother followed the track. When she got way up in the bush she heard her son singing, and she got up close to hear what he was saying:

  My sweet Arlegen, my sweet Arlegen,

  Ye virgin, open the door,

  My sweet Arlegen.

  The girl opened the door and he went in now and stayed there with her for a little while. When he left he went into the bush, and when he came back out he left a portion of pigeons and went home. The next morning, his mother followed him again. She went, and she heard the song:

  My sweet Arlegen, my sweet Arlegen,

  Ye virgin, open the door,

  My sweet Arlegen.

  Well, she opened the door and he passed a little time there and went out again. Now, the mother wanted to kill the girl. After the fellow went into the bush, the mother went by the door and began to sing, softly and lightly:

  My sweet Arlegen, my sweet Arlegen,

  Ye virgin, open the door,

  My sweet Arlegen.

  But the girl knew that it wasn’t the boy’s voice, and she wouldn’t open the door. Well, after she saw that the girl wouldn’t open the door, the mother went back and she went to a blacksmith, and asked him to put hot lead down her throat to give her the voice like her son, and he did.

  Next day, the fellow went again and sang, and the door opened. After the fellow left and went into the bush, the mother went up to the door of the house and sang:

  My sweet Arlegen, my sweet Arlegen,

  Ye virgin, open the door,

  My sweet Arlegen.

  Now that she had the same voice as the man, the girl got up and opened the door. And the mother went inside and she chopped off the girl’s head, and she wrapped her up and put her back on the bed, and she went out and closed the door. When the man came back, the man sang:

  My sweet Arlegen, my sweet Arlegen,

  Ye virgin, open the door,

  My sweet Arlegen.

  Now, the door didn’t open, and he said to himself, “How deep you must be sleeping that you can’t hear me.” And he jerked open the door. He went in and pulled the sheet off of the girl, and her head dropped on the floor.

  Well, he took the head and put it back carefully and covered her up, and went on home. He carried his bag full of pigeons this day now, and thrust it at his mother. And he turned back and he went and he dug a grave deep and wide, and he threw himself down into the grave and broke his neck.

  Now, the mother and the daughter were still waiting for his food, but he never came. The next day and the day after, he still didn’t come back, and now they were hungry. With nothing to eat and no one to go to, they started to eat each other’s shoulder, and they ate each other’s hands until they got as far as their mouths could reach, mother and daughter, and the two of them died like that.

  —Providencia

  50

  OLD GRANNY GRINNY GRANNY

  One time, Brer Rabbit was traveling around to all the neighbors. He had been mad at Brer Wolf for some time, but he decided to be a friendly neighbor that day. He came past Brer Wolf’s house, but he didn’t see anything, and he didn’t hear anything. So he hollered: “Hi, Brer Wolf! Why aren’t you answering when I’m coming by to say ‘hello’? Why are you making such a worried face for me?” He waited and he listened and still there was no answer. Brer Rabbit hollered again: “Come on out and show yourself, Brer Wolf, come on out and show yourself! It would be a shame not to come out when your old acquaintance came visiting you where you lived.”

  Nothing answered at all, and Brer Rabbit really began to get mad. He got so mad, in fact, that he stamped his feet and bumped his head on the side of the fence. Bye and bye, he got a little courage and he opened the door and looked inside the house. The fire was going in the chimney, a pot was set on the fire, and an old woman sat by the pot. The old woman was Old Granny Wolf. She was crippled in her legs, and blind in her eyes, and almost deaf in her ears. In spite of her deafness, she had heard Brer Rabbit making a fuss at the door, and she cried out: “Come in and see Old Granny, my grandson, come in and see Granny. The fire is burning, the pot’s boiling. Come on in and get something to eat, my grandson.” She just couldn’t tell it was Brer Rabbit and not Brer Wolf.

  So Brer Rabbit went on in and made himself comfortable by the fire. Bye and bye, he hollered: “Hi, Granny, I’ve been crippled myself. My eyes have come to blindness. You must boil me in the water so my leg can get better and my eyes can see again.” Now, Brer Rabbit really liked tomfoolery, so he took a chunk of wood and dropped it in the pot, kerchunk. He then said, “Now I’m feeling better, my granny. My leg is getting stronger and my eyes can almost see.”

  Granny Wolf shook her head and cried: “My one leg is crippled and my other leg is crippled; my one eye is blind and my other eye is blind. Why don’t you put me in the pot and make me feel better?” Brer Rabbit laughed and said, “Hold yourself still, Granny, and I’ll fix one place in the pot where you’ll be able to get back the strength in your legs and the sight in your eyes. Hold still, now, Granny.” And Brer Rabbit took the chunk of wood out of the pot and put Granny in its place. She touched the fire and hollered, “Ow! Take me away from this.” Brer Rabbit said she wasn’t in there long enough yet. Granny Wolf hollered, “Ow! Take me away from this, it’s too hot.” Brer Rabbit didn’t take Granny Wolf from the pot, and finally she died and was cooked. Brer Rabbit took the bones out and threw them away, but he left the meat. He took Granny Wolf’s cap and turned it around and put it on. Then he sat by the fire and waited, holding himself in the chair the same as Granny Wolf.

  Bye and bye, Brer Wolf came back. He walked into the house and said, “I’m hungry, Grinny Granny, I’m really hungry.” “Your dinner is ready, Grindson Grandson!” Brer Wolf looked in the pot and smelled it and stirred it, and served himself up a big plateful. He ate his dinner and he smacked his mouth.

  Brer Wolf ate the dinner and then called in his children and asked them if they didn’t want something to eat. But they said, “We can’t eat Grinny Granny,” So Brer Rabbit knew he was going to get caught and he scampered away from there. But he hollered back, “Brer Wolf, you just ate Grinny Granny.”

  Brer Wolf got so mad. He heard Brer Rabbit holler and he tired to each him. His feet just tore up the grass the way he was running along. Finally, he ran down Brer Rabbit, he was pushing himself so hard. Brer Rabbit had run and run till he couldn’t run any more, so he hid underneath a leaning tree. Brer Wolf found him there, but couldn’t get to him. Brer Rabbit hollered, “Hi, Brer Wolf, come quickly and hold up this tree before it falls down, for the world is coming down. Come on and hold it up and I’ll run and get a prop for it.” Brer Wolf was scared now, so he held up that tree for Brer Rabbit; he held it until he got tired, and Brer Rabbit was gone.

  —Georgia

  One time, Brer Alligator’s back used to be smooth and white as a catfish skin. When he came out of the water and lay down to sleep in the hot sun on the mudbank, he shined like a piece of silver. He was mighty proud of that hide, and mighty pleased with himself in every way.

  He and his wife and his family lived down in the river at the edge of the rice field. They had plenty of fish to eat and never had to bother any of the animals on the land, unless they strayed into those bogs of mud by the riverside, or fell in the water. They just threw themselves in the bottom of the dit
ches and canals, and they had a gang of children so their house was always full up without them asking in no company. And they were so satisfied with themselves that they thought that there wasn’t anybody quite like them. And they had no notion how true that was!

  Well, one hot day in the fall, Brer Gator was resting himself upon a rice-field bank, letting the sun soak into that bright back of his, when along came Brer Rabbit.

  Now Brer Babbit had no love for Brer Gator, but he stopped all the same to pass the time of day with him, to have a little conversation with him, because Brer Rabbit loved to talk with anyone. Rather than keep his mouth shut he goes out of his way to talk, if it’s only with one of those ridiculous animals that don’t know any better than to live in the water.

  “Howdy, Brer Alligator. How is Sister Alligator, and all the young alligators making out?” Brer Gator didn’t bother to reply at first. It just seemed like he didn’t care what any other animal thought about him, or how they were getting along themselves. But after a while he fixed his cat-eye on Brer Rabbit and told him, “Please God, they’re getting on just fine. But it’s no wonder that those children are smart and pretty and raised right, because they live right here in the river. I swear to God, I can’t see how you others get by living up on top of that dry, drafty land. And you and all the other animals that aren’t fit to live in the water. You seem to spend all of your time fighting with each other until you must be worn out before the day is half finished!” Brer Rabbit got really angry with Brer Gator for being so set in his notions and so superior in his manners; so he got it in his mind to just tell him what he thought of that kind of talk. But you know how, even when he’s angry, he can hide it, so Brer Rabbit just stayed calm and pretended that Brer Gator is a wise man. He sighed and he shook his head and said, very mournful like, “Maybe so. We sure have been seeing a lot of trouble up here lately.”