African American Folktales

by Roger Abrahams

  “Who is that you’re talking about, Brer Rabbit—Trouble?”

  Brer Rabbit thought that Brer Gator must be joking with him.

  “What’s that, Brer Alligator! You never heard of—Trouble?”

  Brer Gator shook his head. “No. I never heard about him, nor have I seen him. What does he look like?” Brer Rabbit couldn’t believe his ears. “Oh, for crying out loud, Brer Alligator! Old as you is, and you haven’t seen Trouble yet?” “I tell you, Brer Rabbit, I ain’t never know nothing about this here Trouble. What does Trouble look like?”

  Brer Rabbit scratched his head. He figured that if Brer Gator is so stupid, and so satisfied with himself, and so ridiculous and unmannerly about everything that lives on land, that now he has a chance to teach Brer Gator his right place. And Brer Rabbit is so mischievious that he schemed about how he was going to have the most fun at Brer Gator’s expense. “I don’t know that I can tell you exactly what Trouble looks like. But maybe you’d like to see him?” he asked. “Of course, I can show him to you, Brer Alligator, but I don’t know that I really want to. Maybe you won’t like him so well when you actually meet.” “What are you talking about? I’m not worried about that. I just want to see him. If I don’t like him, that won’t matter to me at all.” “Well, I’m pretty busy right now,” Brer Rabbit pretended. “Come now, Brer Rabbit! You have time for a lot of inconsequential things, after all, and it is me, Brer Alligator, that is requesting this from you, don’t forget that!”

  “Of course. How can I forget that!” Brer Rabbit mocked him, only Brer Gator did never recognize that Brer Rabbit meant to trick him. “But I have to fix my house up, and Sister Rabbit is not feeling well, and the children have to be watched, and—”

  “Tchk! All that’ll take care of itself!” And Brer Alligator coaxed and begged and begged and coaxed until at last Brer Rabbit agreed to show him Trouble.

  “Meet me here as soon as the dew is dry on the grass next Saturday. That’s a good day, Trouble may have some time off on Sunday.” And Brer Rabbit bid him good morning, and went along down the road.

  On came Saturday, and Brer Gator got up before dawn and started to make himself presentable. Sister Alligator woke up and asked, “Where are you going?” Brer Gator never opened his mouth but continued to fix himself up. That just got Sister Alligator into the mood to bother him.“ Where are you going?” she asked again. And she questioned and she questioned until after a length of time Brer Gator saw that the woman was not going to shut up until she found out. He gave up at last. “I am going out with Brer Rabbit.” “Where are you going?”

  Brer Alligator made a long mouth and tried to pay no more attention. But Sister Alligator knew the ways to get around that fellow. And after another length of time, Brer Alligator told her: “I am going to see Trouble.” “What is Trouble?” “How do I know? That’s what I am going to see.” “Can I go along?” asked Sister Alligator.

  He said no, but after her talking and persuading, talking and persuading, finally Brer Alligator said, “All right, you can come along,” but his patience was worn thin.

  So she started to fix herself up. What with all the talking and persuading, all the little alligators woke up by this time. They looked at their pappy and their mammy, both fixing themselves up, getting ready to go out, and they ran to Brer Gator and asked him, “Where are you going, Pappy?” “None of your business!” They ran to Sister Alligator, and they cried out, one after another, “Where are you going, Mammy?” But all Sister Alligator said is, “Get away and let me alone now.”

  Then they ran to their father, and they teased him: “Pappy, Mammy said for you to tell us where you are going.” Brer Alligator was mad, but he saw that it wouldn’t do him any good to hold back. “I’m going to see Trouble,” he grunted. “Pappy! Can we go with you? Can we go with you?”

  Now the children jumped up and down, hollering and begging him to go along. Brer Alligator told them, “No!” So they ran to their mother and asked, “Mammy, can we go?” And she told them, “If pa says you can go, you can go; but if he said no, then it’s no.”

  So they went back to their father: “Ma says that we can go if you let us.” Now, Brer Alligator was just worn out with all the fuss, so he said, “Well, all right, but fix yourselves up nice and pretty. And you have to act well-mannered now! You have to show Brer Rabbit how much better water children are than woods children.”

  They ran to fix themselves up nice, and soon they were all dressed up for going out. They had on their best, with mud on their heads, and marsh on their backs, and moonshine on their tails, and didn’t they think they looked fine! About this time, Brer Alligator looked out the door and saw that the dew was almost gone, so he called them all to come on. And they all came out, crowding each other, going down the rice-field bank to wait for Brer Rabbit.

  They hadn’t been there long before Brer Rabbit came along, smoking his pipe. When he got to where they were, he was surprised to see the whole family there. He laughed to himself, but he didn’t say anything but “Howdy” to Brer Gator and his wife. And he told them, “How nice your children look today!” But all the time he was saying to himself, “Oh, Lord! This is an ugly gang of people, aren’t they? And just look at those clothes!”

  Brer Gator didn’t even apologize for bringing such a big crowd with him. All he said was, “They all begged me so that I had to give in and let them come along.”

  Brer Rabbit said, “There’s plenty of room for everybody. I hope you will all enjoy yourselves.”

  “Thank you!” they all told him. And the children were so glad that Brer Rabbit didn’t send them home that they all danced around with joy.

  They looked so funny that Brer Rabbit almost laughed in their faces. But instead of that he knit his eyebrows and looked at his watch, and said, “Time to get going, I guess.”

  So they all started down the rice-field bank, Brer Rabbit and Brer Gator leading off, with Sister Alligator walking behind to make the little alligators behave themselves. But they wouldn’t hardly mind her, they played along, or dawdled, or fought until they almost drove her crazy.

  Brer Rabbit led them up through a patch of woods until he got to a field grown over with broomgrass and briar! The grass stood like pure gold. The path they took went straight through the field, and it was a big field too. Brer Rabbit led, and after a while they got to the middle of the field and then he stopped. He took his pipe from his mouth and cupped his ear, and pretended that he was listening for something. “Sh! Sh!” he told the children. Sister Alligator said, “Sh! Sh! Or I’ll lick the tar out of you!”

  After Brer Rabbit listened some more, he shouted out, “Who is that calling Brer Rabbit?” Then he pretended that he heard something more, and he yelled back, “Yes. It’s me. What do you want with me?”

  He cupped his hand to his ear again, and then he said, “I am coming right now.” And he turned to Brer Gator and told him, “I beg your pardon, but somebody is calling me away for a minute on business. Please excuse me. Wait right here, and I’ll be right back.” “We aren’t going anyplace,” Brer Gator promised.

  Brer Rabbit made a low bow and ran along the path out of sight. That deceitful devil ran until he got to the edge of the woods, and he sat down and chuckled to himself like he was tasting the fun before he started it. Then he got down to business.

  He smelled the wind and looked which way it was blowing. Then he pulled a handful of that long, dry broomgrass, and he knocked out the hot coal from his pipe into it, and he blew on it till the grass caught fire good. Then he ran along the edge of the field with the fire, and set the field blazing all around. When he was finished, he got up on a safe high stump where he could see good, and he sat down and waited.

  All this time, the alligators were down in the middle of the field. They were tired because they had walked so far, and were satisfied to rest themselves awhile.

  Sister Alligator was just that kind who liked to know just what she was going to see. She pestered and
bothered Brer Gator with which-and-why talk: “Which way are we going to find Trouble? Why didn’t you make Brer Rabbit tell you more about this thing you’re looking for? How long do we have to wait?” He didn’t answer her, but just sat still and grunted every now and then. Once in a while, Sister Alligator called to the children who were running around, “Stop that noise!” And they sat, and they sat. The fire burned and burned. At last the wind caught it and it flared up high, and the sparks and flames flew away up in the sky. One of the little alligators saw that and he hollered out, “Look there! Look there!” But, just then, Sister Alligator asked Brer Alligator another question, and she shut up the children to answer him.

  But all the rest of the little alligators looked toward where their brother had pointed and they sang out too, “Look-a dere!” And one got a notion and he yelled out, “That must be Trouble.” And Sister Alligator turned and looked, “Look, Pa! Is that Trouble for true?”

  Brer Gator was so ignorant he didn’t know. He lived in the water and mud, and he hadn’t ever seen fire until now, but he didn’t feel easy in his mind. “I guess maybe Brer Rabbit got lost or something?” he asked Sister Alligator, without answering her question. Then one of the children sang out, “Trouble is pretty!”

  With that, all of the brats raised up their voices and hollered: “Trouble is pretty! Trouble is pretty! Trouble is pretty!”

  Brer Gator said, “If that is Trouble, he sure is pretty! The child speaks the truth.” And he and his wife sat staring with their big eye up in the air watching the fire coming on, and they forgot all about Brer Rabbit. And all the children stared too, same as their mother and father, and kept quiet as if they were afraid that they might scare Trouble away.

  At last a hot spark landed right on one of the little alligators’ back. And he screamed and cried, “Trouble hurts!” His mother smacked him in the jaw and told him to mind his manners and shut up, and to look at how pretty Trouble is. But just as she did that, a big spark lit on her and burned her bad. And she started to jump around and holler. “It’s true; Trouble hurts!” And they remembered then who they had forgotten. “Brer Rabbit! Brer Rabbit! We don’t want to see no more Trouble, Brer Rabbit!” Well, about that time the sparks began to burn the whole bunch. They were so mixed up they didn’t know what to do. And they ran around and ran about, this way and that way, to get away, but everywhere they turned was the fire. And they hollered out, and hollered out, “Brer Rabbit, where are you? Call to Trouble, Brer Rabbit! Come for us!”

  But Brer Rabbit didn’t come, and he didn’t say anything. And very soon the fire got so close to those gators that they couldn’t hold their ground any longer. They stopped calling Brer Rabbit, and got ready to get through the fire the best they could. They didn’t have any notion left in their head but Get Home!

  Sister Alligator hollered, “Children, follow your pa.”

  And right through the scorching fire they burst, Sister Alligator pushing them along. They don’t walk so fast every day, but this was a very special day, with that hot fire blistering and frying them. After they got through, they didn’t slow down. They went past Brer Rabbit on the stump, but they didn’t see him, they were running so fast. And they looked so funny that Brer Rabbit almost fell off the stump, laughing so hard.

  “Wait, Brer Alligator!” he shouted, “I guess you have seen Trouble now! Get back in the water where you belong. And don’t ever hunt Trouble anymore!” Those gators were just too busy running to stop and argue with him. They didn’t stop until they got to the rice-field bank and jumped in the river. And they were still so hot from the fire when they went over the bank that as the water hit them, it went “Swiish-sssssssss-sh!” And the steam rose up like a cloud.

  They didn’t come out again the whole day or that night either; but when they got a chance to look at each other they found that the fire had burned them so bad that their white skin was just as black and crinkly as a burned log of wood, and as rough as a live oak bark.

  And from that day to this, alligators have a horny hide.

  —South Carolina

  52

  HE PAYS FOR THE PROVISIONS

  Blacksnake and Buh Nansi were very good friends. They went to church one day and they heard a preacher preaching and telling about a famine that was coming. After he went home, Blacksnake told Nansi that they must work a garden. Anansi said he was not going to work at any garden; he’d rather live as a thief.

  The next day, Blacksnake started to work on his garden, planting yams, potatoes, okras, tanias; and as everything came into bloom, the famine started. All this time, Blacksnake was expecting to see Anansi come to help, but he never saw him. Anansi came home and saw the garden and asked Blacksnake for something to eat. Blacksnake decided to give something to Anansi, but he told him that each time he must give him a lash with his long tail, and you know how strong that Blacksnake is. But Anansi saw that might give him some chance for even more food.

  Anansi went one day and Blacksnake gave him a bunch of plantains, a few yams, some potatoes, okras, and callaboo bush (the leaves of the dasheen taro), and Anansi went home and made a big pot of food for himself. Then, the next day, Anansi got a little kettle drum and he started to beat it, singing:

  Ah me Buh Nansi—O

  Ah me Buh Nansi—O

  Good feast here tonight

  Good feast here tonight—O

  Buh Goat heard that, heard the singing, and he went up. “Buh Nansi.” “Yes, Buh Goat?” “What’s happening?” Say, “Oh God, man, I have bush peas, man, bush peas and lots of other food left over from a feast last night.” Well, Buh Goat being the kind of person who will eat anything, he really went at some of the leavings. And he got so full he lay down to sleep and decided to spend the night.

  Around twelve o’clock, Blacksnake came. “Buh Nansi.” “Yes, sir.” He whispered to his guest, “Buh Goat, open the door, man come.” And as soon as Buh Goat got up and opened the door, Blacksnake gave a lash in the dark and cut Buh Goat in half. Nansi got up and he saw Buh Goat lying there. He said, “Son of a bitch, I’m going to have some food tomorrow.” Early in the morning Buh Nansi cleaned Buh Goat, cut him up, put him in the pot, seasoned him, cooked up a big pot full of goat-water stew. But he needed some provisions—yams, peas, taro, and other roots. So he went back to Blacksnake’s garden now. Blacksnake said, “Buh Nansi, you aren’t dead?” He said, “No Blacksnake, look at me, Buh Nansi, here!”

  And he begged another bag of provisions. So Blacksnake gave Buh Nansi some plantains again, some yams, some greens, potatoes; and Buh Nansi went home and he made a big feast for the second night. After Nansi had eaten, he started to dance and sing again:

  Ah me Buh Nansi—O

  Ah me Buh Nansi—O

  Good feast here tonight

  Good feast here tonight—O

  Brer Hog came up. Soon, Buh Hog got there, “Hunh, huhn, hunh, hunh.” Buh Nansi said, “Oh God, man, I have nice things to eat tonight, nice things, a big feed going on here, big feed.” Buh Nansi said, “People came here last night and for the whole night we had a big spread.” So Buh Hog ate a belly full, and he fell asleep too.

  Just at twelve o’clock, Blacksnake came again, just as he had the night before. As soon as Blacksnake called at the door, Buh Nansi said, “Buh Hog, would you get up and open the door? Somebody’s knocking.” As soon as Buh Hog opened the door, Blacksnake lashed out and cut Hog right in half, and he dropped dead.

  Buh Nansi got up, cleaned Hog, seasoned up Hog the next day and made another big cook-up. But again he needed provisions for the pot to go with the meat. So he went back to the field. Blacksnake was really surprised now, “Buh Nansi, you mean you are still alive?” He said, “Yes, Blacksnake. You both beat me and you feed me.”

  Blacksnake gave him the same thing as usual. Well, by this time Buh Nansi was finding it hard to find anyone who would be friends. Nansi walked all around the house and started in with his drumming and singing again:

  Ah big music here ton
ight

  Big spree—O, big spree

  Neighbors all come,

  Come a here.

  [spoken] Big spree tonight, big spree

  [sung] Ah neighbors—O

  [spoken] Come join me we get by spree.

  Well, Mr. Tattoo the Armadillo was there, and Buh Tattoo decided to go. Now Tattoo does not eat cooked food like that, he lives on rotten wood and worms. But he was interested in all this singing and dancing and whatever was going on. So Tattoo did not partake of anything that Buh Nansi was cooking. When night came, Anansi went and lay down on the bed, but Tattoo went and dug a hole right in front of the door in the dirt and he lay down there.

  At twelve o’clock, when Blacksnake came and called Anansi, Anansi called out: “Buh Tattoo, Buh Tattoo, will you open that door?” Tattoo said, “It’s your house, it’s for you to open the door. Don’t you know good manners?” Blacksnake called, “Buh Nansi.” Buh Nansi said, “I’m coming, sir. Buh Tattoo, the man is knocking loud. Get up and open the door. Man, I’m not feeling good. I’ve got a fever.” But Tattoo said, “It’s your house, it’s for you to open the door and invite your friends inside. I’m not going to open anyone else’s door.” Well, Anansi cannot get Tattoo to get up and Blacksnake was getting angry outside. So Anansi put a sofa, a chair, and a table on top and he got under all that. And as Buh Nansi got under all of that there, Blacksnake gave a lash with his long tail and it cut the table, chair, and everything else around in half and nearly cut Buh Nansi in half too.

  And from that day, Nansi doesn’t beg but works for himself. There is the story.