African American Folktales

by Roger Abrahams

  Compé Anansi and his wife were starving. So he said, “My wife, saltfish is my favorite food, but there isn’t any. If we do a trick, we can get some meat. I could play like I was dead, and you could go out to the road and sing and wail, say, ‘My husband’s dead,’ and so on. Do you think you could do that?” She said, “If I can’t do something that easy, then there is no God. So I will do it.”

  So she went out in the yard. She tied up her jaw and put a band around her waist like she was in mourning, and started bawling, “O my God, my husband’s dead. Oy, and now I have to bury him.” She cried this, expecting all their neighbors to come by and help with the burial. She went all the way to the edge of the yard, and she sang:

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  And I have to have him buried

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my waist and cry-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my jaw and cry-o

  Oh, ting wa.

  Compé Hawk came by then. She said, “You see, Compé Hawk, you see Compé Anansi there dead.” Compé Anansi was stretched out there like he was dead, with his eyes shut tight. Compé Hawk said, “Well, Compé, you have chosen the better path and heaven waits for you and Thy will be done.” After a while he turned his back, and Whoop! she killed Compé Hawk. Anansi called his wife, and asked if she had killed Compé Hawk, and she said she had. He said, “My wife, I never knew you were so brave. Now we are going to have something to eat.”

  Anyhow, he was excited now. He said, “My wife, if we can catch one there, we can catch two.” So they went out in the yard again, and she started bawling:

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  And I have to have him buried

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my waist and cry-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my jaw and cry-o

  Oh, ting wa.

  Well, Compé Bull Cattle passed by. “Unnhh, what are you saying?” She said, “My husband’s dead.” He said, disbelieving this, “You are talking in farts, lady,” She said, “He’s gone, go on in and see him.” When he went in, Compé Bull Cattle said, “Well, man, Compé Anansi has done his time and chosen a better path.” Well, Compé Bull Cattle started to look back at Compé Anansi, and Whoop! she killed him. He cried, “Maaah,” and he dropped to the ground, boop.

  Compé Anansi really was excited now, and said, “My wife, go back again. Start the same bawling again.” So she started:

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  My poor Nansi’s dead-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  And I have to have him buried

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my waist and cry-o

  Oh, ting-wa

  Let me band my jaw and cry-o

  Oh, ting wa.

  Compé Sheep passed now. He went in, the poor little lamb. Said, “Maaah,” and he was dead, Whoop! Compé Fowl passed, the same thing happened. All the animals in the world passed by; they killed them the same way.

  Compé Ground Dove was there in the tree watching all these doings. Compé Ground Dove reached the yard, and Anansi’s wife started bawling out as usual, “God, Compé, I need help here. Compé Anansi’s dead, dead, dead.” He said, “Dead, dead, dead?” He said, “Dead? And you have the place shut up so. You should not keep the dead in a place like this. Open up the windows. Open up the blinds.” He flew around, opening up everything. He said, “Compé, you’re really dead?” She said, “Yes, he’s dead.” Compé Ground Dove said, “Well, I’ve always heard that dead people have to break a fart.” So Compé Anansi heard that and let go with a boop. He said, “Yes, yes, yes, you can always hear a dead man fart. When a man is dead he is done with this world.” So he let out another boop and Compé Ground Dove hopped up and down laughing, making fun of Compé Anansi lying there farting.

  And that’s why you see there are fools in this world today, some wiser than some, up to today. And that is the end of the story.

  —St. Vincent

  71

  ANANSI CLIMBS THE WALL

  Back there a long time ago, Nansi and Brer Death decided to plant a provision field together. But Nansi and Death had a lot of quarrels. Nansi was always around smiling, playing around, making lots of nonsense. He would sit under the bamboo tree and make like he was some overseer. Anything but working in that field of provisions. So, of course, his yams and beans didn’t grow. But Brer Death, he carried his hoe all day, and while he was hoeing he was smacking his lips thinking about all the yams and beans he was going to eat.

  Nansi, he started thinking too about all the yams and beans growing in the field. So he told his wife, Tookooma, that he was going to sneak over to the provision field with his basket to get a taste. He told her to stay at the gate with a basket, so that when he came back with a basket of yams, she could hand him one for the beans. Tookooma said, “Duppies [ghosts] are going to catch you, husband.” Nansi sucked his teeth: “Chuck! Duppies don’t bother me. Tonight I’m a white man and the duppies won’t go after me.”

  Now, Brer Death thought that his provisions were getting to look awfully nice, so he started to stand watch over the field at night, with his cutlass in his hand. Bye and bye, he heard a sound and snuck over and sure enough he saw Nansi with a basket, right there in the middle of his field. He said, “Howdy, Brer Nansi. What’s happening with you?” And Nansi said, “Howdy, Brer Death, I’m just feeling so-so.” “What brings you into my provision field at this time of night?” “I like to watch your yams grow, Brer Death.” “Your mouth is running away with you, Nansi. Why are you carrying a basket, then?” “I’m going to hunt for crayfish, Brer Death.”

  So he could see that Nansi was there to steal his yams, so he flew at him with his cutlass, and Nansi started running toward home. He called way down the road: “Open the back door; shut the front door, Tookooma; Death is coming after me.” And Tookooma didn’t hear him too well, and asked, “Well, did you fill the basket?” Nansi, who was closer now, said, “You fool, you; open the back door, shut the front door.” She still couldn’t hear him well. “What did you say, my husband, did you bring the basket?” “Oh, you fool, you! Open the back door, shut the front door. Death is coming after me!” Nansi ran in the front door, and Death almost caught him and hit him with his cutlass. Nansi ran out the back and into an old shed, and ran up the wall like a big black spider, and he hid himself in a cranny so that Brer Death couldn’t find him. And that’s why you always find Nansi and all his webs sitting up in the rafters of old sheds and places like that.

  —Jamaica

  72

  DANCING TO THE RIVER

  Once there were hard times in a certain town. Nobody could get nothing to eat. The birds flew all about looking for food, but they couldn’t find anything. So then, one day, the word went about that one gentleman’s corn patch had plenty of corn. It was way far away, but the corn was supposed to be good and ripe.

  As the news went around, the pigeons all flew there to look it over. Mudfish was down in the water, and from waking time through breakfast time, he heard the birds’ wings: pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa. He was feeling sorry for himself. He swam to the shore, and when the pigeons flew down to the riverside to get a drink of water, he asked them, “Bru, which way do you go when you look for food?” Pigeon boasted, saying, “Ha! Bru! The white man has a field which is full of corn which is ripe and full. We’re going to go there today.” Mudfish said, “Bru, why don’t you carry me with you when you fly over there?” The pigeon laughed. “Sure, Mudfish! You just better stay where you are, man. What are you going to do in a cornfield?” But Mudfish kept it up. He stayed there right by the shore, so that Pigeon, when he came down to drink, heard him begging again and again, “Bru, take me to that cornfield, please. Won’t you take me there?” Pigeo
n reminded him that a mudfish out of water can’t move.

  But there was one good-natured pigeon who came there to drink. When Mudfish said to him, “Bru Pigeon, please carry me with you now!” He said, “Bru, what do you want to do in a cornfield?” Mudfish said, “I love corn to eat too, you know?” Pigeon said, “How are you going to get there?” He said, “Bru, I will just lie down there on your back if you will take me,” He said, “Bru, supposing you fall down?” He said, “Bru, I’ll hold on.” He said, “Bru Mudfish, I don’t want to carry you.” He said, “Bru, please carry me!”

  Well, the good-natured pigeon finally agreed, and off they went. When they reached the cornfield, he put Mudfish on the ground. Then the pigeon began to eat corn in the field and Mudfish was down below him picking up what he dropped and he was eating away too.

  Suddenly they heard that the watchman was coming. The pigeons just fluttered their wings and went away, pa, pa, pa, pa. Now Mudfish cried, “Pigeon, pick me up please!” But Pigeon was scared and said, “Bru, we can’t wait for you. I told you that you shouldn’t come with us, but your deaf ears wouldn’t listen. You just had to come here.” Now Mudfish really felt sorry for himself, thinking that the watchman was certain to catch him.

  When Watchman came, he saw Mudfish and said, “What are you doing here? How did you get out of the water and come here?” He said, “Bru, the pigeons brought me with them when they came here.” Watchman took him up and put him there in his bag, saying, “I will carry you to the white man, and you can tell him what you were doing here.”

  So the watchman walked along, and he began to sing. Mudfish said to himself, “This watchman just loves to sing.” So he asked, and the watchman said, “Sure, man, I love to sing, yes.” Mudfish said, “Bru Watchman, if you want to hear a man sing, you should hear me.” Watchman said, “Is that so?” Mudfish said, “Yes, but I can’t sing without water. Put me in a little puddle of water and I’ll sing for you.” The watchman was so surprised he decided to try it. And the mudfish, when he got in the water, shook himself, and began to sing:

  Yerry groomer corn pempeny,

  Groomer yerry;

  Pigeon bring me da groomer yerry.

  And the watchman was amazed, and he started to dance. He said, “Mudfish, you surely do sing well.” Mudfish said, “Put me in a tub and I will sing even better, Bru.” So the watchman put him in a big washing tub. Now Mudfish really began to sing:

  Terry groomer corn pempeny,

  Groomer yerry;

  Pigeon bring me da groomer yerry.

  The watchman danced and danced until the sweat was dropping from his face. He said, “Mudfish, you sing sweetly, man.” Mudfish said, “If you put me by the riverside where I can smell that river water, you’ll really hear me sing.” He said, “No, Mudfish! Bye and bye, you’ll turn me into a fool!” Mudfish said, “No, Bru, you don’t have to put my body in the river, just put my tail in there, let it touch the water, and I’ll sing for you and make you dance like you’re mad.” Watchman said, “I will do it, but make sure you don’t turn me into a fool.” He said, “No, Bru Watchman, just put me down there.” And he did. Now Mudfish began to really sing; and Watchman began to really dance.

  Yerry groomer corn pempeny,

  Groomer yerry;

  Pigeon bring me da groomer yerry.

  So Mudfish sang there, and he began to dance, too, wriggling his tail. He sang so sweetly that the watchman never looked back at Mudfish. Mudfish wriggled and sang, wriggled and sang, until he got himself back into the water. When he got there he raised up his head and said, “Bru Watchman, I’ll see you later, you hear?” The watchman jumped after him, but before you could say Jack Sprat, Mudfish was gone!

  And that’s why you hear people say, “Never let Mudfish’s tail touch water.”

  —Jamaica

  73

  “TROUBLE” COMING DOWN THE ROAD

  Now, back in those days, the animals didn’t have the problems they have today, especially because they hadn’t met Hunter yet. But Anansi saw Hunter coming through the bush one day, and saw how he could shoot things.

  So he went back to Rabbit and asked him if he had ever met up with Trouble. Rabbit said he hadn’t. Anansi said there were all kinds, and Rabbit asked what kinds they were. Anansi said, “Well, there is middle-of-the-road Trouble, I can tell you that.”

  So Anansi went up to Hunter and said to him that Rabbit was not afraid of him, so if he was to come to the road tomorrow, Rabbit would be there too, and he could shoot him. Then he went back to Rabbit and told him that tomorrow at six o’clock in the morning he must come to the middle of the road and he would teach him about Trouble.

  So the next morning, Rabbit came down to the road, and there was Hunter. He was just about to take a shot at Rabbit when Rabbit darted away.

  He came back to Anansi and said he had been on the road at the right time, but this Hunter was there and was going to kill him, so he never did get to see Trouble. So Anansi asked him if he wanted to learn about side-of-the-road Trouble instead, and Rabbit said that would be fine. So Anansi took him along the road until they got to where Tiger lived, with all his young ones. Well, Tiger was off someplace, and Anansi picked up one of the little ones, and as he gave it to Rabbit, he broke one of his hands. The little tiger began to cry, and the others all joined in. So Tiger came running back to see why his children were crying, and Anansi said, “You better watch out, Tiger, because Rabbit did something to hurt that child.” Tiger looked at the child and saw his hand was broken. He was very vexed now and he growled, and Rabbit ran away lickety-split, into a hole, with Tiger right behind him. Anansi came trotting behind, and said to Tiger to get a long stick so he could get Rabbit out of the hole. He said he would keep guard.

  Tiger went away to look for the stick, and Anansi went over to the hole and said to Rabbit: “Here is some pepper. When Tiger comes back, I’m going to get him to put his eye to the hole and you blow the pepper into it, and you’ll be able to get away because he’ll be blind then.” So Tiger came back with a stick, and Anansi said, “Tiger, you better see if that Rabbit is still in there, because I haven’t heard anything from in there since you left.” As Tiger put his eye up to the hole, Rabbit blew some pepper into it. Then Tiger ran away. Rabbit came out of the hole, and both Anansi and Rabbit shouted after him, laughing, till their sides hurt.

  —Surinam

  74

  NO CHICKEN TONIGHT

  One day, after Brer Fox had been doing all that he could to catch Brer Rabbit and Brer Rabbit had been doing all he could to keep him from doing it, Brer Fox said to himself that he’d pull a good trick on Brer Rabbit. So right away Brer Rabbit came loping up the big road, looking just as plump, as fat, and as sassy as a horse in a barley patch.

  “Hold on there, Brer Rabbit,” said Brer Fox. “I haven’t got time, Brer Fox,” said Brer Rabbit. “But I want to have a talk with you about something really important, Brer Rabbit,” said Brer Fox. So Brer Rabbit said, “All right, Brer Fox, but you better yell to me from where you are standing because I’m really bothered with fleas this morning and you don’t want to get them.”

  “I saw Brer Bear yesterday,” yelled Brer Fox, “and he sort of raked me over the coals because you and me aren’t such good friends anymore, so I told him that I’d see you and talk to you about making friends again.”

  Well, Brer Rabbit scratched one ear with his hind foot and said, “Why don’t you drop around tomorrow and have dinner with me. We haven’t got a lot of food at our house, but I expect the old woman and the children can scramble around and get up something that will keep back your hunger for a while.” “Well, I’m agreeable to that, Brer Rabbit,” said Brer Fox. “Then I’ll depend on it,” said Brer Rabbit.

  The next day, Mr. Rabbit and Missus Rabbit got up early before daybreak and raided the garden and got some cabbages and some roasting ears of corn, and some asparagus, and they fixed up a smashing dinner. Bye and bye, one of the little rabbits, playing out in the back
yard, came running in hollering, “Oh, Ma! Oh, Ma! I saw Mr. Fox coming!” And then Brer Rabbit took the children by their ears and made them sit down, and they waited quietly there until Mr. Fox arrived. But they kept on waiting because Brer Fox didn’t come. After a while, Brer Rabbit went to the door and peeped out, and there sticking out from behind the corner was the tip end of Brer Fox’s tail. Then Brer Rabbit shut the door quietly and sat down and put his paws behind his ears and began to sing:

  The place where you spill the grease,

  Is right there where you’re bound to slide,

  And where you find a bunch of hair,

  You’ll surely find the hide.

  The next day, Brer Fox sent word with Mr. Mink, to excuse himself, because he had been too sick to come. He asked Brer Rabbit to come and take dinner with him, and Brer Rabbit sent word that would be all right.

  So, that evening, Brer Rabbit brushed himself up and sauntered down to Brer Fox’s house. When he got there he heard somebody groaning and he looked in the door and there he saw Brer Fox sitting in a rocking chair all wrapped up in flannel and looking mighty weak. Brer Rabbit looked all around, but he didn’t see any dinner. The dishpan was sitting on the table, and close by was a carving knife. “It looks like you’re going to have chicken for dinner, Brer Fox,” said Brer Rabbit. “Yes, Brer Rabbit, they are nice and fresh and tender,” said Brer Fox.

  Then Brer Rabbit sort of pulled his mustache and said, “You don’t have any calamus root, do you, Brer Fox? I’ve gotten so that I can’t eat any chicken without it being seasoned up with calamus root.” And with that Brer Rabbit leaped out of the door and dodged among the bushes and sat there watching for Brer Fox; and he didn’t have to watch for long, neither, because Brer Fox threw off the flannel and crept out of the house and got in a position to close in on Brer Rabbit when he got back. So in a little while Brer Rabbit hollered out, “Oh, Brer Fox! I’ll just put your calamus root out here on this stump. You better come and get it while it’s fresh.” And with that Brer Rabbit galloped off home. And Brer Fox hasn’t ever caught him yet.