African American Folktales Stories from Black Traditions in the New World,9780375705397

African American Folktales Stories from Black Traditions in the New World

by
Edition: Reprint
ISBN13: 9780375705397
ISBN10: 0375705392
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 1999-01-09
Publisher(s): Pantheon
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Summary

From the canefileds of the ante-bellum South, the villages of the Caribbean islands, and the streets of contemporary inner cities, here are more than one hundred tales from an "incredibly rich and affirmative storytelling tradition" (Choice). Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They includes stories set down in travelers' reports and plantation journals from the early nineteenth century, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.

Author Biography

Roger D. Abrahams is a former president of the American Folklore Society. Among his most recent books are <i> African Folktales</i> (also availabe in Pantheon paperback), <i>After Africa</i> (with John Szwed, and <i>Singing the Master</i>.

Table of Contents

PREFACE xv
INTRODUCTION 3(34)
PART I. Getting Things Started: How the World Got Put Together That Way 37(44)
1. Never Seen His Equal
41(1)
2. The Man Makes and the Woman Takes
42(3)
3. Bringing Men and Women Together
45(1)
4. The Fight over Life
46(1)
5. The Wind and the Water Fighting
47(1)
6. The Word the Devil Made Up
48(1)
7. The Knee-High Man Tries to Get Sizable
49(1)
8. Pig's Long Nose and Greedy Mouth
50(2)
9. Getting Common Sense
52(1)
10. Hankering for a Long Tail
53(9)
11. The Devil's Doing
62(1)
12. The John Crows Lose Their Hair
63(2)
13. Tadpole Loses His Tail
65(1)
14. The Owl Never Sleeps at Night
66(2)
15. Why Hens Are Afraid of Owls
68(1)
16. The Gifts of Dipper and Cowhide
69(3)
17. Buh Nansi Scares Buh Lion
72(2)
18. Testing the Good Lord
74(1)
19. Mr. Possum Loves Peace
75(2)
20. Get Back, Get Back
77(1)
21. No Justice on Earth
78(3)
PART II. Minding Somebody Else's Business and Sometimes Making It Your Own 81(34)
22. Meeting the King of the World
85(2)
23. Mr. Bamancoo Gets Dropped
87(2)
24. The Tug-of-War between Elephant and Whale
89(2)
25. Tiger Becomes a Riding Horse
91(3)
26. The Telltale Pepper Bush
94(3)
27. Making the Stone Smoke
97(2)
28. The Latest Song
99(2)
29. The Signifying Monkey
101(4)
30. The Singing Bones
105(3)
31. A Boarhog for a Husband
108(3)
32. The Woman Who Was a Bird
111(2)
33. My Mother Killed Me, My Father Ate Me
113(2)
PART III. Getting a Comeuppance: How (and How Not) to Act Stories 115(62)
34. What Makes Brer Wasp Have a Short Patience
119(2)
35. Between the Fiddler and the Dancer
121(1)
36. Being Greedy Chokes Anansi
122(1)
37. The Doings and Undoings of the Dogoshes
123(1)
38. Spreading Fingers for Friendship
124(1)
39. Don't Shoot Me, Dyer, Don't Shoot Me
125(3)
40. Little Eight John
128(2)
41. The Poor Man and the Snake
130(2)
42. The Little Bird Grows
132(4)
43. Tricking All the Kings
136(4)
44. The Feast on the Mountain and the Feast under the Water
140(1)
45. Hide Anger until Tomorrow
141(1)
46. Buying Two Empty Hands
142(2)
47. Cutta Cord-La
144(3)
48. Brer Bear's Grapevine
147(2)
49. A Foolish Mother
149(2)
50. Old Granny Grinny Granny
151(2)
51. You Never Know What Trouble Is until It Finds You
153(6)
52. He Pays for the Provisions
159(4)
53. The Cunning Cockroach
163(1)
54. Little Boy-Bear Nurses the Alligator Children
164(3)
55. The Girl Made of Butter
167(2)
56. Poppa Stole the Deacon's Bull
169(4)
57. The Trouble with Helping Out
173(2)
58. The Rooster Goes Away in a Huff
175(2)
PART IV. How Clever Can You Get? Tales of Trickery and Its Consequences 177(42)
59. Why They Name the Stories for Anansi
182(1)
60. Brother Rabbit Takes a Walk
183(2)
61. The Lion in the Well
185(7)
62. A License to Steal
192(2)
63. The Race between Toad and Donkey
194(3)
64. Crawling into the Elephant's Belly
197(2)
65. A Strange Way to Sleep
199(1)
66. Goobers Gone, Rabbit Gone
200(2)
67. Assaulting All the Senses
202(1)
68. Brer Rabbit's Riddle
203(3)
69. The Horned Animals' Party
206(1)
70. Anansi Plays Dead
207(3)
71. Anansi Climbs the Wall
210(1)
72. Dancing to the River
211(3)
73. "Trouble" Coming Down the Road
214(2)
74. No Chicken Tonight
216(3)
PART V. The Strong Ones and the Clever: Contests and Confrontations 219(44)
75. Golden Breasts, Diamond Navel, Chain of Gold
223(7)
76. The Flying Contest
230(2)
77. Loggerhead
232(2)
78. Trying to Get the Goldstone
234(4)
79. Stackolee
238(2)
80. Escaping, Slowly
240(1)
81. Turning into Nouna--Nothing
241(3)
82. The Old Bull and the Young One
244(7)
83. Fasting for the Hand of the Queen's Daughter
251(2)
84. Weak in the Day and Strong at Night
253(2)
85. Jack Beats the Devil
255(5)
86. Three Killed Florrie, Florrie Killed Ten
260(3)
PART VI. Getting Around Old Master (Most of the Time) 263(34)
87. They Both Had Dead Horses
270(4)
88. You Talk Too Much, Anyhow
274(1)
89. Making the Eyes Run
275(1)
90. Making a Wagon from a Wheelbarrow
276(1)
91. The One-Legged Turkey
277(1)
92. John Outruns the Lord
278(2)
93. A Flying Fool
280(1)
94. Horses Stay Outside
281(1)
95. The Sinking of the Titanic
282(1)
96. Competition for Laziness
283(1)
97. John Outwits Mr. Berkeley
284(4)
98. Black Jack and White Jack
288(3)
99. Philanewyork
291(2)
100. The Barn Is Burning
293(4)
PART VII. In the End, Nonsense 297(10)
101. Big-Gut, Big-Head, Stringy-Leg
300(1)
102. A Chain of Won'ts
300(1)
103. Animal Talk
301(1)
104. A Comic Conversation
302(1)
105. A Smoking Story
303(1)
106. The Things That Talked
304(1)
107. Endings
305(2)
APPENDIX: Sources, Annotations, and Index of Tales 307(14)
BIBLIOGRAPHY 321(4)
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 325

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