An intriguing compendium of 107 folklore and legends from the antebellum South, the islands of the Caribbean, and urban America celebrate the rich and vital traditions of African-American culture. Reprint. 10,000 first printing. 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. 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