{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35410/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35410","id":"gutenberg_35410","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35410","summary":null,"tags":["Anansi (Legendary character)","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folk music -- Jamaica","Folk songs, English -- Jamaica","Folklore -- Jamaica"],"text":"\n\n\n\nProduced by Suzanne Shell, Linda Cantoni, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs=. Italic\ntext is surrounded by _underscores_. Macrons are indicated in brackets\nwith an equal sign, like this: [=u]. Breves are indicated in brackets\nwith a right parenthesis, like this: [)u].]\n\n\n\n\nThe Folk-Lore Society\n\nFOR COLLECTING AND PRINTING\n\nRELICS OF POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, &c.\n\n\nESTABLISHED IN\n\nTHE YEAR MDCCCLXXVIII.\n\n\n[Illustration: Alter et Idem.]\n\n\nPUBLICATIONS\n\nOF\n\nTHE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY\n\nLV.\n\n[1904]\n\n\n\n\nJAMAICAN SONG AND STORY:\n\n_ANNANCY STORIES, DIGGING SINGS,\nRING TUNES, AND DANCING TUNES_\n\n\nCOLLECTED AND EDITED BY\n\nWALTER JEKYLL:\n\n\n_WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY_\n\nALICE WERNER,\n\n\n_AND APPENDICES ON_\n\nTRACES OF AFRICAN MELODY IN JAMAICA\n\n_BY_\n\nC.S. MYERS,\n\n_AND ON_\n\nENGLISH AIRS AND MOTIFS IN JAMAICA\n\n_BY_\n\nLUCY E. BROADWOOD.\n\n\n \"A few brief years have passed away\n Since Britain drove her million slaves\n Beneath the tropic's fiery ray:\n God willed their freedom; and to-day\n Life blooms above those island graves!\"\n\n _Whittier_\n\n\n Published for the Folk-Lore Society by\n DAVID NUTT, 57-59 LONG ACRE\n LONDON\n 1907\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\nINTRODUCTION (ALICE WERNER), xxiii\n\nAUTHOR'S PREFACE, liii\n\n\nPART I.: ANNANCY STORIES, 1\n\n1. Annancy and Brother Tiger, 7\n\n2. Yung-Kyum-Pyung, 11\n\n3. King Daniel, 14\n\n4. Tomby, 16\n\n5. How Monkey manage Annancy, 20\n\n6. Blackbird and Woss-woss, 23\n\n7. The Three Sisters, 26\n\n8. William Tell, 29\n\n9. Brother Annancy and Brother Death, 31\n\n10. Mr. Bluebeard, 35\n\n11. Annancy, Puss and Ratta, 38\n\n12. Toad and Donkey, 39\n\n13. Snake the Postman, 43\n\n14. Doba, 46\n\n15. Dry-Bone, 48\n\n16. Annancy and the Old Lady's Field, 51\n\n17. Man-Crow, 54\n\n18. Saylan, 58\n\n19. Annancy and Screech-Owl, 60\n\n20. Annancy and Cow, 63\n\n21. Tacoma and the Old-Witch Girl, 65\n\n22. Devil's Honey-Dram, 68\n\n23. Annancy in Crab Country, 70\n\n24. Gaulin, 73\n\n25. Annancy, Monkey and Tiger, 77\n\n26. The Three Pigs, 79\n\n27. Dummy, 84\n\n28. Annancy and Candlefly, 86\n\n29. Parson Puss and Parson Dog, 91\n\n30. Chicken-Hawk, 94\n\n31. Pretty Poll, 96\n\n32. Annancy and Hog, 98\n\n33. Dry-River, 100\n\n34. Yellow Snake, 102\n\n35. Cow and Annancy, 104\n\n36. Leah and Tiger, 108\n\n37. Timmolimmo, 114\n\n38. Calcutta Monkey and Annancy, 117\n\n39. Open Sesame, 120\n\n40. Sea-Mahmy, 123\n\n41. Crab and his Corn-piece, 126\n\n42. Dry-Grass and Fire, 129\n\n43. John Crow, 132\n\n44. Tiger's Death, 135\n\n45. The Old Lady and the Jar, 137\n\n46. John Crow and Fowl-Hawk, 140\n\n47. Finger Quashy, 143\n\n48. Annancy and his Fish-Pot, 145\n\n49. Hog and Dog, 146\n\n50. Devil and the Princess, 148\n\n51. Wheeler, 152\n\n\nPART II.: DIGGING SINGS, 157\n\n52. Oh hurrah, boys! 159\n\n53. Ho biddybye, 159\n\n54. Tell Mr. Linky, 160\n\n55. Tell Mr. Bell, 161\n\n56. Bad homan oh! 162\n\n57. Bell a ring a yard oh! 162\n\n58. The one shirt I have, 164\n\n59. Jessie cut him yoke, 164\n\n60. T'ree acre of Cahffee, 165\n\n61. Away, away, 166\n\n62. Wednesday morning before day, 167\n\n63. Oh Samuel oh! 168\n\n64. Oh 'liza oh! 168\n\n65. Aunty Mary oh! 169\n\n66. Oh me yerry news! 170\n\n67. Jes' so me barn, 170\n\n68. Tell Mary say, 171\n\n69. Me tell them gall, 171\n\n70. Gold, amber gold, 172\n\n71. Gee oh mother Mac, 173\n\n72. Leah married a Tuesday, 173\n\n73. Cheer me oh! 173\n\n74. Me cock a crow, 174\n\n75. Oh Selina! 174\n\n76. Sambo Lady, 176\n\n77. John Thomas, 177\n\n78. Whe mumma de? 178\n\n79. Toady, 179\n\n80. Me know the man, 180\n\n81. Minnie, 181\n\n82. You want to yerry Duppy talk, 182\n\n83. Me know Sarah, 183\n\n84. Me donkey want water, 183\n\n85. A Somerset me barn, 184\n\n86. Timber lay down 'pon pit, 185\n\n87. Me want go home, 187\n\n88. War down a Monkland, 187\n\n\nPART III.: RING TUNES, 190\n\n89. Little Sally Water, 190\n\n90. Poor Little Zeddy, 191\n\n91. Whe me lover de? 192\n\n92. Ring a diamond, 194\n\n93. Carry Banana, 195\n\n94. Pass the ball, 196\n\n95. Me los' me gold ring, 197\n\n96. Old mother Phoebe, 197\n\n97. Deggy, 198\n\n98. Me go da Galloway Road, 199\n\n99. Rosybel, 200\n\n100. Bull a pen ho! 201\n\n101. Two man a road, 201\n\n102. Adina Mona, 202\n\n103. Palmer, 203\n\n104. Mother Freeman, 204\n\n105. Me have me goosey a me yard, 205\n\n106. Drill him, Constab! 205\n\n107. If you make him come out, 206\n\n108. Oh me Toad oh! 207\n\n109. There's a Black boy in a ring, 207\n\n110. Johnny, 209\n\n111. Me lover gone a Colon bay, 209\n\n112. Good morning to you, mother, 210\n\n113. Johnny Miller, 211\n\n114. Bahlimbo, 212\n\n115. Oh den Jacky, 214\n\n116. Ha, ha, ha, ha! 214\n\n\nPART IV.: DANCING TUNES, 216\n\n117. When I go home, 217\n\n118. Guava root a medicine, 218\n\n119. Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs, 218\n\n120. Goatridge have some set a gal, 219\n\n121. Me carry me akee a Linstead market, 219\n\n122. Since Dora Logan, 220\n\n123. Fire, Mr. Preston, Fire! 221\n\n124. Tief cahffee, 222\n\n125. Fan me, soldierman, 223\n\n126. Manny Clark, 224\n\n127. Bungo Moolatta, 225\n\n128. Bahl, Ada, 225\n\n129. Rise a roof in the morning, 226\n\n130. Oh we went to the river, 227\n\n131. Aunty Jane a call Minnie, 228\n\n132. Marty, Marty, 228\n\n133. What make you shave old Hall? 229\n\n134. Run, Moses, run, 230\n\n135. Whe you da do? 231\n\n136. Mother William, hold back Leah, 232\n\n137. Oh, General Jackson! 233\n\n138. Soldier, da go 'way, 234\n\n139. Don't cry too much, Jamaica gal, 234\n\n140. Dip them, 235\n\n141. Very well, very well, 235\n\n142. Oh trial! 236\n\n143. Father, I goin' to join the confirmation, 237\n\n144. Obeah down de, 239\n\n145. The other day me waistcoat cut, 240\n\n146. All them gal a ride merry-go-round, 241\n\n147. Merry-go-round a go fall down, 242\n\n148. Try, dear, don't tell a lie, 243\n\n149. Look how you mout', 244\n\n150. Breezy say him no want Brown lady, 244\n\n151. Isaac Park gone a Colon, 245\n\n152. Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed, 246\n\n153. Mas' Charley, 247\n\n154. Me buggy a sell, 247\n\n155. Oh 'zetta Ford, gal, 248\n\n156. Birdyzeena, 249\n\n157. Me an' Katie no 'gree, 249\n\n158. Down-town gal, 249\n\n159. Sal, you ought to been ashame, 250\n\n160. Good morning, Mr. Harman, 250\n\n161. Hullo me honey! 251\n\n162. When mumma dere, 252\n\n163. Oh Jilly oh! 253\n\n164. James Brown, you mahmy call you, 253\n\n165. When I go home, 254\n\n166. Feather, feather, feather, 254\n\n167. Quaco Sam, 256\n\n168. Anch a bite me, 257\n\n169. Me know one gal a Cross Road, 257\n\n170. Moonshine baby, 258\n\n171. I have a news, 259\n\n172. Once I was a trav'ller, 260\n\n173. Oh me wouldn' bawl at all, 261\n\n174. You take junka 'tick, 262\n\n175. Yellow fever come in, 262\n\n176. Jimmy Rampy, 263\n\n177. Susan, very well why oh! 264\n\n178. Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife, 264\n\n179. Blackbird a eat puppa corn, oh! 265\n\n180. Me da Coolie sleep on Piazza, 265\n\n181. Notty Shaw, 266\n\n182. You worthless Becca Watson, 267\n\n183. Since the waggonette come in, 267\n\n184. Them Gar'n Town people, 268\n\n185. Young gal in Jamaica, take warning, 270\n\n186. Me no min de a concert, 270\n\n187. Complain, complain, complain, 271\n\n188. I can't walk on the bare road, 271\n\n189. Come go da mountain, 272\n\n190. Amanda Grant, 273\n\n191. Last night I was lying on me number, 273\n\n192. Me lassie, me dundooze, 274\n\n193. Mister Davis bring somet'ing fe we all, 275\n\n194. A whe the use, 275\n\n195. Quattywort' of this! 276\n\n196. Mahngoose a come, 276\n\n\nAPPENDIX:\n\n_A._ Traces of African Melody in Jamaica--C.S. Myers, 278\n\n_B._ English Airs and Motifs in Jamaica--L.E. Broadwood, 285\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nMr. Jekyll's delightful collection of tales and songs from Jamaica\nsuggests many interesting problems. It presents to us a network of\ninterwoven strands of European and African origin, and when these have\nbeen to some extent disentangled we are confronted with the further\nquestion, to which of the peoples of the Dark Continent may the\nAfrican element be attributed?\n\nThe exact relationship between the \"Negro\" and Bantu races,--which of\nthem is the original and which the adulterated stock (in other words,\nwhether the adulteration was an improvement or the reverse),--is a\nsubject quite beyond my competence to discuss. It seems certain that\nthe Negro languages (as yet only tentatively classified) are as\ndistinct from the singularly homogeneous and well-defined Bantu\nfamily, as Aryan from Semitic. Ibo, at one end of the area, has\npossible Bantu affinities, which await fuller investigation; the same\nthing has been conjectured of Bullom and Temne at the other end\n(Sierra Leone); but these are so slight and as yet so doubtful that\nthey scarcely affect the above estimate.\n\nThe difference in West Coast and Bantu folk-tales is not so marked as\nthat between the languages; yet here, too, along with a great deal\nwhich the two have in common, we can pick out some features peculiar\nto each. And Mr. Jekyll's tales, so far as they can be supposed to\ncome from Africa at all, are not Bantu. The name of \"Annancy\" alone is\nenough to tell us that.\n\n_Annancy_, or _Anansi_ is the Tshi (Ashanti)[1] word for \"spider\"; and\nthe Spider figures largely in the folk-tales of the West Coast (by\nwhich we mean, roughly, the coast between Cape Verde and Kamerun),\nwhile, with some curious exceptions to be noted later on, he seems to\nbe absent from Bantu folk-lore. His place is there taken by the Hare\n(Brer Rabbit), and, in some of his aspects, by the Tortoise.\n\n[Footnote 1: Fanti is a dialect of this language, which is variously\ncalled Twi, Chwi, Otyi, and Ochi.]\n\nWe find the \"Brer Rabbit\" stories (best known through _Uncle Remus_)\nin the Middle and Southern States of America, where a large\nproportion, at any rate, of the negro slaves were imported from Lower\nGuinea. Some personal names and other words preserved among them\n(_e.g._ \"goober\" = _nguba_, the ground-nut, or \"pea-nut\") can be\ntraced to the Fiote, or Lower Congo language; and some songs of which\nI have seen the words,[2] _look_ as if they might be Bantu, but\ncorrupted apparently beyond recognition.\n\n[Footnote 2: One is given by Mr. G.W. Cable in the _Century Magazine_,\nxxx. 820, as a Louisiana Voodoo song:\n\n Heron mande, tigui li papa, Heron mande, dose dan godo.\n\nAnother by Mr. W.E. Burghart Du Bois in _The Souls of Black Folk_, p.\n254--apparently a lullaby:\n\n Doba na coba gene me, gene me!\n Ben d' nu li, nu li, nu li, nu li, bend'le.\n\nI can make nothing of these. In the latter case, uncertainty as to the\nphonetic system adopted complicates the puzzle. One might be tempted\nto connect the last two words with Zulu _endhle_ or _pandhle_ =\noutside,--but I can find nothing else to support this resemblance, and\nsuch stray guesses are unprofitable work.]\n\nBut the British West Indies would seem to have been chiefly supplied\nfrom Upper Guinea, or the \"West Coast\" proper (it really faces south,\nwhile Loango, Congo, etc., are the \"South-West Coast\"--a point which\nis sometimes puzzling to the uninitiated). Among the tribes to be\nfound in Jamaica, Mr. Jekyll tells me are the Ibo (Lower Niger),\nCoromantin (Gold Coast), Hausa, Mandingo, Moko (inland from Calabar),\nNago (Yoruba), and Sobo (Lower Niger).\n\nMr. Jekyll furnishes a bit of confirmatory evidence in the list of\nnames (p. 156) given to children according to the day of the week on\nwhich they are born. These are immediately recognizable as Tshi. As\ngiven in Christaller's _Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language\ncalled Tshi_ (1881), the boys' names are identical or nearly so\n(allowing for the different systems of spelling) with those in Mr.\nJekyll's list. They are: Kwasi, Kwadwo, Kwabena, Kwaku, Kwaw (or\nYaw), Kofi, Kwame. (Mr. George Macdonald, in _The Gold Coast Past and\nPresent_, gives Kwamina, instead of Kwame, probably owing to a\ndifference of dialect.) The girls' names are less easily recognizable,\nbut a careful scrutiny reveals the interesting fact that in some cases\nan older form seems to have been preserved in Jamaica. Moreover, the\nsound written _w_ by Christaller approaches that of _b_, which seems\nto be convertible with it under certain conditions, all the girls'\nnames being formed by means of the suffix _ba_ = a child. Conversely,\n_ekpo_ in the mouth of a West Coast native sounds to a casual ear like\n_ekwo_.\n\n Akosuwa [= Akwasiba] = Quashiba.\n Adwowa = Jubba. (Cf. dw = dj in \"Cudjo\").\n Abeua = Cubba.\n Akuwa = Memba.\n Ya [= Yawa] = Abba.\n Afuwa = Fibba.\n Amma [= Amenenewa] = Beniba.\n\nThe boys' names have \"Kwa\" (= _akoa_, a man, slave) prefixed to that\nof the day, or, more correctly speaking, of its presiding genius.\nThese latter are: Ayisi, Adwo, Bena, Wuku, Yaw, Afi, Amin. The names\nof the days appear to be formed from them by the omission of the\ninitial A (where it exists), and the addition of the suffix _da_, with\nsome irregularities, which no doubt a fuller knowledge of the language\nwould explain: Kwasida, Dwoda, Benada, Wukuda, Yawda, Fida, Memeneda\n(Meminda). The week of seven days does not seem to be known elsewhere\nin Africa, except as a result of Moslem or Christian influence. The\nCongo week of four days is puzzling, till one remembers that it, too,\nrests on a division of the lunar month: 7 x 4 instead of 4 x 7.[3]\n\n[Footnote 3: R.E. Dennett, _Folklore of the Fjort_, p. 8.]\n\nThe Tshi, Ewe and Yoruba languages are genderless, like the Bantu.\n(The word _ba_ has come to mean \"a daughter\" when appropriated as a\nsuffix to feminine names; but, properly, it seems to mean \"a child\" of\neither sex.) This fact explains the appearance of such personages as\n\"Brother Cow\" (see also Mr. Jekyll's note on p. 107), and the wild\nconfusion of pronouns sometimes observed: \"Annancy really want that\ngal fe marry, but he couldn' catch him.\"--\"When the gal go, him go\nmeet Brother Death,\"--etc.\n\nThe few words given as \"African\" by Mr. Jekyll seem to be traceable to\nTshi. \"Massoo\" (pp. 12, 13) is _ma so_ = to lift. _Afu_ (\"hafoo,\"\n\"afoo,\" p. 18) is not in Christaller's _Dictionary_, except as\nequivalent to \"grass,\" or \"herbs\"; _fufu_ is a food made from yams or\nplantains boiled and pounded; perhaps there is some slight confusion.\n_Nyam_ is not \"to eat,\" but _enam_ is Tshi for \"meat,\" as _nyama_ (in\nsome form or other) is in every Bantu language. The nonsense-words in\nthe songs may be corrupted from Tshi or some cognate language, but a\nfuller knowledge of these than I possess would be necessary in order\nto determine the point.\n\nTransplanted African folk-lore has a peculiar interest of its own, and\none is very glad to find Mr. Jekyll doing for Jamaica what Mr.\nChandler Harris, _e.g._ has done for Georgia. But the African element\nin the stories before us is far less evident than in \"Uncle Remus,\"\nand is in many cases overlaid and inextricably mixed up with matter of\nEuropean origin. At least eleven out of the fifty-one stories before\nus can be set down as imported, directly or indirectly, from Europe. I\nsay directly or indirectly, because an examination of Chatelain's\n_Folk-tales of Angola_ and Junod's _Chants et Contes des Baronga_\nshows that some tales, at any rate, have passed from Portugal to\nAfrica. Such are _La fille du Roi_ (Ronga), which is identical with\nGrimm's _The Shoes that were danced to pieces_, and with the\nSlovak-gypsy story of _The Three Girls_ (Groome, _Gypsy Folk-tales_,\np. 141). But in the absence of more detailed and direct evidence than\nwe yet possess, it would be rash to assume that they have passed to\nAmerica by way of Africa, rather than that they have been\nindependently transmitted.\n\nThe eleven stories above referred to are: II. Yung-kyum-pyung, III.\nKing Daniel, VI. Blackbird and Woss-woss, X. Mr. Bluebeard, XVII.\nMan-crow, XVIII. Saylan, XXI. Tacoma and the Old-witch Girl, XXVI. The\nThree Pigs, XXXI. Pretty Poll (another version of III.), XXXIX. Open\nSesame (variant of VI.), VII. The Three Sisters. But some of these, as\nI hope to show presently, also have genuine African prototypes, and it\nis a question how far these fading traditions have been amalgamated\nwith fairy-tales told to the slaves by the children of their European\nmasters. The last named is one of a small group of tales (VII., XXIV.,\nXXXIV., L.) which I cannot help referring to a common African\noriginal.\n\nBy far the greater number of the stories in this book, whether,\nstrictly speaking, \"Annancy stories\" or not, come under the heading of\nanimal-stories, and are of the same type as \"Uncle Remus,\" Junod's\n\"Roman du Lievre,\" and numerous examples from various parts of Africa.\nIt will be remembered that, in most of these, the difference between\nanimals and human beings is not very clearly kept in view by the\nnarrators. As M. Junod says, \"Toutes les betes qui passent et\nrepassent dans ces curieux recits representent des etres humains, cela\nva sans dire. Ils sont personnalises par un procede linguistique qui\nconsiste a mettre devant le nom de l'animal un prefixe de la classe\ndes hommes.\" (This is a point we must come back to later on.) \"Ainsi\n_mpfoundla_, le lievre ordinaire, devient dans le contes\nNoua-mpfoundla.... La Rainette, c'est Noua-chinana, l'Elephant,\nNoua-ndlopfou.... Leurs caracteres physiques particuliers sont\npresents devant l'imagination du conteur pour autant qu'ils donnent du\npittoresque au recit. Mais on les oublie tout aussi aisement des\nqu'ils ne sont plus essentiels a la narration.\" This feature\nconstantly meets one in Bantu folk-lore: the hare and the elephant\nhire themselves out to hoe a man's garden; the swallow invites the\ncock to dinner and his wife prepares the food, in the usual native hut\nwith the fireplace in the middle and the _nsanja_ staging over it; the\nhare's wife goes to the river to draw water, and is caught by a\ncrocodile; the tortoise carries his complaint to the village elders\nassembled in the smithy, and so on. M. Junod seems to me to overrate\nthe conscious artistic purpose in the narrators of these tales: the\nnative mind is quite ready to assume that animals think and act in\nmuch the same way as human beings, and this attitude makes it easy to\nforget the outward distinctions when they appear as actors in a story.\nNo doubt this haziness of view is increased by the popular conception\nof metamorphosis as a possible occurrence in everyday life. When, as\nhas more than once been the case, we find men firmly believing, not\nonly that they can, under certain circumstances, turn into animals,\nbut that they actually have done so, we may expect them to think it\nquite easy for animals to turn into men.\n\nThe prefix given by the Baronga to animals, when they are, so to\nspeak, personified in tales, may seem a slight point, but it is not\nwithout interest. The Yaos in like manner give them the prefix _Che_\n(_Che Sungula_, the Rabbit, _Che Likoswe_, the Rat, etc.), which,\nthough usually translated \"Mr.,\" is of common gender and used quite as\noften in addressing women as men. In Chatelain's Angola stories the\nanimals sometimes (not always) have the honorific prefix _Na_ or\n_Ngana_, \"Mr.\"; the latter is sometimes translated \"Lord.\" In Luganda\nfolk-lore the elephant (_enjovu_) is called Wa Njovu. In Zulu,\nUcakijana (to whom we shall come back presently) is the diminutive\nform of _i-cakide_, the Weasel, put into the personal class. I do not\nrecall anything similar in Nyanja tales, but cannot help connecting\nwith the above the fact that animals, whatever class their names may\nbelong to, are usually treated as persons in the tales. Not to be\nunduly technical, I would briefly explain that _njobvu_ (elephant) and\n_ng'ona_ (crocodile) would naturally take the pronoun _i_, but in the\nstories (and, I think, sometimes in other cases) they take _a_, which\nbelongs to the first, or personal class. Now, the reader will notice\nhow often the animals in the stories before us are distinguished as\n\"Mr.\" or \"Bro'er\" (cf. pp. 20, 23, 31, 86, etc.), though the Jamaica\npeople seem to be less uniformly polite in this respect than Uncle\nRemus. \"Brer Rabbit\" is so familiar as to be taken for granted, as a\nrule, without further question; but, years before he had become a\nhousehold word in this country, we find a writer in _Lippincott's\nMagazine_[4] remarking, \"The dramatis personae are honoured with the\ntitle _Buh_, which is generally supposed to be an abbreviation of the\nword 'brother,' but it probably is a title of respect equal to our\n'Mr.'\" The \"but\" seems hardly called for, since both assertions are\nseemingly true. We might also compare the Zulu _u Cakijana_ (1st\nclass), who is human or quasi-human, while _i-cakide_ (2nd class) is\nthe name for the Weasel.\n\n[Footnote 4: December, 1877, p. 751. The article is one on \"Negro\nFolk-lore,\" by W. Owens, and contains several stories, some of these\nindependent versions of \"Uncle Remus\" tales, while others are not to\nbe found in that collection.]\n\nAnnancy, then, is the Spider, and as such he is conceived throughout\nthe folk-lore of West Africa. If he seems, as he continually does, to\ntake on a human character, going to Freetown to buy a gun and powder\n(_Cunnie Rabbit_, p. 282), or applying to a \"Mory man\" for amulets\n(_ib._ p. 139), he only behaves like all other animals, as explained\nabove. A Temne authority (_ib._ p. 93) maintains that \"Spider was a\nperson\" in old times, and did not look the same as he does in these\ndays, \"he done turn odder kind of thing now.\" But this looks like an\nattempt at rationalising the situation, possibly in response to\nEuropean inquiries. The change of shape alluded to at the end of the\nTemne Tar-baby episode is comparatively a minor matter: he was\nformerly \"round lek pusson,\" but became flattened out through the\nbeating he received while attached to the Wax Girl. In the Gold Coast\nstories, too, Anansi is quite as much a spider as Brer Rabbit is a\nrabbit; but in Jamaica, though he still retains traces of his origin,\nthey are somewhat obscured--so much so that Mr. Jekyll speaks (pp.\n4-5) of the \"metamorphic shape, that of the Spider,\" which he assumes,\nas though the human were his real form, the other only an occasional\ndisguise. In \"Annancy and Brother Tiger\" we find that he has to \"run\nup a house-top\" to escape the revenge of the monkeys, which accounts\nfor some of his habits to this day. In \"Yung-kyum-pyung\" (a version of\n_Rumpelstilzchen_, or _Tom Tit Tot_), the only hint of his spider\ncharacter is contained in a mere allusion (quite external to the\nstory) to his \"running 'pon him rope.\" In \"Brother Death,\" Annancy and\nall his family cling to the rafters, hoping to escape from Death; but\nit scarcely seems in character that they should be incapable of\nholding on long. They drop, one after another, Annancy last (p. 33).\nHe is always in danger from Cows (p. 107): \"Anywhere Cow see him, he\nreach him down with his mouth\"; and he lives in a banana branch (p.\n119) for fear of Calcutta Monkey and his whip. His moral character is\nconsistently bad all through; he is a \"clever thief\"--greedy,\ntreacherous, and cruel, but intellectually he does not uniformly\nshine. He has to call in the help of a wizard in his love affairs;\n\"Monkey was too clever for him\" on more than one occasion; he has to\nbe extricated from the slaughter-house (p. 23) by Blackbird and his\narmy of Wasps, and in \"Man-crow\" he is signally discomfited. In other\ncases his roguery is successful, and he is described as the greatest\nmusician and \"the biggest rascal in the world\" (p. 62). Much the same\nis the character given to Mr. Spider in \"Cunnie Rabbit.\" Not one\namiable trait is recorded of him.\n\nA Gold Coast story,[5] however, shows him arbitrating between a Rat\nand a Panther in very much the same way as the Yao Che Sungula settles\nthe difficulty between the Man and the Crocodile,[6] making the latter\ngo back into the trap whence he had too confidingly been released, in\norder to show how it was done. Once having got the ungrateful Panther\nback into the trap, the Spider advises the Rat to leave him there.\n\n[Footnote 5: J.C. Christaller, in Buettner's _Zeitschr. fuer Afr.\nSprachen_. M. Rene Basset says of a similar story included in Col.\nMonteil's _Contes Soudanais_: \"L'Enfant et le caiman est le sujet bien\nconnu de l'ingratitude punie que l'on retrouve dans tous les pays de\nl'ancien monde, et dont M. Kenneth Mackenzie vient d'etudier les\ndiverses variantes.\" The idea is one so likely to occur independently\nthat we must not in all cases resort to the hypothesis of borrowing.]\n\n[Footnote 6: Duff Macdonald, _Africana_, ii. 346.]\n\nAs there is a Gold Coast tradition which affirms the human race to be\ndescended from the Spider,[7] it might be expected that he should\nsometimes appear in a more favourable light, and also that those\npeoples who had lost this myth, or never possessed it, should\nconcentrate their attention on the darker side of his character. At\nthe same time, even in what may be called his own home, he does not\nappear as infallible. A very curious story, given by Zimmermann in his\n_Grammatical Sketch of the Akra or Ga Language_, shows us the Spider\nand his son in the character of the two sisters who usually figure in\ntales of the \"Holle\" type,[8] and, strangely enough, it is the father\nwho, by his wilfulness and indiscretion, forfeits the advantages which\nthe son has gained. During a time of famine the young spider crawls\ninto a rat-hole in search of a nut which has rolled into it, and\nthere meets with three unkempt and unwashed spirits, who desire him to\npeel some yams and cook the peelings. He does so, and they are changed\ninto large yams. They give him a large basket of yams to carry home,\nand teach him a spell which is not to be imparted to any one else. He\nrepeatedly obtains supplies from the same source, but at last is\nfollowed by his father, who insists on going in his stead. He derides\nand disobeys the spirits, loses his yams, and is flogged into the\nbargain.\n\n[Footnote 7: Ellis, _Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast_.]\n\n[Footnote 8: No. 16 in the _Handbook of Folklore_ (p. 122). It might\nalso be referred to the \"Golden Goose\" type (51). Stories of this kind\nare the Ronga \"Route du Ciel,\" and \"The Three Women\" in Duff\nMacdonald's _Africana_. But perhaps the tale referred to in the text\ncomes nearer to \"The Two Hunchbacks.\"]\n\nWe have mentioned the comparative absence of the Spider from Bantu\nfolk-lore. I have been able to discover only two references to him in\nEast Africa, both to be found in Duff Macdonald's _Africana_. The\nfirst is in a creation-myth of the Yaos (i. 297), which informs us\nthat when _Mulungu_ was driven from earth by the conduct of mankind,\nwho had set the bush on fire, he went, being unable to climb a tree as\nthe Chameleon had done, to call the Spider. \"The spider went on high\nand returned again, and said, 'I have gone on high nicely,' and he\nsaid, 'You now, Mulungu, go on high.' Mulungu then went with the\nspider on high. And he said, 'When they die, let them come on high\nhere.'\" The other is in the story of \"The Dead Chief and his Younger\nBrother\" (ii. 322)--also Yao. The dead chief gives his brother four\nbags to enable him to overcome the obstacles which his enemies put in\nhis way; he opens the first on coming to a large tree in his path--a\nwood-moth comes out and gnaws a way through. From the second bag comes\nout a manis (scaly ant-eater), which digs a way under a rock, and from\nthe third (which he opens when he comes to the bank of a river) a\nspider, which \"went to the other side,\" and, presumably (though this\nis not expressly stated), made a bridge with its web for him to\ncross.[9]\n\n[Footnote 9: In Mr. Dudley Kidd's _Savage Childhood_ (published since\nthe above was written), I find that Zulu (or Pondo?) boys draw certain\nomens from spiders, in connection with dreams (p. 105), and that in\nGazaland the rainbow is called \"the spider's bow\" (p. 153).]\n\nMr. R.E. Dennett (_Folklore of the Fjort_, p. 74) gives a Lower Congo\nstory, telling how the Spider brought fire down from Nzambi Mpungu in\nheaven, and won the daughter of Nzambi (Mother Earth) by so doing. In\nan Angola story (Heli Chatelain, p. 131) the Spider is mentioned as\naffording a means of communication between heaven and earth, by which\nthe Sun's maidservants go down to draw water, and his daughter is\nultimately let down to be married to the son of Kimanaueze. But the\nSpider only comes in incidentally; it is the Frog whose\nresourcefulness makes the marriage possible. The notion of the\nspider's web as a ladder to heaven is one that might occur\nindependently in any part of the world, and there is no need to\nsuppose these tales to be derivatives of the Hausa one given by\nSchoen.[10]\n\n[Footnote 10: _Magana Hausa_, 63.]\n\nSo far, the appearances of the Spider in Bantu folk-tales are so\ninfrequent as to be almost a negligible quantity. We find him,\nhowever, playing a tolerably conspicuous part in the folk-lore of the\nDuala. These, living in the German territory of the Kamerun, may be\nconsidered the north-western outpost of the Bantu race, and their\nlanguage, unmistakable in its general character, has departed, perhaps\nmore widely than any other, from the normal Bantu standard. Herr\nWilhelm Lederbogen, formerly of the Government School, Kamerun, has\ncollected a large number of stories, some of which are published in\nthe _Transactions_ of the Berlin Oriental Seminary (see _Afrikanische\nStudien_ for 1901-1903). These comprise 67 \"_Tierfabeln_\" and 18 tales\nof the ordinary _maerchen_ type. The latter (some of them recognizable\nas variants of tales current in Bantu Africa) introduce animals along\nwith human beings, and the incident of the Spider being consulted as a\nsoothsayer repeatedly occurs. \"_Die Spinne tritt immer als Wahrsagerin\nauf_\" says the collector in a note. But the malignant aspect of Anansi\nseems to be absent.\n\nThe late W.H.J. Bleek, who supposed the animal-stories which he had\ncollected from Hottentots and Bushmen to be characteristic of and\npeculiar to these races, had built up a somewhat elaborate theory,\nscarcely borne out by the facts as known to us to-day, in connection\nwith this point. Briefly, it amounted to this: that a fundamental\nlimitation in the Bantu race, which had prevented, and always would\nprevent, their advancing beyond a certain point, was denoted by the\nabsence of grammatical gender in their languages, their supposed\nincapacity for personifying nature, and their worship of ancestors, as\nopposed to the alleged moon-worship of the Hottentots.[11] The Zulus,\nhe says, believe that the spirits of the dead appear to them in\ndreams, and also show themselves to the waking eye in the shape of\nanimals, usually serpents. \"No personification of the animal takes\nplace, however, such as we find, for instance, in the mythical world\nof our earliest [Teutonic] literature. The imagination of the\nancestor-worshipper does not even, as a rule, show us the animal as\npossessing the gift of human speech; it is only supposed to perform\nacts well within its capacity as an animal, though such acts are\nconsidered, in the case of individual animals supposed to be possessed\nby the spirits of deceased persons, as emanating from the spirits.\"\nThus, a serpent, known by various tokens to be an _idhlozi_, may enter\na hut and consume the meat left for it, or it may engage in combat\nwith other snakes which must be supposed to represent the enemies of\nthe deceased. Animals thus revered by ancestor-worshippers always have\nthe distinguishing characteristic that they have once been human\nbeings; and spirits, unless they appear as animals, are always\ninvisible. \"A personification of the animal world (such as we find in\nour own fables), or even of other things (as in the mythologies of\nEurope), is utterly absent from this primitive, prosaic way of looking\nat things.\" The poetic impulse implied in such personification can\nonly arise, in Bleek's view, among the speakers of a sex-denoting\nlanguage. The linguistic argument I cannot here reproduce in detail;\nits tendency is sufficiently shown by the following quotation, which\nbears directly on our subject:\n\n\"The form of a sex-denoting language, by exciting sympathy even for\ncreatures not connected with us by human fellowship, leads in the\nfirst instance to the humanization of animals, and thus especially\ngives rise to the creation of fables. Even on the lowest stage of\nnational development, we find the Hottentot language accompanied by a\nliterature of fables, for which we may vainly seek a parallel in the\nliteratures of the prefix-pronominal languages.\"\n\n[Footnote 11: See _Ursprung der Sprache_ (Weimar, 1868), pp. xix,\nxxiii (Introduction).]\n\nThe validity of Bleek's theory was seriously doubted by the late Dr.\nC.G. Buettner, in 1886, and the masses of fresh material which have\ncome to light during the last forty years, have completely altered\nthe aspect of the question. The Hottentot myth of the Hare and the\nMoon, to take but one example, which appears among the Zulus as the\ntale of Unkulunkulu and the Chameleon, is told by the Anyanja (of the\nShire Highlands and Lake Nyasa) of the Chameleon. The Duala have the\nsame Chameleon story; and there is a Gold Coast version, in which the\ntwo messengers are the Sheep, who linger on the way to graze, and the\nGoat, who arrives first with the tidings that man shall not return\nafter death. The Kr[=u]men of the Ivory Coast say that _Nemla_ (a\nsmall antelope probably representing, if not identical with, the\n\"Cunnie Rabbit\" of Sierra Leone), maliciously, not accidentally,\nrendered inoperative the remedy against death provided by the fetich\nBlenyiba. Who is responsible for the original version it is perhaps\nimpossible to settle. But there can be no question of _recent_\nborrowing; and supposing that the Bantu did derive the myth from their\npredecessors (now represented by the remnant of the Bushmen, and\nperhaps the Pygmies), this would surely prove them at least capable of\nassimilating fresh ideas and thus advancing beyond the line so\ninexorably traced for them from the beginning. It may be remarked in\npassing that there seems some probability of the Bantu Anyanja in the\nShire district having largely absorbed, instead of exterminating as\nwas elsewhere the case, a smaller-sized race who previously occupied\nthe country. In the same way, the Abatembu of the Cape Colony are the\ndescendants of a Bantu clan amalgamated with the Bushman tribe of the\n'Tambuka, and traces of similar fusion could no doubt be discovered\nelsewhere. But we doubt its being _necessary_ to the introduction of\nanimal-stories into folk-lore,--or, in general, of ideas connected\nwith the personification of nature.\n\nThe Zulu tales which Bleek had before him present a character very\ndifferent from that of the Hottentot beast-fables. But a comparative\nstudy of Bantu folk-lore suggests at least the possibility that they\nmay have been developed out of animal-stories. Hlakanyana is conceived\nof as certainly human, and reminds us of Tom Thumb; but some of his\nadventures are identical with those of the Hare, the Jackal, or Brer\nRabbit. Cakijana shows still clearer traces of animal origin. The\nepisode of Hlakanyana's demanding a digging-stick in exchange for the\nbirds he accuses his companion of having eaten, and the sequence of\nexchanges which culminates in his acquiring a cow,[12] is in\nsubstance the same as the story told by the Anyanja about the Hare\n(_kalulu_) which was given in _Folk-Lore_ for Sept. 29th, 1904. This\nagain reminds us of \"The Man who Lived by Overreaching Others\" (Dr.\nElmslie in _Folk-Lore_, vol. iii.), and of a Sukuma story given by\nHerrmann,[13] in which a boy gives his grandmother some honey to keep\nfor him, and, coming back after a time, and finding she has eaten it,\nmakes her give him some corn in exchange. The corn is then exchanged\nfor an egg, the egg for sticks, the sticks for a knife, and the knife\nfor a cow's tail, for which, by the same trick as in Dr. Elmslie's\nstory, he obtains a cow. There is no suggestion of trickery in the\nNyanja story, whereas it is brought out very strongly both in\nHlakanyana and the Sukuma example.\n\n[Footnote 12: McCall Theal, _Kaffir Folk-Tales_, pp. 96-98.]\n\n[Footnote 13: \"Afrikanische Studien,\" 1898 (_Transactions_ of the\nBerlin Oriental Seminary, vol. i.) p. 194.]\n\nWe shall have occasion to refer, later on, to more than one instance\nwhere a story is found in two forms, one having animals, the other\nhuman beings, as its characters.\n\nThe animals figuring in folk-tales must necessarily vary with the\nlocality of the tale, and in cases where a story has travelled (or\npossibly where the same idea has arisen independently in different\nplaces) it is interesting to note the changes in its _dramatis\npersonae_. Thus, the incident of the race between the swift creature\nand the slow seems to be found in the folk-lore of every country. In\nAfrica the winner is always, so far as I know, the Tortoise, as Brer\nTerrapin is in \"Uncle Remus.\" The Jamaica version in the volume before\nus substitutes the Toad, while the defeated party is the Donkey. In a\nKonde (North Nyasa) variant, the protagonists are the Elephant and the\nTortoise, in a Duala one, the _Ngolon_ (a large kind of Antelope) and\nthe Tortoise. Another version of the Duala story, contained in\n_Maerchen aus Kamerun_, by the late Frau Elli Meinhof, has the Hare and\nthe Tortoise, but with the explanation that by \"hare\" is meant \"eine\nkleine Antilopenart, _eseru_ genannt.\" The curious thing is that Njo\nDibone, the native authority for the tales, himself suggested the name\nof \"hare,\" but added \"Hase ist nicht wie hier,[14] sondern hat kleine\nHoerner.\" It is not stated whether he had himself seen the European\nhare, but apparently he thought the two animals so far similar that\n_Hase_ would be the nearest available rendering for _eseru_. This may\nthrow some light on the question why the _Dorcatherium_ gazelle, or\npossibly the Royal Antelope, _Neotragus_, is called \"Cunnie Rabbit\" in\nSierra Leone English.\n\n[Footnote 14: He had been brought to Europe by a German naval officer\nin 1885, and remained for some time an inmate of Professor Meinhof's\nfamily.]\n\nThe Tortoise plays a conspicuous part in the folk-lore both of Bantu\nand West African Negroes. In Yoruba tradition he takes the place of\nthe Spider with the Fantis, all mankind being descended from him.\nPerhaps this is not strange, when we consider how much there is about\nhim which would appeal to the primitive mind as uncanny and\nmysterious. A recent writer in the _West African Mail_[15] says on\nthis subject: \"The original conception of the tortoise culminated in a\nbelief concerning its attributes that, in the eyes of these [Niger]\nDelta natives, elevated it to the sovereignty of the beasts of the\nforest.... Absolutely harmless and inoffensive in himself, the\ntortoise does not prey on even the smallest of insects, but subsists\nentirely on the fallen fruits of the forest\"--or, in some cases, on\nfungi. \"In the gloomy forests of the Delta there are only two enemies\ncapable of doing him any serious harm. The one is man, who is able to\nlift him up and carry him bodily away, which, however, he does not do,\nexcept in those instances in which the animal is regarded as sacred,\nand required in connection with certain religious ceremonies. His\nother and most dangerous enemy is the python, who having first of all\ncrushed him by means of the enormous power of constriction which it\ncan apply, swallows him alive, shell and all. But pythons large enough\nto do this, unless the tortoise happens to be very young and small,\nare very scarce, so that he has not much to apprehend in that quarter.\nTo the elephant--herbivorous, like himself--he is too insignificant,\nfor unlike the mosquito or the sand-fly, he has no sting; and although\nthey meet in fable, in real life the hippopotamus and himself are not\nmuch thrown together. From the leopard or the bush-cat, he has nothing\nto fear, for their teeth cannot penetrate his shell, nor can [their]\nclaws do him any damage. Thus it is that ... the tortoise has been\npractically immune from attack and therefore destruction--a fact that\nin a great measure explains his longevity.\"\n\n[Footnote 15: May 25, 1906, p. 202.]\n\nIf we add to this his power of living for a long time without food,\nhis silence, the extreme slowness and caution of his movements, his\ninstinct of keeping out of sight, and the peculiar air of dogged\ndetermination with which he sets about overcoming or circumventing\nobstacles, it is \"easy to understand how in process of time the word\nwhich stood for tortoise became a synonym for cunning and craft, and a\nman of exceptional intelligence was in this way known among the Ibo as\n'Mbai,' and among the Ibani as 'Ekake,' meaning a tortoise. For\nalthough he of the shell-back was slow, he was sure, as the old Greek\nAesop tells us.... This sureness, in the native mind, implied\ndoggedness and a fixed determination, while silence and secrecy\nimplied mystery and a veiled purpose behind which it is impossible to\nget.\"\n\nThe tortoise of African folk-lore is sometimes, in fact usually, the\nland-tortoise (as implied in the above extracts), of which there are\nseveral species, living either in forest-country or in deserts like\nthe Kalahari. In Angola, the story of \"Man and Turtle\" (Chatelain, p.\n153--identical with \"Mr. Fox tackles Old Man Tarrypin\" in \"Uncle\nRemus\") refers to a kind which, if not aquatic, is evidently\namphibious. We find tortoise stories all over Negro and Bantu Africa;\nwe have Temne, Bullom, and Yoruba examples, besides Duala, Konde\n(Nyasa), Yao, Nyanja, Herero, Bemba, Congo (Upoto), Angola and Sesuto\nones. This does not exhaust the list I have made out, and further\nresearch would no doubt bring to light many more. One of these is the\nwell-known \"tug-of-war\" story, which in \"Uncle Remus\" has the title\n\"Mr. Terrapin shows his strength.\" We have two versions of this\n(agreeing in their main points) from the Kamerun, one told by the\nDuala, the other by the Yabakalaki-Bakoko tribe. Here it is the\nElephant and the Hippopotamus whom the Tortoise induces to pull\nagainst each other. The American Negro substitutes the Bear for one of\nthese competitors, and then, apparently at a loss for a wild animal\nstrong enough to take the place of the other, makes \"Brer Tarrypin\"\ntie \"Miss Meadows's bed-cord\" to a root in the bed of the stream. But\nit is interesting to find two native African versions in which other\nanimals are substituted for the Tortoise. The Temne (_Cunnie Rabbit_,\np. 117) gives his part to the Spider, while the Bemba people\n(North-eastern Rhodesia) make the Hare the hero of the adventure. Col.\nMonteil gives a Mandingo variant, introducing a different motive for\nthe contest: the Hare has borrowed a slave apiece from the Elephant\nand the Hippopotamus, and when pressed for payment hands each of his\ncompetitors in turn the end of a rope, with the words, \"Tu n'as qu'a\ntirer sur cette corde, le captif est au bout.\"[16]\n\n[Footnote 16: _Contes Soudanais_, p. 49.]\n\nAnother Temne story collected by Miss Cronise, \"Mr. Turtle makes a\nriding-horse of Mr. Leopard,\" is paralleled by an Angola one\n(Chatelain, p. 203) in which it is Mr. Frog who plays the trick on Mr.\nElephant. In the New World, it will be remembered that Brer Rabbit has\nusurped the part.\n\nIn M. Rene Basset's _Anthology of African Folk-tales_[17] is included\na tale about a monkey and a tortoise from Baissac's _Folklore de l'Ile\nMaurice_ which recalls a Nyanja one obtained by me at Blantyre and\nprinted in the _Contemporary Review_ for September, 1896. In the\nlatter it is the iguana, not the monkey who robs the Tortoise; but in\nboth, the Tortoise exacts retribution with a cold-blooded\nrelentlessness suggestive of Shylock. A Brazilian negro story is also\ngiven, which looks like a variant of one told in Calabar to account\nfor the fact that the Tortoise's shell is composed of separate plates,\nas though it had been broken to pieces and put together again.\n\n[Footnote 17: P. 425. Another Mauritius negro tale from the same\nsource is identical with the Yao one of the Elephant and the Hare\n(Duff Macdonald, ii. 353)--also found elsewhere in East Africa.]\n\nBut we look in vain for the tortoise in these stories of Mr. Jekyll's.\nEven in the race-story, as we have seen, the part which in Africa is\nso peculiarly his own, is taken by the Toad. Probably this is because\nthe land-tortoise is not found in Jamaica, and the great turtle of the\nseas is not a creature whose ways would come under the daily\nobservation of the peasantry. In the same way familiar animals have\nbeen substituted for unfamiliar ones in a great many cases, though not\nin all. Mr. Jekyll thinks \"Tiger\" is a substitute for \"Lion,\" but it\nseems equally possible that \"Leopard\" is meant. All over South Africa,\nleopards are called \"tigers\" by Dutch, English, and Germans, just as\nhyenas are called \"wolves,\" and bustards \"peacocks\" (_paauw_). \"Tiger\"\nis used in the same sense in German Kamerun, and probably elsewhere in\nWest Africa. Lion and elephant are known--perhaps by genuine\ntradition--to Uncle Remus; but they seem to have faded from the\nrecollection of the Jamaica negroes; indeed, the lion is not found in\ntheir original homes, being absent from the whole West Coast as far as\nSierra Leone.\n\n\"Brer Rabbit,\" so characteristic a figure of Bantu folk-lore that his\nadventures are related from one side of Africa to the other (though in\nthe west he is less frequently met with north of Angola), only appears\nin two of Mr. Jekyll's stories, in none of which we can recognize\nanything of his traditional character. In \"Annancy and his Fish-pot,\"\nhe is unscrupulously victimised by Annancy, and subsequently dies of\nfright and worry; in \"Snake the Postman,\" he escapes from Annancy's\nmachinations, but there is no indication that he could ever be\nconsidered a match for \"that cravin' fellah.\" In \"John Crow and\nFowl-hawk\" he is merely alluded to (p. 142, \"This company was\nRabbit\"). In \"Dry Bone,\" he is induced by Guinea-pig to carry the\nunwelcome load, but succeeds in passing it on, for the time being, to\nAnnancy. Finally, in \"Gaulin,\" he cuts a poor figure as the\nunsuccessful suitor. A Bantu story by no means complimentary to the\nHare's intelligence is given by M. Junod,[18] and seems to have\nreached Louisiana[19] as \"Compair Lapin et Michie Dinde,\" where the\nRabbit gets his head cut off under the belief that the Turkey has\nremoved his when he puts it under his wing to sleep. M. Junod thinks\nthis must refer to a second species of Hare, a by-word for stupidity,\nas the other is for cuteness; but it is at least worth noting that the\nsame story is told by the Basumbwa (south of Lake Victoria) of the Hen\nand the Tiger-cat.\n\n[Footnote 18: _Chants et Contes_, p. 135, see also the preceding\nstory, and some remarks on p. 86, footnote 2.]\n\n[Footnote 19: Alcee Fortier, _Louisiana Folklore_, p. 24.]\n\nBesides Annancy himself, and the \"Tiger\" already mentioned, we have,\nin these stories, either domestic or quasi-domestic animals: Cow, Hog,\nDog, Puss, \"Ratta,\" etc., or creatures indigenous to Jamaica, such as\nJohn-Crow, Chicken-Hawk, Sea-Gaulin, Candle-Fly, Crab and Tarpon. Some\nstories, for which I fail to recall any exact parallel, either in\nAfrica or Europe, may be of purely local origin; this is most likely\nto be true of those which profess to explain some elementary fact in\nnatural history, such as the inability of two bulls to agree in one\npasture (\"Timmolimmo\"), or the hostility between dogs and cats. Even\nwere this not so, the amount of local colour introduced (as always\nwhere tales are transmitted orally) could change them almost beyond\nrecognition. This often has a very quaint effect, as in \"Parson Puss\nand Parson Dog,\" who are evidently conceived as ministers of some\nrival Methodist denominations, and in the references to weddings,\nfunerals, and dances possibly ending up with a free fight, as in\n\"Gaulin,\" \"How Monkey manage Annancy,\" \"Doba,\" etc. Annancy's inviting\nthe animals to his father's funeral and slaughtering them (with the\nexception of Monkey, who is too clever for him) reminds us of the\nTemne \"Mr. Leopard fools the other animals,\"[20] but in this, Leopard\nhimself pretends to die. Cunnie Rabbit's test, \"Die pusson nebber\nblow,\" is less ingenious than that applied by Brer Rabbit in \"Uncle\nRemus:\"[21] \"When a man go to see dead folks, dead folks allers raises\nup der behime leg en hollers _wahoo_!\" (In Mr. Owen's version, they\n\"grin and whistle.\") In the Sesuto story[22] the Monkey suspects a\ntrick and escapes, when the Hare persuades the Lion to entrap the\nother animals by shamming death. Perhaps the baptism of the crabs\n(\"Annancy in Crab Country\") may be connected with \"Mr. Spider\ninitiates the fowls,\"[23] where the Temne Spider, assuming for the\nnonce a quasi-religious character, gathers his victims together to\ncelebrate the Bundo mysteries, and massacres them wholesale.\n\n[Footnote 20: _Cunnie Rabbit_, p. 219.]\n\n[Footnote 21: \"Mr. Wolf makes a failure.\"]\n\n[Footnote 22: Jacottet, p. 19.]\n\n[Footnote 23: _Cunnie Rabbit_, p. 133.]\n\n\"Annancy and Hog\" (XXXII.) is a fragmentary story, not very easy to\nunderstand as we have it, but something has evidently dropped out. The\nsentence \"An' when Hog think him done up Annancy him done up him own\nmother\" may point to some original similar to the Fiote story given by\nMr. Dennett, in which the Leopard's wife is induced to eat her\nhusband's head.[24] But in that case it is difficult to understand the\nconnection with the opening incidents.\n\n[Footnote 24: _Folklore of the Fjort_, pp. 82-84.]\n\nIn \"John-Crow and Fowl-hawk\" (XLVI.) we _may_ have a reminiscence of\nthe class of stories represented by the Yao \"Kalikalanje,\" in which an\nunborn child is promised by the mother in return for a service\nrendered her by some person or animal. The resemblance, however, is\nnot very marked, and the incident is quite lost sight of in the later\npart of the story.\n\n\"Annancy and Death\" is curious, and, as it stands, not very\nintelligible. Death, as a person, is introduced into several African\nstories,[25] and even (in one from the Ivory Coast) together with the\nSpider, but none of these have anything parallel with the one before\nus. The last part, however, where Annancy and his children are\nclinging to the rafters, and Death waiting for them below, recalls the\nstory to be found on pp. 224-226 of _Cunnie Rabbit_. The Spider and\nhis family take refuge in the roof when pursued by the Leopard, and he\nsits on the ground and catches them as they drop one by one. Last of\nall, the wife, Nahker, \"he say he done tire, en Spider say: 'Yo' wey\n(= who) big so? Fa' down now, yo' go get de trouble.' Nahker fa' down,\nLepped yeat um. Spider he one lef' hang.\" He escapes, however.\n\n[Footnote 25: _Kalunga_ in Angola, _Ko_ by the Ne Kru-men. Some\ncurious episodes connected with the latter are given by M. Georges\nThomann in his _Essai de Manuel de la langue neonla_ (Paris: E.\nLeroux).]\n\nIn \"Dummy,\" Annancy wins a bet and the hand of the King's daughter by\ninducing \"Peafowl\" to make the dumb man talk. This \"Peafowl\" does by\nthe sweetness of his song; but in a Duala story given by Lederbogen as\n\"Der Tausendfuss und das stumme Kind,\" the means adopted more nearly\nresemble the time-honoured recipes for detecting changelings in this\ncountry. The Mouse advised the dumb child's parents to consult the\nSpider, who told them to hang up a centipede over the fireplace, set\non a pot of water just underneath it, and leave the child sitting\nbeside the fire. They did so, and went out. As soon as the steam rose\nfrom the water, the centipede, feeling the heat, began to struggle,\nand the dumb child watching it cried out in his excitement, \"Father!\nthere is a centipede going to fall into the pot.\"\n\n\"William Tell\" is puzzling. There is no single point of contact\nbetween the owner of the witch-tree and the mythical archer of Europe.\nIt is most probable that the name (a likely one to remain in the\nmemory) had been picked up by some negro story-teller who did not know\nthe tale belonging to it and simply attached it to the first\ncharacter that came handy. The \"sings\" by means of which Annancy fells\nthe tree occur frequently in native African stories; we need only\nmention the incident (found not only in the Xosa \"Bird that made\nMilk,\" but in a Duala tale, and elsewhere) of the song which made the\nhoed garden return to grass and weeds, and that of Simbubukwana's\nsister[26] who sang \"Have legs, have arms,\" and the boy who was\nwithout those members immediately grew them. The notion of spells to\nbe sung, however, does not seem to be confined to any country or race.\n\n[Footnote 26: McCall Theal, p. 68.]\n\nI do not remember any exact parallel to \"Dry River\" (XXXIII.), but the\nincident of the river rising is found in Africa with several different\nsequels. In a Nyanja story which I have in MS., some children go out\ninto the bush to gather wild fruit, and are cut off on their return by\nthe rising of the river. They are helped across by \"a big bird, with\none wing, one eye and one leg\" (one of the \"half-beings\"[27] whose\nplace in Bantu folk-lore has not yet been fully worked out), and\ncharged not to tell who took them over. One boy tells his mother, and\nis drowned on the next expedition, his companions getting across in\nsafety. In \"The Village Maiden and the Cannibal\" (Mrs. Martin's\n_Basutoland, its Legends and Customs_), the girls cannot cross the\nswollen stream till they have thrown a large root into the water, and\ncomplied with the directions. The last girl, who is reluctant to obey,\nbut finally gives in, is not drowned, but she and her sister have an\nadventure with cannibals of a not uncommon kind, which may be referred\nto Mr. Jacobs's \"Flight from Witchcraft\" type. Two other stories, a\nKinga (North-east Nyasa) and a Machame (Kilimanjaro) one, have the\nsame opening incident (in the one case, however, it is a rock and not\na river which enlarges itself and blocks the way), but continue in\nquite a different way--the girls are helped by an animal (in one case\na jackal, in another a hyena) who subsequently insists on marrying one\nof them. The Machame tale, to which we shall have to return presently,\nas it belongs to the group to which we refer \"Yellow Snake\" and some\nothers, goes on to relate how the girl escaped from the hyena's\nvillage; the Kinga one takes an entirely different course.\n\n[Footnote 27: See Junod, _Chants et Contes des Baronga_, p. 197; also\na note in Chatelain, _Folk-tales of Angola_, p. 254, and Callaway,\n_Zulu Tales_, p. 199.]\n\n\"Leah and Tiger\" is one of the stories which can be most\nunhesitatingly identified as African; and, as it happens, the examples\nat present known to me are nearly all Bantu. Perhaps the closest\nparallel is the Suto \"Tselane\" (Jacottet, p. 69),[28] where, however,\nthe girl, instead of being secluded by her father to avoid the trouble\nwhich her refusal to marry threatens to bring upon him, herself\ninsists on staying in the house her parents are leaving. As in the\nJamaica version, they bring her food every day, and sing to let her\nknow of their approach. The cannibal on the prowl (represented in\nJamaica by the \"tiger\") imitates the mother's voice, but fails; after\nswallowing a red-hot hoe, he succeeds at the first trial. He does not\neat Tselane, however, and so end the story with a warning against\nobstinacy; he puts her into a bag to carry her home, and rests on his\nway at a hut, which proves to be her uncle's. While he is resting\ninside the hut, leaving his bag outside, the family discover the girl\nand let her out, substituting a dog and some biting ants. In other\nversions it is bees and wasps, or snakes and toads; but the result is\nalways the same--the death of the cannibal. The incident of swallowing\nred-hot iron to soften the voice is found also in \"Demane and\nDemazana\" (Theal) and elsewhere. In a curious Masai story, \"The Old\nMan and his Knee\" (Hollis, _The Masai: Language and Folklore_, p.\n153), the \"enemies\" (not said to be cannibals) carry off the old man's\ntwo children by means of the same stratagem. After failing in the\nfirst attempt they consult a medicine-man to find out how they can\n\"make their voices resemble an old man's.\" He tells them merely to go\nback, and eat nothing on the road. They eat a lizard and an ant, and\ntheir voices do not produce the desired effect. On trying again, and\nthis time complying exactly with the doctor's directions, they deceive\nthe children and get the door opened. This incident is preserved in\n\"Leah,\" and, like the Masai \"enemies,\" Tiger thinks that such a trifle\nas the guava and \"duckanoo\" cannot possibly do any harm. The Masai\nstory concludes with the killing of the old man by making him swallow\na hot stone--an incident which crops up in various connections in the\nHare stories, but seems out of its place in this one. On the whole\n(though I do not like to hazard a conjecture) it seems more probable\nthat the Masai had picked up this tale from some of their Bantu\nneighbours than that the Bantu should have adopted it from them.\n\n[Footnote 28: This story is also given by Arbousset.]\n\nAs regards the imported stories, it seems reasonably clear that\n\"Yung-Kyum-Pyung\" is a \"Rumpelstiltzchen\" story which has accidentally\nbecome associated with Annancy. Though the superstition on which these\nstories are based exists in Africa as well as in other parts of the\nworld, and is one of the factors in the custom of _hlonipa_, I do not\nremember any tale embodying it in this form, though there are numerous\nexamples of those which turn a _tabu_ of some sort.\n\n\"King Daniel\" is the story of the jealous sister, best known, perhaps,\nin the ballad of \"Binnorie.\" But it has African prototypes as well,\nthough the resemblance to these is not so close, in which the crime is\ndiscovered by the song of a bird--sometimes the metamorphosed heart of\nthe victim. In \"Masilo and Masilonyane\" and the Kinga \"Die\nReiherfeder,\"[29] one brother (or companion) kills the other; in\n\"Unyengebule\" (Callaway) the husband kills the wife, and here it is\nher feather head-dress which turns into a bird. \"Pretty Poll\" (XXXI.)\nis a variant of this story.\n\n[Footnote 29: R. Wolff, \"Grammatik der Kingasprachen\" (_Archiv fuer das\nStudium deutschen Kolonialsprachen_, iii.), p. 135.]\n\nAnother pair of variants, apparently, are \"Blackbird and Woss-woss\"\nand \"Open Sesame.\" But the former of these, it seems to me,\ncorresponds much more closely with a Nago story of the Lizard and the\nTortoise, given by M. Basset (_Contes populaires d'Afrique_, p. 217);\nand it should be remembered that the Nagos of Yoruba are one of the\ntribes represented among the Jamaica negroes. The lizard finds a rock\ncontaining a store of yams, and overhearing the words used by the\nowner \"_Stone, open!_\" obtains food for himself in time of famine. He\nimparts the secret to the tortoise, and they go together, but the\ntortoise lingers behind to load himself with all he can carry, and not\nknowing the word fails to get out, and is killed when the owner\nreturns. He revives, however, and gets the cockroach to stick his\nshell together, thus presenting a point of contact with other\naetiological myths about the Tortoise. The rescue by the army of wasps\nI have been unable to match.\n\n\"Man-crow\" is the story, which exists in so many variants, where the\nhero is robbed of the fruit of his achievement by an impostor stepping\nin at the last minute. The nearest parallel which occurs to me is\n\"Rombao\" (probably obtained from a Portuguese source by the Quilimane\nnatives who related it to Mr. Duff Macdonald), where the hero kills\nthe whale and cuts out its tongue; the captain who finds it dead\nclaims his reward, but is discomfited by Rombao's appearance with the\ntongue.\n\n\"The Three Pigs\" will be readily recognized as the familiar English\nstory, and corresponds pretty closely to the version in Mr. Jacobs's\n_English Fairy Tales_. A version current among the negroes of the\nSouthern States is given by Mr. Owens in the paper in _Lippincott's\nMagazine_ already referred to. This version, entitled \"Tiny Pig,\"\nomits the two incidents of the apple-tree and the butter-churn; but\ncuriously enough these appear as \"Buh Rabbit\" episodes in another part\nof the same paper, the apple-tree having become a pear-tree, and the\nchurn a tin mug which Buh Rabbit puts over his head, while he hangs\nvarious articles of tinware about his person.\n\n\"Sea-Mahmy\" introduces several different elements. The mermaid herself\nis probably of European extraction,[30] and the device by which\nBlackbird brings Annancy to the feeding-tree _might_ be a far-off echo\nof the Daedalus and Icarus myth. But Annancy's trick for conveying\nTrapong to his house and eating him recalls one of the stock incidents\nof Bantu folk-lore--the one where Hlakanyana, or the Hare, or some\nother creature, induces his dupe to get burnt or boiled by pretending\nto undergo the process himself and to escape with impunity. The Suto\nHare[31] commends this as a device for attaining immortality--in which\nthere is a faint suggestion of Medea's caldron. I was at first\ndisposed to refer this episode to the \"Big Klaas and Little Klaas\" (or\nthe \"Getting-to-Heaven-in-a-Sack\") group; but the inducement to enter\nthe sack, which is so great a point in these, is here wanting. It is\nfound in a Zanzibar story (\"Abu Nuwasi na waziri na Sultani\") in Dr.\nVelten's collection,[32] where Abu Nuwas is sewn up into a sack to be\nthrown into the sea, and induces another man to take his place by\nsaying that he is to be drowned for refusing to marry the Sultan's\ndaughter. This is evidently an Arab tale, though I do not remember it\nin the _Arabian Nights_.\n\n[Footnote 30: One kind of duppy is a mermaid--but I can find no\nindication that she came from Africa.]\n\n[Footnote 31: Jacottet, p. 15.]\n\n[Footnote 32: _Suaheli Maerchen_, p. 154 (p. 241 in the German\ntranslation).]\n\nThe exotic tales to be found in Bantu Africa come mainly from two\nsources--Arab and Portuguese. The former is exemplified at Zanzibar\nand all down the Mozambique coast; the latter in Angola and\nMozambique. We have already referred to an example obtained at Delagoa\nBay by M. Junod; but \"Bonaouaci\" (_Chants et Contes_, p. 292), though\nthe names are Portuguese, and the local colouring goes so far as to\nintroduce the Governor of Mozambique in person, is in substance\nidentical with one of the \"Abu Nuwas\" stories given by Dr. Velten, the\nincident of the egg-production being nearly the same in both, as well\nas the two other impossible tasks set the hero--sewing a stone and\nbuilding a house in the air. I fancy the same is the case with\n\"Djiwao,\" though the incidents have been a good deal remodelled, and\nthe concluding episode--the boiling of the chief Gwanazi in the pot he\nhad intended for Djiwao, is the purely Bantu one alluded to in the\nlast paragraph--in a somewhat unusual setting. \"Les trois\nvaisseaux,\"[33] again, is an _Arabian Nights_ story, of which a\ncurious version has been obtained at Domasi, probably brought from the\ncoast by some member of a Yao trading caravan. Mr. Dennett's No. III.,\n\"How the wives restored their husband to life,\" looks like a much\naltered and localized form of this. If so it might have reached the\nCongo through the Portuguese. We also find it on the Ivory Coast[34]\nwhere it might have come from an Arab source through Mandingoes or\nHausas.\n\n[Footnote 33: _Ib._ p. 304.]\n\n[Footnote 34: See Thomann, _op. cit._, \"Trois maris pour une femme.\"]\n\nThe stories of \"Fenda Maria\" and \"Fenda Maria and her elder brother\nNga Nzua\"[35] (\"The Three Citrons\" and \"Cinderella\"), are good\nexamples of transplanted stories invested with local colour by\nsuccessive generations of narrators, till, as Mr. Chatelain says,\n\"the fundamental idea of exotic origin has been so perfectly covered\nwith Angola foliage and blossoms, that science alone can detect the\nimported elements, and no native would believe that [these tales] are\nnot entirely Angolan.\"\n\n[Footnote 35: Chatelain, No. I. and No. II.]\n\nA curious stage in the migration of stories is exemplified by the\n\"Taal\" (or Cape Dutch) versions of Oriental stories imported into\nSouth Africa by the Malays, and existing in a purely traditional form\namong the coloured people. One of these was printed by Mr. H.N. Mueller\nin _De Gids_ for Jan., 1900, but I think hardly any attempt has been\nmade to collect them. And here I may mention that Herr Seidel's\n_Lieder und Geschichten der Afrikaner_[36] contains a Nama version of\nthe Lear story, taken down and translated by Herr Olpp, of the Rhenish\nMission, who seems quite unaware of its real origin, in spite of the\nvery obvious parallel in Grimm's _Hausmaerchen_. He says in a note:\n\"Diese Begebenheit kann sich nur in der Kap-Kolonie ereignet haben zu\neiner Zeit in welcher Kolonisten sich schon angesiedelt hatten und\nunter den Eingeborenen wohnten. Der Name der Tochter spricht dafuer und\nenstammt dem Hollaendischen.\" Now the youngest daughter's name is\n\"Katje Leiro\"--surely, all things considered, not such a very far cry\nfrom Cordelia.\n\n[Footnote 36: P. 135, \"Liebe bis zum Salz.\"]\n\nIt is interesting to trace the African elements in these imported\ntales as distinct from those which are merely derived from West Indian\nsurroundings. Thus Mr. Bluebeard's three-legged horse (compare also\nthe three-legged horse in \"Devil and the Princess\") is, as explained\nin the footnote, a \"duppy\"; and the duppy, whatever the derivation of\nhis name, seems to be West African in origin. Duppies are the souls of\nthe dead, \"capable of assuming various forms of men and other\nanimals.\"[37] Some of these forms are monstrous, as the \"three-foot\nhorse\" already alluded to, the \"long-bubby Susan,\" and the \"rolling\ncalf.\" The informant who is responsible for these statements also says\nthat \"the duppy in human form generally moves along by spinning or\nwalking backwards.\" Perhaps this may explain the mysterious \"Wheeler\"\n(LI.) who has his habitation in a hollow tree, and seizes the hand of\nany unwary person who puts it into the hole. What he would have done\nif not requested to \"Wheel me mile an' distant,\" remains obscure; but\napparently the persons making the request are whirled through the air\nand then dropped at the place where Annancy (who has previously passed\nthrough the experience unscathed) has prepared a trap for them. The\nstory suggests--though the resemblance is not very close--the episode\nof \"The Stone that wore a Beard\" in _Cunnie Rabbit_ (p. 167), where\nthe Spider, having had a narrow escape from the magic powers of the\nbearded stone (a transformed \"devil\") utilises them for the\ndestruction of his acquaintances. Those who remark on the peculiarity\nof the stone are struck down unconscious, and Spider exercises all his\ningenuity in inducing his victims to say, \"Dah stone get plenty\nbear'-bear'!\" Cunnie Rabbit will not say the words till Spider has\nhimself done so, and has suffered the consequences; both are\nafterwards rescued by Trorkey (Tortoise). Somewhat similar to\n\"Wheeler\" is the magic jar in XLV.--which might, however, be due to a\ndistorted reminiscence of \"Bluebeard.\" Spirits are often believed on\nthe Gold Coast to take up their abode in trees, as well as to assume\nthe form of animals. The usual Tshi name for them appears to be\n_bonsum_ or _bossum_: the word \"duppy\" I have been unable to trace.\n\n[Footnote 37: See _Folk-Lore_, March, 1904, p. 90.]\n\nThe method of divination in \"Mr. Bluebeard\" is one I do not remember\nto have met with, though it may be akin to the \"magic mirror of ink.\"\nThe magic drum by which Calcutta Monkey (XXXVIII.) finds out Annancy's\nwhereabouts is African. I do not recall any parallel story, but drums\nare much used by witch-doctors and in ceremonial dances, and in some\ncases auguries are drawn from their sound. But Monkey first discovers\nAnnancy to be the thief by cutting the cards, which of course is\nEuropean.\n\nTwo stories, \"Annancy and the Old Lady's Field\" (XVI.) and \"Devil's\nHoneydram,\" introduce the incident of a woman compelled to dance\nagainst her will--in one case to dance herself to death. In both cases\nthe music seems to be the compelling power; but it is not clear\nwhether, in \"Devil's Honeydram,\" the knowledge (and use in the song)\nof the woman's name has anything to do with the spell. If so, the idea\nis so universal that one can scarcely refer to it as specially\nAfrican. It is interesting, though perhaps scarcely pertinent to the\nmatter in hand, to note that the Akikuyu believe their images (of\nwhich Mr. Scoresby Routledge has brought home specimens) to have the\npower, if held up before people, of compelling them to dance.\n\nThe folk-lore of Jamaica, as given in the interesting papers published\nin _Folk-Lore_, 1904-5, is decidedly of a composite character. The\nnegroes have, as there pointed out (1904, p. 87), \"adopted many of the\nmost trivial of English superstitions,\" while at the same time\npreserving some reminiscences of their African beliefs. These are\nespecially seen in the notions respecting \"duppies,\" which again are\nperceptibly influenced by Christian ideas, cf. the efficacy of the\nname of Christ (p. 90) and the statement that the \"rolling calf\" is\nthe spirit of a person not good enough for heaven or bad enough for\nhell, or the recipe of \"sitting on a Bible\" to get rid of a duppy. The\ndirections for \"killing a thief\" (p. 92) belong to the system\n(universal throughout Negro and Bantu Africa) of guarding crops by\nmeans of \"medicine,\" or \"fetish,\" or whatever one likes to call it:\nthe technical name in Chinyanja is _chiwindo_. I do not remember any\nof the particular forms of _chiwindo_ here enumerated; and the silver\nthreepence to be planted with the \"guinea yam\" is a civilized\naddition, but the principle is the same. The methods of \"finding out\nthe thief,\" on the other hand, which follow on p. 93, are certainly\nEnglish--the Bible and key, and the gold ring, hair and tumbler of\nwater. There is a third alternative:--\"A curious kind of smoke, which,\nwhen it rises, goes to the house of the thief, etc.\"--but it is too\nvaguely stated to enable us to pronounce upon it.\n\nAmong funeral customs we find the following (p. 88): \"If a person dies\nwhere there are little children, after the body is put into the\ncoffin, they will lift up each little child, and calling him by name,\npass him over the dead body.\" According to a Sierra Leone paper this\ncustom is observed there; but it is not stated by which of the tribes\nwho make up the extremely mixed population. It may even be found on\ninvestigation that some of the freed slaves brought the notion back\nfrom the New World. The same authority states that it is considered\nunlucky to whistle, and adds the rationalizing explanation that\nwhistling attracts snakes, lizards, and other undesirable creatures\ninto the house. In Jamaica, you must not \"whistle in the nights, for\nduppies will catch your voice.\"\n\nThe proportion of native and acquired, or African and European ideas\nin these superstitions can only be determined by a much more detailed\nexamination than I can make here, and one based on fuller materials\nthan are yet accessible.\n\nIn conclusion, I would briefly glance at five stories which I have\ngrouped together as derived from a common African original, and which\npresent several features of interest, though I am unable to examine\nthem as much in detail as I should like to do. These are \"The Three\nSisters\" (VII.), \"Gaulin\" (XXIV.), \"Yellow Snake\" (XXXIV.), \"John\nCrow\" (XLIII.), and \"Devil and the Princess\" (LI.). The type to which\nthese may be referred resembles the one registered by Mr. Jacobs as\nthe \"Robber-Bridegroom\"; but the African prototypes are certainly\nindigenous, and it might seem as if the stories Mr. Jacobs had in view\nwere late and comparatively civilized versions of the corresponding\nEuropean and Asiatic ones, the Robber being the equivalent of an\nearlier wizard or devil, who, in the primitive form of the story, was\nsimply an animal assuming human shape. The main incidents of the\ntype-story are as follows:\n\n (1) A girl obstinately refuses all suitors.\n\n (2) She is wooed by an animal in human form, and at once\n accepts him.\n\n (3) She is warned (usually by a brother) and disregards the\n warning.\n\n (4) She is about to be killed and eaten, but is saved by the\n brother whose advice was disregarded.\n\nA Nyanja variant of this story, where the bridegroom is a hyena,\ncorresponds very closely with the Temne \"Marry the devil, there's the\ndevil to pay\" (_Cunnie Rabbit_, p. 178)--even to the little brother\nwho follows the newly-wedded couple, against the wishes of the bride,\nand who is afflicted--in the one case with \"craw-craw,\" in the other\nwith sore eyes. A translation of the Nyanja story may be found in the\n_Contemporary Review_ for September, 1896. In Mrs. Dewar's\n_Chinamwanga Stories_ (p. 41) there is a variant,--\"Ngoza,\"--where the\nhusband is a lion. In the Machame story, previously alluded to, the\nhyena, having befriended a girl, marries her, and she escapes with\nsome difficulty from being eaten by his relations. Yet another variant\nis \"Ngomba's Balloon\" in Mr. Dennett's _Folklore of the Fjort_. Here\nthe husband is a _Mpunia_ (translated \"murderer\")--apparently a mere\nhuman bad character, and Ngomba escapes by her own ingenuity.\n\nIn the Jamaican stories it strikes one that the idea of transformation\nis somewhat obscured. We are told how \"Gaulin\" (Egret) and \"John Crow\"\nprovide themselves with clothes and equipages--the latter a carriage\nand pair, the former the humbler local buggy;--and this seems to\nconstitute the extent of their disguise. Yellow Snake is said to\n\"change and fix up himself\"--but the expression is vague. Gaulin,\nhowever, can only be deprived of his clothes (and so made to appear in\nhis true shape) by means of a magic song. The \"old-witch\" brother, who\nhas overheard the song, plays its tune at the wedding and thus exposes\nthe bridegroom, who flies out at the door. \"John-Crow\" is detected by\na Cinderella-like device of keeping him till daylight, and his hurried\nflight through the window (in which he scraped the feathers off his\nhead on the broken glass) explains a characteristic feature of these\nuseful but unattractive birds.\n\nIn neither of these is the bride in any danger: but in \"Yellow Snake\"\nher brothers save her when already more than half swallowed; in \"Devil\nand the Princess,\" she escapes by the aid of the Devil's cook, who\nfeeds the watchful cock on corn soaked in rum. In this story, too, it\nis not the girl's brother, but the \"old-witch\" servant-boy, who warns\nher; and, as he is cast into prison for his pains, he has no hand in\nthe release. In two cases (\"Gaulin\" and \"John Crow\") Annancy is one of\nthe unsuccessful suitors, and, in the former, \"Rabbit\" is another.\n(He, apparently, takes no steps to change his shape, being rejected on\nthe ground that he is \"only but a meat,\" _i.e._, an animal.) In the\nNyanja story, Leopard and Hare are mentioned as meeting with refusals,\nbefore the Hyena arrives on the scene. \"The Three Sisters,\" while\nkeeping one or two points of the original story, is much altered, and\nseems to have introduced some rather unintelligible fragments of an\nEnglish ballad (as to which see Appendix, p. 286). The Snake is never\naccepted; and the youngest of the sisters, who answers him on behalf\nof all, would seem to represent the \"old-witch\" brother who detects\nhis true character. His \"turning into a devil\" is another alien\nelement--perhaps due to Biblical recollections, and the concluding\nassertion that he \"have chain round his waist until now\" seems to\nrefer to something which has dropped out, as there is no previous\nallusion to a chain in the story as it stands. Of all the five,\n\"Yellow Snake\" is, on the whole, the closest to what we may suppose to\nhave been the original; \"Devil and the Princess\" is in some respects\ncomplete, but has acquired several foreign features, and \"John Crow\"\nhas quite lost the characteristic conclusion. It is to be hoped that\nwe may one day succeed in discovering, if not all the African variants\nof this story, yet enough to render those we possess more\nintelligible, and to afford materials for an interesting comparative\nstudy.\n\nA. WERNER.\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR'S PREFACE.\n\n\nThe stories and tunes of this book are taken down from the mouths of\nmen and boys in my employ. The method of procedure has in every case\nbeen to sit them down to their recital and make them dictate slowly;\nso the stories are in their _ipsissima verba_. Here and there, but\nvery rarely indeed, I have made a slight change, and this only because\nI thought the volume might find its way into the nursery. The\nfollowing list exhausts the emendations: (1) It was not his fat that\nTiger took out when he went bathing, but his viscera; (2) The\n\"Tumpa-toe\" of one of the stories is \"Stinking-toe\"; (3) Dog always\nswears, his favourite expression being, \"There will be hell here\nto-night,\" and the first line of one of the dance tunes runs really:\n\"Hell of a dog up'tairs\"; (4) \"belly\" is replaced by a prettier\nequivalent.\n\nThe district in which I live is that of the Port Royal Mountains\nbehind Kingston. Other districts have other \"Sings,\" for these depend\nupon local topics. The Annancy Stories are, so far as I know, more or\nless alike throughout the island. This title seems to include stories\nin which Annancy himself does not figure at all, but this is of course\nan illegitimate use of it. The collection in this book is a mere\nsample both of stories and tunes.\n\nThe book as a whole is a tribute to my love for Jamaica and its dusky\ninhabitants, with their winning ways and their many good qualities,\namong which is to be reckoned that supreme virtue, _Cheerfulness_.\n\nW.J.\n\nJAMAICA, _January_, 1906.\n\n\n\n\nJAMAICAN SONG AND STORY.\n\n\n\n\nPART I. ANNANCY STORIES.\n\n\nWhen the hoes stop clicking and you hear peals of laughter from the\nfield, you may know that somebody is telling an Annancy story. If you\ngo out, you will find a group of Negroes round the narrator,\npunctuating all the good points with delighted chuckles. Their sunny\nfaces are beaming, and at the recital of any special piece of knavery\non Annancy's part ordinary means of expression fail, and they fling\nthemselves on the ground and wriggle in convulsions of merriment.\n\nAnnancy is a legendary being whose chief characteristic is trickery. A\nstrong and good workman, he is invariably lazy, and is only to be\ntempted to honest labour by the offer of a large reward. He prefers to\nfill the bag which he always carries, by fraud or theft. His appetite\nis voracious, and nothing comes amiss to him, cooked or raw. No sooner\nis one gluttonous feast over than he is ready for another, and endless\nare his shifts and devices to supply himself with food. Sometimes he\nwill thrust himself upon an unwilling neighbour, and eat up all his\nbreakfast. At another time he carries out his bag and brings it home\nfull of flesh or fish obtained by thieving. He is perfectly selfish,\nand knows no remorse for his many deeds of violence, treachery and\ncruelty. His only redeeming point is a sort of hail-fellow-well-met-ness,\nwhich appeals so much to his associates that they are ready almost,\nif not quite, to condone his offences.\n\nAnnancy has a defect of speech owing to a cleft palate, and pronounces\nhis words badly. He speaks somewhat like Punch, through his nose very\nrapidly, and uses the most countrified form of dialect. He cannot say\n\"brother,\" and has to leave out the _th_ owing to the failure of the\ntongue to meet the palate, so he says \"bro'er.\" He even pretends he\ncannot say \"puss,\" and turns it into \"push.\" Strings of little words\nhe delights in, such as, in the Brother Death story, the\noften-repeated \"no mo so me no yerry,\" an expressive phrase difficult\nto render into good English. It means \"I must have failed to hear.\"\nThe words are \"no more so me no hear,\" equivalent to \"it must be so\n(that) I (do) not hear,\" the \"no more\" having something of the force\nof the same words in the colloquial phrases, \"no more I do,\" \"no more\nI will.\" When, for instance, to the remark, \"I thought you didn't like\nthe smell of paint,\" we make the rejoinder \"no more I do,\" Priscian\nstrives in vain to disentangle the words and reduce them to rule of\nsyntax, but they mean \"Well! I do not.\" Thus \"no more me hear\" would\nbe \"Well! I do not hear.\" The \"so\" introduces the hypothetical element\nand the \"no\" before \"yerry\" is a reduplicated negative.\n\nThus far for the sense. Now for the pronunciation. The accent\nindicates where the stress of the voice falls, and unless the accent\nis caught, the phrase will not run off the tongue. This is how it\ngoes:\n\n n[)o] m[)o] | s[=o] m[)e] n[)o] | yerry.\n\nAs an illustration of the necessity of right placing of the accent,\ntake the name of that town in Madagascar, which we so often saw in our\npapers a few years ago, Antananarivo. Most of us just nodded our heads\nat it, but never tried, or at least only feebly, to articulate it.\nWith all this \"an an\" it was the same sort of hopeless business as\nthe deciphering of the hieroglyphics of those writers whose words\nseem to be composed of nothing but _m_'s. And yet how simple, and easy\nto say, the word is when we catch the accent. First \"an\"; then stop a\nlittle; \"tanana,\" same values as traveller; and finally \"rivo.\" French\nsounds for the vowels of course, An-tananarivo. This grouping of\naccents is that which in music is known as rhythm. Rightly grouped\nthey make musical sense, wrongly grouped--and alas! how often we hear\nit--musical nonsense. See the stuttering hopelessness and helplessness\nof an-tan-an-a--there might be any number more of \"an-an\"s to follow,\nand compare with this the neat satisfying form Antananarivo. So let no\nbungler read in the story of Brother Death \"no mo so me no yerry\" with\nhalting and panting, but let him reel off as quickly as he can \"no mo\nso me no yerry\" with just the accent that he would use in this\nphrase:--\"It is here that I want you.\" Remember, too, that the _o_'s\nhave the open sound of Italian, and not the close sound of English. So\nis exactly like _sol_ (the musical note) with the _l_ left out, and\nnot as we pronounce it. And above all, speed.\n\nWhen the stranger lands in Jamaica and hears the rapid rush of words,\nand the soft, open vowels, he often says: \"Why, I thought they talked\nEnglish here, but it sounds like Spanish or Italian!\" The difficulty\nin understanding a new language lies in the inability to distinguish\nthe point where one word ends and the next begins. The old puzzle\nsentence, _Caille a haut nid, taupe a bas nid_, shows this very well.\nThe ear catches the sound but fails to differentiate the words, and,\ntheir real identity being disguised, the listener has a sort of\nimpression of modern Greek or Italian, writing these fragments in his\nbrain _oni_, _bani_.\n\nJust as hopeless is negro English to the newcomer, and the first thing\nto do is to set about learning it. And well it repays investigation.\nIt is the boast of the English language that it has got rid of so much\nsuperfluous grammatical matter in the way of genders, inflections and\nsuch-like perplexities. True, it has abolished much that was evil, and\nenables us to speak and write shortly and to the point. But negro\nEnglish goes a step further, and its form is still more concise.\nCompare these expressions:\n\n NEGRO. ENGLISH.\n\n Corn the horse. Give the horse some corn.\n Care the child. Take care of the child.\n Him wife turn fire. His wife became a shrew.\n You middle hand. The middle of your hand.\n My bottom foot. The bottom of my foot.\n Out the lamp. Put out the lamp.\n The boy too trick. The boy is very tricky.\n I did him nothing. I did not provoke him.\n See the 'tar up a 'ky. Look at the star up in the sky.\n No make him get 'way. Do not let him get away.\n Me go buy. I am going to buy.\n A door. Out of doors.\n Short-mout'ed. Quick at repartee.\n Bull a broke pen. The bull has broken out of the pen.\n Bell a ring a yard. The bell is ringing in the yard.\n Same place him patch. In the place where it was patched.\n To warm fire. To warm oneself by the fire.\n You no give. If you do not give.\n Bring come. Bring it here.\n A bush. In the bush.[38]\n\n[Footnote 38: These idioms are very similar to those of Cape Dutch,\nespecially as spoken by the coloured people, and may help to\nillustrate its development. Cf. _Jy is te skellum_,--_ek gaan_ (or\nbetter, _Corp_) korp, etc. \"To warm fire\" reminds one of the Bantu _Ku\not a moto_, of which it is almost a literal translation. (A.W.)]\n\nThese are a few typical sentences out of a host which might be cited\nto show the neat, short turn they take in the mouth of the Jamaica\nNegro.\n\nThe rapidity of utterance natural to all the Blacks is exaggerated by\nAnnancy. He generally affects, too, a falsetto tone as in \"Play up the\nmusic, play up the music,\" in Yung-kyum-pyung. He has a metamorphic\nshape, that of the Spider. At one moment he is a man \"tiefing\n(thieving) cow,\" the next he is running upon his rope (web).\n\nAs he is the chief personage in most of the stories in this book, it\nis well to have a perfectly clear idea of the pronunciation of his\nname. Unnahncy does not represent it badly, but the first letter has\nactually the sound of short French _a_ as in _la_. The accent falls\nstrongly on the middle syllable. In \"Tacoma\" all the syllables are\nvery short. The first has the sound of French _ta_, and takes the\naccent; _co_ is something between English _cook_ and Italian _con_,\nand it is impossible to determine whether to write the vowel _o_ or\n_u_; _ma_ again as in French. The exact relation in which Tacoma\nstands to Annancy is obscure. In one case he is described as Annancy's\nson, but, according to most of the stories, he appears to be an\nindependent neighbour.\n\nThe stories are obviously derived from various sources, the most\nprimitive being no doubt those which are concerned only, or chiefly,\nwith animals. These may be of African origin, but we should have\nexpected to find the Elephant and not the Tiger. I have a suspicion\nthat Tiger was originally Lion, and that he is the Ogre of Jack the\nGiant-killer, and other fairy stories brought to Jamaica from England.\nOgre would easily be corrupted to Tiger, and with the information,\nwhich might have been acquired at the same time, that Tiger was a\nfierce animal which ate men, his name would find its way into stories\nrepeated from mouth to mouth. This is, however, pure conjecture. How\nmuch the stories vary may be seen from the two versions of Ali Baba,\nin one of which the point is so entirely lost that the door is not\nkept shut upon the intruder.\n\nThe tunes are in the same case as the stories. What I take to be\ncertainly primitive about them is the little short refrains, like\n\"Carry him go 'long\" (Dry Bone) and \"Commando\" (Annancy and Hog).\nThese suggest tapping on a drum. Again, the same influence that has\nproduced the American Plantation Songs is occasionally visible, as in\n\"Some a we da go to Mount Siney\" (Annancy in Crab Country). This kind\nof patter is just what the Negro likes. Some of the tunes are\nevidently popular songs of the day, as, for instance, the vulgar\n\"Somebody waiting for Salizon\" (Snake the Postman). But others are a\npuzzle, showing as they do a high order of melodic instinct. Such are\nthe melodies in \"The Three Sisters\" and \"Leah,\" and the digging-tunes,\n\"Oh, Samuel, Oh!\" and \"Three Acres of Coffee.\" These digging-tunes are\nvery pleasant to hear, and the singers are quick at improvising parts.\nThey are an appropriate accompaniment to the joyous labour of this\nsunny, happy land.\n\nOne more word with regard to the tunes. They gain a peculiar and\nalmost indescribable lilt from a peculiarity in the time-organisation\nof the Negro. If you ask him to beat the time with his foot, he does\nit perfectly regularly, but just where the white man does not do it.\nWe beat _with_ the time; he beats _against_ it. To make my meaning\nquite plain, take common measure. His first beat in the bar will be\nexactly midway between our first and second beats. The effect of this\npeculiarity in their singing is, that there is commonly a feeling of\nsyncopation about it. The Americans call it \"rag-time.\"\n\nThe men's voices are of extraordinary beauty. To hear a group chatting\nis a pure pleasure to the ear, quite irrespective of the funny things\nthey say; and their remarks are accompanied with the prettiest little\ntwirks and turns of intonation, sometimes on the words, sometimes mere\nvocal ejaculations between them. The women's voices have the same fine\nquality when they speak low, but this they seldom do, and their usual\nvivacious chatter is anything but melodious.\n\n\n\n\nI. ANNANCY AND BROTHER TIGER.\n\n\nOne day Annancy an' Bro'er Tiger go a river fe wash'kin. Annancy said\nto Bro'er Tiger:--\"Bro'er Tiger, as you are such a big man, if you go\nin a de blue hole with your fat you a go drownded, so you fe take out\nyour fat so lef' it here.\"\n\nTiger said to Bro'er Annancy:--\"You must take out fe you too.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"You take out first, an' me me take out after.\"\n\nTiger first take out.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Go in a hole, Bro'er Tiger, an' make me see how you\nswim light.\"\n\nBro'er Annancy never go in.\n\nAs Tiger was paying attention to the swimming, Annancy take up his fat\nan' eat it.\n\nThen Annancy was so frightened for Tiger, he leaves the river side an'\ngo to Big Monkey town.\n\nHim say:--\"Bro'er Monkey, I hear them shing a shing a river side\nsay:--\n\n[Music:\n\n \"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\"]\n\nThe Big Monkey drive him away, say they don't want to hear no song.\n\nSo him leave and go to Little Monkey town, an' when him go him said:--\n\n\"Bro'er Monkey, I hear one shweet song a river side say:--\n\n \"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\"\n\nThen Monkey say:--\"You must sing the song, make we hear.\"\n\nThen Annancy commence to sing.\n\nMonkey love the song so much that they made a ball a night an' have\nthe same song playing.\n\nSo when Annancy hear the song was playing, he was glad to go back to\nBro'er Tiger.\n\nWhen him go to the river, he saw Tiger was looking for his fat.\n\nTiger said:--\"Bro'er Annancy, I can't find me fat at all.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Ha ha! Biddybye I hear them shing a Little Monkey town\nsay:--\n\n \"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\n\n\"Bro'er Tiger, if you think I lie, come make we go a Little Monkey\ntown.\"\n\nSo he and Tiger wented.\n\nWhen them get to the place, Annancy tell Tiger they must hide in a\nbush.\n\nThen the Monkey was dancing an' playing the same tune.\n\nTiger hear.\n\nThen Annancy say:--\"Bro'er Tiger wha' me tell you? You no yerry me\ntell you say them a call you name up ya?\"\n\nAn' the Monkey never cease with the tune:--\n\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\n Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.\n\nThen Tiger go in the ball an' ask Monkey them for his fat.\n\nThe Monkey say they don't know nothing name so, 'tis Mr. Annancy l'arn\nthem the song.\n\nSo Tiger could manage the Little Monkey them, an' he want fe fight\nthem.\n\nSo the Little Monkey send away a bearer to Big Monkey town, an' bring\ndown a lots of soldiers, an' flog Bro'er Tiger an' Annancy.\n\nSo Bro'er Tiger have fe take bush an' Annancy run up a house-top.\n\nFrom that, Tiger live in the wood until now, an' Annancy in the\nhouse-top.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Go a river fe wash 'kin=, go to the river to wash their skins.\nPronounce =fe= like =fit= without the =t=.\n\n=in a de=, into the.\n\n=A go drownded=, will be drowned.\n\n=fe take=, short for =must have fe take=, must take.\n\n=so lef'=, and leave.\n\n=fe you=, for you, yours.\n\n=me me=, I will. Annancy is fond of these reduplications.\n\n=in a hole=, in the hole.\n\n=make me see=, let me see. =Make= and =let= are always confused.\n\n=frighten=, frightened. Past participles are seldom used.\n\n=take=, =eat=, =leave=, =go=, takes, eats, leaves, goes. This shortening is\nalways adopted. If a final =s= is used, it is generally in the wrong\nplace.\n\n=shing a shing=, sing a song. Annancy's lisp will not always be printed,\nbut in reading, it should be put in even when not indicated.\n\n=a river side=, at the river's side. The =v= is pronounced more like a =b=,\nand the =i= in =river= has the sound of French =u=.\n\n=me a nyam=, I was eating, I ate. =Nyam= is one of the few African words\nwhich survive in Jamaica.\n\n=make we hear=, and let us hear it.\n\n=have the same song playing=; the past participle again avoided, and its\nplace supplied by the present participle. Song and tune are\ninterchangeable terms, and, even when there is no singing, the fiddle\nspeaks words to those who are privileged to hear; see \"Doba\" and other\nstories.\n\n=Biddybye=, by the bye.\n\n=a Little Monkey town=, in Little Monkey town. So already in this story\nwe have had _a_ standing for =to=, =in=, =the=, =at=, =will=, besides being\ninterjected, as in =me a nyam= and elsewhere.\n\n=make we go=, let us go.\n\n=in a bush=, in the bush, in the jungle.\n\n=dancing an' playing.= No mention of singing, observe.\n\n=a wha' me tell you, etc.= What did I tell you? Did you not hear me tell\nyou they were talking about you up here? A good phrase to illustrate\nthe use of the interjected =say=.\n\n=Call you name=, mention your name.\n\n=Monkey them=; another common addition.\n\n=nothing name so=, nothing called so.\n\n=a bearer.= Bearers are important people in the Jamaica hills where\npost-offices are few. They often bear nothing but a letter, though\nsome carry loads too.\n\n=Jack Mantora, etc.= All Annancy stories end with these or similar\nwords. The Jack is a member of the company to whom the story is told,\nperhaps its principal member; and the narrator addresses him, and\nsays: \"I do not pick you out, Jack, or any of your companions, to be\nflogged as Tiger and Annancy were by the monkeys.\" Among the African\ntribes stories we know are often told with an object. The Negro is\nquick to seize a parable, and the point of a cunningly constructed\nstory directed at an individual obnoxious to the reciter would not\nmiss. So when the stories were merely told for diversion, it may have\nbeen thought good manners to say: \"This story of mine is not aimed at\nany one.\"\n\n\n\n\nII. YUNG-KYUM-PYUNG.\n\n\nA King had t'ree daughter, but nobody in the world know their name.\nAll the learned man from all part of the eart' come to guess them\nname, an' no one could'n guess them.\n\nBrother Annancy hear of it an' say:--\"Me me I mus' have fe fin' them\nya-ya gal name. Not a man can do it abbly no me.\"\n\nSo one day the King t'ree gal gone out to bathe, an' Brother Annancy\nmake a pretty basket, an' put it in a the house where he knew they was\ngoing to come fe eat them vittle.\n\nHe leave it there, an' go under the house fe hear the name.\n\nWhen them come, them see the basket, an' it was the prettiest\nsomething they ever see in their life.\n\nThen the biggest one cry out:--\n\n Yung-kyum-pyung! What a pretty basket!\n Marg'ret-Powell-Alone! What a pretty basket!\n\nAnd the next one say:--\n\n Margaret-Powell-Alone! What a pretty basket!\n Eggie-Law! What a pretty basket!\n\nAnd the youngest bahl:--\n\n Eggie-Law! What a pretty basket, eh?\n Yung-kyum-pyung! What a pretty basket, eh?\n\nBrother Annancy hear it all good, an' he glad so till him fly out a\nthe house an' gone.\n\nHim go an' make up a band of music with fiddle an' drum, an' give the\nmusicians them a tune to sing the names to.\n\nAn' after a week him come back.\n\nWhen him get where the King could yerry, him give out:--\"Play up the\nmusic, play up the music.\"\n\nSo they play an' sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Yung-kyum-pyung\n Eggie-Law\n Marg'ret-Powell-Alone.]\n\nAfter six times sing the Queen yerry.\n\nShe say:--\"Who is that calling my daughter name?\"\n\nAnnancy tell them fe play all the better.\n\nThen the Queen massoo himself from up'tairs, an' t'row down broke him\nneck.\n\nDat time de King no yerry, so Annancy harder to play de music still.\n\nAt last the King yerry, an' him say:--\"Who is dat, calling me daughter\nname?\"\n\nAnnancy let them sing the tune over and over:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Yung-kyum-pyung\n Eggie-Law\n Marg'ret-Powell-Alone.]\n\nAn' the King t'row himself off a him t'rone an' lie there 'tiff dead.\n\nThen Annancy go up an' take the t'rone, an' marry the youngest\ndaughter an' a reign.\n\nAnnancy is the wickedest King ever reign. Sometime him dere, sometime\nhim gone run 'pon him rope an tief cow fe him wife.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Me, me I mus' have, etc.=, I will find out those girls' names. Anybody\nelse would have said:--\"Me mus' have fe find them ya (those here) gal\nname,\" but Annancy likes to add a few more syllables. His speech is\n=Bungo talk=. The Jamaican looks down on the Bungo (rhymes with Mungo)\nwho \"no 'peak good English.\"\n\n=abbly no me=, except me.\n\n=go under the house.= It is no absurdity to the narrator's mind to\npicture the King's house on the pattern of his own. This is a\ntwo-roomed hut, consisting of the hall or dining-room and a bedroom.\nIt is floored with inch-thick cedar boards roughly cut and planed, so\nthat they never lie very close. An air space is left underneath, and\nanybody who creeps under the hut can hear all that goes on above.\n\n=bahl=, bawl.\n\n=hear it all good=, hears everything perfectly.\n\n=Play up the music.= He almost sings, like this:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Play up the music.]\n\n=all the better=, all the harder.\n\n=massoo himself=, lifts herself up. \"Massoo\" is an African word. The\nhall seems to have a sort of gallery.\n\n=t'row down, etc.=, throws herself down and breaks her neck. They always\nsay =to broke=.\n\n=Dat time de King.= The turning of =th= into a =d= or nearly a =d= is\ncharacteristic of negro speech. To avoid the tiresomeness of\ndialect-printing, and for another reason to be mentioned by and by,\nthis is not always indicated. The change is introduced occasionally to\nremind readers of the right pronunciation.\n\n=let them sing=, makes them sing.\n\n=Sometime him dare=, sometimes he is there (at home), sometimes he goes\nand runs upon his web and steals cows for his wife. Other stories will\nshow Annancy's partiality for beef, or indeed anything eatable.\n\n=tief=, thieve.\n\nSpiders' webs of any kind are called =Annancy ropes=.\n\n\n\n\nIII. KING DANIEL.\n\n\nThere was two young lady name Miss Wenchy an' Miss Lumpy. The King\nDaniel was courtening to Miss Wenchy, an' the day when they was to get\nmarry Miss Lumpy carry Miss Wenchy an' show him a flowers in the pond.\nMiss Wenchy go to pick it, an' Miss Lumpy shub him in the pond.\n\nAn' she said:--\"T'ank God! nobody see me.\"\n\nNow a Parrot sat up on a tree, an' jes' as Miss Lumpy say \"T'ank God!\nnobody see me\" the Parrot say:--\"I see you dough!\"\n\nThen Miss Lumpy said to the Parrot:--\"Do, my pretty Polly, don't you\ntell, an' I'll give you a silver door an' a golden cage.\"\n\nAnd the Parrot sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n No, No, I don't want it,\n for the same you serve another one you will serve me the same.]\n\n\"Oh do, my pretty Polly, don't you tell, an' I'll give you a silver\ndoor an' a golden cage.\"\n\nBut the Parrot wouldn' stay, and he fly from houses to houses singing\nthis tune:--\n\n[Music:\n\n I brought, I brought a news to the young King Daniel;\n Miss Lumpy kill Miss Wenchy loss,\n on becount of young King Daniel.]\n\nAt last the Parrot got to the table where the young King Daniel was.\n\nAn' Miss Lumpy was into a room crying. Many pocket-handkerchief she\ngot wet with tears. An' the Parrot sing the same song:--\"I brought, I\nbrought a news to the young King Daniel; Miss Lumpy kill Miss Wenchy\nloss on becount of young King Daniel.\"\n\nThen Miss Lumpy call out:--\"Oh drive away that nasty bird, for Miss\nWenchy head hurting her.\"\n\nBut King Daniel wouldn' have it so, but said:--\"I heard my name call.\nI would like to know what is it.\"\n\nAn' the Parrot fly near upon the King's shoulder an' tell him what\nbecome of Miss Wenchy. An' they go an' look in the room an' find her\nnot.\n\nAn' pretty Polly take them to the pond an' show them where Miss Wenchy\nis, an' she was drown.\n\nThen the King call Miss Lumpy an' head him up into a barrel an' fasten\nit up with tenpenny nails, an' carry him up to a high hill an' let him\ngo down the gully, an' he drop in the gully pom-galong.\n\nAn' the Parrot laugh Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=I see you dough.= The first three words are pitched high and the voice\nfalls as low as possible on the =dough= and dwells upon it.\n\n=Do, my pretty Polly, etc.= I have heard this story many times, and\nthese words never vary. Obviously it was once a silver cage with a\ngolden door.[39]\n\n[Footnote 39: The well-known and lately-current ballad of _May\nColvin_, in which this incident occurs (though it is the false lover,\nnot the sister, who is murdered), has a cage of gold with an ivory\ndoor. (C.S.B.)]\n\n=I brought=; brought for bring, as we had =broke= for break.\n\n=loss.= It is doubtful what this word represents. It may be loss or\nlost. Observe =be=count.\n\n=I would like to know what is it=, I should like to know what it is,\nwhat the matter is. The perverse misplacing of these words strikes a\nnewcomer to the island. In questions they misplace them again and say\n\"What it is?\"\n\n=find her not.= The =not= has a heavy accent.\n\n=gully=, precipice.\n\n=pom-galong= imitates the sound of the barrel as it goes bumping down.\nThe =o='s have the Italian sound.\n\n\n\n\nIV. TOMBY.\n\n\nOne day there was a gal, an' Annancy really want that gal fe marry,\nbut he couldn' catch him. An' Annancy ask a old-witch man--the name of\nhim was Tomby--an' the old-witch man had a 'mash-up side, an' him was\nthe only man could gotten the gal for Annancy. An' Annancy give the\nold-witch man a t'reepence to give the gal when him goin' to the\nmarket to buy a t'reepence of youricky-yourk. An' the gal take the\nt'reepence. An' as she walk along the pass to market she meet up one\nof her friend call Miss Princess Johnson an' she said:--\"Good mornin'\nme love,\" an' the answer:--\"How you do, me dear? Where you a come from\nnow?\"\n\nAn Miss Justina say:--\"Me a come from Tomby yard, an' see de\nt'reepence he give me fe go buy youricky-yourk.\"\n\n\"Never you bodder with somet'ing 'tan' so. Gi' ahm back him fuppence\nbecause him goin' to turn trouble fe you.\"\n\n\"How I manage fe gi' him the fuppence?\"\n\n\"When you go to the market come back tell him you no see no\nyouricky-yourk.\"\n\n\"An' what you go go buy, Miss Princess?\"\n\n\"Me go buy me little salt fish an' me little hafoo yam, t'reepence a\nred peas fe make me soup, quatty 'kellion, gill a garlic to put with\nme little nick-snack, quatty ripe banana, bit fe Gungo peas, an' me\nsee if me can get quatty beef bone.\"\n\n\"Ah! me missis, Cocoanut cheap a market ya.\"\n\n\"Yes, me love, make me buy sixpence.\"\n\nAn' as they talking they get to market. They buy what they want an'\nturn back, an' when they reach up Princess yard they tell goodbye an'\nJustina call in to Tomby.\n\nAn' Justina bring back the t'reepence an' sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me go to market, me look, Tomby;\n look oh! me look, Tomby, look oh!\n me look, Tomby, see no youricky-yourk;\n Me went to Lingo Starban, 'cornful day,\n me went to Lingo Starban, 'cornful day,\n me went to Lingo Starban, 'cornful day.]\n\nAn' Tomby very vex as, being a old witch, he knew all what the gal do\nalready. An' he answer:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Hm hm! hm hm! me have me mash-up side gee oh!\n a him make you say\n Tatalingo ya you bit oh!\n 'cornful day.]\n\nAn' he won't take the t'reepence. Now the rule is that anybody take\nsomething from old-witch an' can't give it back, it give him power to\ncatch him. An' so comes it that Tomby catch Justina an' send for Mr.\nAnnancy an' make him a present to be a wife. His name was Miss\nSinclair, but she becomes now Mrs. Annancy Sinclair.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Old-witch=, a person of either sex possessed of supernatural powers,\nnot necessarily old in years, as will be seen in other stories. The\nname \"white witch\" applied to men is familiar to dwellers in the West\nof England.\n\n='mash-up=, smashed up, wounded, lacerated.\n\n=youricky-yourk=, a nonsense word for some kind of plaster.\n\n=pass=, path.\n\n=Miss Princess.= Prince and Princess are common names for boys and\ngirls.\n\n=good mornin'.= This broad =o= is always pronounced =ah=.\n\n=yard=, a house with its immediate surroundings.\n\n=Never you bodder=, don't you bother with something which stands so,\nwith that sort of commission.\n\n=ahm=, frequently used for him.\n\n=fuppence=, with Italian =u= having a turn towards =o=, fivepence in\nthe old Jamaica coinage, equal to threepence English. Princess advises\nthe return of the fuppence because it is going to get Justina (English\n=u= and Italian =i=) into trouble, coming as it does from an old-witch.\nIt would not be guessed that the Jamaica coinage is identical with that\nof England. Such is, nevertheless, the case in spite of these curious\nnames:\n\n 3 farthings 1 gill.\n 2 gills 1 quatty (quarter of sixpence, pronounced quotty).\n 2 quatties 1 treppence or fuppence (old coinage).\n 3 quatties 1 bit.\n 4 quatties 1 sixpence or tenpence (old coinage).\n 5 quatties, bit-o-fuppence.\n 7 quatties, bit-o-tenpence.\n 8 quatties 1 shilling or maccaroni.\n 10 quatties, mac-o-fuppence.\n\n=go go buy.= It is not only Annancy who uses reduplications. The close\nEnglish =o= is replaced in the Negro's mouth by an Italian open =o=.\n\n=hafoo= (pronounced hahfoo, really =afoo=, an African word), a kind of\nyam.\n\n='kellion=, skellion or scallion, a kind of onion which does not bulb.\n\n=Gungo=, Congo. This pea is not only excellent for soup, but the growing\nplant improves the soil by introducing nitrogen into it.\n\n=ya=, do you hear? a common ending to any remark.\n\n=tell goodbye.= They =tell= howdy (how do you do?) and goodbye.\n\n=Lingo Starban.= This should probably be Lingo's tavern, Lingo's\ntahvern; =v= and =b= being indistinguishable as in Spanish and Russian.\n\n='cornful day=, a day of scorning or flouting. Justina wishes Tomby to\nbelieve that she tried everywhere to get some youricky-yourk, but met\nonly with flouts and jeers.\n\n=Hm, hm=, grumbling.\n\n=a him=, it is him, it is that which makes you say:--\"Tatalingo, here's\nyour bit,\" your three quatties. She only had a treppence but the Negro\nis above accuracy as the Emperor Sigismund was above grammar.\n\n=Tatalingo.= Lingo's name is now transferred to Tomby. Italian vowels in\nTata. In \"Finger Quashy\" we find Tatafelo as one of the cats' names.\n\n=make him a present=, make her (Justina) a present to Annancy.\n\n=Mrs. Annancy Sinclair.= They are not particular in the matter of\nsurnames. A remarried widow is constantly called by the surname of her\nfirst husband.\n\n\n\n\nV. HOW MONKEY MANAGE ANNANCY.\n\n\nOne day Mr. Annancy an' his wife sat under a tree an' don't know that\nMr. Monkey was on the tree. Mr. Annancy say to his wife:--\"You know I\nreally want little fresh.\" The wife say to Annancy:--\"What kind a\nfresh?\"\n\n\"How you mean, me wife, fe ax me dat question? Any meat at all. Me\nwife, you know wha' we fe do. Make we get a banana barrel an' lay it\non de bed, make him favour one man, so get white sheet an' yap him up\nfrom head to foot, an' sen' go call Bro'er Cow, Bro'er Monkey, Bro'er\nSheep, Bro'er Goat an' Bro'er Hog. An' when them come we mus' put all\nthe strange friend them inside de house an' den you fe stay inside de\nroom wi' dem.\"\n\nNow Bro'er Annancy send fe all his friend, Sheep, Goat, Hog, Monkey.\nCow was the minister.\n\nWhen they come to Annancy yard they met him was crying.\n\nParson Cow say:--\"Don't cry so much, my good friend, because it is the\nall a we road.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Ah, ah! Bro'er Cow, you no know the feeling me have fe\nme one puppa. Bro'er Cow, as you is the parson, take you frien' in,\nyou will see de ole man 'pon bed.\"\n\nDuring this time Mrs. Annancy was inside the room. The Reverend Cow\nwent in to raise up the sheet.\n\nMrs. Annancy say:--\"No; me husban' say nobody fe look on the ole man\nface till in the morning.\"\n\nSo Cow don't rist.\n\nMr. Monkey who hear all what Annancy was saying, he an' his wife\nwouldn' go in the house.\n\nMr. Annancy say:--\"Bro'er Monkey, go inside. Go see the last of the\nole man.\"\n\nMonkey say:--\"No, Bro'er Annancy, me sorry fe you too much. If a go in\ndere a we cry whole a night.\"\n\n\"No, Bro'er Monkey, go in, go keep them other one company for you are\nme nearest frien'.\"\n\nMonkey never go.\n\nHe has to left Monkey, for Monkey was too clever for him.\n\nAn' by that time Mr. Annancy hid his cutlass back of his door well\nsharpen an' go in the house an' shut the door. It was the only door in\nthe whole house, so he sat back of the door after lock it.\n\nAn' after, Bro'er Annancy ask Bro'er Cow to say a word of prayer.\n\nDuring the praying Annancy was crying.\n\nHog with an old voice say:--\"Keep up Mr. Annancy, keep up Mr.\nAnnancy.\"\n\nHe cry much the better.\n\nThe prayer was finish. Mr. Annancy ask Cow to raise a hymn.\n\nThe Cow commence with hundred a de hymn, hundred a de page.\n\n[Music:\n\n Me gullen ho St. John,\n me gullen ho St. John,\n me see the last to-day ya,\n me see the last, puppa gone.]\n\nBro'er Annancy want fe kill Parson Cow, begin with a big confusion,\nsay that him don't like that hymn.\n\nDuring this time his door was well lock, an' same time Bro'er Annancy\ndraw his cutlass an' raise a fight, say that him don't like that hymn.\n\nAn' the poor friend them didn' have anything to fight. He kill the\nwhole of them.\n\nIn the morning Monkey laugh, say:--\"Bro'er Annancy, If me min come in\na you house you would a do me the same.\"\n\nAnnancy say \"No.\"\n\nHim give Monkey a piece of the meat.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=fresh=, fresh meat. In the country districts the only meat to be had as\na rule is ancient salt beef out of a tub.\n\n=favour=, look like. In some parts of England the word is still used in\nthis sense.\n\n=met him was crying=, found him crying.\n\n=all a we.= All of us have to tread the road of death.\n\n=one=, own.\n\n=who hear=, who had heard previously when he was on the tree.\n\n=cutlass.= Every Negro carries one. It is used for every sort of\npurpose, but seldom murderously as here.\n\n=old voice=, voice of simulated grief.\n\n=much the better=, all the more.\n\n=hundred a de=, hundredth.\n\n=me gullen ho=, nonsense words.\n\n=confusion=, quarrel.\n\n=min=, been. If I had come in you would have done the same to me.\n\n\n\n\nVI. BLACKBIRD AND WOSS-WOSS.\n\n\nOne day there was a place where they usual to kill plenty of meat. An'\nMr. Blackbird has a certain tree, hiding himself. An' every cow them\nkill Mr. Blackbird see how them kill it. An' going into the house, the\nhouse don't lock with no key nor either open with no key. When they\nwant to go in them use a word, say \"one--two--t'ree--me no touch\nliver,\" an' the door open himself. An' when them want to come out of\nthe house them use the same words \"one--two--t'ree--me no touch\nliver.\" An' Mr. Blackbird tief them fe true, an' them never find it\nout.\n\nAn' one day Mr. Blackbird write his friend Mr. Annancy to take a walk\nwith him, an' him will show him where he is getting all these meat.\nAn' when he is going him tell Mr. Annancy all the rule, that when he\ngo on the tree he must listen, an' him will hear what them say to open\nthe door both going in an' coming out.\n\nWhat Mr. Annancy did; when he see the butcher them passing with the\nmeat, Annancy was trembling an' saying:--\"Look a meat,--Look a meat.\"\n\n\"Bro'er Annancy hush you mout', you a go make dem shot me.\"\n\nWhen the butcher them gone, Mr. Blackbird come down, he an' Mr.\nAnnancy, an' go inside the house the very same as the butcher them do,\nsay \"one--two--t'ree--me no touch liver.\" As they go into the house\nBlackbird tell him that him mustn't take no liver. An' Mr. Annancy\ntook liver an' put in his bag. An' when Blackbird started out with the\nsame word Mr. Annancy left inside was tying his bag.\n\nNow Mr. Annancy ready fe come out of the house, count\n\"one--two--t'ree--me no touch liver,\" and by this time he has the\nliver in his bag.\n\nThe door won't open.\n\nBlackbird call him \"Come on.\"\n\nHe say:--\"The door won't open.\"\n\nThen he count more than what he was to by get so frighten. He\nsay:--\"One--two--t'ree--four--five--six--seven--eight--nine--ten--me\nno touch liver.\"\n\nThe door won't open.\n\nMr. Blackbird say:--\"Look in your bag, you must be have liver.\"\n\nThe fellow so sweet-mout' say in a cross way \"No.\"\n\nBlackbird leave him.\n\nWhen Blackbird go home he look an' can't see Mr. Annancy, so him fly a\nbush an' get up a whole regiment of soldier. Who these soldier was,\nwas Woss-Woss. Mr. Blackbird was the General, march before. When them\nreach to the place they were just in time, for the butcher were taking\nMr. Annancy to go an' tie him on a tree to cut him with hot iron. Word\nof command was given from Mr. Blackbird, an' by the time the butcher\nthem come to the door with Mr. Annancy the whole world of Woss-Woss\ncome down on them.\n\nThey have to let go Mr. Annancy. Not one of the butcher could see. Mr.\nBlackbird soldier gain the battle an' get 'way Mr. Annancy. They take\nall the butcher meat an' carry home. Then Mr. Blackbird take Mr.\nAnnancy under his wing an' all his soldiers an' fly to his own\ncountry. From that day Woss-Woss is a great fighter until now, so bird\nnever do without them to guard their nest.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Woss-Woss.= The West Indian wasp hangs its paper nest to the twigs of\nbushes and trees as a rule, though it does not despise the shelter of\nthe verandah. The wasps live in colonies, making many small nests\ninstead of one big one. The nests are shaped like the rose of a\nwatering-pot with the shank turned upwards.\n\nThis story clearly owes its origin to Ali Baba. The conversion of\nSesame, which meant nothing to the negro, into one-two-three, which at\nleast means something, is not unnatural.\n\n=fe true=, literally =for true= is an expressive phrase conveying the idea\nof intensity. =It hot fe true=, it is intensely hot. =He tief fe true=, he\nsteals terribly. =It rain fe true=, it is raining very hard. =He\nwort'less fe true=, he is a regular scamp. =He sinnicky fe true=, he is a\nhorrid sneak. =His ears hard fe true=, his ears are outrageously hard,\nsaid of a boy who will not do as he is told. =He nyam fe true=, he eats\nimmensely. =Lazy fe true=, abominably lazy. =Ugly fe true=, exceedingly\nugly. =The water cold fe true=, the water is very cold. =White yam burn\nfe true=, the white yam is sadly burnt. =Orange bear fe true=, the\noranges bear heavily. =Puss catch ratta fe true=, the cat catches any\namount of rats. =Him favour tiger fe true=, he looks for all the world\nlike a tiger, said of a man who has a sullen expression. =Me head hurt\nme fe true=, I have a very bad headache. =Boot burn me fe true=, my boots\ngall me dreadfully.\n\n=by get so frighten=, through fright; literally, owing to his getting so\nmuch frightened.\n\n=must be have=, must have.\n\n=sweet-mout'=, sweet-mouthed, greedy.\n\n\n\n\nVII. THE THREE SISTERS.\n\n\nThere was t'ree sister living into a house, an' everybody want them fe\nmarry, an' them refuse.\n\nAn' one day a Snake go an' borrow from his neighbour long coat an'\nburn-pan hat an' the whole set out of clothing. Then he dress himself,\nan' him tell his friends that him mus' talk to those young lady. An'\nwhat you think the fellow does? He get up a heap a men to carry him to\nthe young lady yard. An' when him got there the door was lock with an\niron bar. An' when he come he say:--\"Please to open the door, there is\na stranger coming in.\" An' he sing like this:--\n\n[Music:\n\n My eldes' sister, will you open the door?\n My eldes' sister, will you open the door oh?\n Fair an gandelow steel.]\n\nAn' the eldest one was going to open the door. An' the last one, who\nwas a old-witch, say to her sister:--\"Don't open the door,\" an' she\nsing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n My door is bar with a scotran bar,\n My door is bar with a scotran bar oh,\n Fair an' gandelow steel.]\n\nThen the Snake ask again to the same tune:--\n\n My second sister will you open the door?\n My second sister will you open the door oh?\n Fair an' gandelow steel.\n\nAn' the youngest, which was old-witch, sing again:--\n\n My door is bar with an iron bar,\n My door is bar with an iron bar oh,\n Fair an' gandelow steel.\n\nAn' the Snake turn to a Devil, an' the t'ree sister come an' push on\nthe door to keep it from open.\n\nAn' the Devil ask a third time:--\n\n My youngest sister will you open the door?\n My youngest sister will you open the door oh?\n Fair an' gandelow steel.\n\nBut the last sister won't have it so, an' she said with a very\nwrath:--\n\n[Music:\n\n The Devil roguer than a womankind,\n The Devil roguer than a womankind oh,\n Fair an' gandelow steel.]\n\nAn' the Devil get into a great temper an' say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n What is roguer than a womankind?\n What is roguer than a womankind oh?\n Fair an' gandelow steel.]\n\nThen the Devil fly from the step straight into hell an' have chain\nround his waist until now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Snake= is pronounced with an indefinite short vowel between the =s= and\n=n=, senake.\n\n=burn-pan hat=, the tall hat of civilized towns. The =pan= is the usual\ncylindrical tin vessel used for cooking. When blackened by fire it is\na =burn-pan= or burnt pan. It is pronounced like French _bonne_.\n\n=Gandelow, scotran.= The meaning of these words is lost.\n\n=roguer.= This word is doubtful. Sometimes it sounds like rowgard, at\nothers like rowgod. It may mean \"more roguish.\" The boy who gave me\nthis story often quotes this line from a hymn:\n\n \"To break the bonds of cantling sin.\"\n\nOne day I asked him to point it out in his hymnbook. It was\n=conquering=. He can say it perfectly well, but he still goes on with\n=cantling=. It is not surprising, therefore, that we cannot recover\nwords passed from mouth to mouth for generations.\n\n=womankind.= Again it is doubtful whether this is a single word or two\nwords. The article would fix it as the latter in pure English, but in\nnegro speech it goes for nothing.\n\n=old-witch=, though she was a young girl: see notes to No. IV. (Tomby).\n\n\n\n\nVIII. WILLIAM TELL.\n\n\nOnce there was a man who name William Tell, an' him have a lots of\ncow. An' in the yard there was a tree, an' the tree no man can fall\nit. Any animal at all go under that tree it kill them, an' the name of\nthe tree is Huyg.\n\nAn' William Tell wanted the tree to cut down.\n\nAn' him offer a cow to any man that kill the Huyg. They shall get the\ncow.\n\nAn' first of all Tacoma went to cut down the tree, an' him couldn'\nbear the itch, I mean 'cratch of the tree.\n\nAn' William Tell made a law that any man come to cut the tree they\nmust not 'cratch their 'kin or else they would lose the cow.\n\nAn' Mr. Tacoma were very sorry, an' he was to leave the cow just to\nsave his life.\n\nAn' that great man Mr. Annancy heard about the cow an' him got a very\nsharp axe. An' when Mr. Annancy come, William Tell show him the\ncow--Annancy glad when he see the cow--an' after he show Mr. Annancy\nthe tree.\n\nThen Mr. Annancy say:--\"Ho, me good massa, don't you fret of the tree.\nIf one sing don't send 'way the tree another one must send him 'way.\"\n\nAn' the first sing was:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Big chip, fly! little chip, fly!]\n\nHe repeat the word over an' over, but the tree don't fall yet.\n\nSo him take up another sing again:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me go to Rickylanjo, eye come shine,\n come show me your motion, eye come shine.]\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy never cease till him cut down the tree an' receive his\nreward.\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Huyg= for Hag, as they say =buyg= for bag. The spelling is awkward but it\nseems the only convenient one to adopt. The sound will be best\nunderstood from the second example. Say =buy= and put a hard =g= after it.\nThe =Huyg= seems to combine the qualities of the Upas and Cow-itch\n(_Mucuns pruriens_). The last, a common Jamaica weed, looks like a\nscarlet runner. It bears pods covered with a pretty velvet of hairs\nwhich \"scratch\" or irritate the skin.\n\n=sing.= Further on there is a collection of these =sings=.\n\n=show me your motion=, let me see you begin to topple.\n\n\n\n\nIX. BROTHER ANNANCY AND BROTHER DEATH.\n\n\nOne day Brother Annancy sen' gal Annancy fe go a Brother Deat' yard fe\ngo beg fire.\n\nWhen the gal go, him go meet Brother Deat' dis a eat fe him breakfas'\nenough eggs. Brother Deat' give gal Annancy one. Gal Annancy take the\negg an', after eat done, put the shell 'pon him finger.\n\nBrother Annancy wait an' wait but can't get the fire, till at last he\nsee the gal a come.\n\nWhen him see the gal with the egg shell 'pon him finger, him run an'\nbit off the gal finger slap to the hand. Him take 'way the fire, out\nit, an' go back to Deat' say:--\"Bro'er Deat', de fire out.\"\n\nBrother Deat' give him fire an' one egg, tell him fe go home.\n\n\"Say, Bro'er Deat', I goin' to give you me daughter fe marry to.\"\n\nSo Annancy do marry off Deat' an' him daughter the same day. So him\nlef' them gone for a week, then come back again fe come see him\nson-in-law.\n\nWhen him come him say:--\"Bro'er Deat', me son, me hungry.\"\n\nBrother Deat' no 'peak.\n\nSo Annancy begin fe talk to himself: \"Bro'er Deat' say me fe go make\nup fire, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nAfter five minutes him call out:--\"Bro'er Deat', me make up de fire.\"\n\nDeat' no 'peak.\n\n\"Bro'er Deat' say me fe wash de pot, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nWhen the pot wash done, him call out:--\"Pot wash.\"\n\nDeat' no 'peak.\n\n\"Bro'er Deat' say me fe to put him on, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nSoon him say:--\"Bro'er Deat', where de vittle?\"\n\nDeat' no 'peak.\n\n\"Him say me fe look somewhe de me see enough yam, me fe peel dem put\ndem a fire, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nAnnancy cook all Deat' food.\n\nWhen it boil, him take it off. Him say:--\"Bro'er Deat', him boil.\"\n\nDeat' no 'peak.\n\n\"Bro'er Deat' say me fe share, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nAnnancy eat fe him share, then turn back say:--\"Bro'er Deat', you no\ncome come eat?\"\n\nDeat' no 'peak.\n\n\"Bro'er Deat' say him no want none, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nSo Annancy eat off all the food him one.\n\nThen Deat' get vex in a him heart, and him run into the kitchen.\n\n\"Bro'er Annancy a whe you mean fe do me, say a come you come fe kill\nme?\"\n\nSo Deat' catch Annancy an' say:--\"Me no a go let you go again, no use,\nno use.\"\n\nThen, after, Deat' carry Annancy in a him house an' leave him, gone to\nget his lance to kill him.\n\nSo, after Annancy sit a time an' about to go away, him say:--\"Bro'er\nDeat' say me fe go take piece a meat, but no mo so me no yerry.\"\n\nWhen Annancy go to the meat cask, him see the cask full with meat. Him\ntake out two big piece of meat. Then he see fe him daughter hand with\nthe missing finger. Him jump out of the house an' bawl out:--\"Bro'er\nDeat', you b'ute, you b'ute, you kill me daughter.\"\n\nDeat' catch him again an' was going to kill him, but the feller get\n'way, run home a fe him yard.\n\nBrother Deat' follow him when him go home.\n\nAnnancy take all him children an' go up a house-top, go hang up on the\nrafter. Brother Deat' come in a de house, see them up a de house-top.\n\nAnnancy say to his family--there was two boy an' the mumma--\"Bear up!\nIf you drop de man a dirty de a go nyam you.\"\n\nHere come one of the boy say:--\"Puppa, me han' tired.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bear up!\"\n\nThe boy cry out fe de better.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Drop, you b'ute! No see you dada a dirty de?\"\n\nHim drop.\n\nDeat' take him and put him aside.\n\nFive minutes the other one say:--\"Puppa, me han' tired.\"\n\nAnnancy say again:--\"Drop, you b'ute! No see you dada a dirty de?\"\n\nHim drop.\n\nDeaf take him an' put him aside.\n\nSoon the wife get tired, say:--\"Me husban', me han' tired.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bear up, me good wife!\"\n\nWhen she cry she couldn' bear no more, Annancy bawl again:--\"Drop you\nb'ute! No see you husban' a dirty de?\"\n\nShe drop.\n\nDeat' take her.\n\nAt last Annancy get tired. Das de man, Bro'er Deat' been want. Annancy\nwas so smart, no want fe Deat' catch him, so he say:--\"Bro'er Deat', I\ngoin' to drop, an' bein' me so fat, if you no want me fat fe waste, go\nand fetch somet'ing fe catch me.\"\n\n\"What me can take fe catch you?\"\n\n\"Go in a room you will see a barrel of flour an' you fe take it so fe\nme drop in de.\"\n\nDeat' never know that this flour was temper lime.\n\nDeat' bring the barrel an', just as he fixing it up under where\nAnnancy hanging, Annancy drop on Deat' head PUM, an jam him head in a\nthe temper lime an' blind him. So he an' all him family get 'way.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=dis a eat=, just as he had eaten.\n\n=no mo so me no yerry=, I must have failed to hear. See page 3.\n\n=Deat' no 'peak=, Death won't speak. The comedy is well sustained.\nAnnancy goes through the various stages of preparation for breakfast,\npretending that he is carrying out orders from Death which he fails to\nhear.\n\n=put him on=, put the pot on the fire.\n\n=somewhe de=, somewhere there. The =e='s are like French =e=, and =de=\nis said with a strong accent and made very short.\n\n=enough yam=, plenty of yams.\n\n=say a come you come=, say do you come.\n\n=me no a go etc.=, I am not going to let you go again.\n\n=no use=, no mistake about it this time.\n\n=bawl.= Remember to pronounce it =bahl=.\n\n=b'ute=, brute, pronounced byute like the island Bute.\n\n=a fe him yard=, to his yard.\n\n=a dirty de, etc.=, on the ground there will eat you.\n\n=fe de better=, all the more.\n\n=Das=, that's.\n\n=temper lime=, tempered lime originally no doubt, but now meaning quick\nlime. Temper, I am told, means cross. And in further explanation my\ninformant adds: \"You can't fingle (finger) temper lime as you have a\nmind; it cut up your hand.\"\n\n=pum= with the shortest possible vowel represents the thud of Annancy's\nfall upon Death's head.\n\nThe Kitchen is outside the house, often at a considerable distance\nfrom it.\n\n\n\n\nX. MR. BLUEBEARD.\n\n\nThere was a man named Mr. Bluebeard. He got his wife in his house an'\nhe general catch people an' lock up into a room, an' he never let him\nwife see that room.\n\nOne day he went out to a dinner an' forgot his key on the door. An'\nhis wife open the door an' find many dead people in the room. Those\nthat were not dead said:--\"Thanky, Missis; Thanky, Missis.\"\n\nAn' as soon as the live ones get away, an' she was to lock the door,\nthe key drop in blood. She take it up an' wash it an' put it in the\nlock. It drop back into the blood.\n\nAn' Mr. Bluebeard was a old-witch an' know what was going on at home.\nAn' as he sat at dinner, he called out to get his horse ready at once.\nAn' they said to him:--\"Do, Mr. Bluebeard, have something to eat\nbefore you go.\"\n\n\"No! get my horse ready.\"\n\nSo they bring it to him. Now, he doesn't ride a four-footed beast, he\nride a t'ree-foot horse.\n\nAn' he get on his horse an' start off itty-itty-hap, itty-itty-hap,\nuntil he get home.\n\nNow, Mrs. Bluebeard two brother was a hunter-man in the wood. One of\nthem was old-witch, an' he said:--\"Brother, brother, something home\nwrong with me sister.\"\n\n\"Get 'way you little foolish fellah,\" said the biggest one.\n\nBut the other say again:--\"Brother, brother, something wrong at home.\nJust get me a white cup and a white saucer, and fill it with water,\nand put it in the sun, an' you will soon see what do the water.\"\n\nDirectly the water turn blood.\n\nAn' the eldest said:--\"Brother, it is truth, make we go.\"\n\nAn' Mrs. Bluebeard was afraid, because he knew Mr. Bluebeard was\ncoming fe kill him. An' he was calling continually to the cook, Miss\nAnne:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah! you see any one is coming?\n Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah! you see any one is coming?]\n\nAn' Sister Anne answer:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh no, I see no one is coming,\n But the dust that makes the grass so green.]\n\nAn' as she sing done they hear Mr. Bluebeard coming, itty-itty-hap,\nitty-itty-hap.\n\nHim jump straight off a him t'ree-foot beast an' go in a the house,\nand catch Mrs. Bluebeard by one of him plait-hair an' hold him by it,\nan' said:--\"This is the last day of you.\"\n\nAn' Mrs. Bluebeard said:--\"Do, Mr. Bluebeard, allow me to say my last\nprayer.\"\n\nBut Mr. Bluebeard still hold him by the hair while he sing:--\n\n Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah! you see any one is coming?\n Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah! you see any one is coming?\n\nAn' Sister Anne answer this time:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh yes! I see someone is coming,\n And the dust that makes the grass so green.]\n\nThen Mr. Bluebeard took his sword was to cut off him neck, an' his two\nbrother appear, an' the eldest one going to shot after Mr. Bluebeard,\nan' he was afraid an' begin to run away. But the young one wasn't\ngoing to let him go so, an' him shot PUM and kill him 'tiff dead.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=three-foot=, three-legged.[1] =Hand= is used for arm in the same way.\n\n=itty-itty-hap=, imitating the halting gait of the three-legged horse.\nThe voice rises on =hap= which is said with a sharp quick accent.[40]\n\n[Footnote 40: \"The 'three-foot horse' is believed to be a kind of\nduppy with three legs, hence its name; and is able to gallop faster\nthan any other horse. It goes about in moonlight nights, and if it\nmeet any person it blows upon him and kills him. It will never attack\nyou in the dark. It cannot hurt you on a tree.\" _Folklore of the\nNegroes of Jamaica_, in _Folklore_, Vol. XV., p. 91. (C.S.B.).]\n\n=fe kill him=, to kill her. The use of masculine for feminine pronouns\nis bewildering at first.\n\n\n\n\nXI. ANNANCY, PUSS, AND RATTA.\n\n\nOne day Annancy an' Puss make a dance, an' invite Ratta to the ball.\nAnnancy was the fiddler. The first figure what him play, the tune\nsay:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ying de ying de ying,\n Ying de ying de ying,\n take care you go talk oh,\n min' you tattler tongue ying de ying,\n min' you tattler tongue ying de ying,\n min' you tattler tongue ying de ying.]\n\nThe second tune he say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Bandywichy wich, Bandywichy wich, Bandywichy wich,\n Timber hang an' fall la la, fall la la, fall la.]\n\nThen, as the Ratta dance, the high figure whe him make, him slide in\nthe floor an' him trousies pop. Then the shame he shame, he run into a\nhole, an' him make Ratta live into a hole up to to-day day.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nThis story should be rattled off as quick as possible.\n\n=Ratta=, rat or rats.\n\n=Ying de ying= imitates the \"rubbing\" of the fiddle, as they call it.\n\n=take care you go talk=, mind you don't talk, mind your tattling tongue.\n\n=figure whe him make=, caper that he cuts.\n\n=trousies pop=, trousers burst.\n\n\n\n\nXII. TOAD AND DONKEY.\n\n\nOne day a King made a race and have Toad and Donkey to be the racer.\nAn' Toad tell Donkey that him must win the race, an' Donkey mad when\nhim yerry so. And the race was twenty mile.\n\nAn' Donkey say:--\"How can you run me? I have long tail an' long ear\nan' a very tall foot too, an' you a little bit a Toad. Let me measure\nfoot an' see which one longer.\"\n\nAn' Toad say to Donkey:--\"You no mind that man, but I must get the\nrace.\"\n\nAn' Donkey get very vex about it.\n\nAn' Donkey say to the King:--\"I ready now to start the race.\"\n\nAn' the King made a law that Donkey is to bawl at every miles that he\nmight know where he got.\n\nNow that little smart fellah Toad says to the King that he doesn't fix\nup his business yet, an' will he grant him a little time.\n\nAn' the King grant him a day, an' say to the two of them:--\"Come again\nto-morrow.\"\n\nAn' Donkey wasn't agree, for he know that Toad is a very trickified\nthing.\n\nBut the King wouldn' hear, an' say:--\"No, to-morrow.\"\n\nNow Toad have twenty picny. An' while Donkey is sleeping, Toad take\nthe twenty picny them along with him on the race-ground, an' to every\nmile-post Toad leave one of his picny an' tell them that they must\nlisten for Mr. Donkey when he is coming. \"An' when you yerry that\nfellah Mr. Donkey bawl, you must bawl too.\" An' Toad hide one of his\npicny behind every mile-post until him end the twenty mile.\n\nSo the race begin.\n\nDonkey was so glad in a him heart that he was going to beat Toad that\nhe say to himself:--\"Tche! That little bit a fellah Toad can't manage\nme, so I must have plenty of time to eat some grass.\"\n\nSo him stand by the way, eat grass and poke him head through the fence\nwhere he see some potato-slip, an' try a taste of Gungo peas. An' he\ntake more than an hour fe catch up the first mile-post, an' as him get\nhim bawl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad.]\n\nAn' there comes the first picny call out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.]\n\nAn' Donkey quite surprise, an' say:--\"Tche! How him manage to be\nbefore me?\"\n\nAn' he think:--\"Me delay too long with that grass, I must quicker next\nmile.\"\n\nAn' him set off with a better speed an' only stop a minute for a drink\nof water. An' as him get to the next post him bawl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad.]\n\nAn' there come the second picny call out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.]\n\nAn' Donkey say:--\"Lah! Toad travel fe true. Never mind, we will chance\nit again.\"\n\nSo him 'tart, an' when him reach the third mile-post him bawl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad.]\n\nAn' the third picny behind the post say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.]\n\nJackass get vex when he hear Toad answer him, an' he go fe 'mash Toad,\nan' Toad being a little man hide himself in a grass.\n\nThen Donkey say:--\"Hi! fellah gone ahead; make I see if I can catch up\nthe next mile-post before him.\" An' he take him tail an' touch it like\na horsewhip an' begin fe gallop.\n\nAn' him get to the fourth mile-post an' bawl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad.]\n\nAn' there comes the fourth picny answer him:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.]\n\nWhen him yerry, him 'tand up same place an' trimble, say:--\"My\ngoodness King! a whe me a go do? Make me gallop so I knock off all me\nhoof self upon the hard hard dirty because I must beat the race.\"\n\nAn' he gallop so fast than he ever do before, until when he get to the\nfifth mile-post he was really tired an' out of breath.\n\nBut he just have enough to bawl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad.]\n\nWhen he hear:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.]\n\nThis time he really mad, an' race on harder than ever. But always the\nsame story. Each mile-post he catch him bawl:--\"Ha! Ha! Ha! me more\nthan Toad.\" An' always come answer:--\"Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok.\"\n\nAn' Donkey begin to get sad in his mind for he see that he lost the\nrace. So through Toad smartness Donkey can never be racer again.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=tall foot=, long leg. A tall bridge is a long one, not one that stands\nhigh above the river.\n\n=wasn't agree=, didn't agree. Auxiliaries are a snare.\n\n=picny.= This is the almost universal form of picaninny in Jamaica,\nvaried occasionally by picany.\n\n=Tche!= the Pshaw! of books and the Tush! of the Psalms. There is a\nworld of contempt in this ejaculation, which is accompanied by an\nupward jerk of the chin. The vowel is that of French =le=.\n\n=potato-slip.= The sweet potato (_Ipomoea Batatas_) is cultivated by\nslips or cuttings. Our kind of potato is called \"Irish potato.\"\n\n=Jinkororo, etc.= This is a capital imitation of the Toad's croaking\nchuckle. The second bar should be made as out of tune as possible and\nthe =kok= is on the lowest note of the voice. It is the repeated k's\nthat make the croak so life-like.\n\n=take him tail.= They are fond of this expression. Other examples\nare:--\"The horse take him mout' fe 'cratch him foot,\" the horse\nscratches his leg with his mouth. \"Me take me owny yeye an' see it,\" I\nsaw it with my own eyes.\n\n=a whe me a go do?= What am I going to do, what shall I do?\n\n=dirty=, ground.\n\n\n\n\nXIII. SNAKE THE POSTMAN.\n\n\nOne day Annancy ask Snake to be his postman.\n\nSnake ask him how much he is going to pay him.\n\nAn' Annancy tell Snake that he know he is a man love blood, an' when\nhim come in the night he will give him a bite off his head.\n\nAn' Snake did agree.\n\nAn' the first night he give Annancy a bite in his head, an' Annancy\nfeel it very much.\n\nAn' the second night when Snake is to come back Annancy invite his\nfriend Mr. Rabbit. An' Annancy usual to sleep out in the hall. An'\nthat night, when his friend Mr. Rabbit did come, he move an' go in the\nroom an' make a very high bed. An' his friend Mr. Rabbit didn' know\nwhat Annancy mean to do.\n\nSo Annancy put him out in the hall, an' tell him that one of his\ncousin is sleeping in here too, so he will come in later on; an' when\nhim hear him call he must just get up an' open the door an' see who it\nis.\n\nAn' when Annancy out lamp Rabbit think it very hard, an' say to\nhimself:--\"Bro'er Annancy up to some trick.\"\n\nAn' Rabbit wake up an' begun to dig a hole, an' him dig a hole until\nhim get outside the door an' find himself back to his yard.\n\nWhen Snake come in the night to get the other bite from Annancy him\ncall Annancy.\n\nAnnancy wouldn' give answer as him being put Rabbit outside in the\nhall, an' Snake continually calling until Annancy give answer.\n\nAn' when him give answer he begin to wake Rabbit an' thought Rabbit\nwas inside the house. He didn' want was to receive his bite, an' he\nbegun to call Rabbit \"Cousin Yabbit,\" that Rabbit may glad an' give\nhim answer. When him couldn' hear, him say \"Godfather Yabbit\" An' him\ncall again \"Bro'er Yabbit,\" an' him couldn' hear him. An' he call\nagain \"Puppa, Puppa!\" an' he couldn' hear.\n\nAn' him light the lamp an' come out the hall an' begin to s'arch for\nRabbit. An' when him look, him see Rabbit dig a heap of dirt an' come\nout.\n\nAn' Annancy beguns to cry inside the house an' wouldn' open the door.\nAn' he begin to complain to Snake that the first bite him gi' him he\n'mash up the whole a him head.\n\nAn' Annancy 'tudy a 'cheme, catch up a black pot an' turn it down over\nhim head.\n\nAn' as he put out him head Snake bite the pot, t'ought it's Annancy\nhim catch. An the whole of Snake mouth was in sore. An' when he get\nhome he send back to Annancy that he sick an' won't manage to come\nback another night.\n\nAn' Annancy was very glad an' send go tell him that himself is in bed.\n\nAn' when the bearer start for home him sing this song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Somebody waiting for Salizon,\n Somebody waiting for Salizon,\n Somebody waiting for Salizon,\n Take up your letter an' go.]\n\nAn' from that day Snake broke friend with Annancy.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nThe house would have two rooms, first the hall and then the inner room\nor bedroom. From Rabbit's burrowing operations it appears to have no\nfloor. This was a common condition in the old times, but now it gets\nrarer and rarer. Only Coolie (East Indian) houses are unfloored.\n\n=him being put=, he had put.\n\n='tudy a 'cheme=, studies a scheme. It is more usual ='tudy a plan=. This\ncommon, vulgar song is evidently of late origin and probably does not\nreally belong to the story.\n\n\n\n\nXIV. DOBA.\n\n\nOne day Puss make a ball an' invite the whole world of Ratta.\n\nAll the Ratta dress in long coat an' silk dress. There was t'ousand of\nthem women, an' men. When them come they bring a little boy an' the\nmother with a young baby.\n\nWhen all the Ratta settle, the door was shut, an' the Puss them have\nthem junka 'tick secretly in a them trousies' foot. They made a\nbargain between themselves that, when the Ratta deep in dancing, Doba\nmust out the lamp, then the licking-match commence.\n\nWhen the music begin, it sweet Ratta so that they dance till their\nwhite shirt-bosom was wet.\n\nThe fiddler was Dandy Jimmy Flint.\n\nAn' this is what the fiddle say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Doba, Doba, Doba no make de little one get 'way\n Ballantony Bap! twee twee,\n Ballantony Bap! twee twee.]\n\nThe boy Ratta take notice of what the fiddle say.\n\nHim go to him dada an' whisper:--\"Puppa, you no yerry what the fiddle\nsay?\"\n\n[Music:\n\n Doba, Doba, Doba no make de little one get 'way\n Ballantony Bap! twee twee,\n Ballantony Bap! twee twee.]\n\nThe father say:--\"Get 'way, Sir, you little fellah you! It the worst\nfe carry any little boy out fe met. Go, off, Sir, you lying fellah!\"\n\nDuring this time the boy hear what the music say in truth, went an'\ndug a hole fe him an' him mumma.\n\nWhen Ratta in hot dancing the gate-man Puss, Mr. Doba, out the lamp.\nThen the junka 'tick fly round an' all the Ratta was kill. Blood was\ncover the floor an' all the Puss take their share.\n\nOnly boy Ratta an' his mumma an' the young baby, get way.\n\nIf the puppa did take what the boy say him wouldn' dead.\n\nPuss ball was flourish with meat.\n\nIf boy Ratta an' his mumma didn' get 'way we wouldn' have no Ratta in\ndis ya-ya-world again.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Ratta=, rats.\n\n=Puss them.= These words are closely joined together.\n\n=junka 'tick=, short sticks.\n\n=trousies' foot=, the legs of their trousers. The Negroes are expert in\nthe art of hiding things about their person.\n\nFighting with sticks is called a =licking-match=.\n\n=sweet= (a verb), pleased, delighted.\n\nIn these stories the fiddle is often made to sing words which some\nhave the gift of hearing.\n\n=Bap!= is the knock of the stick, or \"lick of the stick\" as they say.\n\n=twee twee=, the squeak of the rat.\n\n=no make=, don't let.\n\n=it the worst fe carry, etc.= It is very troublesome to take a little\nboy out to a meeting. Met, dance, spree, picnic are convertible terms.\n\n=Carry= is seldom used as in English. They say:--Carry the mule a pastor\n(to the pasture). When a man carries you over a river on his back he\n\"crosses you over.\"\n\n=Doba=, long =o= as in Dover.\n\n=Blood was cover, etc.=, the floor was covered with blood.\n\n=Dis ya-ya=, the vulgar English \"this here.\" =Ya-ya= is said very quickly.\nIt does not come into common speech but is reserved for Annancy\nstories and is generally found only in Annancy's mouth.\n\n\n\n\nXV. DRY-BONE.\n\n\nOne day Rabbit invite Guinea-pig to his yard.\n\nAn' when Guinea-pig go, Rabbit ask Guinea-pig to go an hunting.\n\nAn' Rabbit meet up Dry-bone.\n\nAn' when him meet up Dry-bone, him t'row down his gun an' him call to\nGuinea-pig an' tell him:--\"I meet with a luck.\"\n\nAn' Guinea-pig tell Rabbit:--\"I won't carry none of the Dry-bone, but\nyou must make me carry the birds what we kill.\"\n\nRabbit wasn't agree to let him carry the birds, but Guinea-pig coax\nhim until Rabbit consent an' they fix up the bargain: Rabbit was to\ncarry Dry-bone, an' Guinea-pig was to carry the birds.\n\nSo they put Dry-bone into the bag, an' Rabbit ask Guinea-pig to help\nhim up.\n\nAn' Guinea-pig help him up an' pick up the gun an' carry it.\n\nAn' they start home to their yard.\n\nAn' when Rabbit got half part the road he found the load getting\nheavier an' heavier, an' him ask Guinea-pig to take it for a while.\n\nGuinea-pig tell him that he made no promise was to help him with\nDry-bone.\n\nRabbit walk on till the load get so heavy him begin to cry, say that\nhim going to t'row down Dry-bone.\n\nAn' Dry-bone fasten on his head an' begin to talk.\n\nHe say to Rabbit:--\"You take me up you take up trouble.\"\n\nAn' that time Guinea-pig was laughing after Rabbit.\n\nJust then that cravin' fellah Mr. Annancy was passing an' see Rabbit\nwith his load. He thought that it was something good, an' he ask\nRabbit that he will help him carry it.\n\nAn' Rabbit was very glad to get relief of his trouble.\n\nSo Annancy take Dry-bone from Rabbit an' put him on his own head.\n\nAn' when Annancy 'tart, he t'ought that Rabbit was coming.\n\nAn' Rabbit turn back an' hide a bush an' leave the trouble to Annancy.\n\nWhen Annancy get home to his yard him find that it was Dry-bone, an'\nit vex him in a him heart.\n\nAn' Annancy want to leave Dry-bone an' go away.\n\nAn' Dry-bone find out what Annancy mean to do.\n\nAnnancy have a cock in the yard.\n\nDry-bone tell him that him must watch Annancy, keep him a yard, an' he\nwill pay him.\n\nAn' the Cock ask Dry-bone:--\"What is your name?\"\n\nAn Dry-bone say:--\"'Tis Mr. Winkler.\"\n\nSo Dry-bone live in Annancy yard.\n\nAn' one day Annancy ask him if him don't want to warm sun.\n\nDry-bone say:--\"Yes.\"\n\nAn' Annancy tell him that to-morrow he will put him out a door.\n\nAnnancy went away an' make a bargain with Fowl-hawk, that him have a\nman name of Mr. Dry-bone, him must come to-morrow an' take him up an'\ncarry him an' drop him in the deepest part of the wood.\n\nAn' so Fowl-hawk did do.\n\nWhen the Cock see Fowl-hawk take up Mr. Winkler him sing out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mister Winkler, Winkler come give me me pay.]\n\nAn' Annancy look up a 'ky an' sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Carry him go 'long, Annancy say so,\n Carry him go 'long,\n Me'll pay fe cock,\n Carry him go 'long, Annancy say so,\n Carry him go 'long,\n Me'll pay fe cock,\n Carry him go 'long.]\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=help him up=, to get the load on to his head. In this story and some\nothers the load once taken up cannot be put down. It sticks to the\nhead of the bearer and, until it reaches its destination, can only be\ntransferred to another head.\n\n=cravin'=, craving, greedy, often sounds like craven. A man who is\n=cravin'= is generally =cubbich=, covetous. This has lost its original\nmeaning of desiring possession of other people's things and is used\nonly in the sense of close-fisted. A =cravin'= man wants to get hold of\nwhat others have got, a =cubbich= (ends with the sound of rich) one will\nnot part with what he has.\n\n=laughing after=, laughing at.\n\n=him must watch.= The Cock must watch Annancy and not let him leave the\nyard; Dry-bone is helpless, and requires attention.\n\n=to warm sun=, to warm himself in the sun. So they have:--\"Puss warm\nfire,\" the cat warms herself by the fire.\n\n=a 'ky=, in the sky.\n\n=Me'll pay fe cock=, I will pay the Cock's wages which Dry-bone agreed\nto give. _We_ pay a person for a thing, but the Negro pays for the\nperson as well.\n\n=Walk=, =talk=, =warm=, =hawk=, all have the vowel ah. This story refers to\nthe time of slavery. It is almost indisputable that in certain cases,\nwhen a slave was in a weak state owing to incurable illness or old\nage, he was carried out and left to die. To his pitiful remonstrance,\n\"Massa me no dead yet,\" the overseer made no reply, but went on with\nhis directions to the bearers, \"Carry him go along.\" This kind of\nbarbarity was not practised by owners living in Jamaica. By them the\nslaves were well treated and such a thing would have been impossible.\nBut when the masters went away they left the control in the hands of\noverseers, men of low caste who had neither scruples nor conscience.\n\n\n\n\nXVI. ANNANCY AND THE OLD LADY'S FIELD.\n\n\nOne day there was a old lady work a very nice field on a rock, an' an\nold-witch boy is the watchman.\n\nAn' one day Annancy heard about the old-witch boy, an' Annancy send\nan' invite him to his yard. An when the old-witch boy come, Annancy\nask him what his name. An' he says to Annancy that his name is\nJohn-John Fe-We-Hall.\n\nAn' the boy ask Annancy why him ask him like that.\n\nAn' Annancy say:--\"Don't be afraid my frien', I very love you; that's\nwhy I ask whe you name.\"\n\nAn' by this time the old lady didn't know that the old-witch boy gone\nto Annancy yard.\n\nAn' Annancy have a son is a very clever tief, call Tacoma.\n\nAn' Annancy made a bargain that, when him see John-John Fe-We-Hall\ncome, he must walk to the back door an' come out, an' go to the old\nlady ground an' destroy the provision.\n\nAn' when Tacoma come home, Annancy leave John-John out the hall, an'\ntell him that he is going to get some breakfast for him.\n\nNow the old lady make a law that, if the watchman eat any of his\nprovision, it going to make him sick in a way that he will find out if\nit is the same watchman tiefing him.[41]\n\n[Footnote 41: This is evidently a reminiscence of the \"medicine\"\n(Nyanja, _chiwindo_) used in Africa to protect gardens. Sometimes it\nkills the thief, sometimes makes him ill. (A.W.)]\n\nAn' being the boy is old-witch, he know that the food Annancy is\ngetting ready is from the old lady field. So when Annancy bring the\nbreakfast he won't eat it.\n\nAnnancy tell him that he must eat the food, he mustn't be afraid.\n\nAn' the boy say:--\"No.\"\n\nAn' Annancy send an' tell the old lady that the man is here clever\nmore than him.\n\nAn' when the old lady receive the message from Annancy, he sent to the\nground to tell the old-witch boy that he must look out for Mr.\nAnnancy, for him receive a chanice from Annancy.\n\nAn' this time the old lady didn't know that the watchman is at Annancy\nyard.\n\nAn' the old-witch boy is a fluter, an' when the old lady want to dance\nit's the same boy playing for the old lady. An' the old lady have a\ntune which he is dancing with. An' Annancy ask the boy to play the\ntune when he is going home, an' Annancy know if the tune play the old\nlady will dance till she kill herself.\n\nWhen the boy going home, him took up his sing with the flute:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Old lady you too love dance, turn dem,\n Old lady you too love dance, turn dem,\n Turn dem make dem lay, turn dem,\n Turn dem make dem lay, turn dem.]\n\nAn' when the old lady hear the sing she beguns to dance an' wheel\nuntil she tumble off the rock an' dead.\n\nAn' Annancy becomes the master of the field until now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nA rock would be a bad place for a field. Her house was on a rock\nprobably, and her field or provision-ground elsewhere. For\nProvision-grounds and their contents see Digging-Sings.\n\n=old-witch.= Join these words as closely as possible wherever they\noccur.\n\n=Fe-We-Hall.= Very humble houses are called So-and-so Castle and\nSo-and-so Hall. =Fe we=, for us, our. He was John of our Hall.\n\n=destroy=, take away, so that they are lost to the owner and destroyed\nas far as she is concerned.\n\n=out the hall=, out in the hall.\n\n=breakfast=, the principal repast of the day at twelve o'clock.\n\n=the man is here.= They delight in this enigmatic language. Annancy\nspeaks of himself. He sends word that the man here (himself) is more\nclever than her (the old lady). Straightforwardness is a quality which\nthe Negro absolutely lacks. If you try to get at the truth of any\nstory he brings, and cross-question him upon it, he will shuffle and\nchange it little by little, and you cannot fix him to any point.\nLanguage with him is truly, as the cynic said, the art of disguising\nthought.\n\n=chanice=, more usually =chalice=, challenge.\n\nBoys constantly carry their musical instruments about with them. The\nFlute, a cheap kind of fife, and the Concertina are the favourites.\nThey play as they walk along the road.\n\nThe tune, which is quick, is sung over and over and gets uproariously\nand deliriously merry; gasps on an inward breath, which there is no\ntime to take properly, doing duty for some of the notes.\n\nThe words are fragments of a song referring to fowls and eggs. It\nruns:--\n\n Mother Bonner me hen a lay, turn dem,\n Them a lay t'ree time a day, turn dem,\n Turn dem make dem lay, turn dem.\n\n\n\n\nXVII. MAN-CROW.[42]\n\n[Footnote 42: Cf. the story of \"Rombas\" in Duff Macdonald's _Africana_\nII., which would seem to have reached Africa through the Portuguese.\nRombas kills the whale which has swallowed the girl, and removes the\ntongue. (A.W.)]\n\n\nOnce there was a bird in the wood name Man-crow, an' the world was in\ndarkness because of that bird.\n\nSo the King offer thousands of pounds to kill him to make the world in\nlight again.\n\nAn' the King have t'ree daughter, an' he promise that, if anyone kill\nMan-crow, he will make them a very rich man an' give one of his\ndaughter to marry.\n\nSo t'ousands of soldiers go in the wood to kill Man-crow. An' they\nfound him on one of the tallest trees in the woods. An' no one could\nkill him, an' they come home back.\n\nSo there was a little yawzy fellah call Soliday.\n\nAn' he say to his grandmother:--\"Gran'mother I am very poor. I am\ngoing in the wood to see if I can kill Man-crow.\"\n\nAn' the grandmother answer:--\"Tche, boy, you better go sleep a\nfireside than you go to the wood fe go dead.\"\n\n\"Gran'mother, I goin' to town fe buy six bow an' arrow.\"\n\nSo he went to Kingston an' bought them.\n\nAn' when him return home he ask his grandmother to get six Johnny-cake\nroast, an' he put it in his namsack, an' he travel in the wood.\n\nHe s'arch until he find the spot a place where Man-crow is, an' he see\nMan-crow to the highest part of the tree.\n\nAn' he call to him with this song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n How are you this marnin'?]\n\nAn' the bird answer:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n How are you this marnin'?]\n\nAn' Soliday shot with his arrow at Man-crow an' two of his feather\ncome out.\n\nAn' Man-crow come down to the second bough.\n\nAn' Soliday sing again:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n Good marnin' to you, Man-crow,\n How are you this marnin'?]\n\nAn' Man-crow answer as before:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n Good marnin' to you, Soliday,\n How are you this marnin'?]\n\nAn' he fire after Man-crow an' two more feather fly out.\n\nAn' so the singing an' shotting go on.\n\nAt every song Man-crow come down one branch, an' Soliday fire an arrow\nan' knock out two feather, till five arrows gone.\n\nSo Brother Annancy was on a tree watching Soliday what he is doing.\n\nAn' the song sing for the sixth time, an' Man-crow jump down one more\nbranch.\n\nAn' Soliday put his last arrow in the bow an' took good aim an' shot\nafter Man-crow.\n\nSo he killed him an' he drop off the tree.\n\nAn' Soliday go an' pick up the bird an' take out the golden tongue an'\nthe golden teeth, an' shove it in a him pocket, an' Soliday come\nstraight home to his grandmother.\n\nAn' Annancy come off the tree an' take up the bird, put ahm a him\nshoulder, cut through bush until he get to the King gate, an' he\nrakkle at the gate.\n\nThey ask:--\"Who come?\"\n\nHe say:--\"Me, Mr. Annancy.\"\n\nAn' they say:--\"Come in.\"\n\nAn' the King said:--\"What you want?\"\n\n\"I am the man that kill Man-crow.\"\n\nAn' they take him in an' marry him to one of the King daughter an'\nmake a very big table for him an' his family.\n\nThey put him in the middle of the table, but he refuse from sit there.\nHe sit to the doorway to look when Soliday coming. (The King then do\nknow that that fellah up to trick.) An' directly Annancy see Soliday\nwas coming, he stop eating, ask excuse, \"I will soon be back.\" An' at\nthat same time he gone outside into the kitchen.\n\nAn' Soliday knock at the gate.\n\nAn' someone answer him an' ask:--\"What you want?\"\n\n\"I am the boy that kill Man-crow.\"\n\nAn' they said:--\"No, impossible! Mr. Annancy kill Man-crow.\"\n\nAn' he take out the golden tongue an' teeth an' show it to the King,\nan' ask the question:--\"How can a bird live without teeth an' tongue?\"\n\nSo they look in the bird mouth an' found it was true.\n\nAn' they call Annancy.\n\nAn' Annancy give answer:--\"I will soon be there.\"\n\nAn' they call him again.\n\nAn' he shut the kitchen door an' said:--\"Me no feel well.\"\n\nAll this time Brother Annancy shame, take him own time fe make hole in\nthe shingle get 'way.\n\nThey call him again, they no yerry him, an' they shove the kitchen\ndoor.\n\nAnnancy lost in the shingle up to to-day.\n\nAn' the King marry Soliday to his daughter an' make him to be one of\nthe richest man in the world.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Yawzy.= Yaws is a disease very prevalent among the Negroes. It causes\nulcers to form on the soles of the feet. In old slave days every\nestate had its yaws-house for the accommodation of the sufferers. This\ncomplaint does not attack the Whites.\n\n=six bow an' arrow=, a bow and six arrows, we suppose.\n\n=Johnny-cake=, journey cake made of flour and water fried in lard.\n\n=spot a place=, spot of place, exact place.\n\n=ask excuse=, asks to be excused. Pronounce the =s= like =z=.\n\n=shame, etc.=, was ashamed and was quietly making a hole in the shingle\nroof so as to get away.\n\n\n\n\nXVIII. SAYLAN.\n\n\nThere was a man have two daughter. One of the daughter belongs to the\nwife an' one belongs to the man. An' the wife no love for the man\ndaughter, so they drive her away.\n\nAn' she get a sitivation at ten shillings a week, an' the work is to\nlook after two horses an' to cut dry grass for them.\n\nAn' every night she put two bundles of dry grass in the 'table.\n\nAn' the mother was very grudgeful of the sitivation that she got.\n\nAn' one night she carry her own daughter to the pastur' an' they cut\ntwo bundles of green grass. An' they go secretly to the horse manger\nan' take out the dry grass an' put the green grass in its place.\n\nSo the horse eat it, an' in the morning they dead.\n\nAn' the master of that horse is a sailor.\n\nThe sailor took the gal who caring the horse to hang her.\n\nAn' when he get to the 'pot a place to hang her he take this song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mourn, Saylan, mourn oh!\n Mourn, Saylan, mourn;\n I come to town to see you hang, hang, you mus' be hang.]\n\nAn' the gal cry to her sister an' brother an' lover, an' they give her\nanswer:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Sister, you bring me some silver?\n No, my child, I bring you none.\n Brother, you bring me some gold?\n No, my child, I bring you none.\n Lover, you bring me some silver?\n Yes, my dear, I bring you some.\n Lover, you bring me some gold?\n Yes, my dear, I bring you some.\n I come to town to see you save, save you mus' be saved.]\n\nAn' the lover bring a buggy an' carry her off an' save her life at\nlast.\n\nAn' the mumma say:--\"You never better, tuffa.\"\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nThis is quite an unusual form of story, but appears to be of some\nantiquity in my district, where it ranks as an Annancy story.[43]\n\n[Footnote 43: Cf. _The Maid Freed from the Gallows_, F.J. Child,\n_Ballads_, vol. ii., p. 346. (C.S.B.)]\n\n=caring=, taking care of. This is so convenient a word that it is used\nby everybody.\n\n=You never better=, you will never be good for anything.\n\n=tuffa=, with Italian =u= imitates spitting, a sign of contempt.\n\n\n\n\nXIX. ANNANCY AND SCREECH-OWL.\n\n\nOne day Annancy made a dance, an' ask 'creech-owl to be the musician.\nAn' Annancy send an' invite all his friend.\n\nAn' when they come Ratta was in long coat an' Guinea-pig too, for\nRatta tell Guinea-pig they must wear long coat an' they will get all\nthe gal to dance with.\n\nAn' 'creech-owl is a great player, but the only danger he cannot sing\nin the day.\n\nAn' 'creech-owl has a Cock in his yard, an' he sent an' ask Annancy if\nhe can bring a friend along with him.\n\nAn' Annancy send an' tell him that 'tis no objectin to bring the\nfriend, an' Annancy tell 'creech-owl that he will get a lots of drink.\n\nAt that time Annancy didn't know the friend as yet.\n\nSo, as he being hate 'creech-owl, he didn't wish to see no friend of\nhis.\n\nSo when the friend come the friend was a Cock.\n\nAn' Annancy was very sorry for he knew that the Cock going to crow\nwhen day clean, an' 'creech-owl going to know when day is cleaning an'\ngo away.\n\nAn' Annancy got some corn, an' get a pint of 'trong rum, an' t'row the\nrum in the corn, an' let the corn soak in the rum.\n\nAn' when the Cock call out to 'creech-owl that he is hungry, he says\nto Mr. Annancy that he must treat his friend Mr. Cock, an' Annancy\ntook some of the corn an' give to the Cock.\n\nAn' it so being that he love corn, Annancy continually feed him with\nthe corn until he get drunk an' fast asleep.\n\nAn' Annancy feel very glad in his heart that he is going to kill\nBrother 'creech-owl for his breakfast.\n\nAn' when 'creech-owl playing, his mind was on his dear friend Mr.\nCock, an' he continually listen to hear him crow, an' he couldn' hear\nhim.\n\nAn' he ask for him.\n\nMr. Annancy tell him that he is having a rest.\n\nAn' 'creech-owl play an' play till day catch him.\n\nAn' Annancy got a kettle of boiled water an' dish it out an' ask his\nfriend them to have some tea.\n\nAn' 'creech-owl get very sad to see day catch him.\n\nAn' Annancy didn' know whe make 'creech-owl wouldn' drink the tea.\n\nSo Annancy begin to raise a confusion over it, say, as he won't drink\nthe tea he must made up him mind to sarve him breakfast.\n\nAn' 'creech-owl began to cry.\n\nAn' the same time Annancy (that wicked fellah!) take up 'creech-owl\nmusic, an' ask young ladies an' young gentlemen to assist him in a\nnoble song which he is going to kill Mr. 'creech-owl with.\n\nAn' this the song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n There's a blind boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n There's a blind boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n There's a blind boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n He like sugar an' I like plum.]\n\nAn' when Annancy sing the sing done, he catch up 'creech-owl an' wring\noff him neck, an' get him cook for his breakfast an' becomes the\nmaster of 'creech-owl's band of music.\n\nAn' from that day Mr. Annancy becomes the greatest player an' the\nbiggest raskil in the world.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=the only danger=, the only danger is. This omission is frequent.\n\nAt daylight, or soon after, it is the custom to drink tea. This is\ngenerally hot water and sugar with, or more often without, milk.\nSometimes they make an infusion of the leaves of lime, orange, mint,\nfever-grass, cinnamon, pimento or search-me-heart. Coffee and\nchocolate are also occasionally used. These all grow in Jamaica, but,\nowing to its high price, actual tea is beyond the reach of the\npeasant. Lime is, of course, not the English tree of that name, but\nthe tropical one which bears that small juicy fruit which is so much\nbetter than the coarser lemon. Fever-grass (_Andropogon citratus_) has\nthe exact smell and taste of lemon-scented verbena. Search-me-heart\n(_Rhytidophyllum tormentosum_) is a pretty wild plant with leaves of\ngreen velvet, which on moist days give out a delicious aromatic smell\nmuch like _Humea_.\n\n=raise a confusion=, get up a quarrel. Annancy resorted to the same\nartifice when he killed Cow and the other animals at the mock\nobsequies of his father.\n\n=sarve him breakfast=, serve for his breakfast.\n\nThe song will be found again among the dance tunes.\n\n=sing the sing done=, finished the song.\n\n='creech-owl= sounds like creechole.\n\n\n\n\nXX. ANNANCY AND COW.\n\n\nOne day Annancy tell his family that he is going in the wood.\n\nBefore he start he get some cane-liquor an' pour it into a big gourdy,\nan' he tell him wife that \"me gone.\"\n\nAn' he travel so till he meet three Cow.\n\nAn' he tell one of the Cow marnin', say:--\"Marnin', Bro'er Cow.\"\n\nCow say:--\"Marnin', Brother Annancy.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Beg you a little water, Bro'er Cow.\"\n\nWhen Annancy get the water he said:--\"The water no sweet not 't all.\"\nAn' he say to Cow:--\"Come taste fe me water.\" An' he no make Brother\nCow know say a cane liquor him got.\n\nWhen Cow taste it him lick him tongue.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"No say fe me water sweeter more than fe you?\"\n\nCow said \"Yes.\"\n\nAnnancy said:--\"Bro'er Cow, you want to go home with me becausen me\nhave it de a run like a river? Bro'er Cow, if you want to go with me\nyou fe make me put one wiss-wiss over you harn. But, Bro'er Cow, me\nhave some picny a me yard, dey so fooyish, when time we most yech, dey\nma go say 'Puppa bring Cow.' When them say 'Puppa bring Cow' you mus'\nsay 'A so him do.'\"\n\nAnnancy carry Cow into his yard an' tie him upon a tree, an' tell Cow\nhim goin' to get a yitty breakfus' for him. (Annancy 'tudy trick fe\nnyam Cow; he was very anxious for his beef.)\n\nAn' he get into his house and take his tumpa bill coming to Cow force\nace fe chop off Cow's neck. He miss the neck an' chop the wiss-wiss,\nan' Cow take him tail put on him back an' gallop away.\n\nAnnancy a bawl, a call:--\"Say, Bro'er Cow, a fun me a make, me a drive\nfly, come back.\"\n\nCow no a yerry but gallop till him get home an' tell him wife an'\npicny, said Annancy want fe kill him:--\"Thank God me get 'way; the\nwhole family must sing we own tune to-day ya\":--\n\n[Music:\n\n Brother Annancy tie somebody,\n Me no min know da bad me do,\n Brother Annancy tie somebody,\n Me tie, me tie, me tie oh!\n Brother Annancy tie somebody.]\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=cane liquor=, juice of sugar-cane.\n\n=gourdy=, the dried shell of the gourd-like fruit of the Calabash\n(_Crescentia Cujete_).\n\n=wiss-wiss=, withe. There are many kinds of these natural ropes to be\nfound in the bush.\n\n=fooyish=, foolish.\n\n=most rech=, almost reach, are just getting to the yard.\n\n=day ma go say=, they may go and say.\n\n=A so him do=, so he does. The reciter imitates lowing here, the voice\nfalling to a deep prolonged note on the last word.\n\n=carry=, lead.\n\n=yitty=, little.\n\n=nyam=, eat.\n\n=tumpa=, stumpy, short.\n\n=force ace=, post haste.\n\n=a fun me a make=, it's fun I am making, I was only pretending.\n\n=min=, been, wrong auxiliary for did. I did not know that I had done\nanything wrong.\n\nSubstitute the vowel =ah= in water, all, bawl, call.\n\n\n\n\nXXI. TACOMA AND THE OLD-WITCH GIRL.\n\n\nOne day there was a old-witch gal, an' Tacoma want the gal to marry.\nAn' Tacoma went to the gal yard an' ask the gal to courten to. An' the\ngal tell Tacoma that he don't want a husband as yet.\n\nSo Tacoma get very sad in his heart, an' he comes home back to his\nyard, an' when he come he 'tudy a plan. An' when he 'tudy the plan he\nfix a day to go back to the gal yard.\n\nAn' Tacoma get a buggy, an' get Ratta for his Coachman, an' get a pair\nof brown-coloured mongoose to be the horse.\n\nAn' when Tacoma was going he sent to notice the gal that he is\ncoming such a day.\n\nAn' Tacoma went to his friend Annancy an' borrow long boots an' dress\nhimself nicely, an' borrow a gold watch an' chain, an' got a helmet to\nhis head.\n\nAn' when Tacoma ready he order his coachman to harness up the horses.\nAn' when he start he carry lots of present, an' hitch a grey horse\nbehind the buggy, an' take along with him t'ree pieces of music.\n\nAn' this time Tacoma didn' know the gal was a old-witch, an' all what\nTacoma talk from home the gal really know everything.\n\nAn' he reach up the yard an' sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n I will make you have a present of a nice gold watch,\n Just to wear it on your side for to let the people see,\n If you'll only be my true lover,\n If you'll only be my true lover.]\n\nAn' the gal answer:--\n\n[Music:\n\n No, no, dear, not for all your gold watch,\n I will never be yours true lover,\n I will never be yours true lover.]\n\nAn' Tacoma have plenty more t'ing is to make a present to the gal. An'\nhe promise to give her a nice silk dress, an' a nice silver bangle,\nan' a nice gold egg, an' a nice grey horse, an' tell the gal that\neveryt'ing, which is going to make him a present to, he must wear it\nalong the street to let the people see, if you will only be my true\nlover.\n\nAn the gal say to Tacoma:--\"No, for I want the best thing which you\nhave.\"\n\nAn' Tacoma guess an' guess an' he couldn' find out.\n\nAn' the gal say if Tacoma find out she will marry Tacoma.\n\nAn' Tacoma guess an' guess until he made the gal a promise that he\nwill give him the key of his heart.\n\nAn' then the gal was so glad an' said to Tacoma that I'll ever be\nyours true lover.\n\nAn' Tacoma sent for the gal's parents an' his parents an' marry off\nthe gal, an from that day the gal becomes Tacoma wife.\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=mongoose=, see the note to the dance tune \"Mahngoose a come.\"\n\n=yours true lover=, always =yours=. Generally it is \"you\" for \"your.\" They\nsay \"this is yours\" correctly and then add \"and this is mines.\"\n\n=t'ing is=, things.\n\n=which is going, etc.=, which he is going to make her a present of.\n\nWhen, commenting on Tacoma's directions, I objected that the girl\ncould not wear the grey horse, the boy who was telling the story saw\nit at once and said:--\"No, he must =carry= it.\" When the story was done\n(it is reproduced exactly from his dictation) he sang all the missing\nverses with the girl's answer to each verse, and instead of his usual\n\"carry\" which did not fit he substituted \"lead it in the street.\" The\nsinger will see at once where to make the necessary alterations. The\nwords \"silver bangle\" want four quavers instead of two crotchets, and\nit will be worn on the hand as they call the wrist or any part of the\narm. \"Just to keep it in your hand\" follows \"gold egg.\" \"The silk\ndress is worn 'long the street,\" and after \"the key of my heart\" comes\n\"just to keep it in your own.\" I was looking out in this last verse\nfor a change in the words \"for to let the people see,\" but none came.\nTo the last verse the answer is:--\"Yes, yes, dear, for the key of your\nheart I will ever be yours true lover.\" [Cf. Baring-Gould, _Songs of\nthe West_, No. xxii.; Fuller-Maitland and Broadwood, _English County\nSongs_; and _Journal of the Folk-Song Society_, Vol. ii., pp. 85-87.\n(C.S.B.)]\n\n\n\n\nXXII. DEVIL'S HONEY-DRAM.\n\n\nOne day Devil set his honey-dram near a river side.\n\nAn' Annancy has a little son name of John Wee-wee, an' when the boy\nfind out Devil honey-dram he continually tiefing all the dram.\n\nAn' Devil couldn' find out who was doing it.\n\nAn' Devil put out a reward that if any one can prove who is tiefing\nhis dram he will pay them a good sum.\n\nAn' one day Annancy miss his son, an' Annancy guess that the little\nboy must be gone to Devil honey-dram.\n\nAn' as Annancy being a tief himself he went an' s'arch for the boy.\nAn' when he go he found him drunk an' fast asleep. An' Annancy lift\nhim up an' bring him home.\n\nAn' when the boy got sober, about three days after, he got so use to\nthe dram an' he went back.\n\nAn' Devil gone out to hunting. An' when he was going he ask his mother\nto give a heye upon his dram until he come in. An' the mother went\ndown to the dram an' he found the boy drunk the very same again.\n\nAn' there was no one know the woman name except Mr. Annancy.\n\nAn' Annancy went an' look for his son.\n\nAn' when he go the woman catch the boy already an' carry him to Devil\nyard. An when the boy go the woman gi' him some corn to beat.\n\nAn' Annancy went an see his son was beating corn, an' he ask the woman\nwhat the boy is doing here. An' the woman tell him that this is the\nboy was tiefing all Devil honey-dram, an' now him catch him, an' him\nwouldn' let him go until the master come.\n\nAn' Annancy ask the woman if he don't have any more corn to beat.\n\nThe foolish woman say:--\"Yes, Brother Annancy, but not all the corn\nyou going to beat you won't get your son till the master come.\"\n\nAn' Annancy begin to fret for him know when Devil come he won't have\nno more son again, for Devil will kill him an' eat him.\n\nAn' the woman name is Matilda.\n\nAn' Annancy took the corn an' begun to beat an' he start to sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Wheel oh! Wheel oh Matilda.\n Turn the waterwheel oh Matilda!\n Matilda mahmy los' him gold ring,\n Turn the waterwheel oh Matilda.]\n\nAn' the woman begun to dance an' wheel. An she dance an' dance till\nshe get tired an' fall asleep. An' Annancy (the clever fellah) took\nhis son out an' light Devil house with fire.\n\nAn' when Devil in the bush look an' see his house is burning he t'row\ndown his gun an' 'tart a run to his yard.\n\nUntil he come the house burn flat to ground.\n\nAn' Devil couldn' find Matilda his faithful mother, an' Devil take to\nheart an' dead.\n\nAn' Annancy take Devil honey-dram for himself an' build up a house in\nDevil own place, an' from that day Mr. Annancy becomes the smartest\nman.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Honey dram.= The ingredients are honey, water, chewstick, ginger and\nrum. When mixed the dram is put in the sun to ripen. Chewstick\n(_Gouania domingensis_) is bitter and takes the place of hops.\n\n=beating corn=, _i.e._ maize, to separate the grain from the husks,\ncalled also =huxing corn= (husking).\n\nWhen an animal is found trespassing it is brought down to the yard,\nand its owner comes to redeem it by a money payment. John Wee-wee was\nbrought in in the same way and according to custom was given something\nto do while he waited.\n\n=faithful.= A faithful person is one in whom confidence is reposed.\n\n\n\n\nXXIII. ANNANCY IN CRAB COUNTRY.\n\n\nOne day Annancy form himself as a minister, an' was going out an'\npreaching about. An' Annancy preach an' preach till he get in Crab\ncountry. An' Crab them wouldn' hear Annancy at all.\n\nAn' Annancy went home back, an' dress himself in a black gown, an' get\nsome red paint an' redden his 'tummy, an' ask a few friend to walk\nwith him.\n\nAn the friend was Mr. Toad an' Ratta an' Blackbird.\n\nAn' they all start.\n\nAn' when Annancy reach to Crab country he beguns to preach.\n\nAn' he preach an' preach till they wouldn' hear him again.\n\nAn' Annancy hire a house from Crab to stop in the night.\n\nAn' Annancy, seeing he couldn' catch them with his preaching, made a\ndrum an' a fiddle an' give Blackbird the fiddle to play. An Ratta was\nplaying the drum. An' Annancy see that the music didn't sufficient.\nHe wait, until the next day he made a flute an' give to Toad.\n\nAn' when he done he put up the music them an' got in friendship with\nCrab, an' begun to do the same as Crab them are doing.\n\nAn' poor Crab didn' know what Mr. Annancy mean.\n\nAn' Annancy go on go on until they got used to Annancy.\n\nAn' when they got used to Annancy, Annancy write out plat-card and put\nit out an' tell his friend Mr. Crab that he is going to have a nice\nbaptism at his house, an' tell them that he will have a bands of music\nplaying in going home, an' how the music will be so sweet they won't\ntired walking.\n\nAn' when Annancy start with his three friend he tell Ratta to roll the\ndrum, an' Blackbird is to rub the fiddle 'tring till it catch fire,\nan' Toad is to blow the flute as hard as he can, an' he will be\nreading the tune.\n\nAn' he start like this:--\n\n[Music:\n\n The bands a roll, the bands a roll,\n the bands a roll, a go to Mount Siney.\n Salem is Zakkilow,\n Some a we da go to Mount Siney.]\n\nAn' when Annancy get home he made a bargain with his t'ree friend that\nhe is going to baptize them an' let Crab see.\n\nAn' when he baptize them, Crab they were very glad to see this treat\nwhich Annancy do to his t'ree friend, an' they say that they want\nAnnancy to do them the very same.\n\nAn' Annancy tell them that they must wait till to-morrow.\n\nAn' Crab them agree.\n\nAn' Annancy made a bargain with his t'ree friend an' is going to\nbaptize Brother Crab with boiling water.\n\nAn' he get a deep barril an' order Crab them that they must go in the\nbarril, an' Crab they do so.\n\nAt that time Annancy have a good pot of boiling water an' as Crab a\nsettle theirself in the barril Annancy tilt the pot of boiling water\non them an' the whole of Crab body get red.\n\nAn' Annancy was very glad an' said:--\"T'ank God I have got some of the\nclever man them for me breakfus'.\"\n\nAn' from that day Annancy was going about an' fool all his friend.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nThe black land-crab is a much-esteemed delicacy. Formerly every\nproperty had its crabber, whose duty it was to provide crabs for the\nhouse. Since the introduction of the mongoose they have become\nscarcer.\n\n=form himself as=, pretends to be.\n\n=stop in the night=, stop in for the night.\n\n=put up=, put away.\n\n=do the same, etc.=, live in the same way as the Crabs.\n\n=plat-card=, placard; a rough written advertisement affixed to the trunk\nof a tree. When there is a public gathering the musicians play as they\nwalk to the place of entertainment and again as they leave it.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV. GAULIN.\n\n\nOne day there was an India woman who have a daughter, an' when the gal\nborn she born with a gold ring on her finger. An' everybody hear about\nit but they never see it.\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy was very crave to got the gal to be his wife.\n\nAn' Annancy study a plan an' take up his bands of music an' go down to\nthe gal yard, an' when him go down they admit Mr. Annancy.\n\nAn' when they admit him Annancy beguns to play all different tune just\nto see if the gal would laugh with him. But the gal was very sad,\nneither would laugh nor smile, until Annancy see there was no good,\nan' tell good bye an' go home back.\n\nAnnancy when him goes home back, met his friend Mr. Rabbit in the\nroad.\n\nRabbit ask him:--\"Brother Annancy, where you is comin' from?\"\n\nAn' Annancy begun to tell Rabbit.\n\nSo Rabbit make a bargain with Annancy that he is going to try his\nluck.\n\nSo Annancy say:--\"As you being such a clean an' white gentleman I\nthink you will succeed. So if you succeed, when you coming home back\nyou must make me know; then you can take me to be your servant.\"\n\nThat time Rabbit didn' know what Annancy study. Annancy mean was to\ntake away the gal from Rabbit.\n\nSo Rabbit start to the yard, an' when him go they admit him in.\n\nAn' the mumma ask Rabbit what he come about.\n\nRabbit says he is looking for a courtier.\n\nAn' the mumma say to Rabbit:--\"Oh, my dear Mr. Rabbit, I am very\nsorry! You is only but a meat,[44] so I can't give you my daughter.\"\n\n[Footnote 44: Cf. the Bantu use of _nyama_ (\"meat\") for \"an animal.\"\n(A.W.)]\n\nAn' Rabbit spend a little time till he tell goodbye.\n\nMeanwhile Annancy wouldn' go home. Him sit in the road till Rabbit\ncoming home back. An' him ask Rabbit if him succeed.\n\nRabbit say:--\"Oh no!\"\n\nSo they begin to talk. An' by this time Sea-gaulin was passing an'\nhear what they are saying.\n\nAn' when Gaulin go home back, him 'tudy between himself that, if him\nonly get a bus an' dress himself tidy an' drive to the gal yard,\nshe'll sure be his wife.\n\nAn' Sea-gaulin goes down, an' the gal was very glad to see him an'\ninvite him inside the house, an' they begun to arrange to be married.\n\nAn' there was a old-witch boy which was brother to the gal whisper to\nher:--\"That one is Gaulin.\"\n\nAn' the gal say:--\"Oh no, it is my dear love.\"\n\nSo the boy say to then:--\"Never mind, one day you will find out if he\nis not Mr. Gaulin.\"\n\nSo, when Gaulin tell goodbye an' go home to his yard back, the boy\nfollow him an' go to the river side where Gaulin is fishening, an' he\nclimb a tree which hung over the water.\n\nAn' when Gaulin come down the river he 'tart a singing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n My iddy, my iddy Pyang halee,\n Come go da river go Pyang,\n me Yahky Yahky Pyang me jewahlee Pyang,\n me Yahky Yahky Pyang me jewahlee Pyang.]\n\nAn' that time Gaulin didn' know that the boy was on the tree hearing\nhim.\n\nWhen he first sing his hat fall off.\n\nAn' he sing again his jacket was off.\n\nThat time the boy was seeing every bit.\n\nAn' he sing again an' his shirt was off.\n\nSing an' sing till the trousies drop off.\n\nAn' as he done he find himself inside the water begun to fishening.\n\nAn' as him put him head under a stone-hole the boy come down off the\ntree an' find himself back to his yard.\n\nAn' next Wednesday when Gaulin come to get married, the boy provide\nfor him to sing that very same tune when they are on the cake table.\n\nAn the boy say:--\"Ladies and gentlemen will you like to hear a song?\"\n\nAn' everybody say \"Yes.\"\n\nAn' that time the boy was a fiddler, an' he tune up his violin an'\nbeguns to play \"My iddy, my iddy Pyang halee.\"\n\nGaulin say:--\"Oh no, my brother, stop that tune. That same very tune\nkill my grandfather, an' when you sing it you let me remember my old\ngrandfather.\"\n\nAn' the boy never stop sing an' play till all Gaulin clothes drop off.\n\nAn' Gaulin fly out the door mouth an' find himself right up in the\nair.\n\nAn' from that day that's what make Gaulin fly so high.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Gaulin=, the Egret. In stormy weather the egrets leave the seaside and\nfly up into the country to fish in the streams. They are especially\nfond of the small crabs which abound in the mountain rivulets. The\nwords of the song have been spelt so as to convey as nearly as\npossible their right sound. =Halee= rhymes in both syllables to the\n=stali= of the Venetian gondolier. =Jewahlee= is =Jubilee= with a different\nmiddle syllable. =Pyang= with French =a= made as short as possible is the\nEgret's cry. It should be accented and brought out strongly.\n\n=When him goes home back=, as he was going home.\n\n=white gentleman.= This counts many points in the estimation of the\nNegro.\n\n=Rabbit spend a little time.= Most characteristic. After the rebuff one\nwould have expected him to go away at once, but that is not the\nNegro's way. He is never abashed, and after the curtest refusal of any\nfavour he has come to ask, will sit on and talk of other things,\nfinally taking his leave as if nothing had happened.\n\n=bus=, the buggies which ply for hire in Kingston are so called.\n\n=Wednesday=, the favourite day for weddings. The bridegroom is\naccompanied to church by a godmother, not the baptismal one but\nanother specially appointed for the occasion.[45] They ride to church,\nwhich is usually at some distance from the yard. The bride also rides\nfrom her yard, accompanied by a godfather and two bridesmaids between\nthe ages of eight and eleven. The ceremony and signing of the register\nover, the newly-wedded couple mount and gallop to the wife's yard, the\nrest of the company following more leisurely. Arrived there, the bride\nproceeds to put on her wedding-clothes and the guests are received by\nthe godfather and given sugar-water and bread. When the bride has\ndonned her satin gown and veil (she was married in her riding-habit)\nand with much sorrow pinched her feet into white shoes too small for\nthem, the company sit down to the cake table. This has upon it two\ncakes, two fantastically fashioned loaves of shewbread, triumphs of\nthe baker's art with their doves and true lovers' knots, and three\nvases of cut flowers. The bread is not eaten then but is distributed\n(_distribbled_, as they have it,) to friends on the days following the\nwedding. One cake is cut. A knife and fork being handed to a\nbridesmaid she takes off the cake-head, which is a small top tier or\naddition to the cake proper. This is put aside and afterwards sent to\nthe officiating minister. The godfather then proceeds to the more\nserious work of cutting up the cake, giving pieces first to the bride\nand bridegroom and then to the guests. The second cake is left intact.\nWine is poured out, and there are speeches and toasts and hymns. Then\nfollows dinner, which is over about five o'clock. They then begin to\nplay _Sally Water_ (see introduction to the Ring tunes) which goes on\nfor an hour or two, and as night falls dancing is started. This goes\non all night and does not end, at the earliest, till dusk on the\nfollowing day, Thursday. It is often kept up until Friday evening or\neven until Saturday, the dancers and musicians appearing to require no\nrest. The latter are well supplied with rum and when they get sleepy\nthey beg for an extra tot to rub their eyes, which burns them and\nkeeps them awake. The whole of this time refreshments are supplied to\nthe guests, and as long as these hold out they do not disperse, or as\nthey put it:--\"till hungry bite them they no go 'way.\"\n\n[Footnote 45: Is this a survival of the African institution of\n\"sureties\" (Yao, _ngoswe_, see Duff Macdonald, I. 118), or \"sponsors,\"\nwho arrange the marriage? I am not sure whether the custom exists\namong Negro as well as Bantu tribes. (A.W.)]\n\nThe Sunday after the wedding is 'turn t'anks (return thanks). The\nmarried couple and their friends get all the beasts, _i.e._ horses and\nmules, they can muster, and ride to church dressed in their best. The\nbride and bridegroom, attended by the godfather and godmother, sit in\n\"couple bench,\" the rest of the party going to their own pews. After\nservice the whole cavalcade gallops as hard as it can, regardless of\nthe precipices which skirt all Jamaica mountain paths, up hill and\ndown hill to the husband's yard. There wine is provided, and the\nsecond cake is cut and eaten. Dinner follows at three, and then _Sally\nWater_ is again played until midnight, when dancing recommences and\ngoes on till four or five o'clock on Monday afternoon. This is the end\nof the festivities, which sometimes cost twenty pounds or more.\n\n=provide for him=, prepared himself.\n\n=door mouth= includes not only the opening, but also the whole space\njust outside the door.\n\n\n\n\nXXV. ANNANCY, MONKEY AND TIGER.\n\n\nOne day Annancy an' Tiger get in a rum-shop, drink an' drink, an' then\nMonkey commence to boast. Monkey was a great boaster.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"You boast well; I wonder if you have sense as how you\nboast.\"\n\nMonkey say:--\"Get 'way you foolish fellah you, can come an' ask me if\nme have sense. You go t'rough de whole world you never see a man again\nhave the sense I have.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bro'er Monkey, how many sense you have, tell me?\"\n\nMonkey say:--\"I have dem so till I can't count dem to you, for dem de\nall over me body.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Me no have much, only two, one fe me an' one fe me\nfriend.\"\n\nOne day Monkey was travelling an' was going to pass where Tiger live.\nAnnancy was working on that same road.\n\nAs Monkey passing, Tiger was into a stone-hole an' jump out on the\nfellah an' catch him. All his sense was gone, no sense to let him get\n'way. Tiger was so glad, have him before him well ready to kill.\n\nHere come the clever man Mr. Annancy.\n\nWhen he saw his friend Monkey in the hand of such a wicked man he was\nfrighten, but he is going to use his sense.\n\nHe said:--\"Marnin', Bro'er Tiger, I see you catch dat fellah; I was so\nglad to see you hold him so close in hand. You must eat him now. But\nbefore you eat him take you two hand an' cover you face an' kneel down\nwith you face up to Massa God an' say, 'T'ank God fe what I goin' to\nreceive.'\"\n\nAn' so Tiger do.\n\nAn' by the time Tiger open his eyes Monkey an' Annancy was gone.\n\nWhen they get to a distant Annancy said to Monkey:--\"T'ink you say you\nhave sense all over you 'kin, why you no been get 'way when Bro'er\nTiger catch you?\"\n\nMonkey don't have nothing to say.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Me no tell you say me have two sense, one fe me an' one\nfe me friend? Well! a him me use to-day.\"\n\nFrom that day Tiger hate Annancy up to now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=can come and ask me=, that can come. The ellipsis is best explained by\ngiving the sentence another turn: \"Get away you man who are so foolish\nthat you can come,\" etc.\n\n=into a stone-hole=, in a cave.\n\n=Tiger was so glad, etc.=, Tiger was well pleased and held him in his\npaws all ready for killing.\n\n=why you no been=, why didn't you.\n\n=a him me use=, that is the one I used.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI. THE THREE PIGS.\n\n\nOne day a Hog have three Pig an' the three of them was boy. When they\nwere about two month the father died, so the mother grow them up\nherself. When the Pig them come to big young man the mother said to\nthe first son:--\"Me son, a time fe you go an' look you own living.\"\n\nThe day come when he was to start. The mother tie up his clothes an'\ngive him, an' said:--\"If you get work sen' an' tell me.\"\n\nThe Pig start.\n\nAs he was going he meet a man with a cart of hay.\n\nHe said:--\"Please, sir, you can give me that hay that I may go an'\nbuild a house?\"\n\nThe man give him.\n\nPig go an' make up a house with his hay, an' find it very warm an'\ncomfortable.\n\nOne day Wolf come, call:--\"Little Pig, little Pig, let me come in.\"\n\nPig say:--\"No, no, by the hair of my chinnychinchin.\"\n\nWolf said:--\"I will huff an' I will cuff an' blow you house down.\"\n\nWolf huff an' cuff an' blow down the house, an' go in an' eat Pig.\n\nThe mother wait an' can't get no letter from the first son.\n\nShe send the other one, second to the first, an' that one travel until\nhe meet a man with a cart of kindling.\n\nHe say:--\"Please, sir, you can give me that kindling that I may go an'\nbuild a house?\"\n\nThe man give him.\n\nHe make up his house, an' one day Wolf was passing, see that it was\npig house, call to him:--\"Little Pig, little Pig, let me come in.\"\n\nPig say:--\"No, no, no! by the hair of my chinnychinchin.\"\n\nWolf say:--\"I will huff an' cuff an' will blow you house down.\"\n\nAn' he do so an' go in an' eat Pig.\n\nThe mother wait six months an' don't get no letter.\n\nShe said:--\"Those boy must be get good work an' can't get to write.\"\n\nThe last son she said:--\"Me own little son, time fe you go look you\nliving.\"\n\nPig say:--\"Yes, mumma me wi' go now.\"\n\nShe tie up his bundle give him some money an' kiss him, say:--\"You\nmust try write me.\"\n\nThe boy start.\n\nHe travel an' travel till night take him. He has to sleep under a\nstone-hole. When he was sleeping he get a dream that he see his two\nbrother was in a frying-pan. He was so frighten he wake an' start away\nthe same hour. He travel till day clean. At about nine o'clock he get\nto a big road. He travel on that road till he meet a man with a cart\nof brick.\n\nHe said:--\"Please, sir, you can give me that brick that I may go an'\nbuild a house?\"\n\nThe man give him.\n\nHe go an' make up a grand house with the brick.\n\nWhen his house finish Wolf hear, an' come one day, call to\nPig:--\"Little Pig, little Pig, let me come in.\"\n\nPig say:--\"No, no, no! by the hair of my chinnychinchin.\"\n\nSo wolf think that this house was like the rest.\n\nHe said:--\"I will huff an' cuff an' will blow you house down.\"\n\nHe try for one whole day an' never succeed, so he lef an' go home an'\n'tudy upon Pig.\n\nOne evening he come an' call Pig an' tell him he know where there is a\ngarden of all sort a t'ing, so Pig must come an' let them take a walk.\n\nPig ask him:--\"What time you will be going?\"\n\nHe said:--\"A two in the morning.\"\n\nPig 'tart eleven, go an' come back with all good food.\n\nAt two Wolf come an' call:--\"Little Pig, you ready?\"\n\nPig say:.--\"You lated; I go an' come back already.\"\n\nWolf was so vex he go home back. He didn' want nothing but to eat Pig.\n\nHe said a next day:--\"Little Pig, I know where there is a apple tree a\nMr. Simmit garden, make we go an' get some.\"\n\nPig ask:--\"What the time?\" Wolf say \"T'ree.\"\n\nPig go two.\n\nBy Pig was on the tree fulling up his basket here come Wolf. Pig was\nso frighten he was on the tree trimbling. Wolf was quite glad to think\nhe was going to catch Pig. He couldn' stand his ground, but dance\nabout with joy.\n\nPig say:--\"The apple is so sweet that I have fe take a good load. Mr.\nWolf, you would like to taste one?\"\n\nWolf say \"Yes.\"\n\nPig say:--\"Let me see if you can run as that apple?\"\n\nPig throw one of the apple far an' Wolf run after it. By the time he\nis come back Pig get down off a the tree, leave him baskit an'\neveryt'ing, an' run nearly reach home.\n\nWolf was so sorry when he come, left the apple an' gone home.\n\nNext night he call to Pig an' tell him that he know where there will\nbe a met, so they must take a walk.\n\nPig say:--\"What hour?\" Wolf said \"T'ree.\"\n\nPig start twelve an' go dance till two. He was the best dancer an'\nthey give him a butter-churn as a reward. As he walking home he see\nWolf at a distant coming.\n\nHe said:--\"My goodness King! What I going to do?\"\n\nNevertheless he get in the churn a roll down the hill.\n\nWolf see the thing. He run for his home.\n\nThe next day he go an' ask Pig if he did go to the ball.\n\nPig said:--\"Yes, an' as I was coming home I see you, an' was so\nfrighten I get in me churn an' roll down to see if you don't run. An'\nso you did run, Ha! Ha!\"\n\nWolf get vex. He huff an' cuff all day again to see if he could broke\ndown the building, but all he do he has to lef' it.\n\nSo one rain night he send his wife with a young baby to see if Pig\nwould take her in by changing her voice.\n\nShe went an' call:--\"Mr. Pig, please Sir, if you can give a night\nrest, Sir; for rain, an' I am from far.\"\n\nPig said:--\"No, I don't take in no stranger whatever, especially you,\nMrs. Wolf. You husban' try an' try an' can't manage, an' now him send\nyou to see if you can kill me.\"\n\nMrs. Wolf commence to climb the chimley.\n\nPig put a big copper of water on the fire an', by the time she reach\nthe top an' was coming down the chimley, she drop in the water an'\ndead, she an' the child.\n\nWolf come again an' call Pig.\n\nAn' Pig take up this song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Wolf, Wolf, Wolf! no use you try fe come in,\n You wife dere da ready;\n Ha! Ha! Ha!\n You wanta try fe come in,\n Come Wolf,\n Me will put you both together.]\n\nWolf get worser vex, commence to beat Pig house with all his might an'\ncouldn' get in. He climb up the chimley, an', by he fe get to the top,\nthe pot of boiling water was long time ready waiting for him, an' he\ngoing down in a haste make a slip, drop in the water.\n\nPig salt them an' put them in his cask to soak, an' write to invite\nhis mother to help him eat them for he find out it was them eat his\ntwo brother.[46]\n\n[Footnote 46: Cf. Joseph Jacobs, _English Fairy Tales_, No. xiv., and\nnote, p. 233. (C.S.B.)]\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Pig them.= Read these words together, not, Pig--them come.\n\n=you can give=, can you give.\n\n=huff=, scratch with the hoof.\n\n=kindling=, small wood to light fires with.\n\n=day clean.= Day is clean when you can see to walk.\n\n=big road=, one that is what the Italians call _carozzabile_,\ncarriageable. In the hills of Jamaica the roads are for the most part\nmere mule tracks.\n\n=Simmit=, Smith.\n\n=make we go=, let us go.\n\n=What the time?= at what time?\n\n=By Pig=, as Pig.\n\n=fulling=, =trimbling=, always so.\n\n=when he come, etc.=, when he came back to the tree, that he left the\napples and went home.\n\n=met=, meeting, ball.\n\n=da ready=, already.\n\n=by he fe get=, by the time he got.\n\n=cask to soak.= Salt meat is kept in a tub of brine.\n\n\n\n\nXXVII. DUMMY.\n\n\nThere was a man couldn' talk, called Dummy.\n\nOne day Annancy bet the King he going to make Dummy talk.\n\nSo the King say:--\"If you make Dummy talk I will give you one of my\ndaughter fe marry.\"\n\nWell, Annancy went to Hog, ask him:--\"Bro'er Hog if I carry you fe\nDummy, whe you wi' say?\"\n\nHog say:--\"Me wi' say ugh! ugh!\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"You won't do.\"\n\nHe went to Goat:--\"Bro'er Goat, if I carry you fe Dummy, whe wi' you\nsay?\"\n\n\"Me wi' say Meh--eh--eh!\"\n\n\"You won't do.\"\n\nSo he went to fowl.\n\nFowl say:--\"Me wi' say Clk! Clk! Clk!\"\n\n\"You won't do.\"\n\nSo he went to Bro'er Peafowl an' ask him:--\"What you will say if me\ncarry you fe Dummy?\"\n\nPeafowl say:--\"Me wi' say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n \"Chirryway,\n Chirryway, Chirryway dem de,\n Chirryway, Constan' dead to-day,\n Chirryway.\"]\n\nThen Annancy say:--\"A you me wanty.\"[47]\n\n[Footnote 47: See the story of Tangalomlibo in Torrend, _Comparative\nGrammar of S. African Bantu Languages_, p. 319, where the cock is\nchosen as messenger, when the ox and goat are rejected. (A.W.)]\n\nSo Annancy beg Bro'er Peafowl he must come with him to Dummy.\n\nAn' when Dummy hear the tune it sweet him so, he commence to shake him\nhead an' hum.\n\nSo them went to the King yard, Peafowl before, Dummy in the middle,\nAnnancy de a back.\n\nAn' as they reach up Annancy say \"Wheugh!\" being him breat' gone an'\nhim tired, but peafowl never cease with the song.\n\nWhen Annancy got him breat' he say to the King:--\"Master me a come, me\na go make Dummy talk.\"\n\nThen the King say:--\"I will like to hear Dummy talk.\"\n\nAn' Peafowl sing an' sing, an' make all sort of figure before Dummy.\n\nDummy commence to shake him head two t'ree time de way de song sweet\nhim.\n\nAt last Dummy begin to hum.\n\nAs Peafowl see him commence to hum, Peafowl make a sudden spring, went\nup to Dummy with a great flourish, an' at last Dummy sing right out\nthe same as Peafowl:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Chirryway,\n Chirryway, Chirryway dem de,\n Chirryway, Constan' dead to-day,\n Chirryway.]\n\nAn' Annancy get the bet an' the King marry him off.\n\nAn' Annancy give Peafowl gold all over his body an' six quarts of\ncorn. From that Peafowl cover all over with gold.\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Whe you wi' say=, what will you say?\n\n=sweet him so=, pleased him so much.\n\n=Constan'=, Constance.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII. ANNANCY AND CANDLEFLY.\n\n\nOne day Annancy go to Brother Candlefly yard fe fire.\n\nWhen him go Candlefly give him fire an' tell him to wait an' he will\ngo give him a few eggs.\n\nWhen Annancy get the eggs he go home with the fire.\n\nThe next day he go back fe fire an' Candlefly give him more eggs.\n\nAnnancy go till him get halfway, out the fire an' turn back.\n\nWhen him come him say:--\"Bro'er Candlefly, the fire out; give me some\nmore.\"\n\nWhen Candlefly give him the fire, him wait an' wait to see if him can\nget more eggs. Candlefly never give him one.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bro'er Candlefly, the fire a burn me, please give me\none egg make me wet me han', fe make it better.\"\n\nCandlefly give him one an' tell him to come an' he will carry him\nwhere any amount of egg da, \"But you must not come till close a\nnight.\"\n\nAnnancy don't wait till night, go about midday. When him go him get a\nlong bag ready. Every minute him come out of the house an' look on\nsun. Annancy couldn' tarry but only praying to see if night can come.\n\nWhen night come Candlefly get ready an' tell Annancy to stay aback.\nThem travel till at last them get. (Annancy going to play out\nCandlefly.)\n\nEvery gash Candlefly gash an' see a egg going to pick it up, Annancy\nsay:--\"A me first see ahm.\"\n\nCandlefly gash again: Annancy take away every one till him bag full.\nCandlefly don't get one. So as Annancy such a strong man Candlefly\ncompel was to lef' without say a word.\n\nBut Annancy going to feel the blow.\n\nAfter Candlefly gone with the light Annancy couldn' find nowhere to\nput his foot.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Poor me boy, I mus' try see if I can fin' the way.\"\n\nAnnancy start.\n\nHim travel till him go an' buck on a house. The way the night was so\ndark he never see the house, he just buck on it.\n\nHe don't know whose house it was but him call \"Godfather!\"\n\nThe person answer:--\"Who is that calling?\"\n\nHim say:--\"Annancy, you godson, bring some eggs fe you.\"\n\nDuring this time Annancy never know that it was Tiger who him hate so\nmuch.\n\nWhen the door open there come Brother Tiger.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Marnin', Godfather Tiger.\"\n\nTiger say:--\"Come in.\"\n\nSame time Tiger send his wife to go an' put on the copper on the fire.\n\nSo them boil the whole barrel-bag of eggs.\n\nWhen the eggs boil Tiger ask Annancy if him want any.\n\nThe frighten in him, him say \"No.\"\n\nSo Tiger eat the whole bag of eggs, he an' his wife an' children.\n\nTo find out if Annancy want any of the eggs Tiger tell him wife fe lef\ntwo of the good shell. So Tiger get a lobters an' put with the egg\nshell.\n\nWhen Annancy go in to sleep, Annancy see these two eggs, don't know\nthat it was shell. Tiger know how the fellah love eggs.\n\nWhen lamp out Annancy 'tretch him hand to catch the eggs.\n\nLobters paw give him a good bite. Him jump. Then Tiger know that it\nwas the egg the fellah want.\n\nTiger ask:--\"What the matter Mr. Annancy?\"\n\n\"No dog-flea a bit me up so, sir? Me never see place have dog-flea\nlike a you yard.\"\n\nTiger gone back to sleep.\n\nFive minute more Annancy cry out:--\"Lahd! me never see place have\ndog-flea like a you yard.\"\n\nDuring this time he was trying to get the egg-shell. So he try an' try\nthe whole night an' never get.\n\nWhen day light Tiger say:--\"Me son, me sorry to see dog-flea bit you\nso last night. You is the first man come here a me house say dog-flea\nbit you.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Godfather, I don't get a rest from I go to bed till\nnow.\"\n\nTiger wife get tea an' give him, so he get ready.\n\nTiger say:--\"Go a me goat-pen, you see one goat, fetch him ya fe me\nbefore you go.\"\n\nAnnancy go. When him go he see a big he-goat, him beard was a yard\nlong. Annancy catch the beard, lift him up t'row him a ground, take a\nbig stick begin to beat him, give bup! bup! say:--\"You b'ute! a you\nmaster nyam all me egg never give me so so one self.\"\n\nHim beat him so till the goat form 'tiff dead. Now this was Tiger all\nthe time. Annancy leave him gone to see if he can get any knife to cut\nhim up.\n\nBy Annancy come back him don't see no goat, only a big old man\nstanding up. Him put after him. Annancy run back to Tiger yard. The\nman was after him. Annancy see a gourdy, run right in it. Tiger lost\nthe fellah.\n\nWell! Tiger take his gourdy going fe water.\n\nAnnancy, knowing that Tiger mother was sick, as Tiger get halfway with\nthe gourdy on his head Annancy call out of the gourdy mouth:--\"Bro'er\nTiger, you mumma dead a house from yeshterday.\"\n\nTiger stop, him listen, him can't hear.\n\nHe make a move.\n\nAnnancy bawl out again:--\"Bro'er Tiger, you mumma dead a house from\nyeshterday.\"\n\nTiger stop, him listen, him can't hear.\n\nHe go on again, he hear the voice again.\n\nHe throw down the gourdy.\n\nAnnancy get out, said to Tiger:--\"You b'ute! if you been broke me foot\nyou wouldn' min' me wife and picny.\"\n\nTiger hear the voice but never see a soul.\n\nHim run gone home to see if his mother dead. When he go his mother was\nstill alive.\n\nAnnancy go home an' go to Candlefly yard tell him say:--\"I never will\nbe cravin' again, ya, Bro'er? you fe carry me again.\" An' Candlefly\nsay \"Yes.\"\n\nEvery day Annancy come. Candlefly wife say:--\"Him gone long time.\"\n\nAnnancy never get to go with Candlefly again, an' he don't know the\nplace.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Candlefly.= Among the smaller fire-flies which twinkle all the year\nrushes, in the summer months, the great Candlefly. It makes a roaring\nsound with its strong, swift flight, and is a strange and splendid\nobject. It has three lights, two looking like eyes, and a larger and\nmuch more brilliant one underneath the thorax. When at rest only the\neye lights shine, but with the spread of its wings a shutter is drawn\nback and discloses the abdominal light. The insect, which is the size\nof a cockchafer but rather longer, is commonly called Big Winky or\nPeeny.\n\n=da=, is pronounced like Italian.\n\n=look on sun=, looks at the sun to see if it is sinking.\n\n=a back=, behind.\n\n=get=, get to the place.\n\n=gash=, flash. Lightning is said to gash. As explained above, this\ngashing of the great light of the Candlefly is continuous while it is\nin flight, but ceases as soon as it rests.\n\n=buck on=, run against. A horse =bucks=, here, when he stumbles. A man\n=bucks= his toe when he knocks his naked foot against a stone, and\nwomen fight (men too for that matter) by =bucking= with their heads.\n\n=Marnin'.= Good morning and good evening are used as salutations without\nreference to the actual time of day.\n\n=barrel-bag=, a bag of the capacity of a flour barrel.\n\n=the frighten, etc.=, owing to the fright which was in him he said \"No.\"\n\n=fe lef'=, to leave.\n\n=lobters.= This transposition of letters has a ludicrous effect on the\nword.\n\n=paw=, pronounced =pah= very broadly.\n\nFleas are always called dog-fleas, or rather dahg-fleas.\n\n=tea=, the morning sugar-water, is the signal that it is time for the\nguest to be soon moving on. Generally, however, he is given something\nto do before he goes.\n\n=ya=, here.\n\n=so so one self=, even one.\n\n=form=, pretended.\n\n=Him put after him.= The old man put (ran) after Annancy.\n\n=You couldn' mind, etc.= This piece of pleasantry is common. When two\nmen are doing anything that requires care to avoid accident, such as\nmoving a heavy stone, one says to the other:--\"No kill me ya, you\ncouldn' min' me wife an' picny,\" you can't support my wife and\nchildren.\n\n=ya=, do you hear? Which is also its meaning in the preceding note. Just\nnow =ya= meant 'here.'\n\n\n\n\nXXIX. PARSON PUSS AND PARSON DOG.\n\n\nOne day Toad was courting for a long time to a very pretty India gal,\nan' Toad didn' want marry the gal. An' him didn' want the gal was to\nleave him but to live without married.\n\nAn' Puss was Toad parson. An' the mother send an' call Puss, an' when\nParson Puss come, the mother lay the matter before Parson Puss.\n\nAn' Parson Puss call Toad one of his lovely member in the church, an'\nhim didn' want Toad was to leave his church. An' Parson Puss talk\nuntil Toad agree to married the gal.\n\nAn' Dog himself was a parson.\n\nSo Toad send out a invitation to all his countrywoman an' countryman,\nan' invite Tacoma an' his families, an' likewise invite his friend Mr.\nAnnancy an' his families. An' when him done Toad invite Parson Dog.\n\nAn' the day when Toad is to married Parson Puss come to married Toad.\n\nAn' Parson Dog come with his gown was to take away the business from\nParson Puss.\n\nBut Toad say:--\"Oh no! he will like to give his Parson the\npreference.\"\n\nAn' Dog say:--\"Yes, I must have it. If not will be mossiful fight\nto-day.\"\n\nPuss wife, was the organ-player, say:--\"What a man fe swear!\"\n\nAn' Parson Puss say to Toad mother-in-law:--\"You don't mustn't listen\nwhat that fellah Parson Dog is saying. He so tief, as soon as they\n'tick the hog he will soon forget all this for he has to go an' lick\nblood, so when he gone I will marry my member Toad.\"\n\nAn' so Dog did go away.\n\nUntil he come back Parson Puss marry off Toad.\n\nAn' when they eat cake done, then Parson Puss ask the young ladies\nthem to let them go an' play in the ring, an' so they did do.\n\nThat time Parson Dog didn' know what was doning, but soon he hear this\nsing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n When you see a hugly man,\n When you see a hugly man,\n When you see a hugly man,\n Never make him marry you.]\n\nAn' as him hear him hold up one of him foot an' listen.\n\nAn' he come nearer an' hear again:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Parson Dog won't married me,\n Parson Dog won't married me,\n Parson Dog won't married me,\n Cut your eye an' pass him.]\n\nThen Parson Dog shake him head, run come.\n\nAn' as he run come he meet Parson Puss was wheeling all the gal.\n\nParson Dog get very vex an' he bear an' bear.\n\nBut as he hear plain how the sing go, an' see that some of the gal\nPuss was wheeling began to laugh after him, say:--\"No see how him\nmout' long,\" Parson Dog get fairly upstarted till him run in the ring\nan' palm Puss an begin to fight him.\n\nAn', as Parson Puss feel Parson Dog 'trength more than fe him, him\nlook for a very tall tree an' run right upon it to save his life.\n\nAn' from that day that why Dog an' Puss can't 'gree until now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=lovely member.= A certain amount of blarney is supposed to be\nadmissible to keep your sheep from straying to a rival's flock.\n\n=to married Toad.= Though they sometimes say =marry= (see the first song)\nthey prefer =married=. The =d= before the =T= of Toad is very awkward to\npronounce, yet the reciter, whose normal speech is of the laziest,\nlike that of all his kindred, got it out quite plainly.\n\n=mossiful=, unmerciful. Dog really used a bad word here, which is always\nput in his mouth. He uses the same word in \"Finger Quashy.\" So much\ndoes it belong to him that it occurs as a descriptive adjective to the\ndog in the tune for the third Quadrille figure, which will be found\namong the dance tunes. The word is not really very bad, but it was not\nconsidered appropriate to a book which may find its way into the\nnursery, so in every case another one is substituted.\n\n='tick=, stick. The pig was killed for the wedding festivities, which\nwere only just beginning. See note on weddings in \"Gaulin.\"\n\n=play in the ring=, play Sally Water, see Ring Tunes.\n\n=doning=, being done.\n\n=never make him marry you=, never let him, etc.\n\n=cut your eye=, turn your eye aside. Where we use transitive =cut= they\nput intransitive =cut eye=.\n\n=wheeling=, turning them in the dance.\n\n=run come=, came running up.\n\n=bear an' bear=, was patient for a while. A picturesque way of\ndescribing Dog's self-restraint. He bears it and he bears it again.\n\n=no see, etc.=, don't you see how long his mouth is. This is always the\njoke about Dog. About Puss it is:--\"You face too (very) short. Cut off\nhalf inch you don't have nose.\"\n\n=upstarted=, angry.\n\n=palm=, touch or hold with the hand.\n\n=fe him=, his.\n\n\n\n\nXXX. CHICKEN-HAWK.\n\n\nOnce a lady have t'ree daughter. One of the daughter, the youngest\none, born with a gold teet'. The other sisters h'ard of the teet' an'\nask their sister to show them the teet', but she never would show\nthem.\n\nOne day they get Monkey an' Goat to come an' dance to let the sister\nlaugh. They make all sort of mechanic. She never laugh all the dance\nMonkey an' Goat was dancing.\n\nThose other two pay her so much to see the teet'. She won't show them.\n\nSo the second sister tell the big one say:--\"Sister, let we go make\nbargain with Chicken-hawk to try if we can see the teet'.\"\n\nSo they did go an' see Chicken-hawk about it an' pay Chicken-hawk so\nmuch.\n\nThe day come when they fix up to go to the river.\n\nChicken-hawk was on a tree.\n\nSo they gone to swim for a long time, the big sister them swimming an'\nlaughing in the water for the little one to laugh for them to see the\nteet', but she never laugh.\n\nDuring that time Chicken-hawk took up all three of them clothes an'\ngone on a high tree where them can see him.\n\nWhen the sister know that Chicken-hawk took the clothes they came out\nof the water all t'ree of them.\n\nAll the clothes was gone.\n\nThe first sister commence fe sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk oh! give me me frock.\n Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk!]\n\nAn' Chicken-hawk bring come.\n\nThe next sister do the same an' get her frock.\n\nHere comes the youngest one. She shut up her mouth an' was calling\nfrom her t'roat:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Hm hm hm\n hm hm hm]\n\nChicken-hawk never give her.\n\nWhen the big sister see that she won't call for them to see the teet'\nthey leave her, an' she become 'fraid an' call out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk oh! give me me frock.\n Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk oh! Chicken-hahk.]\n\nAn' the big sister run come an see the golden teet' an' was so glad.\n\nThey go home an' tell their mother that we have gain the battle an'\nhave seen the gold teet'.\n\nFrom that day we see gold teet' until now.\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=mechanic=, antics.\n\n=so much=, a sum of money.\n\n\n\n\nXXXI. PRETTY POLL.\n\n\nOnce a Duke have a sarvant. So this sarvant was courting to a young\nman for a long time.\n\nSo one day another friend come to see the Duke. So he love the Duke\nsarvant an' the Duke sarvant love him. So this man ask the Duke for\nher.\n\nThe Duke say:--\"No, she is courting already.\"\n\nSo the friend was sorry.\n\nThe gal tell the young man say:--\"Me love you, an' if you going to\nmarry me I will lef' my lover an' come.\"\n\nThe young man say:--\"How you will manage that the Duke not going to\nallow it?\"\n\nThe gal say:--\"You look out.\"\n\nSo one evening, when the gal lover come home, she ask him to let them\ngo for a walk far away. \"I am going to show you a very pretty place.\"\n\nDuring this time the gal know where a well was, so she is going to\nshub him into the well.\n\nAs they reach to the place they see a pretty flowers in the well.\n\nSo they was looking at the flowers.\n\nAs she see that her lover was gazing at the flowers she just shub him\nright in the well an' said:--\"T'ank God! me going to get that pretty\nyoung man.\"\n\nDuring this time there was a Parrot on a tree seeing all that was\ngoing on, cry out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ha ha! Ha ha!\n I have a news to take to the Duke at home;\n you have your dearest lover an' cast him down to the well.]\n\nThe gal look up an' see the Parrot.\n\nShe get frighten, call to Poll:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Come, Pretty Poll, come!\n There is a house of gold an' silver before you sit 'pon tree.]\n\nPoll sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Tree I barn,\n Tree I must be stay till my time come to die.]\n\nAn' Poll commence to fly from tree to tree an' she was following him\ntill they get out to a village. Poll was still singing an' she was\nbegging.\n\nPoll fly from house to house till he get on the Duke house an' sing.\n\nThe gal was crying.\n\nThe Duke hear, send out man an' they listen until them hear what Poll\nsaid, an' them catch the gal an' chop off her head.\n\nAn' Poll get good care.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nThis is another version of the \"King Daniel\" story.\n\n=before you sit=, instead of your sitting.\n\n=Tree I barn=, etc. On a tree I was born, on a tree I must stay.\n\n\n\n\nXXXII. ANNANCY AND HOG.\n\n\nOne day Annancy an' him grandmamma go to a ground.\n\nAnnancy left him fife.\n\nWhen him coming home, he an' his grandmamma, he said:--\"Gran'mumma you\nknow I leave my fife at groun'.\"\n\nHim grandmamma say:--\"Me son a know you well. You is a very bad boy.\nGo for it but don't play.\"\n\nWhen Annancy coming home he play:--\n\n[Music:\n\n None a we, none a we commando\n Sairey gone home commando\n Yahka Yahky Yak commando,\n Suck your mother bone commando.]\n\nAn' as he play he meet Hog.\n\nHog say:--\"Brother, a you a play da sweet sweet tune.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"No, Bro'er.\"\n\nHog say:--\"Play, make me hear.\"\n\nAnnancy play twee, twee, twee, all wrong note.\n\nHog say:--\"Tche! you can't play.\"\n\nHog gone round short pass.\n\nAs Hog go round short pass, him buck the boy was playing the tune.\n\nHog say:--\"Bro'er Annancy I think a you a play, you beggar, you light\nfe me dinner, you libber fe me dog.\"\n\nAn' Hog carry home Annancy an' goin' to do him up for him dinner.\n\nAn' when Hog think him done up Annancy him done up him own mother.\n\nAn' that made Hog nasty feeder up to to-day.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=ground=, a provision ground where yams, etc., are grown. They often\npronounce it =grun=, rhyming to run but even shorter.\n\n=a leave=, I leave.\n\nThis tune has a bobbin, see _Digging sings_. Nonsense words of course.\n\n=commando=, pronounced common doe.\n\n=yah=, with French =a=.\n\n=pass=, path. It no doubt should be =gone down short pass=. The paths\ncircle round the steep mountain sides and short cuts connect the\nloops.\n\n=buck=, stumbles on, meet.\n\n=you light, etc.= Your lights for my dinner, your liver for my dog.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIII. DRY RIVER.\n\n\nOnce a man have t'ree daughter. Dem go go pick wacky.\n\nWhen dem a come, dem come to a river having no water.\n\nDem meet a old man beg dem a wacky.\n\nThe two biggest one give the old man two wacky, one each, an' the\nlittle one wouldn' give any.\n\nAn' the old man sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n You no give me one wacky you can't pass,\n You no give me one wacky you can't pass,\n You no give me one wacky you can't pass,\n Dry River will come an' take you 'way.\n Draw me nearer,\n Draw me near,\n Dry River will come an' take you 'way.]\n\nAn' the little one won't give.\n\nAn' the two big sister want to give two more of their wacky to the old\nman; but the old man say:--\"No, the little one must give me one of fe\nher wacky.\"\n\nAn' she won't give.\n\nSo the old man sing the sing again.\n\nAn' still the little one won't give, until at last the river come down\ncarry him gone.\n\nFrom that day people drowning.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nIn the heavy rains of October and May the rivers rise suddenly, and an\ninsignificant stream or dry river-bed becomes a raging torrent.\nTravellers are delayed in the Seasons, as these rainy times are\ncalled, owing to the fords becoming impassable. This happens now less\nfrequently than formerly, not because the rivers do not 'come down'\nbut because many of them are bridged.\n\n=wacky= (French =a= with a turn to =o=, almost \"wocky\"), guava. This fruit\nwhich makes the well-known jelly is wild. It is the size of a small\napple, and has a delicious scent when ripe and yellow. Raw, however,\nit is not a good fruit. The flavour is coarse and the pulp is full of\nvery hard seeds, which must be swallowed whole.\n\n=when dem a come=, when they reach the place where the wackies are they\ncome to a river.\n\n=old man beg, etc.=, old man who asks them for a wacky. Much of the\nconciseness of negro speech is due to the suppression of relatives and\nprepositions.\n\n=you no give=, if you do not give.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIV. YELLOW SNAKE.\n\n\nOnce a woman, name Miss Winky, have four children, three son an' one\ndaughter. The son them was hunter-man and the youngest son was\nold-witch. This sister never can find her fancy. Everybody come she\nsay: \"Lard, this one hugly, me no like him at all!\"\n\nTill one day she an' the mother an' old-witch boy was at home.\n\nSnake was on a journey, get to a rum-shop. Talking an' talking they\nbring up some talk about this gal, that everybody go for her she\nrefuse.\n\nSnake say:--\"Is she a pretty gal?\"\n\nThey say:--\"Yes, man, she is a beauty to look at.\"\n\nSnake said:--\"I bet anything I get that gal.\"\n\nSnake change an' fix up himself an' go to the yard.\n\nWhen he go he said:--\"Good day, Miss Winky, I come to ask you for your\ndaughter.\"\n\nThe gal, was in the room, run out to see if it is a pretty man.\n\nAs she come out she said:--\"Mamma, this is my love, no one else.\"\n\nSo Snake was invite in the house.\n\nThe mother said:--\"Well, as you get your fancy I am going to married\nyou.\"\n\nSo the next day they go an' get marry.\n\nAfter dinner Snake get ready, an' the gal mother tie up all her\nclothes an' they start.\n\nThey travel the whole night until daylight an' never could get, till\nabout midday they reach the place. It was a big stone-hole.\n\nSnake carry her under, put her to sit down.\n\nAn' after Snake get a good rest he commence to swallow her.\n\nOn the meantime the old-witch boy, name of Cawly, know all what was\ngoing on in the wood, tell his two elder brother to come \"an' let us\ngo hunting for I hear the voice of my dear beloved sister crying for\nme in the wood.\"\n\nThe two brother said:--\"You always goin' on with your foolishness.\"\n\nHe said:--\"Never mind, come let us go an' see.\"\n\nSo they start an' they walk like beast, till at last they nearly reach\nwhere they could hear the sister.\n\nThey hear a voice:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Fe me Cawly Cawly oh!\n If no hunter-man no come here oh!\n Yalla Snake will swallow me.]\n\nSnake, fe all him mout' full, get to say:--\"Me will swallow you till\nyou mumma no fin' piece of you bone.\"\n\nThe brother come close to the place, climb upon the stone.\n\nThey hear the voice plainer, come down off the stone an' see that\nSnake leave but the head of their sister.\n\nThey go down on Snake an' kill him an' split him an' take out their\nsister an' carry her home.\n\nFrom that day she never marry again for she feel the hand of marry.\n\nSo everybody that pick too much will come off the same way.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Snake=, pronounced in two syllables, Se-nake with the exact value of\nvowels in the French words _ce n'est que_, and of course stopping at\nthe _k_ sound of the _q_.\n\n=Tie up all her clothes=, in a bundle which she would carry on her head.\n\n=get=, get to Snake's home.\n\n=beast.= This is the generic name for a beast of burden, horse, mule, or\ndonkey.\n\n=fe all=, although.\n\n=get to say=, managed to say.\n\n=fe me=, my.\n\n=feel the hand of marry=, a biblical expression. She felt the hand of\nmatrimony, and behold it was heavy.\n\n\n\n\nXXXV. COW AND ANNANCY.\n\n\nOne day Annancy was passing Cow pastur', saw the whole of them was\ncleaning their teeth with chewstick.\n\nHe was so frighten for Cow, he stay outside the pastur' on a tree an'\ncall to Cow, telling them howdy.\n\nCow never answer him, so he get worser frighten.\n\nHe said to himself:--\"If I give them piece of cane, fool them say it\nis my chewstick, they might a come friend with me.\"\n\nSo Cow them go out in the night to feed.\n\nAn' when them gone Annancy go an' get his side-bag full with cane as\nquick as he can. An' when him come Cow them gone away for the whole\nnight, so he climb the tree an' sleep on the tree until daylight.\n\nAn' when the sun begin to hot the Cow come under the tree fe throw up\ntheir food fe eat it back. Same time Cow cleaning him teeth with the\nchewstick.\n\nPresently the papa Cow see a big piece of something drop out of the\ntree.\n\nHe look up see Annancy, call to him:--\"What you doing de?\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Me bring piesh a chewshtick fe you.\"\n\nCow take up the cane begin to chew. Instead of cleaning teeth he was\nswallowing both juice an' trash.\n\nCow say:--\"Him sweet; you no hab no more de now?\"\n\nAnnancy say \"Yes.\"\n\nCow call him down from the tree.\n\nWhen he come down he give everybody piece of the cane, tell them that\nit is fe him chewstick.\n\nDuring this time he have a big bottle of cane-juice, ask Cow if him\nwant a taste.\n\nCow take a taste, he done the whole bottle of it.\n\nSo they all get in friend with Annancy.\n\nAn' Annancy invite Cow to go home with him, an' he will show him where\nhe get such good chewstick.\n\nCow say:--\"You no have nobody a you yard.\"\n\nAnnancy say \"Yes.\"\n\nCow say:--\"Me shame fe go.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Make me go home an' sen' dem 'way.\"\n\nAnnancy go home, tell all his friend them must look out, him going to\nfetch Cow, ya.\n\nThem say:--\"If you bring Cow you we will never trust you the longest\nday we live.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Look out.\"\n\nHe take a rope. When he go back he tell Cow that him no see nobody a\nyard, so Cow must come make dem go.\n\nCow say, \"Yes.\"\n\nThem 'tart.\n\nAnnancy tell Cow that as he is such a coward man him have a piece of\nrope, Cow must make him put it on his neck, afraid a when him a go the\npicny them go see him, go make noise, you go turn back.\n\nAnnancy say: \"Bro'er Cow, when you go near me yard, if you yerry them\npicny a make noise no frighten, fan you tail with strength.\"\n\nWhen them get to where all the friend an' children could see him, him\ncall to them:--\"A da come, no see me frien' a come tell you howdy.\" He\nturn to Cow said:--\"Fan you tail, no min' dem people.\"\n\nAt last them reach the yard.\n\nAnnancy have a big tree at the front of his house. He tell\nCow:--\"Bro'er Cow, stay ya, make me go look after the house; me wife\nno know, say me a bring 'tranger ya, so we can't carry you in so, so\nyou can fan you tail as much.\"\n\nDuring this time Annancy gone to get all his tool sharpen to kill Cow.\nHe left his biggest son to watch Cow but he can't trust the boy. Every\nminute he come to look if Cow is there.\n\nThe first time he come an' look he say to Cow:--\"Fan you tail.\"\n\nWhen the thing them nearly done sharp he come back, see Cow was\nfanning his tail.\n\nHe said to Cow:--\"You Cow, you no yerry me say 'No fan you tail a me\nyard?'\"\n\nCow fan fe the better.\n\nHe come with his bill, said to Cow:--\"If you no 'top fan you tail\neither you kill me or me kill you.\"\n\nCow won't stop.\n\nHe say to one of the friend:--\"Now, now, sir, you see how that man a\nfrighten me picny a me yard, him mout' so hugly.\"\n\nHim come up nearer to Cow say:--\"If you no 'top fan you tail somet'ing\nmus' done.\"\n\nCow won't stop, seeing the fly a trouble him.\n\nAnnancy set a run with his bill chop at Cow neck.\n\nCow draw back his head, the bill catch the rope, set Cow free, so he\nrun for his life.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Come back, Bro'er Cow, a fun me a make wi' you, simple\nlittle fun, you run gone home.\"\n\nBut Cow was flying for his home an' never stop.\n\nAnnancy take up this song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Lard! Lard! hasty kill me dead oh!\n Poor me boy oh! a whe me a go do?\n Me put me pot a fire fe boil Cow liver,\n but hasty kill me dead.]\n\nFrom that day Annancy never can go where Cow is.\n\nAnywhere Cow see him he reach him down with his mouth.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nWe have had this story already in another form (Annancy and Cow, No.\n20).\n\n=chewstick=, a common climber. A piece of the stem about the thickness\nof a pencil is cut and makes a sort of soapy froth as it is chewed. It\nhas an agreeable bitter taste and is used to clean the teeth.\n\n=howdy=, how do you do?\n\n=cane=, sugar-cane.\n\n=fool them=, take them in, delude.\n\n=side-bag.= Everybody has his side-bag or namsack (knapsack).\n\n=papa=, pronunciation something between puppa and poppa, with slight\naccent on the first syllable. Cows in Jamaica are of both sexes.\n\n=de there=; the _e_ is that of \"debt\" lengthened. French \"est\" gives it\nexactly. Whe has the same _e_.\n\n=trash=, the fibre. Trash is any kind of refuse, such as shells of peas,\nhusks of maize, the remains of Cassada after the starch is washed out,\nwithered banana leaves, the outside pulp which encloses the coffee\nbeans, etc., etc.\n\n=ya= sometimes means _here_, sometimes _do you hear?_\n\n=rope=, pronounced ro-up. So gate becomes ge-ut (French _e_), goat,\ngo-ut (Italian _o_), much as in some provincial districts in England.\n\n=a da come=, I am coming.\n\n=carry=, lead.\n\n=as much=, as much as you like.\n\n=a fun me a make=, I was pretending. A man is said to make fun when he\nis only pretending to work, what schoolboys call \"sugaring.\"\n\n=hasty=, haste, _i.e._ your hurrying away.\n\n=hungry kill me= is a common expression meaning \"I am very hungry.\" Here\n_hasty_ is substituted for _hungry_. Your hasting away will leave me\nwithout food, and hunger will kill me.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVI. LEAH AND TIGER.\n\n\nThere was a man an' his wife got one daughter, only the one picny they\ngot. An' many a people come for her to courten to her, an' she refuse,\nan' she would stay a world without marry.\n\nAn' the father said to the wife:--\"Them people usual trouble me with\nmy own daughter; we must do something to get her out of them sight.\"\n\nAn' the both of them agree to make up a very big house in the wood to\nlef' the daughter there where nobody wouldn' see him.\n\nAn' the father said to the wife:--\"When the house done you mus' carry\nhim breakfas' every twelve o'clock an' dinner at four.\"\n\nAn mumma say:--\"Yes, me dear, I think so better.\"\n\nAn' they take Leah an' walk with her all night an' lodge her into the\nhouse before daylight.\n\nAn' at the meantime Leah got a very valuable ring on one of her\nfinger, a very pretty young woman too, though me never see him.\n\nMumma tell him that when him going to bed he must always say him\nprayers. An' she tell her that, when she re'ch the hillside she sing\nthe song, she must know a him honey a come. An' this the song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Leah! Leah! tingaling,\n You no yerry you honey, tingaling?\n Honey de a door, tingaling,\n Sugar de a door, tingaling.]\n\nAn' this time Tiger was under the house hear all the bargain.\n\nAn' Tiger lie down very 'teady. (Some days to come he must get meat fe\neat a this bush.)\n\nThen mumma go away, next day come back with him daughter breakfas',\nan' 'tart the tune from hillside to the spot of place where the house\nis. An' the door was double double double latch. An' the tune 'tarted.\n\nAn' the gal open the door an' mumma come in give her her breakfast,\nan' make very much of each others, an' eat done an' tell goodbye.\n\nWhen the mumma gone Tiger creep out of the house with a great rolling\nof voice, can't 'tan' him heel. He go down to see Brother Blacksmit'\nif he would do a kind favour for him.\n\nAn' Brother Blacksmit' say:--\"What sort of favour I can do for you?\"\n\nAn' Tiger say him see a very nice meat a bush, him want go eat it\nthen, so me want sweet voice fe sing like a him mumma.\n\nThen Brother Blacksmit' put the iron a fire, make him red hot, so tell\nhim open him mout'. Blacksmit' poke ahm down his t'roat, heap of\nsmoke come out a him 'tomach.\n\nWhen him finish he tell him mus' sing make him hear.\n\nSo Tiger sing, an' true him voice sound so good.\n\nThen Blacksmit' say:--\"Min' mustn' eat no duckanoo nor guava by the\nway, else you voice turn rough again.\"\n\nTiger gone making his way fe go eat the gal fe meat. He was very hard\non his journey going on. As he get halfway he see guava an' duckanoo,\nan' being him so thirsty he say:--\"Make me nyam ahm, nothing goin' to\ndo me voice.\"\n\nHe nyam until he unrestful an' come his voice after was like groun'\nt'under.\n\n\"Well,\" he say, \"never min'; by the time me re'ch up me voice will\ncome good.\"\n\nSo he lay down under the floor waiting for twelve o'clock when the\nmother usual come.\n\nAn' when it nearly come 'pon twelve Tiger creep out under the floor\ncommence to sing:--\n\n[Music: E2]\n\n Leah! Leah! tingaling,\n You no yerry you honey, tingaling?\n You sugar de a door, tingaling,\n You honey de a door, tingaling.\n\nAn' Leah say:--\"He! He! it is not my mother dat.\"\n\nAn' Tiger shame, gone under the house back, voice too coarse.\n\nPresently his mother is up, sing with a very sweet voice:--\n\n Leah! Leah! tingaling,\n You no yerry you honey, tingaling?\n Honey de a door, tingaling,\n Sugar de a door, tingaling.\n\nAn' the door open, an' she go in give her daughter him breakfas'.\n\nAn' her daughter hug her up an' kiss her, an' he commence to tell her\nmother that him hear a great rolling like groun' shaking while ago\noutside, an' it make her frighten to deat'. She tell her mumma she\nwould like to go home with her back.\n\nThe mother refuse from do so, an' lef' an gone home, tell the father\nwhat happen with Leah in the bush.\n\nAn' puppa say:--\"What make you lef' me daughter a bush? Go back for\nhim to-night.\"\n\nMamma say:--\"No danger wi' me daughter, me wi' carry him dinner four\no'clock, lef' him come back.\"\n\nNext day Tiger 'tart to Blacksmit' fe run iron down him t'roat back.\nBlacksmit' get vex, tell him he going to lick him down with the iron,\nfor his ears hard.\n\nTiger said:--\"Do Bro'er Blacksmit', me yerry all whe you tell me this\ntime.\"\n\nAn' Blacksmit' put the iron two hour a fire an' shub him down Tiger\nt'roat. Tiger can't take him ground, iron too hot.\n\nWhen he done with him he tell him to sing make him hear, an' beg him\nanything that him see in the way must make him yeye pass it.\n\nAn' Tiger say:--\"Yes, so me going do.\"\n\nHim shut him yeye now, take the whole a road for himself, say:--\"Me\nboy never would a nyam nothing more a pass: sweet, sweet meat like a\nthat so a bush me could a lef' ahm so?\"\n\nHe was very hurry to the house, an' just before twelve o'clock he\ncommence to sing, an' this time his voice sound well.\n\nLeah open the door, t'ought it was her mother, an' Tiger jump right in\nan' eat the whole of Leah, lef' one finger with the ring.\n\nHim eat done, half shut the door an' go back a him bed under the\nhouse.\n\nLeah mumma come fe sing now:--\n\n Leah! Leah! tingaling,\n Yo no yerry you honey, tingaling?\n You sugar de a door, tingaling,\n You honey de a door, tingaling.\n\nAn' nobody answer her.\n\nShe sing two time more: nobody answer.\n\nAn' she shub the door an' go inside to find only one finger of her\ndaughter.\n\nAn' him put him hand on him head, bahl, then go home to him husband,\ntell him husband him daughter dead, something eat every bit.\n\nHim say:--\"Me no min tell you fe bring home me daughter: you will have\nfe find ahm gi' me. Then if you know whe good fe you just bring him\ngo,\" catch up one big junka 'tick an' lick down the wife.\n\nAn' after the wife dead the man take to heart an' dead.\n\nThat make you see woman ears hard up to to-day. They want mus' man fe\ncarry them anywhere they told fe go. A him make them something a\nhappen a this world up to to-day day.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=usual=, are wont.\n\n=when she re'ch=, when she (the mother) reaches the hillside and she\nsings the song, she (the girl) will know that his (her) honey has\ncome.\n\n=tingaling.= Some tellers of this story have it =tindalinda=.\n\n='teady=, steady, with a peculiar vowel like a dull French _eu_.\n\n=him daughter breakfas'=, came back with her daughter's breakfast and\nbegan to sing when she reached the hillside overlooking the house, and\nwent on singing till she got to the house.\n\n=An' the tune 'tarted.= The reciter sings it here.\n\n=out of the house=, out from under the house. See note to\n\"Yung-kyum-pyung.\"\n\n=rolling=, roaring.\n\n=can't 'tan' him heel=, can't stand on his heel. See, further on, =can't\ntake him ground=. Both mean that Tiger cannot stand still.\n\n=a bush=, in the bush.\n\n=ahm=, him, it.\n\n=true him voice=, really his voice sounds very well. Only, =true= means\nwhat it says, =truly=, and does not imply the reservation at which it\n_really_ hints. Tiger's voice did sound very well.\n\n=duckanoo=, a kind of mango.\n\n=going to do=; eating the fruit is not going to do my voice any harm.\n\n=until he unrestful.= He ate too much.\n\n=groun' t'under=, ground thunder. It is often difficult to distinguish\nbetween distant thunder and an earthquake.\n\nTiger growls on a low note, and says the words very fast.\n\n=He! He!= French e as in whe and de.\n\n=groun'shaking=, earthquake.\n\n=from do so=, refuses to do what she asks.\n\n=down him t'roat back=, down his throat again.\n\nBlacksmith was vexed because Tiger had eaten fruit on the previous\noccasion. His ears had been hard, _i.e._ he had acted against orders.\n\n=make him yeye pass it=, let his eye run over it without desiring to eat\nit.\n\n=take the whole a road=, staggering along, first to one side and then to\nthe other.\n\n=a pass=, in the path, on the journey.\n\n=put him hand on him head=, an expressive action indicating horror and\nbewilderment.\n\n=bahl=, bawl, cry out.\n\n=me no min tell=, me no been tell, didn't I tell you?\n\n=you will have fe find ahm gi' me=; when anything is lost, they\nsay:--You will have to find it and give it to me.\n\n=a him, etc.=, it is that (their ears being so hard) that makes this\nsort of thing happen.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVII. TIMMOLIMMO.\n\n\nOnce there was a Bull live in a pastur'. He make a law that every\nyoung Cow born, if it is a Bull, they must kill it. So the Cow them\nhear what the master said. The Bull name was Timmolimmo.\n\nSo one day one of the Cow have baby an' find out that this child was a\nboy. She take him an' go to a deep bush an' hide her child in a\nstone-hole, an' feed him till him was growing an' begun to talk.\n\nThe place where the mother was taking water when she was at the\npastur' was a mile from the hiding hole, an' she has nowhere to take\nwater but there.\n\nSo every day she go an' fetch water to her son.\n\nOne day when the boy was six months old she carry him to the place\nwhere she taking water, an' hide till the master come drink an' gone.\nThen she give her son water, and after she take him home back.\n\nAn' when another six month come she take him back to the place an'\nshow him the father footprint, an' commence to tell the son why him\nhave to hide in the bush is because the father would kill you if he\nsee you.\n\nThe boy said to his mother:--\"A so all right, when me come big man I\ngoing to go an' have a fight with him.\"\n\nThe mumma say:--\"No, me son, nobody can't fight him.\"\n\nSo the mother take the boy home back till another six months when the\nboy catch a year an' a half.\n\nThen they go again an' the boy ask if he no can fight.\n\nThe mother say:--\"Come, make me measure you foot.\"\n\nWhen he go put his foot in his father footprint it was about two inch\nshort.\n\nHe go home.\n\nAfter six month more he come back, he alone, measure his foot in his\nfather one. It want half inch to catch.\n\nHim gone home back for six more month.\n\nSo one day him get up, tell his mumma that I am going to fight me\npuppa.\n\nThe mother say \"No,\" but him rist an' go.\n\nWhen him go to the place he measure his foot. It was one inch wider.\n\nHim say:--\"I am going fe the battle.\"\n\nHim come back, tell his mumma that him going to fight puppa. So him go\non till him get where his father can hear him, an' sing out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Timmolimmo, man dere,\n Timmolimmo, man dere,\n Come down make we battle, man dere.]\n\nOne of the Cow call say:--\"Master, Master, I hear some one calling\nyour name.\"\n\n\"No, no, not a man can call my name.\"\n\nThe son give out again:--\n\n \"Timmolimmo, man dere,\n Timmolimmo, man dere,\n Come down, make we battle,\n Man dere.\"\n\nTimmolimmo yerry.\n\nHim make one jump, him jump half mile.\n\nThe son make one, him go one mile.\n\nSo they meet at a cross-pass.\n\nAs the father come him lift the son with his horn, send him half mile\nin the air.\n\nThe son drop on his four leg.\n\nThe son lift the puppa, send him three quarter mile.\n\nAs him drop, one foot gone.\n\nThe puppa stand on the t'ree foot send the son up again in the air.\n\nThe son drop on four foot.\n\nThe son send him up again, him come down on two.\n\nHim stand on the two, send the son.\n\nHim come down on four.\n\nThe son send him up again, an' him come down on one.\n\nThe puppa stand on the one foot an' send the son, an' the son come\ndown on four.\n\nAn' the son send him up, an' him come down on him side an' broke him\nneck.\n\nThe son go home to his mother an' tell him that he has gain the\nbattle, so they must come go in the pastur' an' him reign.\n\nFrom that two Bull never 'gree in one pastur'.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=rist=, risks it.\n\n=dere=, pronounced day-er, the French vowel quite abandoned.\n\n=cross-pass=, cross-path.\n\n=foot=, leg.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVIII. CALCUTTA MONKEY AND ANNANCY.\n\n\nOne day Calcutta Monkey work a very large field of corn, an' when the\ncorn commence to ripe Monkey beguns to miss the corn, an' him couldn'\nfind out who was tiefing the corn, an' the robbing continually going\non.\n\nTill one day Monkey went to Annancy yard an' suspish upon Annancy. An'\nAnnancy get very short an' ready to fight Calcutta Monkey.\n\nAn' Monkey say to Annancy he won't fight him but he will soon know who\nis tiefing the corn.\n\nAn' same time Annancy say to Monkey:--\"I bet it is that big-voice Mr.\nTiger.\"\n\nAn' Monkey say he won't judge no one again but will find out.\n\nAn' him went home back to his yard an' cut his card. An' when he cut\nthe card he sees no man on the card but Mr. Annancy, an' Monkey think\nit very hard to himself that Annancy wouldn' own it.\n\nAn' the next day he went to the ground an' he find the robbing was\ngoing on. An' he met Annancy on the road an' he said to Annancy he\nwell know who tiefing the corn.\n\nAn' Monkey send a challis to Annancy an' tell him that if him cut the\ncard again an' find him in the card he going to give him a terrible\nflogging.\n\nAn' when Annancy hear about the flogging he get a little frighten, an'\nhim stop off the robbing for about two days. The day to make t'ree\nAnnancy couldn' bear no longer an' he beguns again to tief the corn.\n\nAn' Monkey made up a drum an' got a hunting-whip.\n\nAn' next day when Monkey go back to the ground an' find the corn\ntiefing he goes home to his yard, an' take up his drum an' his\nhunting-whip an' start looking for Annancy.\n\nAn' when he going he beguns to knock the drum ribbim-bim-bim, \"Annancy\nno dere,\" ribbim-bim-bim, \"Annancy no dere.\"\n\nAn' that time Annancy went an' climb a cullabunka tree.\n\nAnnancy hide himself in the heart, an' as Monkey get to the tree he\nsound the drum say:--ribbim-bim-bim, \"Annancy dere.\"\n\nAn' he put down the drum an' wrap the whip round his neck an' climb\nthe tree an' give Annancy a good flogging, an' Annancy run off the\ntree an' say that he won't do it again.\n\nTill a few days after Annancy broke in the corn-piece again, begun to\ntief the corn like witch.\n\nAn' Monkey go into the ground an' see the tiefing. An' he went home\nan' look over his card.\n\nHe sees no one again but Mr. Annancy, an' he took up his drum an' his\nwhip to look for Annancy again to flog him.\n\nAn' this time Tiger have a very large banana-walk.\n\nAnnancy wented there an' look for one very large bunch of banana an'\ngo in the heart of the bunch an' hide himself.\n\nAn' as Monkey 'tart playing the drum again he get to the banana-walk.\nAn' as he get to the spot he sound the drum say:--ribbim-bim-bim,\n\"Annancy here.\"\n\nBut this time Monkey an' Tiger can't agree, an' this banana is for\nTiger.\n\nMonkey has to leave Annancy an' goes home back.\n\nAn' Tacoma says to Monkey, if him want to catch Mr. Annancy he can\ncatch him for him. An' Monkey was very glad.\n\nAn' Tacoma made a dance an' send an' invite Mr. Annancy.\n\nAn' when Annancy come to the gate Annancy mind tell him that Calcutta\nMonkey is there, an' he only 'tand to the gate an' wave his hand to\nthe ladies inside, say:--\"Good evening, ladies all\"; an' he turn right\nback an' go in the banana heart an' take it for his own dwelling.\n\nAn' from that day Annancy live in banana bunch up to now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=suspish upon=, suspect. They also use =suspish= alone, a delightful word.\n\n=cut his card.= Monkey is clearly an Obeah-man, a dealer in the black\nart.\n\n=ribbim-bim-bim, etc.=, half sung, with strong even rhythm.\n\n=cullabunka=, a kind of Palm.\n\n=banana-walk=, technical name for a banana plantation.\n\n=is for Tiger=, belongs to Tiger.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIX. OPEN SESAME.\n\n\nOne day there was a very hard time, an' Annancy an' his family was\ndying for hungry.\n\nAn' there was a regiment of soldier find out a silver mine.\n\nAn' when they find it out they made a very large house.\n\nAn' they move the money an' put it in the house, an' when they are\nmoving it they t'ought that nobody see them.\n\nWhat that smart fellah Mr. Tacoma does.\n\nHe hide himself on a tree, seeing them when they passing with the\nmoney.\n\nAn' when they reach to the house, the house work with no key, an' they\nhas a certain word to use when they want the door to open. They say\n\"Open Sesame.\"\n\nAn' they go in an' t'row in the money, an' when they coming out of the\nhouse they say \"Shut Sesame,\" and the door lock.\n\nAn' Tacoma hear what they say.\n\nAn' he go home an' harness up his cart with his mule an' drive to the\nhouse.\n\nAn' when he go him use the same word an' the door open. An' he go in\nan' load the cart, an' when he load done he drive home.\n\nWhen he come home he want to measure the money an' he couldn' get no\nquart pot, an' he sent to his neighbour Mr. Annancy an' borrow his\nquart pot.\n\nAn' continually so he go an' come back, him still borrowing Annancy\nquart pot.\n\nAn' Annancy think it very hard, say:--\"Somet'ing Bro'er Tacoma is\nmeasuring.\" An' Annancy want to know what it is.\n\nA second day when Tacoma sent for the quart pot again Annancy 'tudy a\nplan.\n\nWhen Tacoma come him give it to him, an' as Tacoma reach his yard\ndon't begin measure yet, Annancy tell one of his picny that they must\ngo a Bro'er Tacoma yard an' tell him that him really want the quart\npot, must make haste make haste send it at once.\n\nAn' when the picny go he tell him must look an' see what Bro'er Tacoma\nmeasuring. An' he couldn' find out.\n\nAn' a third day him sent to the shop an' buy penny halfpenny white\nflour, an' when him gone home he make it to paste an' piecen the quart\npot bottom inside, an' said to himself:--\"Anyt'ing Bro'er Tacoma\nmeasure, whether fe rice or gungo or flour, or either money, one must\nfasten in the flour.\"\n\nAn' when Tacoma come back he sent for the quart pot.\n\nAn' when Tacoma measure done he send it back. An' as he send it a very\nlarge two an' sixpence piece fasten in the flour.\n\nAn' Annancy say:--\"T'ank God I find out what Bro'er Tacoma doing with\nmy quart pot.\"\n\nAn' same time he goes to Tacoma yard an' begins to cry upon Tacoma\nthat Bro'er Tacoma must carry him an' show him where he get the money.\n\nTacoma didn' agree.\n\nAnnancy cry an' cry till him tell him that he must get a cart an' a\nmule to-morrow evening, an' when him passing he will call to him.\n\nAn' Annancy couldn' wait, an' him harness up his cart from morning an'\nwatching out for Brother Tacoma.\n\nAn' he watch an' watch till Tacoma come.\n\nWhen Tacoma was coming he lash him whip, an' as he lash, Annancy lash\nhis own too.\n\nAn' they started.\n\nAn' when they get to the house Tacoma say \"Open Sesame,\" an' the door\nopen.\n\nAn' they run the cart up to the door mout' an' load it, an' they come\nout an' drive home.\n\nAn' by the time Tacoma get home to his yard Annancy t'row out his\nmoney an' turn back again.\n\nAn' when he go he use the same very word an' the door open.\n\nAnnancy load his cart an' when him coming home he meet Tacoma on the\nroad an' through his strongy yeye an' his ungratefulness he want to\nshoot Tacoma cart a gully an' to kill his mule, that him one may be\nthe master of the bank.\n\nAn' Annancy made a sing when he is coming home:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Right t'rough, right t'rough de rocky road,\n oh Charley Marley call you,\n Mid a rock, mid a rock, mid a rock, me Charley,\n Charley Marley call you;\n Oh de han'some gal are no fe you one;\n Oh Charley Marley call you.]\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nHere is another story founded on Ali Baba, which differs considerably\nfrom the previous one of \"Blackbird and Woss-woss.\" The chief\npeculiarity of this version is that the entrapping through\nforgetfulness of the password is altogether lost.\n\n=Hard time.= This refers to the months of June and July when provisions\nare scarce. The old yams are done and the new ones are not in yet.\nSubsistence has to be eked out with a few sweet potatoes and the\nmangoes, which are abundant in these months, and go on till the\nOctober rains bring back a season of plenty.\n\n=so he go=, as he goes.\n\n=piecen=, a nice word. They use it also in speaking of the patching of\nold clothes.\n\n=lash him whip=, crack his whip as a signal.\n\n=strongy yeye=, covetousness. To give the pronunciation a _y_ has to be\ntacked on to strong.\n\n=him one=, he alone.\n\nThe exact application of the song is doubtful. The end is pretty\nclear, meaning:--all the good things are not for you alone, Tacoma. It\nwill be observed in this and some other stories that Jack Mantora,\netc., is omitted. That is because they have no tragic termination.\n\n\n\n\nXL. SEA-MAHMY.\n\n\nOne day, height a hungry time, Blackbird have a feedin' tree in a sea.\nAn' every day Blackbird go an' feed.\n\nAnnancy say unto Blackbird:--\"Please, Bro'er Blackbird, please carry\nme over a you feedin' tree.\"\n\nBlackbird say unto Annancy:--\"Bro'er Annancy, you so cravin' you goin'\nto eat every bit from me.\"\n\nHe say:--\"No, Bro'er Blackbird I won' do it.\"\n\nBrother Blackbird say unto Annancy:--\"A you no have no wing, how you a\ngo?\"\n\nWell! Blackbird take out two of him tail feather, 'tick upon Annancy.\nHe pick out two of him wing feather, 'tick upon Annancy. He take two\nfeather out of him back again, 'tick upon Annancy; two feather out of\nhim belly feather, 'tick upon Annancy.\n\nWell! Blackbird an' Annancy fly in a the sea upon the feedin' tree.\n\nEvery feedin' Blackbird go fe pick, Annancy say that one a fe him.\n\nBlackbird go upon the next limb, Annancy say a fe him.\n\nBlackbird go upon the t'ird limb, Annancy say a fe him.\n\nTill Annancy eat a good tummy-full.\n\nAnnancy drop asleep upon the tree.\n\nWell! Blackbird take time, pick out all the feather back, an'\nBlackbird fly away.\n\nWhen Annancy wake out of sleep he say:--\"Make me fly.\"\n\nHe can't fly.\n\nHe broke a branch off a the tree, t'row in the sea. The branch swim.\n\nAnnancy say if the branch swim him will swim, an' he jump off a the\ntree, drop in the sea an' sink.\n\nAn' when he go down a sea bottom he meet Sea-mahmy.\n\nHe said to Sea-mahmy:--\"Mumma, mother tell me me have a cousin down a\nsea bottom, ya.\"\n\nSea-mahmy say:--\"I going to see if me and you are cousin.\"\n\nSea-mahmy put a pan of sand in the fire for well hot. When him get hot\nhe take it off a the fire, give to Brother Annancy for drink it off.\n\nBrother Annancy say:--\"Cousin Sea-mahmy, it don' hot enough. Put it\nout a de sun fe make it hot more.\"\n\nAfter him put it out a the sun then he say:--\"Cousin Sea-mahmy, I\nthink it hot now.\"\n\nAn' Sea-mahmy say:--\"Well you must drink it off an' make I see if you\nan' me are cousin.\"\n\nAn' Annancy do drink it off.\n\nAnnancy spend t'ree day down a sea bottom.\n\nWell! the next day Sea-mahmy said to him:--\"Whe you going to come\nout.\"\n\nHim said:--\"Cousin Sea-mahmy, sen' one of you son fe carry me out a\nlan'.\"\n\nSea-mahmy give him one of him son, the name of that son call Trapong.\n\nWell! Trapong an' Annancy travel, make middle in a sea.\n\nSea-mahmy call:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Trapong, Trapong, fetch back 'tranger man, come back.]\n\nAn' Trapong say:--\"'Top, Brother Annancy, I think I hear my mother\ncalling me back.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"No, make way! War de 'pon sea!\"\n\nAn' Trapong sail with Annancy on him back till they reach shore.\n\nWhen they go to shore he say:--\"Bro'er Trapong, take dis bag weigh me,\nsee whe me weigh.\"\n\nTrapong lift him up, say:--\"Yes, Brother Annancy you heavy.\"\n\nSo Annancy come back out of the bag.\n\nHe say:--\"Bro'er Trapong, you come in make I weigh you see.\"\n\nTrapong went into the bag.\n\nHe tie Trapong, tie tight.\n\nTrapong say:--\"Brother Annancy you a tie me too 'trong.\"\n\nHe say:--\"Me no a tie you fe see if you heavy?\"\n\nTrapong say to Brother Annancy:--\"Me heavy?\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"You heavy oh! You light oh! You heavy enough fe me wife\npot.\" An' for all the bahl Trapong a bahl he gone back to him house\nan' Annancy eat him.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=height=, in the height of, at the worst of.\n\n=Sea-mahmy=, Mermaid.\n\n=feedin' tree.= It was a duckanoo mango according to some accounts.\n\nAnnancy behaves just as he did with Candlefly and the eggs.\n\nThe connecting =wells= of this story, which take the place of the =ands=\nand =sos= of other narrators are said with a little upward turn of the\nvoice.\n\n=Whe you going.= Whe (what) seems to be doing duty for =how= here.\n\n=Trapong=, tarpon, the famous sporting fish of Florida and Santa\nCatalina, common also in Jamaica.\n\n=make middle in a sea=, get to the middle of the sea.\n\n=No, make way!= Annancy shouts this out.\n\nThe outrageous confidence trick which follows necessitates a Jack\nMantora.\n\n\n\n\nXLI. CRAB AND HIS CORN-PIECE.\n\n\nOne day Brother Crab work a lovely field of corn.\n\nAn' when the corns beguns to ripe Crab begin to lose the corn, an' he\ncouldn' find out who was tiefing it.\n\nAn' he get Annancy to be a watchman for tief.\n\nAn' this arrangement make between Annancy. Crab tell him that he will\ncome in the night and see if he is watching. An' Annancy wasn' agree\nat first.\n\nHim stand for a good time an' study: an when he study he tell Crab yes\nthat he can come.\n\nAn' when Crab gone he sent an' call his friend Mr. Tacoma an' tell him\nthat Bro'er Crab leave him here to watch over the corn, an' say that\nhe is going to come back in the night to see if he is watching. An' as\nCrab being 'fraid of Tacoma Annancy tell him that he must set a watch\nin the road for Crab an' catch him.\n\nThat time Ratta was hearing Annancy bargain which he is making with\nTacoma. An' he went home an' tell Crab that he mustn' go to the\ncorn-piece in the night for Tacoma going to catch him.\n\nAn' so Crab did hear Ratta.\n\nAn' him send an' discharge Annancy.\n\nAn' Annancy was very sorry, an' same time he goes to Crab an' he ask\nCrab what he done.\n\nCrab tell him that he mustn' mind, he must leave the work, he is going\nto get another man to watch.\n\nAn' Annancy did leave, an' Crab give the job to Ratta.\n\nAn', as that wicked man Mr. Annancy know that Ratta frighten for Puss,\nhe sent an' tell Puss that he must go in Bro'er Crab corn-piece an'\nkeep a good watch for Ratta an' catch him an' eat him.\n\nAn' that time Candlefly was hearing Annancy what he is telling Puss to\ndo Ratta, an' he went an' tell Ratta that he must leave the work, an'\nif he don't leave it he going to lose his life.\n\nAt that time Ratta get very 'fraid an' send an' give up his discharge\nto Crab.\n\nWhen Ratta gone Crab couldn' get no one to watch the corn again, an'\nhe consider to himself that he knows two friend very love corn an' the\nmeal likewise.\n\nAn' the two friend was Mr. Dog an' Mr. Cock.\n\nAn' he sent an' call them an' they did come.\n\nWhen they come he tell them that he have a piece of corn an' he can't\nget none, tief is eating out the whole.\n\nAn' he says to Dog that him know he is a very good watchman, an' same\ntime Cock say to Crab that him watch as any soldier.\n\nAn' Crab was very glad, say:--\"You is the two man that I want.\"\n\nAn' they says to Crab that they won't charge no money, but when the\ncorn came in Cock is to get his share of dry corn an' Dog get his\nshare of meal.\n\nAn' Cock ask Crab to give him a gun.\n\nAn' Crab didn' have a gun, an' he give Cock a flute an' give Dog a\ndrum, an' tell them that anyone catch a tief they must play an' let\nhim hear.\n\nAn' Cock tell Crab that he can't sleep on the ground, an' he wants to\nknow if there is any tree in the corn-piece, an' Crab say \"Yes.\"\n\nSo Cock an' Dog started.\n\nAn' when they go Cock fly upon the tree an' Dog pick up the corn trash\nwhich they cut already an' make a very soft bed an' get into it, an'\nDog lie down until he fall asleep.\n\nAn' Cock sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Brether Dog oh!\n Brether Dog oh!\n Brether Dog asleep oh! Brether Dog oh!\n Tief come an' gone oh, Brether Dog oh!\n Tief come an' gone oh, Brether Dog oh!]\n\nWhen the tief come Dog didn' know. An' Cock, as he being a brave\nsoldier, he caught the tief. An' when he catch the tief he start a\ntune in his flute:--\n\n[Music:\n\n You Mister Crab oh!\n You Mister Crab oh!\n Da me same one catch de tief oh!\n Bengaday.]\n\nAn' as Dog being love sleep an' don't watch to the end he lose his\nreward.\n\nAn' Cock by him catch the tief takes the corn.\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=arrangement between Annancy=; no misprint. =Between= may stand for =with=,\nor there may be an ellipsis of the words =and Crab=.\n\n=he mustn' mind.= This is likely to convey a wrong idea. Crab was not\ntrying to soothe his feelings, but was speaking angrily. What he said\nwas:--\"Never you mind, etc.\"\n\n\n\n\nXLII. DRY-GRASS AND FIRE.\n\n\nOne day Brother Dry-grass an' Fire get in confusion.\n\nSo Fire tell his frien' Annancy (not knowing that Annancy an'\nDry-grass was better friend):--\"Brother Annancy I going to burn that\nfellah Dry-grass to-morrow.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"When you a go you fe call me a yard. I goin' to make\none shell. When we nearly get to the place we blow, make the fellah\nknow that man a come.\"\n\nDuring this time Annancy make bargain with Water that any time he hear\nthe shell blow him must come down like rain.\n\nSo Fire reach up an' as the shell blow he see rain coming down.\n\nSo Fire has to go home.\n\nWater tell him say that Annancy tell him that you are going to fight\nDry-grass, so I must come an' help to see if we can manage you.\n\nFire say:--\"A so! That fellah Annancy I going at his yard.\"\n\nSo Fire walk at Annancy yard an' tell him:--\"Brother Annancy I going\nto come an' see you next week.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Yes, Bro'er Fire, with all pleasure.\"\n\nFire tell him that he must put all his clothes a door to make him find\nout the yard for I don't want to lost the way.\n\nSo Fire gone.\n\nAnnancy wife said:--\"Me husband, send go stop Fire from come a you\nplace.\"\n\nAnnancy say:--\"No, me wife, a me best frien' so him have free come.\"\n\nJust before the time Fire was appoint to come, Annancy go to Brother\nTiger, an' as him walk into the house he saw some clothes.\n\nAn' he pick up the clothes an' say:--\"See, Bro'er Tiger, how you\nclothes damp, you must have fe put dem a sun.\"\n\nSo Tiger hang out all his clothes on a line before the door mout'.\n\nAn' presently Fire was coming like a lion bringing Breeze with him.\n\nWhen Fire see all the clothes he say to Breeze:--\"See that fellah\nAnnancy yard.\"\n\nSo Breeze blow harder an' come with a speed. An' Fire make a jump till\nhe nearly got to the yard.\n\nTiger hear the speed Fire was coming, call to him:--\"Turn back, you\nred-face fellah, me no want you company.\"\n\nFire was coming down more and more.\n\nTiger bawl fe Fire a stop, but Fire coming for the better.\n\nSo Fire get in the yard an' burn all Tiger clothes an' house, an' turn\nright home back.\n\nAnnancy laugh, an' sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me wife say me no fe invite Fire,\n Brether Fire bring Breeze oh!\n Fire de 'pon lan' Fire,\n Fire de 'pon lan' Fire.\n He burn up all Tiger yard, ha ha!\n Brether Fire an' Breeze oh!\n Fire de 'pon lan' Fire,\n Fire de 'pon lan' Fire.]\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTE.\n\nThe shell looks like a very small cowhorn and gives a similar sound\nwhen blown. It is used as a signal for a variety of purposes. It\nsummons to work and marks the hour of release. When a train of mules\nis nearing a sharp turn in the road, the head muleman blows a fanfare\nto give warning of his approach. The shell is in fact to the\nmule-track what the whistle is to the railroad. Imitation shells are\nsometimes made of bamboo. It was perhaps one of these that Annancy\nmade.\n\n\n\n\nXLIII. JOHN CROW.\n\n\nOne day there was a lady who have but only one daughter, an' Mr.\nTacoma hear about the gal an' he went to court the gal.\n\nAn' when Tacoma go the gal wouldn' receive Tacoma.\n\nAn' the mother was really vex.\n\nAs the mother being a old lady, when Tacoma going Tacoma carry a brass\nmortar to made it a present to the old lady to beat her fee-fee. An'\nwhen the old lady see the brass mortar he really want the mortar.\n\nBut Tacoma said to her if him don't get the gal he not going to leave\nthe mortar.\n\nAn' the gal 'treat away himself inside the room an' hide.\n\nAn' Tacoma feel very sorry an' he return home back.\n\nWhen he goes home he tell Annancy about the gal, an' Annancy get a\nconcentina he going to carry down make a present to the gal.\n\nAn' Annancy say if the gal can only take the concentina from him the\ngal must be his wife.\n\nAn' when Annancy go down Annancy was playing.\n\nThe gal wouldn' receive Annancy in.\n\nAn' when the mumma hear, the music was so sweet she commence to dance;\nan' said to the daughter, this is the son-in-law him want, for he can\nget him own dance any time him ready.\n\nNot for all Mr. Annancy playing the gal wouldn' receive Annancy, until\nAnnancy has to go home back.\n\nWhen that ugly fellah Mr. John Crow hear it he study between himself\nan' get a carriage with his pair of horses an' his coachman, an' the\ncarpet in the carriage was a gold carpet.\n\nAn' John Crow said between himself when him put on him watch an' chain\nan' his coat an' shoes, if him don't bring that gal home believe him\nno Mr. Goldman.\n\nAn' John Crow drive away.\n\nAn' when him get to a distant to a look-out, the gal was at his window\nsitting down, an' as him look, him see Mr. Goldman was driving coming.\n\nAn' him holloa to him mumma:--\"Mumma, mumma, my dear love is coming.\"\n\nAn' as John Crow reach the yard the gal was out an' sling Mr. Goldman\nout the carriage an' escort him right into the house.\n\nAn' after John Crow introduce himself to the gal that his name is Mr.\nGoldman.\n\nAn' when John Crow tell the gal so, the gal have a old-witch brother\nan' says to his sister that that man is John Crow.\n\nAn' the gal get vex an' say:--\"Oh no, don't use a word like that; it\nis my dear Mr. Goldman.\"\n\nAn' when the mumma come the gal introduce him to Mr. Goldman, an' tell\nhim that his dear love just come now.\n\nAn' Mr. Goldman fix a time when to come back an' get married, and the\nmother was agree, an' the gal was very glad too.\n\nAn', when they settle that, John Crow drive back to his yard.\n\nAn' when he is coming back the next night he brought a old-witch boy\nwith him an' hide him half part of the road near the yard, an' tell\nhim that as he see day clearing, he must call him that he may got home\nbefore day clear.\n\nAn' he reach the yard an' spend the night in a very joyful dance.\n\nSo it getting near day an' the boy sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mister Goldman oh!\n Goldman oh!\n Day da clean oh!]\n\nAn' when the boy sing out the people them inside the house hear.\n\nAn' when they hear they say:--\"Stop! Stop! Stop! some one is calling\nMr. Goldman.\"\n\nAn' the dance so sweet Mr. Goldman he wouldn' stop to listen. He only\nsays:--\"Oh don't listen to that foolish boy.\" An' when him use the\nword him one in the ring wheeling all the gal them.\n\nAn' that time him hear a sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Poor mirrybimbim ribbimbybimbim,\n Goldman a wheel him gal,\n Goldman a wheel dem.]\n\nAn' when him wheel all the gal him look outside the door an' see that\nday catch him; so him cry excuse an' went up'tairs.\n\nAn' when he go up he take a piece of meat an' look for a broken sash\nan' 'queeze himself t'rough.\n\nAn' as him go t'rough, the sash 'crape off the whole of him back head,\nan' from that day every John Crow born with a peel head.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=fee-fee=, food.\n\n='treat away himself=, retreats, retires.\n\n=concentina=, always with this =n=.\n\n=him ready=, she is ready for it, wants it.\n\n=a look-out=, a place visible from the house.\n\n=sling=, hand, with a notion of vigorous action.\n\n=an' says=, who says.\n\n=a word=, often a sentence of several words.\n\n=tell him=, tell her mother.\n\n=sweet=, pleased.\n\n=when him use the word=, as he said this.\n\n=excuse=, to be excused; pronounce the =s= like =z=.\n\nJohn Crow is the vulture-like scavenger bird of Jamaica, and has a\npeeled (bald) head.\n\n\n\n\nXLIV. TIGER'S DEATH.\n\n\nOne day Mr. Annancy an' Monkey made a bargain to kill Tiger, an' they\ndidn' know how to make the confusion for Tiger was Monkey godfather.\n\nAn' being Monkey have more strength than Annancy, Annancy try to keep\nclose Monkey an' wouldn' leave Monkey company at all by he afraid for\nTiger.\n\nUntil one day Annancy went to river an' catch some fish, an' send an'\ncall Brother Monkey to come an' help him enjoy the fish.\n\nAn' when the breakfast ready, instead of Mr. Monkey come, it was that\ncravin' man Mr. Tiger who Annancy really hate, an' to every piece of\nthe fish Annancy take up to put in his mouth, Tiger take away every\nbit an' never cease till him finish the whole.\n\nAn' when Mr. Annancy friend who he invite come, there was none of the\nfish to give him.\n\nAn' as Monkey being love fish he began to cuss his godfather Tiger.\n\nAn' that time Puss was passing when the confusion occurred.\n\nAn' they go on an' go on till Puss laugh. An' as Puss laugh Tiger get\nworser vex an' begun to cuss Puss, an' Puss said to Monkey:--\"Come,\nmake we beat him off to deat'.\"\n\nAn' Monkey wasn' agree to beat his godfather, but Annancy an' Puss\nforce him.\n\nAn' Tiger get cross begun to lick, an' the first man him lick was his\ngodson. An' then as him lick him godson Puss catch a fire 'tick, an'\nAnnancy catch up a mortar 'tick, an' they never cease murder Tiger\ntill they kill him.\n\nAn' they 'kin Tiger an' just going to share.\n\nAn' there comes a singing from the tree:--\n\n[Music:\n\n You long-tail Mister Monkey,\n Give me piece of de liver,\n a no you one tummy fe full.\n A message me bring fe Tiger\n say buryin' de a yard;\n a whe fe do,\n a whe fe do oh!\n Tiger dead already.]\n\nAn' all the look Monkey an' Annancy look, they never find the person\nthat was singing.\n\nSo they salt Tiger.\n\nThen Peafowl come down in the yard say:--\"Good evening Mr. Annancy an'\nMr. Monkey, I am very hungry. I was on a long journey bring a message\nto Tiger that him wife dead, but Tiger dead already.\"\n\nSo the whole of them stop an' eat of Tiger.\n\nPeafowl never go back with no answer to report, for Puss an' Monkey\nan' Annancy give Peafowl gold not to talk that they kill Tiger.\n\nSo Peafowl never can be a poor man for he keep the t'ree friend\nsecret.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=confusion=, quarrel, which was to be made the pretext for killing\nTiger.\n\n=whe fe do=, what to do? what is to be done? To this question the\nimplied answer is \"Nothing.\" So the phrase means:--\"It can't be\nhelped.\"\n\n\n\n\nXLV. THE OLD LADY AND THE JAR.\n\n\nA old lady have two son, one name Dory Dunn an' one name Tumpa Toe,\nan' Tumpa Toe an' Dory Dunn is a hunter-man.\n\nWell, they give them mumma enough things an' say:--\"Mumma, I am going\na wood, don' interfere with that Jar in my room.\"\n\nWhen them gone old lady say:--\"I wonder what my son have in that Jar\nsay me no fe touch.\"\n\nOld lady go an' shub him hand inside in the Jar.\n\nThe Jar hold old lady.\n\nOld Lady say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Tumpa Toe, Lord!\n Dory Dunn oh, Lord!]\n\nAn' the Jar say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mumma longubelo,\n tum tullalullalum tum.]\n\nAn' the Jar fire him from the room to the hall.\n\nAn' when him reach to the hall him say:--\n\n \"Tumpa Toe, Lord!\n Dory Dunn oh, Lord!\"\n\nJar say:--\n\n \"Mumma longubelo\n Tum tullalullalum tum.\"\n\nAn' all this time the Jar holding him by the hand an' can't let him\ngo.\n\nAn' the Jar t'row him outside a door.\n\nWhen him get out a door old lady say:--\n\n \"Tumpa Toe, Lord!\n Dory Dunn oh, Lord!\"\n\nJar say:--\n\n \"Mumma longubelo\n Tum tullalullalum tum.\"\n\nJar hold him 'till.\n\nJar fire him to seaside now.\n\nAn' he got one daughter a seaside.\n\nThe daughter say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Do my Jar,\n Do my Jar,\n will you save,\n will you save my mother life!]\n\nJar say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Old lady touch me,\n old lady touch me,\n you never will see him no more.]\n\nThe daughter say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Do my Jar,\n Do my Jar!\n I will give you some silver fe save my mother life.]\n\nJar say:--\n\n[Music:\n\n No, my gal,\n No, my gal,\n I got silver already;\n You never will see him no more.]\n\nThe Jar fire him in a sea.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Tumpa=, stump. A man who has lost his arm is called a tumpa-hand man.\n\n=enough things=, plenty of things to eat.\n\nIn these curiously simple tunes, if tunes they can be called, it is\nmost important to mark the time and to pay great attention to the\nlengths of the notes. To hear them sing, or rather say, \"Lord!\" is the\nmost laughable thing. The first one begins on a note rather below the\n=C= of =Toe=, and slides downwards ending with an expiring grunt on a very\nlow note of the voice. The second one is done in the same way, but is,\nall the way through, a little lower than the first. The point is to\nlet the breath go with the sliding note instead of holding it as in\nsinging.\n\n=longubelo.= The first syllable is pronounced as in English, and the\nrest of the vowels are Italian, the =e= being rather more narrowed, but\nnever quite reaching to the sound of =bale=.\n\n=tum tullalullalum tum.= Strong accent on the =tull= and clean neatly cut\nsyllables. Italian vowels.\n\n=mumma.= The =u= between Italian =u= and Italian =o=.\n\n=fire him=, throws her. Yet not quite \"throws,\" for the Jar never lets\nher hand go. =Fire 'tone= is the usual expression for throwing stones.\nThe Jar fires her first from the bedroom to the living-room (hall),\nnext from the hall to the yard, then from the yard to the seaside, and\nall the time it holds her by the hand.\n\n\n\n\nXLVI. JOHN CROW AND FOWL-HAWK.\n\n\nOne day Fowl-hawk go to John Crow yard an' tell him that him fe come\nhave a walk with me to a country for something promise there to me.\n\n\"One day I go out an' in my way I pass a river. As I come to the river\nI meet Fowl. Him ask me to help him up, an' the baby any time him born\nI must come for it. Well my dear sir, the baby born; an' when I go,\nFowl say him never make a promise with me. Look you, sir, if you see\nthe picny, nice fresh fe we mouth, an' a no the one, but him hab more.\nSo you will get a good bag of fresh, but the country danger home.\"\n\nJohn Crow say:--\"Me yerry dat place hab bad name, me no want go.\"\n\nHawk say:--\"You too fool, we a man! we'll get 'way, me son, if them\nwant to catch we. When me go de the first time me go slam in a Fowl\nyard. Me an' him stay a whole day a quarrel, an' me no dead. Come, me\ngood friend, make we go.\"\n\nThem start.\n\nThem fly an' fly till them get over the country.\n\nHawk say:--\"Brother John, we get over the place. Look down yonder,\nlook fresh!\"\n\nJohn Crow say:--\"Me no go down de.\"\n\nHawk say:--\"A so! you too fool! Come make we go down little more.\"\n\nThem go down till them pitch on a tree.\n\nHawk say:--\"Brother, you see them better. I da go sing make them know\nsay me a come.\"\n\nJohn Crow say:--\"If them yerry you, dem no will kill we!\"\n\n\"No, all time me go down me an' Fowl a good friend, no mo' the little\nquarrel we have.\"\n\nHawk call out:--\"See me ya me da come, me da come to the bargain, me\nda come, come; twillinky twing ping ya, me da come.\"\n\nFowl hear, tell him picny dem fe go hide.\n\nSo Dog was a gunner man, an' him an' Fowl a good friend, for Fowl\nalways give him good treatment.\n\nSo Fowl go an' tell Dog say:--\"Danger! hawk a come fe me daughter, so\nme a beg you fe come a yard an' shot him fe me when him come.\"\n\nDog come, an' him an' Fowl hide.\n\nHawk said to John Crow:--\"Come make we go down.\"\n\nJohn Crow say \"No.\"\n\nHawk say:--\"Hungry will burn you back.\"\n\nJohn Crow say:--\"Me no trust, me wi' wait 'pon God leisure.\"\n\nHawk say:--\"All time you wait 'pon God fe give you you will never get;\nno see me a man no wait 'pon no man? Me go look what me know me want,\nbut me if I get anyt'ing I never give you little piece self, you\nfoolish fellow you! I gone.\"\n\nHawk start the singing again going down:--\"See me ya, me da come,\ntwillinky twing ping ya.\"\n\nBy Hawk get down Dog hit him _bam_.\n\nHawk dead.\n\nJohn Crow laugh \"Ha ha! let me pull me rusty bosom shirt an' put on me\ngown an' go down to see what do that fellah.\"\n\nJohn Crow go down.\n\nAs him get on Fowl-hawk find that him was dead him say:--\"Tank God,\nha, ha!\"\n\nJohn Crow dig out the two eye and say:--\"A this eye the fellah take a\nsee,\" an' put it in his pocket an' turn on eating.\n\nDog look, an' say to Fowl:--\"You finish with that one, so, sister, any\ntime them come you send an' call me. I can't stop, I am very vex. I\nsend out my son yesterday an' Puss meet him on the road an' beat him\nan' take 'way the money that I give him to give Brother Monkey. Him\ntell me son say him have a old grudge fe me an' him can't get to beat\nme, so him will beat all me picny. So, sister, I ha da go home, will\nbe blue fire when I catch Puss.\"\n\nWhen Dog go to Puss yard an' call him, Dog ask Puss for a drink of\nwater an' a piece of fire.\n\nPuss say:--\"Go 'way from me gate, I know whe you come about.\"\n\nDog say:--\"Ah, me man, will be blue fire!\"\n\nPuss gate was lock, for Puss have company the day. This company was\nRabbit.\n\nDog say:--\"I want to see you.\"\n\nPuss say:--\"Go 'way I tell you, you mout' long like a devil fork.\"\n\nDog broke the gate an' go in.\n\nPuss lock up his house, an' stay inside an' cuss Dog till Dog has to\ngo home.\n\nAn' Monkey say him will get the money from Puss for them is good\nfriend.\n\nSo Dog go home to his yard an' have a hatred for Puss till death.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=help him up=, with his head-load.\n\n=fresh=, fresh meat.\n\n=a no the one, etc.=, he has not only one, he has several.\n\n=danger home=, is very dangerous.\n\n=over the country=, over the place.\n\n=see me ya, etc.=, see me here, I am coming.\n\n=twillingky twing ping ya=, a good imitation of the Hawk's vengeful\nshriek. Strong accent on the =ya=.\n\n=bam=, French =a=, English =m=, imitating the discharge of the gun.\n\n=what do that fellah=, what has befallen that fellow.\n\n\n\n\nXLVII. FINGER QUASHY.\n\n\nOne day Dog invite four Puss to dinner. They were good friend. One of\nthe Puss name was Tatafelo, one name Finger Quashy, one name\nJack-no-me-touch. The last one was Tumpy John because he has no tail.\n\nWhen them come, all the Puss was in long coat an' burn-pan hat. Dog\nwas in trousies an' shirt.\n\nAn' Dog tell them all howdy very friendly, for he didn' know what\nFinger Quashy doing him.\n\nAn' Finger Quashy quite glad fe see how Dog look friendly an' please,\nan' didn' have no t'ought that him was tiefing fe him pear.\n\nSo the whole of them sit down, Dog making a complain to them that, so\nhe get a pear an put it to ripe, by the time he ready for it him don't\nsee none.\n\nAn' Finger Quashy was doing it.\n\nAn' Finger Quashy jump up tell Dog:--\"Mr. Dog, me no tell you all time\nsay you want one watchman? a da' fellow Ratta a tief you pear. Last\nnight me dream say me see you put me fe watchman an' me catch the\nfellah, so you better put me fe guard you house from that tiefing Mr.\nRatta.\"\n\nDog was quite agree.\n\nDog said:--\"After dinner I will tell you better.\"\n\nQuashy said \"Yes.\"\n\nSo Dog lef' them gone to get dinner.\n\nBy Dog gone, Quashy come out of the house, go into Dog buttery, see\ntwo green pear, take them out go hide them.\n\nRatta see him go over the kitchen cry out:--\"Why, why, why! Quashy\ntake you pear; you no yerry? Quashy take ahm gone.\"\n\nBy Dog get in the house Quashy was in already sitting down look quite\nmeek an' christianable.\n\nDog lef' them go see if his pear was there.\n\nWhen he go there was none, an' Dog don't like nothing as his pear an'\nbone, an' he get vex, take all the dinner t'row it 'way, go in the\nhouse take down his 'tick.\n\nBy the time Dog fe lick one of the Puss everybody was on a tree on the\nfar side of Dog yard.\n\nDog swear all sort of bad word fe the one that take him green pear.\n\nEverybody say:--\"Thank God me no eat green pear.\"\n\nFinger Quashy said:--\"Lard! what a man fe swear!\"\n\nDog see that he couldn' manage to catch Puss, leave and go away.\n\nAn' as Dog turn round, his son playing with fire burn his house an'\nall his clothes.\n\nFrom that day Dog hate Puss till now, for it is Puss cause him to have\none suit till him dead.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Tatafelo=, Italian =a=, the other vowels English.\n\n=Pear=, _i.e._ the West Indian pear, a delicious vegetable.\n\n=tell you better=, make the final arrangement.\n\n=Why, why, why!= squeaked like a rat.\n\n=by the time Dog fe lick=, as Dog was going to strike.\n\n=everybody=, used also of inanimate objects. They say:--\"I going to\nwater cabbage, tomato, everybody.\"\n\n=T'ank God, etc.=, a favourite form of exculpation, which, however, does\nnot necessarily imply innocence.\n\n\n\n\nXLVIII. ANNANCY AND HIS FISH-POT.\n\n\nOne day Brother Annancy always set him fish-pot in a river ober a\nfallin' fe catch jonga. Tacoma usual to go an' knock it.\n\nAn' Annancy set watch into a river corner, an' Tacoma come fe knock\nit; he didn' know Brother Annancy hide there fe watchin' him.\n\nAs Tacoma go over de fish-pot Brother Annancy chuck him down, an'\nTacoma catch in de fish-pot.\n\nAnnancy go beg Brother Rabbit say:--\"Bro'er Yabbit, me fish-pot catch\na big fish, come an' help me knock it, me one can't manage it, Bro'er\nYabbit.\"\n\nBrother Annancy an' Brother Rabbit went to the river.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bro'er Yabbit, me feel me tummy hurt me dis marnin', no\nable fe put me foot in de cold water, see if you one can manage fe\ntake out de fish-pot.\"\n\nBrother Rabbit go an' take it out till he nearly make shore with the\nfish-pot.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"Bery well, you kill Brother Tacoma! Bery well, you kill\nBrother Tacoma!\"\n\nThen Brother Rabbit commence to cry now, an' the frettenation in a\nRabbit he say he kill somebody an' he know they going to hang him, an'\nnext day Rabbit dead.\n\nThen the case didn' try again.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=fish-pot=, made of bamboo strips and looking like a lobster-pot.\n\n=jonga=, the smallest of the three kinds of crawfish which abound in the\nstreams and rivers of Jamaica.\n\n=knock=, empty.\n\n=tummy=; a less pretty word is really used. Annancy squeaks his words\nmore than usual here.\n\n=Bery well, etc.=, in 6/8 rhythm [Music] and he claps his hands to the\nmeasure twice in the bar.\n\n=frettenation=, probably fright, but may have something to do with\nfretting. Owing to Rabbit's fright, he says that he has killed a man.\nRabbit, through fright, says that he has killed a man. These\nelliptical expressions are hard to understand until one has heard them\noften.\n\n=try again=, try after all.\n\n\n\n\nXLIX. HOG AND DOG.\n\n\nOne day Hog was going out to look work, an' Hog name was Cuddy.\n\nAn' he got out an' walk all about an' couldn' get no work.\n\nAn' when he come home Ratta employ him to keep watch for him when\nBroder Puss is coming.\n\nAn' Hog ask Rat how much is his pay.\n\nAn' Rat tell him that he will give him t'ree an' sixpence a week but\nhe must find himself every t'ing to eat an' drink.\n\nAn' Hog didn' agree. But as the time being so hard he says he will\nbear with Ratta till the week out.\n\nAn' when the week done Ratta pay Hog, an' Ratta t'ought that Hog was\nstill keeping watch for him.\n\nSo Ratta go out, an' when he come back he didn' fin' Hog.\n\nAn' him say:--Wasn' God, Puss would broke in on him.\n\nAn' him cuss Hog that Hog would walk an' never get no work, an' some\nwhich worse than Hog will laugh after him.\n\nAn' Hog start one morning to look work.\n\nWhat that fellah Mr. Dog done Hog.\n\nAs he, being a market-keeper, he set down at the market gate an' see\nHog was passing, an' he ask Hog where he is going.\n\nHog tell him that he is going to look a little work.\n\nSame time Dog burst out a laugh. An' as he burst out a laugh he ask\nHog t'ought he was working with Ratta.\n\nAn' Hog feel so shame to himself till he wouldn' answer Dog.\n\nAn' Dog laugh after Hog with this sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Time get so hard\n Hog an' all a look work,\n Dog sit down a market gate an' go laugh at a Hog distress;\n me rarabum Cuddy de da door,\n me rarabum Cuddy de da door,\n me rarabum Cuddy de da door.]\n\nAn' Dog sing an' sing an' sing till Hog get vex an' come home back.\n\nAn' from that day that's why Hog must always hate Dog until now.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=Cuddy=, short for Cordelia.\n\n=wasn' God=, if it wasn't for God.\n\n=rarabum=, nonsense word, Italian vowels.\n\n=de da door=, is at door, is out of doors.\n\n\n\n\nL. DEVIL AND THE PRINCESS.\n\n\nOnce a King has a daughter, an' that gal was a pet to her father.\n\nSo one day a Prince come to ask for her.\n\nThe father love the young man, but the gal say:--\"Puppa, me don't like\nhim.\" So the father promise her that anybody she see she like he will\nagree to it.\n\nSo one night a good friend of the King made a dance an' invite the\nyoung Princess to the ball.\n\nThis man who made the dance invite all classes of people. So he invite\nDevil too, but they don't know that it was Devil.\n\nWhen all the guests come everybody give their name. Devil give his\nname Mr. Winkler. So the ball commenced.\n\nDevil see the gal. He went an' ask her if she wish to dance with him.\n\nThe gal was so glad say:--\"Yes, sir, for I love you the most.\"\n\nWhen they dance till daylight the gal don't want to lef' Devil.\n\nShe say to Devil:--\"Come have a walk home with me.\"\n\nDevil say:--\"Yes, I would go, but I am a man have such a great\nbusiness, I has to go home very soon to seek after it.\"\n\nThe gal say:--\"Come go home with me you will get me to marry, for my\nfather is a King.\"\n\nAn' as Devil hear about marry he go home with the gal.\n\nWhen she get to the house she call to her father:--\"Puppa, here come\nmy lover, I have found him at last.\"\n\nSo the servant-boy was an old-witch, said:--\"Young mistress, you know\nthat man is Devil?\"\n\nThe gal get vex, begin to cry.\n\nShe go to her father crying, tell him \"the servant-boy cuss me most\nshameful.\"\n\nThe father get upstarted, come out to the boy, don't ask the boy\nnothing, catch the boy an' put him in prison.\n\nThey take Mr Winkler in the palace, an' the father fix up an' they get\nmarry.\n\nAfter Mr. Winkler get marry he said:--\"I am ready to go.\"\n\nThe King say:--\"No, I can't send away my one daughter. You must stay\nand I will make you a King too.\"\n\nMr. Winkler say \"No.\"\n\nDuring this time they don't know that it was Devil, for when the boy\ntell them they get vex.\n\nDevil marry ten time an' he eat all his wife, so he was going to eat\nthis Princess too.\n\nSo, as he was so anxious to go, the gal have to go with him.\n\nWhen they ready to start the father give them a long bag full with\nmoney. Devil get a boatman an' they start.\n\nThey sail four days before they get to their home.\n\nWhen the gal get there she go meet a old lady in the house. This lady\nwas Devil cook.\n\nAs he got in he said to the cook:--\"I have got a good fat meat for the\nparty.\"\n\nSo Devil go an' lock up the gal in a bar, an' lef' the old lady to\nwatch if the gal is going to get 'way. He lef' a Cock that any time\nthe old lady say that the gal get 'way he must call, an' him lef' a\nbag of corn to feed the Cock that he may keep good watch.\n\nThe old lady say \"Yes.\"\n\nDevil ready to start, order his t'ree-foot horse saddle, for he is\ngoing to invite his friend to come an' help him eat the gal.\n\nHe start, deeble-a-bup, deeble-a-bup.\n\nAs he get about a mile the old lady go in to the gal, take her out an'\ntell her that her husband is Devil an' he is going to eat you.\n\nThe gal begin to cry.\n\nThe old lady say:--\"Don't cry, I love you an' I going to let you go,\nbut the Cock is a watchman; he will see you, an' if he see you he will\ncall for his master, but never min' I will try.\"\n\nThe old lady get ten quart of the corn an' a gallon of rum, soak the\ncorn in it for about a hour, an' after give it to the Cock.\n\nAn' the Cock eat the whole evening till night, an', after him finish\neat, him drop asleep.\n\nThe old lady get a boatman an' pay him an' he take the gal over the\nsea.\n\nWhen day nearly light the Cock wake an' go to look if he see the gal\nthrough a hole. When he look the gal was gone. Him go to the cook an'\nask.\n\nThe lady said:--\"Him gone, an' I was calling you an' you never wake.\"\n\nThen Cock sing out:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mister Winkler Winkler oh\n coocoorico\n the gal is gone.\n Awake me wake go look a hole\n the gal was gone.]\n\nMr. Winkler hear an' was coming like lighten with his t'ree-foot\nhorse, deeble-a-bup, deeble-a-bup.\n\nHe call out:--\"Me coming\", deeble-a-bup, \"Me coming\", deeble-a-bup.\n\nAt last he reach the yard an' see the gal gone. He get a canoe an'\nstart after her, an' by next day light he see the gal boat was far\naway.\n\nHe call out:--\"Sairey de 'pon sea, Sairey de 'pon sea, come back\ndarling, you husband de come fe you.\"\n\nWhen the gal look he say:--\"Shub ahead, boatman, do, to save me life!\"\n\nAn' by the time they get a land Devil was near them.\n\nAn' the boatman shot off a piece of Devil canoe an' water get in, so\nDevil has to go home back.\n\nAn' when the gal go home, tell her father what was her life, the\nfather say:--\"Don't marry again to nobody, not if even the King.\"\n\nAn' the father take her in an' give her servant to look after her.\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose any._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=cuss=, abuse. It does not imply swearing. To swear is to =cuss bad word=.\n\n=in a bar=, a barred-up room.\n\n=deeble-a-bup=, the sound of the three-legged horse's step. Compare the\nitty-itty-hap of \"Mr. Bluebeard.\"\n\nThe Cook adopts Annancy's device in \"Annancy and Screech-owl.\"\n\n=coocoorico.= The Cock's crow is excellent. The Negro is very clever in\nhis imitation of animals.\n\n=a hole=, at the hole, through the hole.\n\n=canoe=, pronounced with accent on the first syllable and French =a=.\n\n\n\n\nLI. WHEELER.\n\n\nOne day Puss was going out on a journey, an' he travel till he reach\nto a river mouth. An' as Puss being afraid for water he couldn' cross\nthe river.\n\nAn' Puss has to stop for two day an' one night, an' Puss climb a tree\nwhich hang over the water.\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy was fishening.\n\nAn' Annancy fishening till him come where Puss was, an' Puss didn'\ncall to Annancy.\n\nAn' same time Annancy meet up a licking 'tump a river side. Annancy\nlick, him lick, him lick, him lick outside till him sen' him han'\ninside.\n\nAn' when Annancy shub him hand him feel something hold him.\n\nAn' Annancy get very frighten an' pull fe get him hand out, an' him\ncouldn' get 'way.\n\nAn' Annancy ask the question:--\"Who hold me?\"\n\nAn' a voice in a the 'tump said:--\"Me, Wheeler.\"\n\nAn' Annancy said to him must wheel him make him see.\n\nAn' him wheel Mr. Annancy mile an' distant.\n\nAn' when Annancy drop he didn' dead, an' he said:--\"T'ank God! I met\nwith a little accident, but I see it going to be a living for me an'\nme family.\"\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy went home an' get some lovely iron peg, an' when him\ncome he plant them in the river course to the very spot which him did\ndrop.\n\nThat time Puss seeing all what Mr Annancy is doing.\n\nAnnancy leave, an' come where Wheeler is, an' keep himself very quiet,\nan' presently Peafowl was passing.\n\nAn' Annancy call upon him say:--\"Bro'er Peafowl, a living is here for\nme an' you.\"\n\nAn' Peafowl ask him what is it.\n\nAn' he take Peafowl an' carry him where Wheeler is, and he\nsays:--\"Bro'er Peafowl, you see that hole. As you hand is so long,\ndon't be afraid, just shub you hand in there now an' you will find\nsomething grand.\"\n\nAn' as Peafowl shub in him hand Wheeler hold him.\n\nAn' Annancy tell him that he must pull.\n\nAn' when him pull he couldn' get 'way.\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy feel very proud an' happy till he laugh with joy in\nhis heart.\n\nAn' when him done laugh him tell Peafowl to say:--\"Who hold me here?\"\n\nAn' Wheeler say:--\"Me, Wheeler.\"\n\nAnnancy tell him to say:--\"Wheel me mile an' distant.\"\n\nAn' him wheel Peafowl an' dash him on the iron peg, an' Mr. Annancy\nwent an' pick him up an' put him in his bag.\n\nAn' him went back to his old place a bush an' sat quiet.\n\nThat time Puss was seeing all this.\n\nRatta was passing, an' as Annancy see him Annancy said to him:--\"I's\nall you deeshent man I like to see.\"\n\nAn' Ratta ask him:--\"What for?\"\n\nAn' Annancy say:--\"Don't be afraid; a living is here for you an' me.\"\n\nAn' he carry Ratta an' show him the 'tump.\n\nAn' when him show Ratta, Ratta ask him if this is the living.\n\nAnnancy say:--\"No shub you han', man, in the hole, an' you will fin' a\nliving.\"\n\nAn' as Ratta shub him hand Wheeler hold him.\n\nAn' Annancy tell him that he must pull.\n\nHim say he can't get 'way.\n\nAnnancy tell him to ask:--\"Who hold me?\"\n\n\"Me, Wheeler.\"\n\nAnnancy tell him must say:--\"Wheel me mile an' distant.\"\n\nAn' he wheel Ratta an' dash him on the iron peg again.\n\nAnnancy went an' pick him up an' put him in his bag, an' go back same\nplace.\n\nAfter, Puss come down off the tree an' walk through the bush an' go\ndown the river a little ways an' then turn up back, coming up very\nmeek an' poorly.\n\nAnnancy so glad to see Bro'er Puss him say:--\"Walk up my bold friend\nMr. Puss. Come an' see the living which is here for me an' you.\"\n\nAn' Puss playing as to say that he didn' know nothing at all about it.\n\nAn' Mr. Annancy begin to show Puss the 'tump, an' he tell Puss to shub\nhim hand in the hole.\n\nWhen Annancy show Puss the hole, Puss say that him don' see it.\n\nAnnancy get vex and say:--\"Shub you han' you so, man! Shub you han'\nyou so, man! There, there!\"\n\nAn' Puss put him hand another way, playing to say he don' see it. An'\nhe go on, go on, till Annancy make a flourish with him own hand, an'\nAnnancy hand slip in the hole an' Wheeler catch him.\n\nAn' Annancy begin to cry as him know the danger which is down below.\n\nAn' him cry out:--\"Do, me good Bro'er Push, jus' run a river course;\nyou will see some iron peg, pull them up for me.\"\n\nAn' Puss begin fe walk in him sinnicky way, an' hide a bush where\nAnnancy can't see.\n\nWhen Puss come, him say him pull them.\n\nAnnancy wouldn' believe, an' crying still say:--\"Bro'er Push, mus' go\nan' fetch one come make me see.\"\n\nPuss go, an' when him come back him come without it.\n\nAnnancy ask him where is it.\n\nHim tell Annancy that it too heavy, an' him roll it 'way.\n\nAn' Annancy, still crying, wouldn' believe. An' he begin to call Puss\nGodfather Push, an' beg him hard:--\"Do, me good Godfather Push, just\nyou jump pull dem.\"\n\nAn' him go on, go on, till him believe Puss, an' him ask the\nquestion:--\"Who hold me?\"\n\n\"Me, Wheeler.\"\n\n\"Wheel me mile an' distant.\"\n\nAn' Annancy fly by the air an' drop slam on his own trap.\n\nAn' Puss walk down an' pick up Annancy, an' put him in the bag with\nPeafowl an' Ratta an' carry off all the living with a jolly song:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Poor me little Cubba boy, barn day no Cubba?\n Me da go da Vaylum, barn day no Cubba?]\n\n_Jack Mantora me no choose none._\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n=licking 'tump=, a tree stump with bees in it. The honey trickling out\nmakes a licking-stump of it.\n\n=lick, him lick, him lick.= These words are run closely together, then a\npause, and then =him lick outside=. Pause again, after which the\nsentence finishes.\n\n=wheel=, to cause to turn or spin. I have no clue to =Mr. Wheeler=.\n\n=mile an' distant=, to the distance of a mile.\n\n=I's all you, etc.=, it's all you decent men.\n\n=What for?= Ratta was suspicious of Annancy's flattery.\n\n=poorly=, poor in spirit, meek.\n\n=sinnicky=, sneaky.\n\n=Bro'er Push, must go=, you must go.\n\n=barn day no Cubba?= is not my born-day (birthday) Cubba. Children used\nto be named according to the day of the week on which they were born.\n\n Day. Boys. Girls.\n\n Sunday. Quashy. Quashiba.\n Monday. Cudjo. Jubba.\n Tuesday. Cubbenna. Cubba.\n Wednesday. Quaco. Memba.\n Thursday. Qua. Abba.\n Friday. Cuffy. Fibba.\n Saturday. Quamin. Beniba.\n\nAccording to this list, Cubba is a girl's name, but it is perhaps\nshort for Cubbenna.\n\n=me da go da Vaylum=, I am going to Vaylum.\n\n\n\n\nPART II. DIGGING-SINGS.\n\n\nThe Negroes when they get together never stop chattering and laughing.\nThey have a keen sense of the ludicrous, and give a funny turn to\ntheir stories as they relate the common incidents of daily life. The\ndoings of their neighbours form the chief topic of conversation here\nas in most places, and any local event of special importance is told\nover and over. Presently, after repeated telling, the story, or part\nof it, is set to one of their dance tunes, and tune and words\nhenceforth belong to one another. This is the origin of the songs\nwhich follow. With the explanatory notes attached to them it is hoped\nthat they will afford some insight into the peasant life of Jamaica.\n\nThe tunes fall into two main divisions, \"dancing-tunes\" and\n\"digging-sings,\" and besides the formal dances, whose steps are\nthoroughly known, there is an informal kind called \"playing in de\nring.\" It may be described as dancing mixed with horse-play. It was in\nthis kind of romping that Parson Puss took part in the Annancy story\n(No. XXIX.), and perhaps it was hardly the thing for the cloth! Ring\ntunes begin anywhere and anyhow, and do not necessarily conform to the\neight-bar rhythm of the more regular dance tunes.\n\nTo the other class of songs belong the \"digging-sings\" used, together\nwith rum, as an accompaniment to field labour. In March it is time to\nthink of getting the land ready for planting. So, having rented a\npiece of hillside from a neighbour, if he has none of his own, the\nJamaican begins to clear the ground. The biggest of the trees fall to\nthe axe, and the brushwood, or bush, as it is called, is chopped down\nwith the cutlass, a few rod-like saplings being left here and there to\nserve as supports for the yams, which will by and by climb them like\nhops. After a few days' exposure to the sun, he burns all the top and\nlop that lies on the ground, which is then ready for digging. He now\ncalls in some of his friends to help him dig yam-hills--so the phrase\nruns. What they dig is, of course, holes, to begin with. The loose\nsoil is then piled up into small mounds in which the yam heads will be\nplaced. The object of the mound is to enable the proprietor to see\neasily at any time how the tuber is getting on, by just \"gravelling\"\nit with his hand. As the hills are being dug, the rum bottle\ncirculates, and the digging-sings, which began quietly enough, get\nmore and more lively. The Negro is cheery at all times, but when well\nprimed with liquor he is hilarious. Nothing more joyous can be\nimagined than a good \"digging-sing\" from twenty throats, with the\npickers--so they call their pickaxes--falling in regular beat. The\npickers work faster and faster to the strains of a rousing \"Oh,\nSamwel, oh!\" or \"The one shirt I have ratta cut ahm.\" One man starts\nor \"raises\" the tune and the others come in with the \"bobbin,\" the\nshort refrain of one or two words which does duty for chorus. The\nchief singer is usually the wag of the party, and his improvised\nsallies are greeted with laughter and an occasional \"hi,\" which begins\non a falsetto note and slides downwards, expressing amusement and\ndelight very plainly.\n\n\n\n\nLII.\n\n\nHere is a specimen:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh Miss Nancy Ray, Oh hurrah boys!\n Oh Miss Nancy Ray, Oh hurrah boys!\n Nancy Banana da broke man heart, Oh hurrah boys!\n Nancy Banana da broke man heart, Oh hurrah boys!\n Oh Miss Nancy Ray, Oh hurrah boys!\n Oh Miss Nancy Ray, Oh hurrah boys!]\n\nThe bobbin is \"Oh hurrah boys!\" and a good swinging one it is. If the\nbobbin is well taken up each sing lasts for about five minutes, and\nthe raiser of the tune prides himself on the number of \"turnings\" or\nslight variations he can give it. He also improvises words as he goes\non. Such a sally as changing Miss Ray's name to Banana would be met\nwith laughter when it was first heard.\n\n(\"Da broke man heart\" means \"has broken a man's heart\")\n\n\n\n\nLIII.\n\n\nThe next example is a type of many of the sings. It turns on a piece\nof local gossip. The \"at last\" is significant and points to Catherine\nbeing an old offender. The proffered sympathy is hardly sincere.\n\n[Music:\n\n Ho biddybye, biddybye\n me yerry the talk biddybye,\n say Cat'rine gone a prison\n biddybye poor me Cat'rine oh biddybye\n Cat'rine gone at last biddybye.]\n\nHere is the story in plain English, \"deep English\" as the Negro calls\nit, not understanding it well:--\"Oh by the bye I hear a report that\nCatherine has gone to prison. My poor Catherine!\"\n\n(For \"say\" read \"which says.\" \"Biddybye\" is the bobbin.)\n\n\n\n\nLIV.\n\n\nWe come now to one which refers to labouring life:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Tell Mister Linky me want go, hm! hm!\n oh Benjiman!\n Barrarap Barrarap Barrarap me Benjiman\n oh Benjiman!]\n\nThe men are in the field watching the sun which is getting low. They\nbegin to think the head-man, Mr. Linky, is forgetting how time goes.\nHe should be giving the signal to \"knock off work.\" So one of the\ngang, meaning Mr. Linky to hear, says to his neighbour:--\"Benjamin,\ntell Mr. Linky I want to go.\" \"Hm, hm!\" with closed lips, means a\ngreat deal. It is a sort of good-natured remonstrance. Always\n_Benjiman_ for Benjamin and the _Barraraps_ culminate in a sharp final\nstaccato _rap_. This has a longer bobbin \"Oh Benjiman!\"\n\n\n\n\nLV.\n\n\nThe next might easily be mistaken for something of the same sort:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco,\n Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco,\n Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco,\n fuppence a quart fe flour!\n Flour Flour Flour Flour!\n fuppence a quart fe flour!]\n\nMr. Bell is, however, the keeper of a country shop. \"Tell Mr. Bell I\nam going to plant cocoes. Threepence a quart for shop flour! No, it's\ntoo much expense.\" (\"Too much expense\" is a favourite phrase.)\n\nThe accent which the music gives to the word _coco_ is not the right\none. It should be on the first syllable.\n\n\"Fuppence\" is fivepence, but means threepence. This is the survival of\nan old coinage in which sixpence was called tenpence. The _u_ in\n\"fuppence\" is an Italian _u_ with a turn towards an open _o_. It\nsounds more like fourpence than fippence.\n\n\"Plant coco\" is the bobbin, but a gang who were inspired not to leave\ntoo much to the raiser of the tune, would take upon themselves to add\n\"Fuppence a quart fe flour.\" (\"Fe,\" sounded \"fy,\" with short _y_ as in\n\"very.\")\n\n\n\n\nLVI.\n\n\nThe next has again a well-defined bobbin in \"nyam an' cry,\" and\nhereafter no reference will be made to this feature, which by now must\nbe thoroughly understood. Where it appears to be wanting, the whole\nsing is sung in chorus.\n\n[Music:\n\n Bad homan oh!\n bad homan oh!\n nyam an' cry,\n me coco no ripe,\n nyam an' cry,\n me hafoo no ripe,\n nyam an' cry.]\n\nThe man is \"working his provision ground,\" and his wife is always\nsaying she has not got enough to eat. She is a bad woman, who does\nnothing but \"nyam an' cry,\" eat and call for more, and my cocoes are\nnot ready to dig and my Afoo (Italian _a_, ahfoo) yam is not ready\neither. (There are as many different kinds of yams as there are of\npotatoes.)\n\n\n\n\nLVII.\n\n\nContinuing with subjects connected with field-work, we come now to a\nsing which must have originated in old slavery days, when ringing a\nbell was the signal for beginning and knocking-off work:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Bell oh, Bell oh,\n Bell a ring a yard oh! oh Degay,\n Bell a ring a yard oh!\n Baboon roll de drum oh,\n Monkey rub de fiddle, oh\n Bell a ring a yard oh!]\n\nThe bell is ringing up at the house, says one of the slaves to Degay\nthe head-man, and we want our breakfast; and another, seeing Degay\nlook cross at anybody presuming to make suggestions to him, tries to\nmake him laugh with the piece of nonsense that follows. We shall meet\nwith Degay or Deggy, for there is some doubt about his name, again. It\nwill be thought that either the word Baboon is misplaced or the\nbarring is wrong, but it is not so. The negro is careless of accent,\nas of many things. Here he likes to have it on the first syllable,\nwhich he lengthens to \"bah.\" \"Rubbing\" a fiddle conveys the exact idea\nof the way they play it. Holding it not up to the chin but resting on\nthe biceps, they rub a short bow backwards and forwards across the\nstrings. If one of these is tuned it is considered quite satisfactory,\nand the rest make a sort of mild bagpipe accompaniment. Time is no\nobject.\n\n(\"Bell a ring\" may mean either \"The bell is ringing\" or \"The bell has\nrung.\" \"A yard,\" in the yard. The immediate surroundings of the house\nare called the yard. They seldom speak of going to a friend's house.\nThey say they are going to his yard.)\n\n\n\n\nLVIII.\n\n\nBreakfast is at twelve o'clock, and after a short rest work goes on\nagain. A shower starts a new train of thought:--\n\n[Music:\n\n The one shirt I have ratta cut ahm,\n Same place him patch ratta cut ahm,\n Rain, rain oh!\n Rain, rain oh!\n Rain, rain oh fall down an' wet me up.]\n\n\"The rats have cut my only shirt with their teeth. I put in a patch\nand they bit it through again in the same place, so when the rain came\ndown it made me very wet.\"\n\n(The broad \"ahm\" (for him, it), is more used now by the Coolies than\nthe Negroes. \"Ratta\" is both singular and plural. When I first heard\nthe word I thought it referred to a terrier. \"Same place him\npatch\"--in the same place where it was patched, just where it was\npatched.)\n\n\n\n\nLIX.\n\n\nThe kindly sun comes out, the shirts are dry, and an amorous youth,\nwith that absence of self-consciousness which is characteristic of the\nrace, begins:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Jessie cut him yoke suit me,\n Jessie cut him yoke suit me,\n So-so wahk him wahk suit me,\n Jessie cut him yoke suit me,\n oh suit me,\n oh suit me,\n oh suit me,\n Jessie cut him yoke suit me.]\n\nBroadly this means:--\"all that Jessie does is right in my eyes. She\ndresses perfectly, but it is enough for me to see her walk to adore\nher. Jessie cuts her yoke\"--technical term of modistes and tailors I\nam told--\"to suit my taste.\"\n\n(\"So-so walk him walk,\" is literally:--\"the mere walk that she walks\nwith suits me.\" They are fond of this repetition of a word, first as\nnoun and then as verb. Thus they will say:--Me like the play him\nplay:--It sweet me to see the dance him dance:--The talk him talk was\nfoolishness:--The ride him ride, him boast about it.)\n\n\n\n\nLX.\n\n\n\"Three acres of Coffee\" which follows, is more interesting musically.\n\n[Music:\n\n T'ree acre of Cahffee,\n Four acre of bare lan',\n T'ree acre of Cahffee,\n Why you no come come ask fe me?\n Mumma ho me love the man,\n Mumma ho me love the man,\n Mumma ho me love the man,\n Why you no come come ask fe me?]\n\nThe boy has been telling the girl of his worldly possessions, but has\nnot made any offer of marriage. She is thinking it all over. \"So you\nhave got three acres of coffee and four acres of bare land, then why\ndon't you come and ask for me?\"\n\n\"Bare\" land is good land which has not yet been taken into\ncultivation. The first money a poor boy earns he spends in boots,\nwhich are the outward and visible sign of being well-to-do. They hurt\nhim, \"burn him\" as he says, but no matter. Next he buys a piece of\nland. This is probably in bush, covered that is with the rough growth\nof grass, bushes and trees that so quickly springs up in the tropics.\nHe clears and plants it piece by piece, as opportunity offers and\ninclination suggests.\n\n\n\n\nLXI.\n\n\nThey are clever at inventing nonsense words to run easily off the\ntongue. For instance:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Away, away oui oui Madame.\n I never see the sight of Robart,\n I never see the sight of F'edrick,\n Ding dogaraggaway,\n Ding dogaraggaway,\n Ding dogaraggaway,\n Ding dong.]\n\n(\"Away\" is clearly a corruption of _oui oui_.)\n\n\n\n\nLXII.\n\n\nThey like to complain of their little ailments, as thus:\n\n[Music:\n\n Wednesday morning before day,\n Wednesday morning before day,\n Wednesday morning before day, me ma'am,\n me feel me head a hurt me.]\n\nIf a man happens to hurt himself, he sends or brings the most\nexaggerated account of the accident. If it is a cut on the hand, he\n\"nearly chop him hand off.\" If there is a trickle of blood, \"the whole\nplace running in blood.\" In my early days in Jamaica my boy Robert\ncame rushing up with gestures expressing the utmost consternation, and\ngasped out \"Rufus hang!\" Rufus was the pony. \"He dead?\" I asked.\n\"'Tiff dead!\" was the reply. We were doing a piece of important\nplanting in the garden, and I said \"Well! as he's dead there's nothing\nto be done, and we'll go on with this job.\" Two or three hours later,\nto my surprise, I saw Robert carrying grass towards the stable. \"What\nare you doing with the grass, Robert?\"\n\n\"It for Rufus.\"\n\n\"But Rufus dead.\"\n\n\"No! he don't dead again,\" which meant that he was still alive. When I\nwent to see, I found him rather exhausted with his struggling--he had\nfallen on the hillside and got entangled in the rope--but not very\nbad, and by next day he had quite recovered.\n\nThis kind of exaggeration enters into all their talk. Once, travelling\nin a tram-car, there was a slight accident. The car just touched the\nshaft of a passing carriage and broke it. One man said to his\nneighbour, \"See dat? de buggy 'mash to pieces.\"\n\n\"All gone to snuff,\" replied the other.\n\n\n\n\nLXIII.\n\n\nHere are two different versions of the same sing. The chord of the\nseventh held on by the voices sounds well.\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh Samwel oh! Oh Samwel oh!\n Oh Samwel oh! Oh Samwel oh!\n Samwel, the lie you tell 'pon me\n turn whole house a me door.]\n\n(They never tell lies _about_ people here, but always _upon_ people.\n\"Turn whole house a me door,\" turns the whole house out of doors,\nupside down as we should say.)\n\n\n\n\nLXIV.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh 'liza oh!\n Oh 'liza oh!\n Oh 'liza oh!\n Oh 'liza oh!\n 'liza 'pread you coat make I lie down de\n under the Bushatahl.]\n\n\"Coat\" is petticoat. I am told that 'liza could take off a petticoat\nand still be quite properly dressed.\n\n\"Make I lie down,\" etc., _i.e._, let me lie down under the Butcher's\nStall. This is the name of a precipice just below my house. Horses\nhave several times fallen over it and been killed. They then become\nbutcher's meat for the John Crows, the vulture-like birds which are so\nuseful as scavengers.\n\n\n\n\nLXV.\n\n\nWe do not get many songs of the American plantation type like the\nfollowing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary oh!\n Aunty Mary Thomas,\n O meet me a cross road.]\n\n(Cross roads are always a favourite place of meeting, and a rum shop\nis generally to be found there.)\n\nThis is a monotonous form, and I am glad the musical bent of our\npeople turns in another direction.\n\n\n\n\nLXVI.\n\n\nSee how superior this truly Jamaican form is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh! me yerry news, me yerry,\n Oh! me yerry news, me yerry,\n Married homan a pull him ring me yerry\n Him put ahm a wine-glass me yerry\n Oh! me yerry news me yerry.]\n\nLocal scandal again. \"I hear news; a married woman has pulled off her\nwedding ring and put it in a wine-glass,\" the first convenient\nreceptacle she saw.\n\n\n\n\nLXVII.\n\n\nIt was some time before an explanation was forthcoming for the next:\n\n[Music:\n\n Jes' so me barn,\n jes' so me barn,\n you can weary long boot,\n jes' so me barn.]\n\nThe words mean:--\"I was born just so; you can wear long boots, boots\nthat come high up the leg.\" A girl, who has not money enough to buy\nboots, is envious of a companion who is wearing them. She says:--\"I\nwas born, just as you were, poor. Yet you have got long boots, while I\nmust put up with 'bulldogs,' rope-soled slippers. Where did you get\nthe money to pay for your boots? Did you tief it, or what?\"\n\n\n\n\nLXVIII.\n\n\nIn the example that follows, a girl has been left to look after her\nlittle brother, and somebody reports that she has been \"ill-treating,\"\n_i.e._ beating him. So the message is sent back:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Tell Mary say,\n no do Johnny so.\n Oh!\n Tell Mary say,\n no do Johnny so.]\n\n\"Tell Mary she is not to do Johnny so.\" \"To do a person something\" is\nto do them an injury. \"He so crahss\" (cross), a boy will say of his\nmaster, \"and I done him nothing,\" or \"I never do him one def ting,\" a\nsingle thing. \"Def\" is emphatic, but is not a \"swear-word.\"\n\n\"Say\" is often added in places where it is not at all wanted. It\noccurs again in:--\n\n\n\n\nLXIX.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n Me tell them gal a Portlan' Gap\n Min' Dallas man oh!\n me amber he!\n me amber he!\n me amber ho! tell them say.]\n\n\"I tell the girls at Portland Gap 'Mind Dallas men.'\" Portland Gap is\nin the Blue Mountains; Dallas in the Port Royal Mountains between the\nBlue Mountains and the sea.\n\n(The exclamatory \"he\" has the Italian vowel, hard for some English\nears to catch. It is nearly but not quite \"hay.\")\n\nThe significance of \"amber\" is lost. This word occurs again in the\npleasant flowing melody which stands next, and the boy who gave it me\nexplained its meaning quite correctly, saying it \"stood for yellow.\"\n\n\n\n\nLXX.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n Gold oh! Gold oh! Gold amber gold oh!\n Gold de a me yard oh! Gold amber gold oh!\n Sell doubloon a joint oh! Gold amber gold oh!\n fe me gold a sunlight gold! Gold amber gold oh!\n fe me gold no copper gold! Gold amber gold oh!]\n\n\"Gold is in my yard,\" perhaps buried, but also perhaps in the house,\nyard often including it. \"My gold is sunlight gold, none of your\nrascally copper stuff.\"\n\nThe doubloon is a large gold piece worth sixty-four shillings. It has\nlong been out of use and few people in Jamaica have seen one.\n\n(\"Fe me,\" for me, often does duty for \"my.\" \"This a fe me hoe,\" this\nis my hoe; \"take fe you panicle,\" take your panicle, the tin mug out\nof which the morning sugar-water is drunk.)\n\n\n\n\nLXXI.\n\n\nNo. 71, \"Gee oh John Tom\" is a brisk and vigorous sing till it gets to\n\"a me lassie gone\" where the little tinge of sadness is given by\nsimple means, again the right thing in the right place, good art.\n\n[Music:\n\n Gee oh Mother Mac,\n Gee oh John Tom;\n Gee oh Mother Mac,\n Gee oh John Tom;\n a me lassie gone,\n Gee oh John Tom.]\n\n\n\n\nLXXII.\n\n\nHere is something very short:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh\n Oh\n Leah married a Tuesday.]\n\nOn asking if that was all, Levi, the contributor, said:--\"It no have\nno more corner,\" it hasn't any more corners, or \"turnings\" as they\ngenerally say, what we call variations. Levi likes to cut everything\nshort and rattle it through with lightning speed. He it was who gave\nme that little gem of an Annancy story about the rats and their\ntrousers (No. XI.), and this is his:--\n\n\n\n\nLXXIII.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n Cheer me oh!\n Cheer me oh!\n Cheer me oh!\n My will fight fe you.]\n\n\n\n\nLXXIV.\n\n\nIn imitating animals the negro is clever. He moos like a cow, grunts\nlike a pig, whinnies like a horse, besides the minor accomplishments\nof miauling and barking. Even trammelled by music this cock's crow is\ngood:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me cock a crow coocoorico,\n before day him a crow coocoorico,\n him a crow fe me wake coocoorico.]\n\n(Sound the _i_ short as in rich.)\n\n\n\n\nLXXV.\n\n\nNow we come to a tragedy. Selina is drowned, and they sing smoothly\nand flowingly:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh Selina!\n Oh Selina!\n John Crow de a river side a call fe Selina!\n Oh poor Selina!\n Duppy an' all a call fe Selina!\n Oh poor Selina.]\n\nEverybody in Jamaica believes in Duppy, and many women and children\nwill not go out at night for fear of meeting one.\n\nA man, they say, has two spirits, one from God and the other not from\nGod. The one from God is good, and the one not from God may be either\ngood or bad. During sleep, these spirits leave the body and go to\nother people's houses in search of food. Being shadows themselves,\nthey feed on the shadow of food and on the smell of food. They are\nseldom far apart, and the heavenly spirit can always prevent the\nearthly spirit from doing harm. At death the God-given spirit flies up\nupon a tree, and goes to heaven the third day. The other spirit\nremains on earth as Duppy. Its abiding place is the grave of the dead\nman, but it wanders about at night as it did when he was alive. A good\nDuppy will watch over and protect the living. A bad Duppy tries to\nfrighten and harm people, which it is able to do now that it has lost\nthe restraining influence of its former companion, the heavenly\nspirit. It can assume any sort of shape, appearing sometimes as a man,\nsometimes as an animal. If it is a very bad Duppy, it makes the place\nwhere it is unbearably hot. The Negro believes that he can put a bad\nDuppy upon another person.[48] He proceeds as follows:--Going to the\ngrave at midnight, he scoops a small hollow in the ground and puts in\nsome rice, sprinkling it with sugar-water, a mixture of water and\nmoist cane-sugar. He then directs Duppy to visit the person whose name\nhe mentions, and goes away without looking behind him. The person on\nwhom Duppy is put becomes \"tearing mad,\" and it requires a ten-pound\nfee to \"take the shadow off.\" How to do this is the Obeah-man's\nsecret. A Duppy of one's own family is worse than a stranger's, and\nthe \"baddest\" of all is Coolie Duppy. One of the most dreaded Duppies\nis \"Rolling (_i.e._ roaring) Calf.\" It goes about making a hideous\nnoise, and clanking a chain. \"If Rolling Calf catch you, give you one\nlick, you dead.\" Your only chance is to run, and you must keep on\n\"cutting ten\" (making the sign of the cross), and the pursuing monster\nhas to go round that place ten times. \"Shop-keeper and butcher,\" so\ngoes local tradition, \"tief too much (rob their customers very much)\nand when they dead they turn Rolling Calf.\"\n\n[Footnote 48: [Cf. Miss Kingsley, _The Fetish View of the Human Soul_,\nin _Folk-Lore_, vol. viii., p. 138; also R.E. Dennett, _Bavili Notes_,\n_ibid._, vol. xvi., p. 371.]]\n\nThose who are born with a caul can see Duppy. So can those who rub\ntheir faces with the rheum from the eye of a horse or dog, and those\nwho cut their eyelashes. Every Duppy walks two feet above the ground,\nfloating in the air. If a child is not christened before it is six\nmonths old, Duppy will carry it away into the bush. To avoid this, a\nBible and pair of scissors are laid on the child's pillow. The\nscissors are a protection, owing to their cross-like form.\n\nSuch are the main beliefs with regard to this remarkable superstition\nof Duppy on earth.[49]\n\n[Footnote 49: [See _Folk-Lore of the Negroes of Jamaica_, in\n_Folk-Lore_, vol. xv., pp. 87, 206, 450, and vol. xvi., p. 68.]]\n\nThis, however, is not all. At the day of judgment the two spirits will\nbe reunited to the body, and in many cases the God-given spirit will\ngo to hell after all. I often ask my boys which of these three is\nthemselves? Is it the body? Is it the heavenly spirit? Is it the\nearthly spirit? But they do not understand the question and have no\nsort of reply. When I ask if it is not hard that the heavenly spirit\nafter its sojourn in heaven should go to hell, they laugh.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVI.\n\n\nLeaving the religious, we come now to, what Jamaica considers more\nimportant, the colour question:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Sambo lady ho! Sambo,\n Sambo lady ho! Sambo,\n Sambo no like black man, Sambo,\n Sambo want white man, Sambo,\n Sambo no get white man, Sambo,\n Sambo no want man again, Sambo,\n Sambo lady oh! Sambo.]\n\nA Sambo is the child of a brown mother and a black father, brown being\na cross between black and white. The Sambo lady, very proud of the\nstrain of white in her blood, turns up her nose at the black man. She\nwants a white man for a husband. Failing to find one, she will not\nmarry at all.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVII.\n\n\n\"Oh John Thomas!\" is a favourite digging-sing at Goatridge, twenty-two\nmiles from Kingston:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh! John Thomas, Oh! John Thomas,\n Oh! John Thomas, Oh! John Thomas,\n We all a combolow, John Thomas,\n Me go da 'leven mile, John Thomas,\n Me see one gal me love, John Thomas,\n Me court her all the way, John Thomas,\n Me come a Bangheson, John Thomas,\n Me buy one quattie bread, John Thomas,\n Me part it right in two, John Thomas,\n Me give her the biggest piece, John Thomas,\n and a warra more you want, John Thomas?]\n\n\"Combolow\" is comrade oh!\n\n\"Da 'leven mile,\" to Eleven-miles, the halfway halting place between\nGoatridge and Kingston.\n\nWhen he gets to Bangheson's shop he buys a quattie (pronounce quotty,\npenny halfpenny, quarter of sixpence) loaf, and what more do you want,\nJohn Thomas?\n\nThe quattie bread weighs eight ounces only. It is therefore a dear and\nmuch esteemed luxury.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVIII.\n\n\nSambo, that we had just now, is the shortest of bobbins. Here we have\na long one of four bars.\n\n[Music:\n\n Whe mumma de?\n Whe mumma de oh?\n Come go da 'tation, you see mumma de;\n Him take half a day,\n him a work seven dollar,\n Come go da 'tation you see mumma de.]\n\nMamma has got into trouble, owing to a failing unhappily too common in\nJamaica, inability to distinguish between what is mine and what is\nyours. Her pay for half a day was a \"bit\" (fourpence halfpenny) and\nshe has managed to \"work\" (sarcastic use of the word, for it means to\nget by working) seven dollars--twenty-eight shillings--and has been\ntaken to the police station.\n\n\"Whe mumma de,\" literally, \"where mamma is?\" This has been already\nnoted as the usual form of question. The vowel in whe, de, is the\nFrench _e_. We have the sound in English in the words, _debt_, _west_\nand many others, but we always make it very short, and when it is\nlengthened, as it should be here, it generally changes in English\nmouths to the _a_ of _date_, _waste_, which is wrong.\n\nThe C sharp on the word \"de\" is peculiar and striking.\n\nThe second \"de\" stands for \"there.\"\n\n\n\n\nLXXIX.\n\n\nThere is something pleasantly simple and naive about the\nplanting-sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Toady, Toady, min' you'self,\n min' you'self make I plant me corn;\n plant me corn fe go plant me peas,\n plant me peas fe go court me gal,\n court me gal fe go show mumma,\n mumma de one a go tell me yes,\n puppa de one a go tell me no;\n Toady, Toady, min' you'self,\n min' you'self make I plant me corn.]\n\n\"Mind yourself, little Toad, let me plant my corn.\" So sings the boy\nas he brings down his digger with a forcible thrust. The digger has\nbeen described as an earth-chisel, and a very good description it is.\nIt makes a long slit in the ground into which the maize grains or peas\nare dropped. Maize is always known as \"corn.\" Peas, which are also\ncalled Red Peas, are the \"beans\" of America, familiar at home under\nthe name of French beans. We eat them not only green in the usual way,\nbut also make excellent soup of the dried ripe beans. The boy is\nthinking of the reward of his labour. \"I am planting my corn. Some\nwill be eaten green, some left to ripen. That will be sold. Then I\nshall buy peas, plant them, and when they are ready for market get\nsixpence a quart for them, if I am lucky. Then I shall be rich enough\nto walk with a girl. I shall pick out a nice one that mamma will\napprove of. She will be the one to say 'yes, me son,' but puppa always\ncrabbed, and him going to tell me no bodder with it, gal too much\nexpense.\"\n\n\n\n\nLXXX.\n\n\nWhen known details run dry, the following gives full play to the\ninventive faculty:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me know the man oh! know the man,\n Name John Watson, know the man;\n him come from Bread Lane, know the man;\n him ride one grey mule, know the man;\n the mule name Vic oh! know the man;\n him have one tumpa toe, know the man;\n him come a Mister Thomson, know the man,\n fe go sell him grey mule, know the man;\n he no make no sale oh! know the man,\n me know the man, know the man.[50]]\n\n[Footnote 50: \"The\" always tends to the pronunciation \"de,\" but it has\nnot been thought advisable to write it so as this might render it\nliable to confusion with \"de,\" meaning \"is,\" with its differently\nsounded vowel. Moreover, it is not quite a true _d_, but has a pretty\nlisping sound intermediate between _th_ and _d_.]\n\nOther bars of this air have an inclination to 2/4 time besides those\nindicated.\n\nIt will be observed that repeat marks have only been put to the first\nsing. It was not considered necessary to continue them. The various\n\"turnings\" of the tunes may be put in any order. The negroes\nthemselves never put them twice in the same sequence.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXI.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n Minnie, Minnie, me los' me boar;\n Minnie, Minnie, me los' me boar;\n Minnie, Minnie, him a broke-foot boar;\n Minnie, Minnie, me los' me boar;\n Minnie, Minnie, and a blind-eye boar;\n Minnie, Minnie, go find you boar, Minnie, Minnie.]\n\n\"I have lost my boar, Minnie. He's a broken-legged boar and has got a\nblind eye,\" and so on through all the defects or excellences that a\nboar might, could, should or would have.\n\nThere could not be a greater contrast to this sombre \"Minnie\" than the\ngay:--\n\n\n\n\nLXXXII.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n You want to yerry Duppy talk oh!\n Come go da river before day,\n an' you will yerry them laugh oh!\n Come go da river before day;\n You want to yerry Duppy talk oh!\n Come go da river before day.]\n\n\"If you want to hear Duppy talk, go to the river before day.\"\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIII.\n\n\nNow the colour question crops up again. The Sambo lady, it may be\nremembered, wanted a white man and nothing but a white man. Sarah can\ndo with a Sambo man, from which we may infer that Sarah was black.\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh me know Sarah, me know Sarah;\n Sarah love white man, me know Sarah;\n Sarah want Sambo man, me know Sarah;\n Sarah no want black man, me know Sarah.]\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIV.\n\n\nThe pickers fall with slashing strokes to:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me donkey want water, rub him down Joe,\n rub him down Joe,\n rub him down Joe;\n Me donkey like a peeny, rub him down Joe,\n rub him down Joe, Joe,\n rub him down Joe;\n Me Jackass gone a pound, bring him come Joe,\n bring him come Joe,\n bring him come Joe;\n Me donkey full of capers, rub him down Joe,\n rub him down Joe, Joe,\n rub him down Joe.]\n\n\"Peeny\" is the Candlefly, which shines like my donkey's coat. \"Bring\ncome\" for \"bring\" is very common, and in the same way they say \"carry\ngo,\" the \"come\" and \"go\" indicating the direction of motion.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXV.\n\n\n\"Bring dem come\" is the title of the next sing. It is in a curious\nminor mode, almost F minor, but wanting the leading note, which is\nreplaced by E flat.\n\n[Music:\n\n A Somerset me barn, bring dem come,\n bring dem make me batter dem, bring dem come,\n me would take me picker batter dem, bring dem come.\n A Woburn Lawn me barn, bring dem come,\n I will like to see dem batter me, bring dem come,\n A Goatridge me barn, bring dem come,\n I want to see dem jostle me, bring dem come.]\n\nThis is a digging contest. The Somerset men challenge their\nneighbours. Whoever digs most yam-hills in a given time is to be the\nwinner. Every man is confident that he will hold out longer than every\nother, and boasts like Goliath. \"I was born at Somerset; bring the\nstrangers, bring them, let me beat them; I will take my pickaxe and\nbeat them--I was born at Woburn Lawn; I should like to see them beat\nme.\" Honour and glory is the sole reward, but that counts for a great\ndeal. It is so gratifying to hear the others say \"Lah! that man dig\nhill, ya.\"\n\n(\"Jostle\" has the same meaning as \"batter.\" When two ponies race, the\nriders try to jostle and foul each other.)\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVI.\n\n\nThe next is really a woodcutter's sing, but it is used also for\ndigging:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Timber lay down 'pon pit, Timber;\n cut 'im make we go 'way, Timber;\n me want go 'way ya soon, Timber;\n timber lay down 'pon pit, Timber;\n timber, timber oh! Timber;\n me wanty go 'way ya soon, Timber;\n me want go home back a yard, Timber;\n a cedar timber oh! Timber;\n lash the saw make we go home, Timber;\n timber lay down 'pon pit, Timber.]\n\n\"Lie down on the pit, timber. Cut it, and let us go away. I want to go\naway soon, do you hear? Drive (lash) the saw hard.\"\n\nThe pit is not really a pit. The sawing is done where the tree falls.\nA rough scaffolding is made and the log is rolled up to lie on the top\nof it. The bottom sawyer stands upon the ground.\n\nThe West Indian cedar is not a fir but a deciduous tree (_Cedrela\nodorata_), which looks like a hickory or walnut. It grows in the\nhills, and its lightness and durability make it very useful. Most\npeople know it in the shape of cigar-boxes.\n\nThe rest bars are sort of pauses for breath. It will be seen that they\nbreak the rhythm. Throwing the accent on \"go,\" in \"go 'way,\" is\ncharacteristic. We should put it on \"'way.\"\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVII.\n\n\nListen how restless and unfinished this sounds:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me want go home a yard oh!\n me want go home a yard oh!\n me want go home a yard oh!\n me want go home a yard oh!\n a Guava Ridge me barn oh!\n me want go home a yard oh!\n mumma me want come home oh!\n me want go home a yard oh!\n poor me boy me want go home,\n me want go home a yard oh!\n Teacher Bailey crahss 'pon me,\n me want go home a yard oh!]\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVIII.\n\n\nThe last example refers to the rebellion of 1865. Several whites were\nmurdered, and the survivors are of opinion that their lives were saved\nby the prompt action of Governor Eyre, who proclaimed martial law and\nrestored order by severe measures:--\n\n[Music:\n\n War down a Monkland, war down a Morant Bay,\n war down a Chiggerfoot, the Queen never know.\n War, war, war oh!\n War oh! heavy war oh!\n Soldiers from Newcastle come down a Monkland\n with gun an' sword fe kill sinner oh!\n War, war, war oh!\n War oh! heavy war oh!]\n\nThe places mentioned are in the parish (corresponding to English\ncounty), of St. Thomas, except Newcastle, the hill cantonment of the\nwhite troops, which is in the next parish of St. Andrew. \"Chiggerfoot\"\ntakes its name from the chigoe, chigger, or jigger, the minute flea\nwhich burrows into the foot. It is interesting to see that this\ncontemporary comment by the blacks describes the rebels as sinners.\nFurther on, No. CXXXVII., will be found another view, in which they\npose as aggrieved persons. It shows that there was a loyal as well as\na disloyal party.\n\nThe reader has now had enough examples of digging-sings to show their\nnature and variety. The Negro is never at a loss for words, and the\nmasters and overseers of the estate on which he generally labours,\nBushas as he calls them--a word said to be derived from Pasha--are\noften satirised. The gangs on private estates are under a head-man,\nwho is responsible to the Busha. The Busha is a white or coloured man\nas a rule--coloured in Jamaica meaning mixed white and black--and he\nis responsible to the master or owner. The workers have to be\ncarefully looked after, for like other people the Negro will not do\nmore work than he can help. Only when he is working for himself will\nhe \"let out,\" as he describes it, the whole of his splendid strength.\nIt is a mistake to suppose that the black man is either stupid or\nlazy. When he has an incentive to work he is industrious, and will do\nas much in one day in his own field as he will in two for an employer\nwho pays him. In selecting land for planting his sagacity is\nremarkable, and he knows just where it will \"come,\" as he says, guinea\nyam or white yam, and where coffee will succeed and where fail. It is\na pleasure to see their provision-grounds, the miscellaneous crop\nlooks so thriving. \"Provisions\" embrace all eatables, such as yam,\nsweet potato, coco (_colocasia_), sugar cane, beans of various kinds,\nmaize (or simply \"corn,\" as we call it, having no other), okra\n(_hibiscus esculentus_), cassada (_manihot utilissima_), plantain,\nbanana, arrowroot, pindar (_arachis hypogoea_, a ground-nut),\npumpkin, tomato and cabbage.\n\n\n\n\nPART III. RING TUNES.\n\n\nThat informal kind of dancing, referred to in some of the Annancy\nstories, known as \"playing in the ring\" or \"Sally Water\" has its\norigin in English children's games. Sometimes it is merely a case of\nhunting the slipper or of finding a key passed from hand to hand, but\nmore often what begins in playing ends in dancing. The nature of this\nplaying in the ring will be best understood from examples.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIX.\n\n\nFirst, as giving its name to the whole, must stand:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Little Sally Water sprinkle in the saucer;\n Rise, Sally, rise an' wipe your weeping eyes.\n Sally turn to the East,\n Sally turn to the West,\n Sally turn to the very one you like the best.\n\n On the carpet you must be\n happy as the grass-bird on the tree,\n Rise an' stand up on your leg\n an' choose the one that you like the best.\n Now you married I give you joy,\n first a gal an' second a boy;\n Seven year after, seven year to come,\n give her a kiss an' send her out.]\n\nThe boys and girls join hands and form a ring. One--the sex is\nimmaterial--crouches in the middle and personates Sally Water. At the\nwords \"Rise, Sally, rise,\" he or she slowly rises to an erect\nposition, brushing away imaginary tears, turns first one way and then\nanother, and chooses a partner out of the ring. Where the _tempo_\nchanges, they wheel--a rapid turning dance--and after the wheeling,\nthe partner is left inside the ring and becomes Sally Water.[51]\n\n[Footnote 51: For a discussion of this game, perhaps the best-known\nand most widely-spread of all English singing games, see A.B. Gomme,\n_Traditional Games_, vol. ii., p. 149.]\n\n\n\n\nXC.\n\n\nAnother form of this Ring tune is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Poor little Zeddy they put him in the corner!\n Rise, Zeddy, rise an' wipe your weeping eyes;\n Zeddy, turn to the East;\n Zeddy, turn to the West;\n Zeddy, turn to the very one you like the best.]\n\n\n\n\nXCI.\n\n\nThe negro is a born actor, and to give emphasis to his words by\nappropriate gestures comes naturally to him. The little comedy which\nfollows suits him to perfection:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Whe me lover de?\n Seemya, seemya.\n Me lover gone a sea?\n Seemya, seemya.\n Me no see me lover ya.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Him gone a Colon bay.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Go fin' you lover now.\n Seemya, seemya.\n No make no 'tupid de.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Fool dem let dem go.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Me lover come back.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Go take you lover now.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Wheel him make me see.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Throw a kiss to him.\n Seemya, seemya.\n Wheel him let him go.\n Seemya, seemya.[52]]\n\n[Footnote 52: To avoid the tiresomeness of contraction marks, \"see him\nya\" has been written in one word. It sounds exactly like _senior_ with\nan m instead of an n.]\n\nA ring is formed, and a girl is put in the middle. She asks:--\"Where\nis my lover?\" and the ring answers in chorus:--\"See him here.\" \"Has my\nlover gone to sea?\" and the answer comes again:--\"See him here.\" The\ngal goes on:--\"I do not see my lover; has he gone to Colon bay?\" and\nthen, as though speaking to herself:--\"Go, find your lover now. There!\ndon't pretend to be stupid.\" At this point she takes the hand of a boy\nin the ring as if she were going to dance with him, but immediately\npushes him back, and says, still speaking to herself:--\"Fool them, let\nthem go.\" Then simulating contrition and breaking the hitherto even\nrhythm:--\"My lover, come back!\" At \"Go take your lover now\" she goes\nagain to the same boy, takes him out of the ring-circle and dances\nwith him. They _wheel_ at the words \"Wheel him make me see,\" which\nmean, \"Let me see you wheel him.\" Finally at \"Wheel him let him go\"\nthey part hands.\n\nFrequent references will be found to Colon. Jamaica labourers used to\ngo there in large numbers to work on the Panama canal.\n\n\n\n\nXCII.\n\n\nTo the same class belongs:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ring a diamond, ring a diamond,\n Why oh ring a diamond.\n Get in the ring you'll find one Sambo boy.\n Why oh ring a diamond.\n Me look me da look me no find one Sambo boy.\n Why oh ring a diamond.\n Me find me diamond, me find me diamond.\n Why oh ring a diamond.\n Wheel you diamond, wheel you diamond.\n Why oh ring a diamond.\n Let go diamond, let go diamond.\n Why oh ring a diamond.]\n\nThis tune has a beautiful swing. In many bars it is almost impossible\nto distinguish whether the tune is triple or duple. Much license may\nbe allowed in the direction of the latter to a good timist, but the\ngeneral impression of triple time must be kept. The \"Sambo boy\" bar\nmust be sung very smoothly. It is neither quite as it is written the\nfirst time nor quite as it occurs in the second, but just between the\ntwo. Three even crotchets with judicious _tempo rubato_ would give it.\nIt will be understood that these tunes are sung antiphonally. In this\none the leaders, who know the tune and words well, sing the first four\nbars and the next four belong to the chorus, after which the leaders\ntake it up again, and so on.\n\nThere is an opportunity here for a little harmless \"chaff\" about\ncolour. The diamond chosen is a _black_ diamond, the blacker the\nbetter. The ring forms round him joining hands, and one girl is pushed\nin to look for the Sambo boy. She says:--\"I look, I am looking, I\ndon't find a Sambo boy\" (_i.e._ a quarter black). At last she finds\nher diamond, either the boy inside the ring or one of those who circle\nround him, and they dance together, wheeling and letting go hands at\nthe words \"wheel,\" \"let go.\"\n\n\"Why\" is an ejaculation, probably the same as Hi!\n\n\n\n\nXCIII.\n\n\nAnother chorus tune of the same kind is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n The gal over yonder carry banana,\n gal oh! gal oh! carry banana.\n A nine-hand banana, carry banana,\n a Chiney banana, carry banana.\n You find the banana? carry banana.\n You tief the banana? carry banana.]\n\nThe girl is supposed to be carrying a bunch of bananas on her head,\nand the singers are commenting upon it and asking the girl questions,\nas they do here at a distance of half-a-mile. \"Look! It is a nine-hand\nbanana. No, a China banana. Did you find it? Did you steal it?\"\n\nBanana bunches are reckoned by the number of hands they contain, the\nseparate bananas being called fingers. Nine-hand is a convenient\nmarket size. The China banana is a stout low kind which withstands\nwind: the fruit is, however, coarse.\n\nThe signal for taking a partner is given by the words \"You find the\nbanana?\"\n\n\n\n\nXCIV.\n\n\nIn the next there is no dancing. The ring closes up tight, shoulder to\nshoulder. Hands behind the back pass the ball round and round, and the\ngirl inside the ring tries to find it. The person with whom it is\nfound has to go into the ring and turn seeker.\n\n[Music:\n\n Pass the ball an' the ball goin' round,\n the ball goin' round an' the key can't find,\n Mother, honey, oh! the ball goin' round.\n Journey, ball, journey, ball, journey, ball, journey,\n Mother, honey, oh! the ball can't find.]\n\nThe conventional \"gwine\" for \"going\" hardly represents it, only the\n_o_ is pronounced so short that the word becomes practically one\nsyllable. In the dance tunes we shall come across the word \"dying\"\nshortened in the same way.\n\n\n\n\nXCV.\n\n\nA variation of this is obtained by putting a ring on a cord and\nsliding it along. The tune is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me los' me gold ring fin' an' gi' me,\n Me los' me gold ring fin' an' gi' me,\n Me los' me gold ring fin' an' gi' me,\n A me husband gold ring fin' an' gi' me.]\n\n\n\n\nXCVI.\n\n\nIn \"Mother Phoebe\" again there is no dancing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Old moder Phoebe, how happy you be\n When you sit under the Jinniper tree,\n oh the Jinniper tree so sweet.\n Take this old hat an' keep your head warm,\n Three an' four kisses will do you no harm,\n It will do a great good fe you.]\n\nHere the girl inside the ring takes a hat or cap and after several\nfeints puts it on somebody's head, and that person has then to take\nher place in the ring.\n\n\n\n\nXCVII.\n\n\nMore lively is the joyous:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Do, do, do, do, do,\n Deggy, Deggy house a go burn down, do, De Gay.\n Deggy whe you would a do de do, De Gay?\n Deggy dood an' doodess do, De Gay.\n Deggy go roun', Deggy do Degay.\n An' a cutchy fe Deggy do Degay,\n an' a wheel an' let go do, De Gay.\n Deggy house a burn down do, De Gay.]\n\nThe boy inside the ring \"makes all sort of flourish,\" dancing and\nposturing by himself. The word \"cutchy\" is accompanied by a deep\ncurtsey, on rising from which he takes a girl out of the ring and\nwheels her. Deggy or Degay, has occurred already in No. LVII. Whether\nit is his own house that is burning, or somebody else's, it is\nimpossible to conjecture. Observe the varying accent on the name. In\ntaking down this song I first wrote \"doodan doodess,\" thinking they\nwere nonsense words suggested by the repetition of do, do, do, but on\nasking further about them was told that \"dood\" is a \"risky beau-man,\"\na smart well-dressed young fellow. So it is the American \"dude\" and\nits female counterpart \"dudess\" which here take the place of the usual\n\"gal and boy.\"\n\n\n\n\nXCVIII.\n\n\nThe latter we find in:\n\n[Music:\n\n Me go da Galloway road,\n Gal an' boy them a broke rock stone,\n Broke them one by one gal an' boy,\n Broke them two by two gal an' boy,\n Take up the one that you like gal an' boy,\n Ah! this here one me like gal an' boy,\n broke them t'row them down gal an' boy.]\n\nI go to Galloway road (where there is a quarry). Girls and boys are\nbreaking stones. They break them one by one. They break them two by\ntwo, etc. Choosing stones suggests choosing partners.\n\n\n\n\nXCIX.\n\n\nWe come across \"dude\" again in:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel let go Mister Porter son,\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel cock cock crow da yard,\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel let go Mister Porter son,\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel oh why oh\n Rosybel wheel him doodjes' now,\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel cock cock crow you no know,\n Rosybel oh why oh!\n Rosybel wheel him let him go,\n Rosybel oh why oh!]\n\n\n\n\nC.\n\n\nThe play in the next is rough, and the holders of hands in the ring\nmust have strong wrists.\n\n[Music:\n\n Me da le le le, me da le le le,\n Bull a pen ho! gingerly!\n the bull a broke pen! gingerly!\n A Mount Siney bull! gingerly!\n A Galloway bull! gingerly!\n bull a broke pen! gingerly!]\n\nTwo strong young fellows personate the bulls. One is inside the ring\nand the other outside. They paw the ground and moo at each other but\nmust not fight unless they can break the ring. When the ring is broken\nat last by a determined rush, one of the bulls is sometimes seized\nwith panic and jumps back into the pen (ring) where he is safe. The\nfight, if it does take place, is not a very serious affair, the cowmen\nsoon coming up with their ropes (handkerchiefs) which they throw over\nthe bulls' heads and so draw them apart.[53]\n\n[Footnote 53: [Cf. \"Bull in the Park,\" Gomme, _Traditional Games_,\nvol. i. p. 50.]]\n\n(_Me da de_ would mean Me is there, I am there. Le is substituted for\neuphony, being probably suggested by the last syllable of \"gingerly.\")\n\n\n\n\nCI.\n\n\nAnother rough game is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Two man a road, Cromanty boy,\n Two man a road, fight for you lady!\n Two man a road, down town picny,\n Two man a road, fight for you lady!\n Two man a road, Cromanty win oh!\n Two man a road, Cromanty win.]\n\nA line of girls stretches along each side of the road and in front of\nthem stand the two combatants armed with sticks. One is a Coromanti\n(one of the African tribes) and the other a Kingston or down-town boy.\n\"Fight for your ladies\" cry the respective lines to their champions.\nWhoever can disable the other and snatch one of his girls across the\nroad is the winner. A mock doctor comes to bind up the wounds.\n\n\n\n\nCII.\n\n\n\"Adina Mona,\" with its Italian-sounding words, is noisy, but not so\nrough:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Ho! Adina Mona,\n Adina Mona,\n cutchy fe gran'ma;\n Adina Mona,\n Me tell Nana marnin'.\n Adina Mona,\n Nana no want it;\n Adina Mona,\n Me beg Nana wahter;\n Adina Mona,\n Him give me dirty wahter,\n Adina Mona.]\n\nHere they stand face to face in separate couples. At the beginning of\none bar the boys knock their hands upon their thighs, and at the\nbeginning of the next bar clap them against those of their partners,\nas in the first motion of the game of Clip-clap. As they do this the\nboys walk backwards, occasionally wheeling, and making, as they say,\n\"all manner of flourish.\"\n\n\n\n\nCIII.\n\n\n\"Palmer\" affords an opportunity for individual display:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Palmer, you just from town, Palmer, oh William Palmer!\n Palmer, you just from town, Palmer, oh William Palmer!\n Show me the figure whe you bring, Palmer, oh William Palmer!\n Dat de no style at ahl, Palmer, oh William Palmer!\n Palmer, you just from town, Palmer, oh William Palmer!\n Put on de style now more, Palmer, oh William Palmer!]\n\nPalmer has just come back to his mountain home from Kingston, and is\nurged to show the latest step for a quadrille figure or other dance.\nHis companions affect surprise. What! is that all? Oh, Palmer, that's\nnot style!\n\n\n\n\nCIV.\n\n\nVery popular is the next one:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Mother Freeman, a whe me Gungo de?\n Not a one can sow me Gungo;\n Fe me Gungo, da precious Gungo,\n Not a one can sow me Gungo;\n All the gal them a go dead 'way 'pon me,\n Not a one can sow me Gungo.\n All the boy a go dead 'way 'pon me,\n Not a one can sow me Gungo.]\n\nMother Freeman, where is my Gungo (a kind of pea)?\n\nNo one will sow my Gungo, or perhaps rather:--Will no one sow my\nGungo? For my Gungo is precious Gungo.\n\nAs they sing and dance, the boys pretend to faint, and fall into the\narms of the girls. When the words change, the girls fall into the arms\nof the boys, who catch them. \"Dead 'way 'pon me,\" besides meaning to\nfaint, has a slang interpretation equivalent to: \"All the girls are\ndeath upon me.\"\n\n\n\n\nCV.\n\n\nThe following is perhaps a sly allusion to some dull-witted boy:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me have me goosey a me yard,\n Me no call Barny clever.\n Go bring me goosey a me yard,\n Me no call Barny clever.\n Wheel me goosey make me see oh!\n Me no call Barny clever.]\n\nThick sour milk allowed to stand and curdle is called \"barnyclebber\"\n[Irish word, F.Y.P.].\n\n\n\n\nCVI.\n\n\nHere we have a reference to the too common practice of stealing, which\nis treated more as a joke than a crime:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Drill him, Constab, drill him;\n Drill him, Constab, drill him;\n She tief her mother shilling fe go buy Sapadilla.\n Buy Sapadilla,\n buy Sapadilla;\n You go an' tief the shilling fe go buy Sapadilla.\n Wheel him, Constab, wheel him;\n Wheel him, Constab, wheel him;\n Him tief him mother shilling fe go buy Sapadilla.]\n\nA girl is the delinquent and the \"Constab\" (constable, pronounce _con_\nas in _constant_) is inside the ring with her, lightly beating her\nwith a twig or pocket-handkerchief. When one has been marched round\nand wheeled, he \"sends her out\" and takes another.\n\nSapadilla is really a fruit something like a medlar, but the name is\ngiven to all sorts of fruit, notably Granadilla.\n\n\n\n\nCVII.\n\n\nAnother \"flogging\" tune, but without any dancing, is:--\n\n[Music:\n\n If you make him come out I will kill you to-night ya,\n Why do, me Nana, do!]\n\nA girl is in the ring and a boy is flogging her with a whip. The boy\nsays to the holders of the ring:--\"If you let her come out I will kill\nyou to-night, do you hear?\" The girl is going round, begging to be\nreleased, with the appeal to each one:--\"Oh do, my Nana!\" that is, \"Do\nlet me out.\"\n\n\n\n\nCVIII.\n\n\nThe most laughable antics, \"mechanic\" as they call it, are indulged in\nin the next:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh me Toad oh!\n Come along, Toad-eye;\n Oh me Toad oh!\n Come along, me Toady boy;\n Come along, Toad-eye;\n Come along, me Toady boy;\n Oh me Toad oh!\n Come along, Toad-eye.]\n\nEach girl has a \"Toad\" in front of her to protect her. The Toads jump\nabout, and the one who can get past the other and capture his girl,\nwins. Jamaican toads, or at least the small kind, hop like the frogs\nof cooler countries.\n\n\n\n\nCIX.\n\n\nThe first half of the tune which follows occurs in the story of\nAnnancy and Screech-owl (No. XIX.):--\n\n[Music:\n\n There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la la,\n He like sugar an' I like plum.\n Wheel an' take you pardner, jump shamador!\n Wheel an' take you pardner, jump shamador!\n Wheel an' take you pardner, jump shamador!\n For he like sugar an' I like plum.]\n\nThe boy inside the ring chooses his partner, whom he leaves there\nafter the dance. She obtains release by choosing another partner, whom\nshe leaves behind. So there is alternately a boy and a girl in the\nring.\n\n\"Shamador\" is possibly a corruption of \"camerado.\"\n\n\n\n\nCX.\n\n\nThe next is an old tune which is going out of fashion. It is still\nremembered in my district, but nobody can tell me how it is danced.\n\n[Music:\n\n Johnny, Johnny, da wharra fe dinner?\n Three slice a lilly bit a dumpling,\n Me Johnny come roll the board.]\n\n\"Da wharra\" literally means \"is what.\" What is there for dinner? Three\nslices and a little bit of dumpling. I tried to find out whether they\nwere slices of dumpling or slices of something else, but no one could\ntell me that. The dumplings are plain flour and water, innocent of\nsuet. They are very popular, and are eaten with a morsel of salt fish\nor meat. Johnny is invited to come and roll them on the board.\n\n\n\n\nCXI.\n\n\nWe all know the next tune:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me lover gone a Colon Bay,\n Colon Bay, Colon Bay,\n Me lover gone a Colon Bay\n With a handsome concentina.\n Oh what is your intention,\n intention, intention?\n Oh what is your intention?\n My intention is to marry you.\n I will married to you,\n I will married to you,\n I will married to you,\n I will married to you,\n I will married to you,\n I will married to you\n With a handsome concentina.]\n\n(Levi always sings:--\"What is your retention, retention, retention?\")\n\nIn \"I will married to you\" the wheeling becomes a giddy business, at\nleast to the onlooker. The dancers never seem to feel it, nor do they\nappear to mind the heat. They simply stream with perspiration and put\ntheir handkerchiefs round their necks to save their white collars.\n\n\n\n\nCXII.\n\n\nA little breathing time is given by:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Good morning to you, mother;\n Good morning to you, daughter;\n What is your intention?\n I want to be a teacher.\n You shan't be a teacher.\n I bound to be a teacher.\n Jump shamador, me darling.\n What is your intention?\n I goin' to be a doctor.\n You shan't be a doctor.\n I bound to be a doctor.\n You shan't be a doctor.\n I will be a doctor.\n Jump Shamador, me darling.]\n\nThere is no dancing here. The mother walks round inside the ring, the\nvarious members of which she addresses in turn. \"You shan't\" is\nemphasised by an uplifted arm swept vigorously downwards and a stamp\nof the foot. The answers go through the various professions until it\nis felt that there is a want of something more exciting, which is\nsupplied by:--\n\n\n\n\nCXIII.\n\n\n[Music:\n\n One Johnny Miller he was living Water Lane\n an' he wheel right roun' an' the ladies drop.\n One on the right an' the other on the left,\n an' he wheel right roun' an' the ladies drop.]\n\nThe tune is again familiar. A boy takes two girls out of the circle,\nleaves one in the middle and wheels the other. Having dropped her he\nwheels the second one. The wheeling over, she is dropped. These two\nthen resume their places in the circle, and the boy takes out two\nmore.\n\n\"Water Lane.\" Kingston lies on ground sloping evenly to the sea. It is\nlaid out on the American plan in parallel streets. A broad \"Street\"\nalternates with a narrower \"Lane.\" The lanes pointing to the sea have\nwater running down them and are called Water Lanes.\n\n\n\n\nCXIV.\n\n\nThe next is used both as a Ring-tune and for the favourite Fifth\nFigure of the Quadrilles:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Me go to Morant Bay, Bahlimbo.\n Me see one Coolie gal, Bahlimbo.\n Lard! me love the gal, Bahlimbo.\n Me tell her wait fe me, Bahlimbo.\n The gal no wait at all, Bahlimbo.\n Me ride, me ride, me ride, Bahlimbo.\n Me catch her on the way, Bahlimbo.\n Me bahss her all the way, Bahlimbo.\n The mumma say me rude, Bahlimbo.\n But that no rude at all, Bahlimbo.\n For woman cloth so cheap, Bahlimbo.\n Two yard fe bit, Bahlimbo.\n Man cloth so dear, Bahlimbo.\n One pound a yard, Bahlimbo.]\n\n\"Bahlimbo\" is a nick-name for a cheap sort of cloth, _i.e._ fabric of\nany kind. In Africa calicoes are called _limbo_. The \"two yards fe\nbit\" kind is calico print. A \"bit\" is fourpence halfpenny. \"Bahss\"\nmeans buss, kiss.\n\nWhite people pronounce Morant as it is spelt, but the Blacks always\nput the accent on the first syllable, and usually call it Morrum.\n\n\n\n\nCXV.\n\n\nAs the time for dancing approaches (see note on weddings in \"Gaulin\"\np. 76) the ring breaks up, and there is a lively marching tune or two,\nsuch as:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Oh den Jacky me knee da go ben' a palm palm;\n oh me knee da go ben' a palm palm.]\n\nThe couples with the right arm of one partner locked tightly into the\nleft of the other march about bending their knees at rhythmical\nintervals, presenting the most ridiculous appearance. The tune has an\ninfectious gaiety about it as its sections are sung over and over and\ninterchanged. If you repeat them as often as they do, you will feel\nstealing over you that kind of intoxication which the Dancing\nDervishes experience.\n\n\n\n\nCXVI.\n\n\nThere is a great deal of laughing over \"Jacky,\" which suggests:--\n\n[Music:\n\n When me get a Mister Walker gate,\n Me will laugh, ha, ha, ha, ha!\n Me will laugh he, he, he, he!\n Me will laugh ha, ha!*\n Me will laugh qua, qua, qua, qua!\n Me will laugh ha, ha!*\n Me will laugh till me bustle drop!\n Me will laugh ha, ha!*\n Me will laugh ha, ha, ha, ha!\n Me will laugh ha, ha!*\n Me will laugh ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!\n Me will laugh ha, ha!]\n\nAt the marks * a return is made to the first four bars, always\nsubstituting a new name for Walker, and the tune has many more\n\"turnings\" besides the ones noted.\n\nA sufficient selection of Ring tunes has now been given to show their\ncharacter. The number might be indefinitely increased. Every district\nhas its own, and while some old favourites remain, new ones are\nconstantly in process of making. These supply, or more than supply,\nthe gaps caused by those which drop out.\n\n\n\n\nPART IV. DANCING TUNES.\n\n\nTurning now to the Dancing tunes, the chief difference to be noted is\nthat they show a more marked departure from what may be called the\nJamaican type of melody. Sailors bring popular songs to the seaports,\nand from there they spread into the country. For a time some of the\noriginal words are kept, but before long they get changed. The change\nis partly due to that corruption of the text which naturally takes\nplace as the songs pass from mouth to mouth, but mainly to the fact\nthat the words, referring as they do to English topics, have no\ninterest here. So we generally find that the tunes are refitted with a\ncomplete set of new words, describing some incident which has lately\nhappened in the district, or some detail of daily life. When these\nreflect, as they often do, upon the characters of individuals the\nnames have been changed and all evidence pointing to the locality\ndestroyed. The same course has been pursued where it is thought the\nsusceptibilities of persons or their relations might possibly be\noffended, even when there is nothing mentioned to their discredit.\n\nThe music consists of three \"flutes\" (fifes), two tambourines and a\nbig drum. This is the professional element, which is reinforced by\namateurs. One brings a cassada-grater, looking like a bread-grater;\nthis, rubbed with the handle of a spoon, makes a very efficient\ncrackling accompaniment. Another produces the jawbone of a horse, the\nteeth of which rattle when it is shaken. A third has detached from\nits leather one of his stirrup-irons, and is hanging it on a string to\ndo duty as a triangle. The top of the music is not always supplied by\nfifes. Sometimes there will be two fiddles, sometimes a concertina,\nor, what is more approved, because it has \"bigger voice,\" a flutina.\nOn asking to see this strange instrument I was shown the familiar\naccordion.\n\nTheir chief dances are the Valse, Polka, Schottische, and Quadrilles\nin five figures, of which the fifth figure is the most popular, or as\nthey would say \"sweet them most.\" This figure goes either to 6/8 or\n2/4 time. The 2/4 figures of the Quadrilles are often used for Polka,\nand Polka and Schottische tunes are always interchangeable, the only\ndifference being that the Schottische requires a slower time.\n\n\n\n\nCXVII.\n\n\nThe ball opens with a set of Quadrilles:--\n\n[Music: _1st Figure._\n\n When I go home I will tell me mumma,\n When I go home I will tell me mumma,\n When I go home I will tell me mumma\n That the gals in Jamaica won't leave me alone.]\n\nThis is the production of a white musician to whom the black girls\nwere especially attentive.\n\n\n\n\nCXVIII.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Guava root a medicine,\n Guava root a medicine,\n Guava root a medicine fe go cure all the young gal fever.]\n\nA decoction of the root of the Guava is used in cases of fever.\n\n\"Medicine\" is pronounced so as to rhyme with Edison.\n\n\n\n\nCXIX.\n\n\n[Music: _3rd Figure._\n\n Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs,\n Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs;\n I lift up me foot an' I hit him a kick\n an' him roll up him tail an' run.\n What you fe do with that?\n What you fe do with that?\n I meet him up'tairs an' I hit him a kick\n an' he roll up him tail an' run.]\n\nSee note to \"Parson Puss and Parson Dog\" (p. 93), also Author's\nPreface.\n\n\n\n\nCXX.\n\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Goatridge have some set a gal\n So-so shirt them can't wash.\n Give me back me soap an' blue,\n Give me back me soap an' blue,\n Give me back me soap an' 'tarch,\n So-so shirt them can't wash.]\n\nGoatridge is the name of a neighbouring hamlet. When a boy \"gives out\nhis shirts to wash\" he also provides the girl with soap, blue and\nstarch.\n\nSo-so means even. It also means only, as:--\"I get so-so potato fe\nnyam,\" I only got potatoes to eat.\n\n\"Shirt\" is pronounced almost \"shut.\"\n\n\n\n\nCXXI.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Me carry me akee a Linstead market,\n Not a quatty worth sell.\n Oh what a losses!\n Not a quatty worth sell.\n Me carry me akee a Linstead market.\n Not a quatty worth sell.\n Oh not a light, not a bite!\n Not a quatty worth sell.]\n\nThe Akee (_Cupania edulis_), pronounced _acky_, is a handsome tree\nproducing something which one hardly knows whether to call a fruit or\na vegetable. Besides the edible part, the beautiful scarlet capsule\ncontains a substance which is poisonous. Deaths by misadventure\nthrough carelessness in its preparation for table occur every year.\n\nThe time of these Quadrille tunes will be pretty accurately judged.\nThey would all come under _Allegro_ except the First, which is slower\nthan the others, and it might be headed _Allegretto_ or even\n_Andantino_. The Third figure is not much used, and many dancers do\nnot know the step. Its place is generally supplied by one of the other\nfigures. The most popular of all is the Fifth, of which we have many\nexamples to give. The step is regulated by two beats in the bar of\nsix, so we find that they dance it also to 2/4 time, as for\ninstance:--\n\n\n\n\nCXXII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Since Dora Logan a wahk with Gallawoss,\n The man them a beat them wife with junka 'tick.\n Why, why, why, Amily!\n Bring back me dumpling, yah? Amily!\n No dog, no puss, no fowl, Amily.\n Bring back me dumpling, yah?[54] Amily.\n No dog, no puss, no fowl, Amily.\n Fetch back me dumpling, yah? Amily.]\n\n[Footnote 54: \"Yah?\" = Do you hear?]\n\nThis has to go very fast, indeed as fast as the words of the second\nbar can be spoken. It will be found then to correspond to a moderate\n_Allegro_ in six time counted in two.\n\nTwo stories are mixed up here. One of the girl who walks with the\nGallawoss--a Lizard with a gold eye and an undeserved reputation for\nbiting--which leads to an age the reverse of golden, when the men beat\ntheir wives with junka (short) sticks. And the other, of some incident\nconnected with breakfast in the field, when Amily ate somebody's\ndumpling and laid the blame on the usual scapegoat, the cat.\n\n\n\n\nCXXIII.\n\n\nThe rapid speed necessitated by some forms of 2/4 time just suits the\nfollowing:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Fire, Mister Preston, Fire!\n Fi-er down the lane!\n Then send the brigade fe go out the fire,\n The brigade can't out the fire.\n Fire, Mister Preston! Fire, Mister Preston!\n Fi-er down the lane!\n Fire, Mister Preston! Fire, Mister Preston!\n Fi-er down the lane!]\n\n\n\n\nCXXIV.\n\n\nWhere the beat is in crotchets it sounds unduly slow:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Tief cahffee,\n Tief cahffee,\n Tief cahffee,\n Benigna Field, fe go buy silk dress,\n Fe go show them Gardon boy,\n fe go show them Gardon boy,\n fe go show them Gardon boy,\n Benigna Field, you tief cahffee.]\n\nBenigna[55] Field steals some coffee to get money to buy a silk dress\nto show off to the Gardon boys. (Gardon is a place, not a family.)\n\n[Footnote 55: Other unusual girls' names are Ambrogine, Ateline,\nIrene, Melmorine. These rhyme with Queen. The same Italian _i_ is\nfound in Elgiva, Seppelita, Barnita, Justina, and the English _i_ in\nAlvira, Marina. The next are all accented, like the last six, on the\npenultimate; Etilda, Iota, Clarista, Pastora, Barzella, Zedilla,\nAmanda, Agarta (evidently a variant of Agatha), Timinetia (like\nPolynesia), Cherryana, Indiana. Then there is Hettybel, and one girl\nhas this astonishing combination--Ataria (rhymes with Samaria),\nAzadell (? Isabel).]\n\n\n\n\nCXXV.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Fan me, soldier man, fan me;\n Fan me, soldier man, fan me;\n Fan me, soldier man, fan me oh!\n Gal, you character gone!\n Sake a ten shilling shahl,\n Sake a ten shilling shahl,\n Sake a ten shilling shahl oh!\n Make me character gone.]\n\n\n\n\nCXXVI.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Manny Clark a you da man!\n Manny Clark a you da man!\n So so ride you ride a Ginger Piece,\n All the gal them a dead fe you.\n Oh you take 'notta boil soup, take salt fish 'tick in it,\n Gal, you want fe come kill me?\n Oh you take 'notta a boil soup, take salt fish 'tick in it,\n Gal, you want fe come kill me?]\n\nManny Clark, a popular player of dance tunes, goes to Ginger Piece and\nis overwhelmed with attentions by the girls. He addresses himself as\nfollows:--\"Manny Clark, you are the man! You just ride to Ginger Piece\nand all the girls are dying for you.\" Then, turning to one of them, he\nadds:--\"Oh, you boil the soup with your best, taking Anatto and salt\nfish to stick into it. Do you want to kill me with kindness?\"\n\nAnatto gives a rich yellow colour to the soup. Salt fish (stockfish)\nis one of the principal articles of diet of the peasantry.\n\n\n\n\nCXXVII.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Bungo Moolatta, Bungo Moolatta,\n Who de go married you?\n You hand full a ring an' you can't do a t'ing,\n Who de go married you?\n Me give you me shirt fe wash,\n You burn up me shirt with iron,\n You hand full a ring an' you can't do a t'ing,\n Who de go married you?]\n\n\"You Bungo Mulatto, who is going to marry you? Your ring-bedecked\nfingers can't do anything. When I gave you my shirt to wash you burned\nit with an over-hot iron.\"\n\nBungo (rhymes with Mungo) means a rough uncivilized African.\n\nA Mulatto is the child of two Brown parents, Brown being the offspring\nof Black and White. He has rather a yellow skin.\n\n\n\n\nCXXVIII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Bahl, Ada you must bahl,\n Bahl, Ada you must bahl,\n Bahl, Ada you must bahl,\n Ada you must bahl till the cock say coocoocoocoory co.]\n\nAda has been naughty and has been shut up for a night in the dark. The\npoor little thing is \"bawling,\" crying out in terror of the nameless\nhorrors of the night.\n\n\n\n\nCXXIX.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Rise a roof in the morning,\n Rise a roof in the morning;\n Tell all the nigger them to come, come, come,\n Rise a roof in the morning.\n The Monkey and the Baboon them was sitting on the wall,\n Rise a roof in the morning;\n I an' my wife cannot agree,\n Rise a roof in the morning.\n She 'pread me bed on the dirty floor,\n Rise a roof in the morning;\n For Devil made the woman an' God made man,\n Rise a roof in the morning.]\n\n\"Rise a roof\" seems to mean, as far as I can understand the\nexplanation, \"raise the roof\"; as we might say, \"row enough to blow\nthe roof off.\"\n\n\"Baboon\" always has this accent on the first syllable and a French\n_a_.\n\nThe Blacks do not mind calling themselves niggers, but a White man\nmust not call them so. To say \"black nehgher\" is an offence not to be\nforgiven. The word is used again quite kindly in the following:--\n\n\n\n\nCXXX.\n\n\n[Music: _Jig._\n\n Oh we went to the river an' we couldn' get across,\n We jump on the nigger back we think it was a horse.[56]\n Then Stephen, Stephen, Stephen boy,\n Stephen, Stephen, poor Stephen!]\n\n[Footnote 56: A last reminder to pronounce \"acrahss,\" \"harse.\" The\nNegro rejects the sound _aw_ altogether and always changes it to\n_ah_.]\n\nA party get to one of the bends of Four-and-twenty River, so called\nbecause the road crosses and recrosses it twenty-four times. Stephen\ncarries them all over.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXI.\n\n\n[Music: _Polka._\n\n Aunty Jane a call Minnie,\n Minnie won't go 'peak to him;\n Aunty Jane a call Minnie,\n Minnie won't go 'peak to him.\n Wrap up in a crocus beig\n In a Sandy Hill,\n Wrap up in a crocus beig\n In a Sandy Hill.]\n\nAunty Jane does not want Minnie to keep company with the boys at Sandy\nHill. Of course Minnie wants to go, and she does go. Aunty Jane sets\noff to bring her home. When she reaches Sandy Hill she calls. Minnie\nhears, but will not go and speak to her. She hides in the coffee-store\nby wrapping herself in a crocus bag or sack. \"Crocus\" is a rough cheap\nmaterial. Coffee ready for market is put in the finer and smaller\ncanvas bags.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXII.\n\n\n[Music: _Valse._\n\n Marty, Marty, me wanty go home,\n Marty, Marty, me wanty go home,\n Marty, Marty, me wanty go home,\n Me wanty go home back a yard.\n Tell me mumma say me wanty come home,\n Me wanty come home, Me wanty come home,\n Tell me mumma say me wanty come home,\n Me wanty come home back a yard.]\n\nMartin has been flogging his wife--not an unusual condition of\nthings--and she wants to go home to her mother. He will take her\nmessage quite loyally. The matter will be arranged and they will be\ngood friends living apart. Before long she will go back to him of her\nown accord. They make up their quarrels as quickly as they fall into\nthem.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n What make you shave old Hall, Rosie Fowler?\n What make you shave old Hall?\n What make you shave old Hall, Rosie Fowler?\n What make you shave old Hall?\n What make you shave old Hall, Rosie Fowler?\n What make you shave old Hall?\n Mister Barber have two teeth a him mout',\n Them sweet like a sugar-plum.]\n\nRosie Fowler left old Hall for Mr. Barber, and being remonstrated\nwith, shaved him, _i.e._ gave him a good beating.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIV.\n\n\n[Music: _Mazurka._\n\n Run, Moses, run,\n Mister Walker da come;\n Run, Moses, run,\n Mister Walker da come.\n If you buck your right foot, buck your left foot,\n Never try look back;\n If you buck your right foot, buck your left foot,\n Never try look back.]\n\nTo \"buck\" is to strike, and the word is applied to a stumbling horse,\nwho is said to buck his foot against a stone, or simply to buck. It\nalso means to butt with the head and is most likely a corruption of\nthis word. Bucking, or charging stag-fashion with the head, is the\nfavourite way for women to fight. Here is an account of such a\ncontest:--\n\n\n\n\nCXXXV.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Whe you da do? Whe you da do?\n Whe you da do make Sarah buck you?\n Whe you da do? Whe you da do?\n Whe you da do make Sarah buck you?\n Adela da jump but Sarah buck him,\n Adela da jump but Sarah buck him,\n Adela da jump but Sarah buck him.\n Whe you da do make Sarah buck you?\n You Adela ho you ought to shame!\n You Adela ho you ought to shame!\n You Adela ho you ought to shame!\n Whe you da do make Sarah buck you?]\n\nFights between women are by no means uncommon. This was a case of\n_cherchez l'homme_. The ladies both wanted to marry the same man. The\n\"sing\" was evidently composed by one of Sarah's partisans for the\nwords are:--\"What did you do to make Sarah buck you? Adela jumped, but\nSarah bucked her. You, Adela, oh you ought to be ashamed!\" Adela's\nsideway jump was not quick enough to save her from Sarah's head.\n\n\"Whe you da do?\" literally, What you is do? for What you did do?\nmeaning What did you do? So, if they were trying to talk \"deep\nEnglish,\" for \"Adela da jump\" they would substitute \"Adela is jump\"\nand think it was quite right.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVI.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Mother William hold back Leah!\n Mother William hold back Leah!\n Me tell you say hold back Leah!\n Hold back Leah let go Jane Ann!\n Den a Leah Leah dead 'way,\n Den a Leah Leah dead 'way,\n Let go Jane Ann!\n Let go Jane Ann!\n Hold back Leah, let go Jane Ann!]\n\nThis is sung _agitato_ and pulsates with excitement. We see the\nbustling, restless action--Mother Williams holding Leah, who is\nfrantic to get at Jane Ann, and who faints with exhaustion as she\nstruggles to escape from the strong arms thrown round her. \"Let go\nJane Ann!\" cry the bystanders, which means:--Make Jane Ann go away,\nget her out of Leah's sight.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVII.\n\n\nThis seems a fitting moment to introduce:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Oh General Jackson!\n Oh General Jackson!\n Oh General Jackson!\n Oh you kill all the Black man them!\n Oh what a wrongful judgment!\n Oh what a wrongful judgment!\n Oh what a wrongful judgment!\n You kill all the Black man them.\n Oh what a awful mourning!\n Oh what a awful mourning!\n Oh what a awful mourning\n You bring on St. Thomas people!]\n\nThis is the other side of the question, referred to in the Digging\nSing, No. 88. It is the rebellion of 1865 again, from the point of\nview of that section of the Blacks who considered themselves aggrieved\nat the measures taken for its suppression.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVIII.\n\n\nWe get a glimpse of the doings of the soldiery in peaceable times\nin:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Soldier da go 'way,\n Married woman let go your bull-dog to-morrow;\n Soldier da go way to-morrow,\n The last of the ring ding to-morrow,\n Soldier da go 'way,\n Married woman let go your bull-dog to-morrow;\n Soldier da go 'way,\n Married woman let go your bull-dog.]\n\nThe soldiers are shifting their quarters. As they are apt to be rather\nriotous on the night before departure, the owner of the bull-dog is\nadvised to unchain him so that he may guard her property more\neffectually.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIX.\n\n\nThere is also a tender side to the parting:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Don't cry too much, Jamaica gal,\n First West will soon come back again.\n Don't cry too much, Jamaica gal,\n Second West is gone to the war.\n Don't cry too much, don't cry too much,\n First West will come and cheer you up.\n Don't cry too much, Jamaica gal,\n Second West is gone to the war.]\n\n\n\n\nCXL.\n\n\nA few years ago Jamaica boasted of water as efficacious as that of\nMecca in the opinion of some people. It seems to have lost its repute\nin these sceptical days:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Dip them, Mister Bedward, dip them,\n Dip them in the healing stream;\n Some come with jackass, some come with bus,\n Dip them in the healing stream.]\n\n\n\n\nCXLI.\n\n\nIt says much for the expertness of the dancers that they can fit the\nsame steps to tunes of such varying accent as the two last examples\npresent. Here is another which differs again:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Very well, very well, Mister Collin now,\n An' him leave an' join Sabbatarian bands,\n An' him lose the whole of his members now,\n Oh then poor Sabbatarian bands!]\n\nMr. Collin was a minister who told his flock that he had made a\nmistake in keeping Sunday holy, and that for the future he would have\nservice on Saturday and the people were to come to church on that day\nand work on Sunday. The \"sing\" suggests that his congregation was not\npersuaded by his arguments.\n\n\n\n\nCXLII.\n\n\nThe light-hearted way in which the Negro turns serious things into fun\nis well illustrated by:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Oh trial! Great trevelation children ho!\n Trial! We're bound to leave this world.\n Baptis', Baptis', Baptis' till I die.\n I been grown up in the Baptis' side\n an' die under Baptis' rule.\n Oh trial! Great trevelation children ho!\n Trial! We're bound to leave this world.\n Church-light, Church-light, Church-light till I die,\n I been grown up in the Church-light side\n an' die under Church-light rule.\n Oh! trial! Great trevelation children ho!\n Trial! We're bound to leave this world.]\n\nAnd so on through all the sects and persuasions, Wesleyan, etc., etc.,\namong them Mettetis (Methodist).\n\nThere is no doubt about the word being _trevelation_ a mixture of\nRevelation, one of their favourite books in the Bible, and\ntribulation, for which it is intended. The wrong phrasing of two notes\nto \"bound\" is as they give it. We should allow only one.\n\n\n\n\nCXLIII.\n\n\nEvery district has its rival churches and the various ministers have\nto humour their congregations, and not preach too hard things to them,\nso as to keep them from deserting to the enemy.\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Father, I goin' to join the confirmation.\n No, me son, you must have a little patien',\n Why I tell you to have a little patien',\n You must go an' read the Revelation.\n I heard from my old generation\n That they never go an' join the confirmation,\n For they didn' have that great occasion\n To leave an' go an' join the confirmation.]\n\nIt will have been observed that rhyming is the last thing sought\nafter. Here, however, we have a genius who has set his mind upon it\nwith some success. Patience, as pronounced by the Jamaican without the\nfinal letters, is a good and new rhyme to the rest. In the old days of\nslavery, says the father, they did not have the occasion (_i.e._\nopportunity) to leave their work to go and be confirmed.\n\nThe Black man is such an accomplished actor that he can assume any\ncharacter. In these sings he throws off the stage trappings and shows\nhis real attitude towards religion, his indifference and levity. He\ndoes not take it as a serious matter at all, and it has no effect upon\nhis daily life. To go to church is a mark of respectability. To obtain\nthat mark is one of his reasons for going. The other reason is to show\nhis clothes and his boots. He will talk like a saint for the mere\npleasure of rolling out words, and the ministers have to pretend to\nbelieve something of what he says. They are not, however, really\ndeceived, and will tell you in private with a sigh that Christianity\nmakes no progress; it is profession without practice. Of the Negro's\nreal religion, which is bound up with Obeah, we get hardly a hint in\nthe sings. This is what we should expect. Some things lie too deep for\nwords and a man's religion is one of them. One general reference I\nhave been able to find, and one particular one, and that is all. Here\nis the first:--\n\n\n\n\nCXLIV.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Obeah down de why oh! Obeah down de,\n Obeah down de why oh! Obeah down de.\n Giberaltar is a well fine place but Obeah down de,\n Giberaltar is a well fine place but Obeah down de.]\n\n\n\n\nCXLV.\n\n\nAnd here the second:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n The other day me waistcoat cut,\n The other day me waistcoat cut,\n The other day me waistcoat cut,\n What a pain an' grief to me.\n I spend me money but the beggar don't dead,\n I spend me money but the beggar don't dead,\n I spend me money but the beggar don't dead,\n What a pain an' grief to me.\n All me money gone like butter 'gainst sun,\n All me money gone like butter 'gainst sun,\n All me money gone like butter 'gainst sun,\n What a pain an' grief to me!\n Sake of the man me live 'pon tree,\n Sake of the man me live 'pon tree,\n Sake of the man me live 'pon tree,\n What a pain an' grief to me!]\n\nObeah (pronounced in two syllables, Ob-ya, with short Italian vowels)\nis the dark blot upon this fair island of Jamaica. In every district\nthere is an Obeah-man, or Bush-doctor, as he is often called, from his\nsupposed knowledge of herb simples. He is by no means the innocent\nperson which this latter designation would seem to imply. He deals in\nmagic and sorcery of all descriptions, and there is not a Black man\nwho does not believe in his powers. They consult him on every\nconceivable business and he gets heavy fees. He will secure a man the\nfavour of his master so that he shall not lose his place, or help him\nto revenge a wrong, real or fancied. And herein lies the danger. The\npuerilities of inefficacious charms and mysterious ceremonies with\nwhich he deludes his clients are not all. He keeps poison in his bag,\nand for sufficient reward arsenic has been obtained to put in the\nliqueur, or ground glass for the coffee. The Government attempts in\nvain to stamp out the evil.\n\nThe story of the last sing is briefly this. A has a friend who is an\nObeah-man. From him he gets Obeah to injure an enemy B. The enemy does\nnot suffer. So A says his waistcoat is torn, a figurative way of\nexpressing the fact that he is beaten, B's Obeah turning out to be\nstronger than A's and able to repel it. Having indiscreetly talked\nabout what he meant to do to B, B reports him to the police, and he\nhas to abscond and seek shelter in the bush till the matter blows\nover.\n\n\n\n\nCXLVI.\n\n\nIt is a pleasure to be able to leave the hypocrisy of Negro\nChristianity, and the lurid atmosphere of Obeah and to return to\neveryday amusements.\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n All them gal a ride merry-go-round,\n Me no see no gal like a dem ya.\n Ride him, ride him, ride him, ride him,\n Ride him round the town,\n Ride him, ride him, ride him, ride him,\n Ride him round the town.]\n\nThe merry-go-round is popular. \"I never saw such girls,\" says an\nadmiring bystander. Literally, \"I have not seen any girls like those\n(here) girls.\" A neighbour of mine used to be made very angry when he\nfirst came to Jamaica because when he asked \"Have you seen so-and-so?\"\nthe answer always was \"I don't see him.\" This is good negro English\nfor \"I haven't seen him.\" It does not mean, as he thought, \"I don't\nsee him now,\" and the poor boy could not understand why his master got\nso \"crahss.\"\n\n\n\n\nCXLVII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Merry-go-round a go fall down, fall down, fall down,\n Merry-go-round a go fall down,\n Sake a de worthless rider.\n Rider, rider, try to sit down good;\n Rider, rider, try to sit down good;\n Rider, rider, try to sit down good,\n Merry-go-round a go fall down.]\n\nGrammar nowhere as usual. It was not the Merry-go-round that was going\nto fall down, but the worthless (_i.e._ bad) rider who was going to\nfall off. \"Try to sit down good\" is an exhortation to hold on well.\nThis curious use of \"try\" is found again in:--\n\n\n\n\nCXLVIII.\n\n\n[Music: _Mazurka._\n\n Try, dear, don't tell a lie,\n Try, dear, don't tell a lie,\n Try, dear, don't tell a lie,\n For I will never marry you.\n Try an' 'peak the truth me dear,\n Try an' 'peak the truth me dear,\n Try an' 'peak the truth me dear,\n An' you shall get the ring me dear.]\n\n\n\n\nCXLIX.\n\n\nHere are two more references to the colour question:\n\n[Music: _1st Figure._\n\n Look how you mout',\n Look how you mout',\n Look how you mout' fe go kiss moolatta.\n Look how you mout',\n Look how you mout',\n Look how you mout' like a pan.]\n\n\n\n\nCL.\n\n\n[Music: _Valse._\n\n Breezy say him no want Brown lady,\n Breezy say him no want Brown lady,\n Breezy say him no want Brown lady,\n Afterward him go take Brown lady.\n Why! Why! Why, Breezy!\n Why! Why! Why, Breezy!\n Why! Why! Why, Breezy!\n Think you say you no want Brown lady.]\n\n\n\n\nCLI.\n\n\nHere are three sings referring to Colon, the port of disembarkation\nfor labourers on the Panama Canal:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Isaac Park gone a Colon,\n Isaac Park gone a Colon,\n Isaac Park gone a Colon,\n Colon boat a go kill them boy.\n Colon bolow[57] gone a Colon,\n Colon bolow gone a Colon,\n Colon bolow gone a Colon,\n Colon boat a go kill them boy.]\n\n[Footnote 57: _Bolow_, comrade.]\n\nIt was not the boat from Kingston to Colon that killed the boys; the\ndeaths took place on the other side. Many were due to fever, but\nmore, if the stories current here are true, to organised\nassassination. The wages were very large, and when a Jamaica boy has\nmoney in his pocket he gets \"boastify.\" This annoyed the low-class\nmongrels. A Coolie who was there described to me the proceedings of\none night, when the 'panish (by which is meant any straight-haired\npeople) went out in a band and murdered every woolly-haired man they\nmet. They began at one end of the camp, a straight line of barrack\nhuts. Some of the victims were shot through the windows, others\nslashed with cutlasses. Where there were no lights the assassins\npassed their hands over the strangers' heads, and if they felt wool,\nrevolver or cutlass did its work. Straight-haired Coolies, that is to\nsay, East Indians, were allowed to go unharmed.\n\n\n\n\nCLII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed,\n Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed,\n Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed,\n Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed,\n Me want go Colabra,\n Me want go Colabra,\n Me want go Colabra,\n Matilda, de 'pon dyin' bed.]\n\nWhen anybody is very ill all the members of the family, including\nquite distant relatives, think it incumbent upon them to go to the\nsick person's yard. They crowd into the house and sick-room and pour\nout a clatter of talk.\n\nColabra (Culebra) is a place near Colon. Matilda must have been an old\nJamaica acquaintance who had gone over to settle there.\n\n\n\n\nCLIII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Mas' Charley say want kiss Matty,\n Kiss with a willing mind,\n Me rarabum why! Colon money done,\n Me rarabum why! Colon money done.]\n\n\"Me rarabum\" is a nonsense phrase equivalent to \"my boy.\" \"My boy, hi!\nthe money I made at Colon is done!\"\n\n\n\n\nCLIV.\n\n\nHere is the lament of an out-of-work cabdriver:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Me buggy a sell fe eight an' sixpence\n Whe me a go get fe drive?\n Me buggy a sell fe eight an' sixpence,\n Whe me a go get fe drive?\n Me buggy sell at last, poor me boy!\n Whe me a go get fe drive?\n Me buggy sell at last, poor me boy!\n Whe me a go get fe drive?]\n\n\n\n\nCLV.\n\n\nThe words of the next dance have a certain interest, but the tune is\npoor:--\n\n[Music: _Polka._\n\n Oh 'zetta Ford, gal, you name no worth a cuss!\n Tief big big hog,\n Put ahm in a jar.\n Piccany da cry,\n Sit down whole a day,\n You tief big big hog,\n Nyam ahm out a door.]\n\nThe girl stole the pig, killed it, cut it up and put the meat into a\njar. This was done out in the bush, far away from her yard, and took\nthe whole day. Meanwhile her poor little babies were starving at home,\nhaving been left without any one to look after them.\n\n\n\n\nCLVI.\n\n\nThere is an idyllic simplicity about the following:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Birdyzeena, Birdyzeena,\n Come make we go da Champong market,\n Come make we go, dear,\n Come make we go, dear,\n Come make we go da Champong market.]\n\n\n\n\nCLVII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Me an' Katie no 'gree,\n Katie wash me shirt in a sea.\n If you t'ink a lie,\n If you t'ink a lie,\n Look in a Katie yeye.]\n\n\n\n\nCLVIII.\n\n\nWater seems formerly to have been scarce in Kingston, judging by the\nfollowing:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Down town gal no have no water to wash them head\n to keep them clean.\n Down town gal no have no water to wash them head\n to keep them clean.\n Why! Why! Why! Take them gal in charge.\n Why! Why! Why! policeman,\n Take them gal in charge.]\n\n\n\n\nCLIX.\n\n\nThe policeman is not always on the spot when he is wanted:--\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Sal you ought to been ashame!\n You tief Mister Dixon Brahma,\n You nyam ahm a Yaws-house[58] level,\n Sally ought to been ashame.]\n\n[Footnote 58: _Yaws_, see p. 57.]\n\nIn this country any plot of ground that is moderately flat is called a\nlevel.\n\n\n\n\nCLX.\n\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Good morning, Mister Harman,\n How are you this morning?\n I brought a serious complain about the old Barbadian.\n What about the 'badian?\n Him shirt has no border,\n Him face favour marlan,\n Come give me me one an' ninepence.]\n\nThe singer goes to Mr. Harman, who is employing the Barbadian (whom he\naccuses of wearing a ragged shirt and having a face like a\nmarlingspike), to try and get some money which the latter owes the\ncomplainant. This is an excellent example in short of an interview\nbetween two Black men. Of the sixteen bars four are occupied with\nsalutation, four with complaint, and four with abuse. Two are given to\na question as to the cause of complaint which receives no answer, and\ntwo to a demand for money owed by another person. So we have\nthree-quarters of the interview devoted in equal parts to compliment,\ncomplaint, and abuse; one-eighth to an attempt on the part of the\nperson interviewed to discover what is amiss; and one-eighth to a\ndemand for money from the wrong man.\n\n\n\n\nCLXI.\n\n\nThe lovers' quarrel which comes next is evidently not serious:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Hullo me honey!\n Hullo me sugar!\n Hullo me old time gal!\n Oh den, gal, if you love me,\n Why don't you write me?\n Hullo me old time gal!\n Hullo me honey!\n Hullo me sugar!\n Hullo me old time boy!\n Oh den, boy, I wouldn' married you,\n Not for a fardin',\n Hullo me old time boy!]\n\n\n\n\nCLXII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n When mumma dere you say you sick,\n Dis mumma gone you get better,\n 'tan' 'teady till him come 'tan' 'teady,\n 'tan' 'teady till him come 'tan' 'teady.]\n\nWhen mamma tells her daughter to take her hoe and come out into the\nfield she feigns sickness. Her brother comes in and finds her quite\nwell. \"All right,\" he says, \"just (dis) you stand steady ('teudy,\nFrench _eu_), just you wait till she comes home and you will get a\nflogging.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXIII.\n\n\nWe never go far without meeting some story about petty thieving:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Oh Jilly oh! how you manage a jump the window?\n Oh Jilly oh! how you manage a jump the window?\n Doctor Clark a one an' tanner,\n Major Black a two an' six,\n Mister Nelson three an' six,\n How you manage a jump the window?]\n\nJilly had been \"tiefing\" money and made her escape by jumping out of\nwindow. \"Tanner,\" for sixpence, is common in English slang but not\nhere. It seems to have been derived in this case from the White\nsoldiers at Newcastle.\n\n\n\n\nCLXIV.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n James Brown, you mahmy call you.\n James Brown a shake him shoulder.\n Sake a the young gal butterdore,\n James Brown a shake him shoulder.]\n\nTo express dissent they do not shake their heads but wriggle the whole\nof their bodies. It is a most expressive action.\n\nA butterdore, more properly butter-dough, is a kind of cake.\n\n\n\n\nCLXV.\n\n\nThe next repeats the idea of No. CXVIII., but in the mouth of a girl.\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n When I go home I will tell me mumma say,\n When I go home I will tell me mumma say,\n When I go home I will tell me mumma say\n That the boy in the country love me very much.]\n\n\n\n\nCLXVI.\n\n\nThe next is the only example of pure fiction that I have met with:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Feather, feather, feather,\n Baby da born with feather.\n You cut off the fowl head an' boil it in a 'tew-pan,\n Baby da born with feather.\n Feather, feather oh!\n Baby da born with feather.\n Feather, feather oh!\n Baby da born with feather.\n You cut off the fowl head an' boil it with the feather,\n So the baby go born with feather.\n I hear the news as I re'ch to Hagley Gap,\n Say baby da born with feather.\n Something me never hear,\n Something me never hear that Baby can born with feather.\n Something me never hear,\n Something me never hear that Baby can born with feather.]\n\nAll the other sings are chronicles of true events, and it is an\nexceptional case to find one purely the offspring of imagination like\nthis one. The compiler of the words could not get quite free of\nactuality; he puts in Hagley Gap, which is the name of a pass through\nthe hills. I once asked why it was so called and was told because it\nwas a hugly place. The cooking described savours of Obeah.\n\n\n\n\nCLXVII.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n When the rain an' the breeze an' the storm an' the sun\n I never see a man like Quaco Sam,\n He live in the sun as well as the rain,\n I never see a man like Quaco Sam.\n Quaco Sam was a little bit a man,\n I never see a man like a Quaco Sam,\n For he never build a house but he live as any man,\n I never see a funny man as Quaco Sam.]\n\n\n\n\nCLXVIII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Anch a bite me a me back gully, gully;\n Anch a bite me a me back gully, gully;\n Anch a bite me a me back gully, gully;\n 'cratch me back, me will make one shirt fe you fe you.\n Anch a bite me,\n Anch a bite me,\n Anch a bite me,\n Anch a bite me,\n Anch a bite me a me back gully, gully;\n 'cratch me back me will make one shirt fe you.]\n\nSmall black ants often swarm on the orange-trees, and the pickers, who\ndo not use ladders but climb the branches, get covered with them. We\nall know that place in the \"gully\" or furrow of the back which we\ncannot reach ourselves.\n\n\n\n\nCLXIX.\n\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Me know one gal a Cross Road,\n Name of Lucy Banker,\n Him boil the long long cabbage bush,\n Him go long like a sailor nanchor.\n Follow me, follow me,\n You no see whe the gal a follow me,\n Follow me, then follow me,\n You no see whe the gal a follow me.]\n\nThe story of the foregoing sing is this:--Lucy asked a fiddler and his\nfriend to breakfast. The cooking was bad. The boiled bananas, which\nshould have been light brown, were black, and the cabbage was not done\nenough, so that it was ropy or \"long,\" as they aptly describe it. For\nthese shortcomings the fiddler \"put her a sing,\" _i.e._ put her into a\nsing.\n\n\n\n\nCLXX.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Moonshine baby, don't you cry,\n Mumma will bring somet'ing fe you,\n Some fe you,\n Some fe me,\n Fe we go boil wi' dirty pot.]\n\nThis is a hit at another careless cook who had disregarded the\ntime-honoured rule, \"First wash your pot.\"\n\nA moonshine baby is a pretty baby.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXI.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n I have a news to tell you all about the Mowitahl men,[59]\n Time is harder ev'ry day an' harder yet to come.\n They made a dance on Friday night an' failed to pay the drummer,\n Say that they all was need of money to buy up their August pork.\n Don't let them go free, drummer!\n Don't let them go free, drummer!\n For your finger cost money to tickle the poor goat-'kin.\n Not if the pork even purchase self\n Take it away for your labour,\n For your finger cost money to tickle the poor goat-'kin.]\n\n[Footnote 59: Mowitahl = Mowatt Hall.]\n\nThe first of August (Ahgust as they call it) is the anniversary of\nEmancipation Day, and is a time of feasting and rejoicing. As in the\ncase of wedding festivities, they do not limit themselves to one day,\nand holiday-making goes on for a week or longer.\n\nThe goat-skin drum is pitied for the thumping it gets. So a man will\noften stroke his picker (pickaxe) and say:--\"He no a come out if he\nt'ought him face would a jam so a dirty,\" he would not have come out\nif he had thought his face was going to be thrust so hard into the\nground.\n\n\"Self\" is a redundant word. It strengthens \"even if.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXXII.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Once I was a trav'ller,\n trav'ller over the mountain,\n I nearly dead for water\n but a young gal show me the fountain.\n Why, why me picny!\n You shall be me wife.\n Show me you mammy an' you daddy,\n An' you shall be me wife.\n I have another sister,\n she blind she cannot see,\n But, if you wish to court her,\n you can come with me.\n Why, why me picny!\n you shall be me wife.\n Show me you mammy an' you daddy,\n An' you shall be me wife.]\n\nWhen a Black man says he is nearly dead for water he only means that\nhe is rather thirsty.\n\nThis sing is of an unusual form and suggests a foreign origin.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIII.\n\n\nHere, on the contrary, is something typically Jamaican:--\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Oh! me wouldn' bawl at all,\n Oh! me wouldn' bawl at all,\n Oh! me wouldn' bawl at all,\n For the policeman come tell a lie 'pon me.]\n\nA boy who has been arrested, conscious of his innocence, does not go\nthrough the usual pantomime of shrieks and tears. The policeman\n(observe the accent on the word) told a lie about me, he says.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIV.\n\n\nThoroughly Jamaican too, as to its words at least, is:--\n\n[Music: _Jig._\n\n You take junka 'tick fe go lick maugre dog,\n You take junka 'tick fe go lick maugre dog;\n When maugre dog dead a whe you a go do?\n Whe you a go do, Birdie?\n Whe you a go do?]\n\nThis is a remonstrance addressed by a mother to her daughter who has\ntaken up a short stick to beat her. \"It is true,\" she says, \"that I am\nbut a lean dog, but when the lean dog is dead what are you going to\ndo?\" (_Maugre_, French _maigre_, pronounced _mahgher_.)\n\n\n\n\nCLXXV.\n\n\n[Music: _John Canoe dance._\n\n Yellow fever come in,\n Me can't walk again;\n Him broke me hand, him broke me foot,\n Me can't walk again.]\n\nThe \"John Canoe\" are masked dancers very agile in their movements.\nYellow fever is now happily rare in Jamaica. \"It has come and caught\nme,\" says the patient, \"and broken my arms and legs so that I really\ncan't walk.\"\n\n\"Again\" has a curious use here, which is perhaps better shown by the\nfollowing illustration. A man was reported to be dead. Next day came\nthe intelligence:--\"He don't dead again,\" he is not dead after all, he\nis not really dead. Compare No. LXII.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVI.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Jimmy Rampy a come oh, Sal oh!\n Jimmy Rampy a come oh, Sal oh!\n Some a wash him foot, some a comb him hair,\n Some a put him to bed, put him to bed oh, Sal oh!\n Jimmy Rampy a come oh! Sal oh!\n Jimmy Rampy a come oh, Sal oh!\n Some a wash him foot, some a comb him hair,\n Some a put him to bed, put him to bed oh, Sal oh!]\n\n\"Sal oh!\" is perhaps a corruption of _Salut_. Tradition associates a\ncurtsey with the word.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVII.\n\n\nThe next calls to mind the Ring tune (No. XCIX.), \"Rosybel oh, why oh!\"\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Susan very well, why oh!\n Susan very well, why oh!\n Susan chop bolow with tumbler,\n Susan chop bolow with tumbler,\n Susan go chop bolow with tumbler,\n Susan go chop bolow with tumbler.]\n\nA case of assault with a broken piece of glass. Here is something more\nserious:--\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVIII.\n\n\n[Music: _1st Figure._\n\n Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife;\n Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife;\n Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife,\n You married you wife an' kill him again.\n You take up you wife an' carry him to church,\n You take up you wife an' carry him to church,\n You take up you wife an' carry him to church,\n An' afterward you kill her again.[60]]\n\n[Footnote 60: _Bahss_, Boss. \"Carry him\" is in two syllables, sounding\nlike _ca-yim_.]\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIX.\n\n\nThe next is a pretty lullaby, which they call a Nursing sing:--\n\n[Music:\n\n Blackbird a eat puppa corn, oh!\n Blackbird a eat puppa corn, oh!\n Come go da mountain, go drive them,\n Blackbird a eat puppa corn, oh!\n Blackbird a eat puppa corn.]\n\n\n\n\nCLXXX.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Me da Coolie sleep on piazza with me wrapper round me shoulder,\n Me da Coolie sleep on piazza with me wrapper round me shoulder.]\n\n\"Me da,\" literally, \"I is,\" I am.\n\nThe piazza, which is not pronounced in the Italian way but nearly\nrhymes with razor, is the long narrow entrance-room of Jamaican\nhouses. A wrapper is a large piece of linen which serves all sorts of\npurposes. It is used as an article of clothing both by day and night,\nand also makes a convenient bag for rice.\n\nMany of the East Indian Coolies, originally brought over to work on\nplantations, have now settled in Jamaica.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXI.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Notty Shaw, you better go home;\n Notty Shaw, you better go home;\n Notty, run in the garden an' pick a bunch of flowers;\n Notty Shaw, you better go home;\n Notty Shaw, you mother want you service;\n Notty Shaw, you mother want you service;\n Notty, go in the garden you see a bunch of rose;\n Notty Shaw, you better go home.]\n\n\"Notty\" is short for Nathaniel.\n\n\"Rose\" means any kind of flowers. When they want to indicate what we\ncall roses they say \"sweet-rose.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXII.\n\n\n[Music: _1st Figure._\n\n You worthless Becca Watson,\n You worthless Becca Watson,\n You worthless Becca Watson,\n You ought to been ashame.\n Them write you name an' t'row it a pass,\n Them write you name an' t'row it a pass,\n Them write you name an' t'row it a pass,\n you ought to been ashame.]\n\nA familiar tune, I think a mixture of two.\n\nTo write disparaging remarks on paper, which is then thrown in the\n\"pass\" (path, road), for anybody to pick up and read, is a common\ntrick. The epithet \"worthless\" seems to imply that Becca was not\naltogether free from blame. They seldom say \"bad.\" It is almost always\n\"worthless.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Since the waggonette come in\n Parker take to heart dead,\n Since the waggonette come in\n Parker take to heart dead.\n Never mind conductor,\n Parker take to heart dead.\n Never mind conductor,\n Parker take to heart dead.]\n\nThe reference is to a local enterprise, the Waggonette Company. It\nunfortunately failed, and the death of a person interested in its\nsuccess, happening immediately after, is attributed to the failure.\nFor \"come in\" we should say \"were taken off.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIV.\n\n\n[Music: _Schottische or 4th Figure._\n\n Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line,\n Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line,\n Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line,\n Somebody dying here ev'ry day.\n A ten pound order him kill me pardner,\n A ten pound order him kill me pardner,\n A ten pound order him kill me pardner\n For somebody dying here ev'ry day.\n Den number nine tunnel I would not work de,\n Den number nine tunnel I would not work de,\n Den number nine tunnel I would not work de\n For somebody dying here ev'ry day.]\n\nAn incident, or perhaps it were better to say an accident, in the\nmaking of the road to Newcastle. A man who undertook a piece of\ncontract work for L10 was killed by a falling stone. The so-called\ntunnels are cuttings. Number nine had a very bad reputation.\n\nGordon Town is a hamlet nine miles from Kingston. The driving road\nends there, and access to the mountain district beyond is obtained\nonly by mule tracks.\n\nStrangers are called \"follow-line\" because, as they come down from\ntheir homes in the higher hills, they walk in strings. No Black man or\nwoman ever goes alone if he can help it. He always hitches on to\nsomebody else, and the string increases in length as it passes along.\nThis walking in Indian file is necessitated by the narrowness of the\ntrack, which is seldom wide enough for two to walk abreast.\n\nThe tune has the character of a march rather than of a dance, but I am\nassured it is used for a Schottische, which has a somewhat slower\nmeasure than a Polka, and for Fourth Figure. Their cleverness in\nadapting the same steps to different rhythms has been already\ncommented on.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXV.\n\n\nThe last of our tragedies, a murder this time, is chronicled in:--\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Young gal in Jamaica take warning,\n Never leave your mother house alone,\n For that was the cause why Alice get her death while\n driving in the May Pen cyar.]\n\n\"The May Pen cyar\" is a tramway which runs to May Pen, the cemetery of\nKingston.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVI.\n\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Me no min de a concert the night\n When Martha an' Pompey catch a fight.\n Da Martha da Pompey,\n Da Martha da Pompey catch a fight.]\n\n\"Me no min de,\" literally, \"I not been there,\" I was not there. Nobody\nhearing these words for the first time would ever suspect that they\nwere English. People are always said to \"catch fight\" when they come\nto blows.\n\nFew of the old classical slave names like Pompey now survive.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVII.\n\n\n[Music: _1st Figure._\n\n Complain complain complain,\n Complain about me one,\n Me daddy complain,\n me mahmy complain,\n Complain about me one.]\n\n\"Me one,\" _i.e._ \"only me.\" Everlasting complaints, always about me!\n(What child does not suffer in this way?) In Negro speech _complain_\nstands for complaint as well as for the verb.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVIII.\n\n\nElderly readers will recognise a popular song of thirty years ago in\nthe following:--\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n I can't walk on the bare road, cyart man,\n I can't walk at all;\n When I remember,\n When I remember,\n When I remember them.\n Oh Captain Baker, I never can walk again,\n For when I remember the cyart man, cyart man,\n When I remember them.]\n\nThese words taken as a whole refer to the carts of the United Fruit\nCompany of which Captain Baker is the manager. In defiance of rules\ngirls may be seen perched on top of the bunches of bananas in the\nladen carts.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIX.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Come go da mountain,\n Come go da mountain,\n Come go da mountain go pick coco finger,\n Busha Webb an' all a pick coco finger,\n Busha Webb an' all a pick coco finger;\n Pick coco finger,\n Pick coco finger,\n Come go da mountain go pick coco finger.]\n\n\"Come let us go to the mountain and dig cocoes. Overseer Webb and\neverybody is digging them.\" A plan often adopted is to dig round the\nroot, search for the tubers, pick them off and then push back the\nsoil. This may be the picking referred to, only the tubers do not look\nlike fingers. They are the shape of a peg-top.\n\nAnother suggestion is that the fingers are the young rolled-up leaves\nwhich are picked before they expand for spinach. This variety of\ninterpretation, coupled with the fact that the word _finger_, always\napplied to bananas, is never used in speaking of cocoes, points to\nthis being a very old sing.\n\n\n\n\nCXC.\n\n\n[Music: _Valse._\n\n Amanda Grant, me yerry your name,\n yerry your name a bamboo root.\n Why! Why! me yerry your name,\n Why! Why! yerry your name,\n Me yerry your name a bamboo root.]\n\nAmanda stole some money and hid it at the foot of a bamboo.\n\n\n\n\nCXCI.\n\n\n[Music: _2nd Figure._\n\n Last night I was lying on me number,\n An' a foolish man come wake me out of slumber,\n Say Why oh! Why oh!\n I never see a woman dancing with a wooden leg.\n Bammerlichy, bammerlichy, bamby,\n Bammerlichy, bammerlichy, bamby,\n Bammerlichy, bammerlichy, bamby,\n I never see a woman dancing with a wooden leg.]\n\nThe scene is laid in the People's Shelter at Kingston which has\nnumbered sleeping-berths.\n\nAt \"Bammerlichy\" etc. the dancers imitate the stiff action of a wooden\nleg.\n\n\n\n\nCXCII.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n Me lassie me dundooze,\n me dundooze come kiss me,\n The kiss that you give me it rest on me mind\n till it give me the aygo.\n When we married an' settled down we have no cause to say,\n For as soon as the parson pass up the sentence\n nothing to part us.]\n\n\"Dundooze\" (or dundoze, for it is rather hard to catch the vowel) is a\nterm of endearment. Others are, honey, lover, sugar, sweety, marvel,\nbolow, bahzoon.\n\n\"Aygo\" is ague; \"say,\" perhaps, sunder.\n\n\n\n\nCXCIII.\n\n\nThe next conveys an appreciative reference to a proprietor who is a\nlarge employer of labour.\n\n[Music: _Polka._\n\n Mister Davis bring somet'ing fe we all,\n Mister Davis bring somet'ing fe we all.\n Oh him bring black gal,\n An' him bring brown gal,\n An' him bring yaller gal an' all.]\n\n\n\n\nCXCIV.\n\n\n[Music: _5th Figure._\n\n A whe the use you da hang da me neck-back,\n Married man me no want you.\n Turn back, married man, turn back, you brute,\n Turn back married man, married man a dog.]\n\n\n\n\nCXCV.\n\n\n[Music: _4th Figure._\n\n Quattywort' of this!\n Quattywort' of that!\n till him come up to a shilling oh!\n Why Brown man!\n Why Brown man!\n you have a nasty way, Robson.]\n\nThe boy has run up a score at the shop and professes astonishment at\nthe items and the total. Black trusts White more than Brown.\n\n\n\n\nCXCVI.\n\n\nWe end with the pretty flowing melody:--\n\n[Music: _Schottische._\n\n Mahngoose a come, Dory,\n Mahngoose a come.\n All them gal are dead fe Dory,\n Mahngoose a come.\n Come back me dear Dory,\n Come back me dear.\n All them gal are dead fe Dory,\n Mahngoose a come.]\n\nThe mongoose was introduced into Jamaica to kill the rats.\nUnfortunately rats sleep in the day and the mongoose sleeps at night,\nso they never met. How the mongoose took instead to killing chickens\nhas been often told. Dory is having a private interview with a girl\nwho has another admirer. This man has announced his intention of\nchastising Dory. \"Mongoose has come\" is a preconcerted formula which\nmeans, \"the other man has come, Dory, look out!\" When a gang of\nlabourers is working and one of them catches sight of his master in\nthe distance, he will sing this song and the others understand that\nthey must pretend to be busy.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\nNOTE.--(_Accidentally omitted on page 77_: _Cf._ Nos. 56, 67, 132,\n133).\n\nMarriage is, unhappily, often a failure. The woman, in marrying, has\nattained the goal of her ambition. Now that she is Mrs. Smith she\n\"sits down\" and refuses to help her husband, provision-ground food is\nnot good enough for her, and she is always calling out for a new\nfrock. In a few years the couple separate and the home is broken up,\nwith disastrous consequences to the children. In the old days the\ncustom was to defer the ceremony (as Constantine deferred his baptism)\nto a very late period. This plan worked very well. The couple did not\nmarry till they knew for certain that they suited each other, and\noften their well-brought-up children and grandchildren danced at the\nwedding.\n\n\n\n\n_APPENDIX._\n\n\n_A._ TRACES OF AFRICAN MELODY IN JAMAICA.\n\nI have been asked to read through this book in proof, with the object\nof ascertaining whether the Jamaican songs bear any traces of an\nAfrican origin.\n\nUnfortunately, it must be confessed at the outset that our knowledge\nof African music is scantier than that of almost any other kind of\nprimitive music. In other regions of the globe the phonograph has been\neffectively utilised in acquiring accurate records of songs and\ndances. These records have been brought back to Europe, where they\nhave been studied at leisure and their peculiarities of interval and\nrhythm have been precisely determined.\n\nBut in the case of African music (apart from a few imperfectly studied\nrecords in my own possession) we have to rely entirely on the versions\nwhich travellers have taken down for us in the field. We have to\nassume, in the first place, the correctness of their 'musical ear,'\nand in the second place, the possibility of expressing in European\nnotation those delicate shades of pitch and time in which the\ncharacteristics of primitive music so essentially consist. And both\nthese are unwarrantable assumptions.\n\nHowever, from our study of comparative music elsewhere, we may make\none statement with certainty, namely, that _an_ African music does not\nexist. There must be almost as many styles of native music in Africa\nas in Europe--varieties differing not only broadly in general form and\nstructure, but also more minutely in the intervals and rhythms which\nare employed.\n\nI have been informed by travellers in West Africa that surprising\ndifferences occur in the degree of development of musical art even in\nclosely neighbouring regions. In one district hardly any music is to\nbe heard at all; in another the music is most uncouth; in a third it\nis highly agreeable to the European ear; while some parts of West\nAfrica have advanced to the stage of part-singing.\n\nThe most erroneous notions have been expressed as to the nature of\nAfrican music. I have seen it stated that African songs consist in a\ngradual descent from a higher to a lower pitched note. That this is\nfar from being usually the case is shown in the following specimens,\nwhich I have gathered from various narratives of African travel.\n\nI.\n\n[Music: _Boat Song. Congo District._]\n\nII.\n\n[Music: _Boat Song. Congo District._]\n\nIII.\n\n[Music: _Song of Bawili Women._]\n\nIV.\n\n[Music: _Funeral Song. Angola._]\n\nV.\n\n[Music: _Song. Angola._]\n\nVI.\n\n[Music: _Song. M. Balunda._]\n\nVII.\n\n[Music: _Dance-Song. M. Balunda._]\n\nVIII.\n\n[Music: _Boat Song. Guinea Coast._]\n\nIX.\n\n[Music: _Song. I. of Bimbia._]\n\n Songs I. and II. from _La route du Tchad_. Jean Dybowski.\n Paris. 1893. pp. 198-9.\n\n Songs III.-VII. from _Aus West-Afrika_. Hermann Soyaux.\n Leipzig. 1879.\n\n Song VIII. from _Einige Notizen ueber Bonny_. Goettingen.\n 1848.\n\n Song IX. from _A Narrative of the Expedition ... to the\n River Niger_. London. 1848.\n\nA great deal might be said about the general character of these songs,\n_e.g._ the simplicity and brevity of the phrases, and the fondness for\ntriple measure.\n\nBut I pass on to consider three very interesting examples of Jamaican\nmusic which, thanks to my friend Mr. N.W. Thomas, I have found\nrecorded in 1688 in Sir Hans Sloane's _Voyage to Jamaica_. \"Upon one\nof the Festivals where a great many of the Negro Musicians were\ngathered together,\" he writes, \"I desired Mr. Baptiste, the best\nmusician there, to take the words they sung and set them to Musick\nwhich follows.\"\n\nX.\n\n[Music: _Angola Song._\n\n Hobaognion\n Hobaognion\n Hoba\n Hobaognion ognion.]\n\nXI.\n\n[Music: _Papa Song._]\n\nXII.\n\n[Music: _Koromanti Songs._\n\n Meri Bonbo mich langa meri wa langa.]\n\n From _A Voyage to ... Jamaica ..._ by Hans Sloane, M.D.\n London. 1707. Vol. i. pp. l, li.\n\nThe words of these songs are _Hobaognion, ognion_ and _Meri Bonbo mich\nlanga meri wa langa._ Sir Hans Sloane observes that the Jamaican\nnegroes of that time had their native instruments: (i) gourds with\nnecks and strung with horsehair, (ii) a \"hollow'd Timber covered with\nParchment,\" having a bow for its neck, the strings tied longer or\nshorter.\n\nThese songs, however inaccurately recorded, are of the greatest value\nfor the hint they give us of Jamaican music as it existed over two\ncenturies ago. It will be observed that the songs are named 'Angola'\nand 'Koromanti,' according to their African _provenance_. In the\npresent collection of modern songs, reference is made in Song CI. to\nKoromanti ('Cromanty'). So, too, the word 'Bungo' in Song CXXVI. no\ndoubt refers to the large Bongo district of Africa (cf. 'Bungo talk,'\np. 12, _n._).\n\nWe can hardly expect to find considerable traces of this aboriginal\nAfrican music after two centuries of missionary and of trade\ninfluence. African travellers have repeatedly told us how prone the\nnegro is to introduce fresh tunes from other villages and to adapt\nthem to his own purposes. Indeed, the contaminating influence which\nthe Arabs and Portuguese have exercised upon primitive African music\nmakes the study of the latter especially difficult.\n\nBut a community does not adopt exotic music without at the same time\nexercising selection. Those melodies have the greatest chance of\nsuccess which, to some degree at least, follow the current canons of\npublic taste. Revolutionary innovations are rare. The gradual changes\nin taste which take place are the result of such selective adoption of\nforeign music as we have indicated.\n\nThere is one feature in the above-quoted 'Angola' song which is also\nshared by the modern songs of this collection, namely, the presence of\n'bobbins' or short refrains.\n\nThe simplicity in structure of the songs is still a feature of\nJamaican music. I may be allowed to call attention to the repetition\nof single phrases in Song XVIII. and to the building up of simple\nphrases in Songs LXXVII. and LXXIX.\n\nI had hoped that some light might be thrown on the antiquity of\ncertain songs by the presence of nonsense words; but in this I was\ndisappointed.\n\nI quite agree with Miss Broadwood (see next page) that the majority of\nthe songs are of European origin. The negroes have learnt them from\nhearing sailors' chanties or they have adopted hymn tunes.\n\nBut adoption always involves adaptation. A song is modified to suit\nthe current canons of taste. In Song L. I observe 'Home, Sweet Home'\nand (in the latter half) a hymn tune which I frequently heard in the\nTorres Straits. Song CXXXIX. is doubtless 'The British Grenadiers.'\nBut it, again, has not been adopted without modification.\n\nNeedless to say, a detailed study of these modifications would throw\nlight on the characteristics of modern Jamaican music.\n\nIn Song XXXI. a typical non-European modification is the insertion of\nan extra (the fifth) bar, so that the phrase consists of nine bars.\nThe five time in Song XI., the change of accent at the close of Song\nXXIV. and in Song XLI., are no doubt the expression of African delight\nin the complexities of rhythm.\n\nIn the already-quoted 'Koromanti song,' we may observe the curious\ntemporary change of rhythm in the second air, and the characteristic\nmeasure which prevails throughout the third air with its syncopation\nand almost baffling changes. Such features are precisely what we\nshould expect to meet with among a primitive people who more than two\ncenturies ago doubtless possessed in a still higher degree that\ndelight in complication of rhythm which according to Mr. Jekyll (p.\n6) persists among their descendants of to-day. For a more detailed\nstudy of this aspect of the subject I may perhaps refer enquirers to\nmy \"Study of Rhythm in Primitive People\" (_British Journal of\nPsychology_, vol. i. pp. 397-406).\n\nThe present taste and preferences of the Jamaican negroes may perhaps\nbe gauged by the similarities and differences in the first bars of\nSongs LXIII., LXIV., and LXXVIII., by the similarity of Songs I. and\nVIII., XV. and XXVII., and of the bobbins in LIV. and LXVIII.\n\nBut it is not my intention to make a detailed analysis of the songs of\nthe present volume. My object has been rather to emphasize our present\nignorance of African music, and to indicate the lines along which a\nmore intimate acquaintance with African and Jamaican songs may be\nexpected to lead to conclusions as to their relation to one another.\n\nC.S. MYERS.\n\n\n_B._ ENGLISH AIRS AND MOTIFS IN JAMAICA.\n\nBy far the greater part of these Jamaican tunes and song-words seem to\nbe reminiscences, or imitations, of European sailors' \"chanties\" of\nthe modern class; or of trivial British nursery-jingles adapted, as\nall such jingles become adapted.\n\nExcept in the cases specified below, I have not found one Jamaican\ntune which is _entirely_ like any one English or European tune that I\nhappen to know. But unrecorded folk-tunes are essentially fluid, and\npass through endless transformations. In all countries any one\ntraditional ballad may be sung to dozens of distinct traditional\ntunes, each of these again having variants. It is therefore quite\npossible that versions of some of the older-sounding Jamaican airs are\nbeing sung unrecorded at this moment in the British Islands or\nelsewhere.\n\nI note below such instances of modal tunes as occur in this\ncollection. I should perhaps explain that by \"Modes\" are meant those\nancient scales (other than our major and minor scales) which amongst\nEuropean composers fell into disuse at the beginning of the 17th\ncentury, but which survive still in the ancient Church Music\n(popularly called \"Gregorian\"), and in the Folk Music of most European\ncountries, and notably that of the British Isles.\n\nIII. =King Daniel=, p. 14.\n\nCf. the old ballads \"May Colvin\" and \"Young Hunting.\" In the latter\nthe parrot reveals a murder. In both ballads the lady makes the same\npromises to the bird (see Child's _English and Scottish Popular\nBallads_).\n\nVII. =The Three Sisters=, p. 26.\n\nAlthough the story of the monster outwitted by the maiden he tries to\ncarry off is an almost world-wide _motif_, and is found in Africa\namong other countries, this particular version has evidently been in\ncontact with European (English or Scottish) sources. This is shown not\nonly by the fact that the suitor proves to be the Devil, but by the\nquestion and answer (misplaced by the story-teller):\n\n \"What is roguer than a womankind?\"\n \"The Devil is roguer than a womankind.\"\n\nThis riddle appears in three versions of the ballad of \"The Three\nSisters,\" otherwise \"The Elfin Knight,\" or \"Riddles wisely Expounded\"\n(Child, _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, vol. i. pp. 1-6), as:\n\n \"O what is greener than the grass?\n Or what is worse than e'er woman was?\"\n\n \"O poison's greener than the grass,\n And the Devil's worse than e'er woman was....\"\n\n \"As soon as she the fiend did name,\n He flew away in a blazing flame,\"\n\nsays one version, but in the rest there is no disenchantment, and the\nyoungest sister wins the visitor as her husband by her ready wit in\nreplying, which Professor Child (_Additions and Corrections_, vol. v.\np. 283), thinks a modernization of the original story. He quotes a\nmanuscript version taken from a book of Henry VI.'s time, wherein the\n\"Elfin Knight\" is the foul fiend himself _undisguised_.\n\nFor similar survivals of Riddle Songs and Tales see \"There was a Lady\nin the West\" and \"Scarborough Fair\" in _English County Songs_, and\nKidson's _Traditional Tunes_, and \"The Lover's Task\" in _Songs of the\nWest_, etc.\n\nThe tune is evidently an old ballad air. It is in the Aeolian Mode.\n\nXVII. =Man Crow=, p. 54.\n\nThe tune is the same as that sung in Worcestershire by children to \"A\nfinger and thumb keep moving.\"\n\nXVIII. =Saylan=, p. 59.\n\nThis is a version of \"The Maid freed from the Gallows,\" \"The Golden\nBall,\" or \"The Prickly Bush.\" For the latter see _English County\nSongs_. Child gives very exhaustive notes on the story and its\nvariants; also a tune, noted in North Carolina, \"The Prickly Bush\" has\na tune quite unlike Child's, and the Jamaican air is quite distinct\nfrom both.\n\nXXI. =Tacoma and the Old Witch Girl=, p. 65.\n\nCf. \"The Keys of Heaven\" in _English County Songs_, \"Blue Muslin\" in\n_Songs of the West_, and \"Madam I will gi'e you,\" etc., in _Journal of\nthe Folk-Song Society_, No. 7. All these airs are distinct from each\nother, and from the Jamaican tune.\n\nXXIX. =Parson Puss and Parson Dog=, p. 91.\n\nThis tune is the first half of the old French air \"Ah, vous dirai-je,\nMaman?\" used so often by English children in their games. See note in\nMoffat and Kidson's _Children's Songs and Games of Long Ago_, p. 42.\nOther adaptations of the same tune are CXVI. (p. 215), CLXXVII. (p.\n264), and CLXXXIX. (p. 272).\n\nXXXI. =Pretty Poll=, p. 96.\n\nCf. \"King Daniel.\" This is again the story of \"May Colvin\" or \"The\nOutlandish Knight.\" The tune \"Come, pretty Poll\" here given is rather\nreminiscent of one traditional air to the ballad sung still in\ndifferent parts of England (where numerous tunes to the favourite\nstory have been noted). See \"The Outlandish Knight\" in _Songs of\nNorthern England_ (Stokoe and Reay) for the type of tune referred to,\nbut plentiful variants from Hertfordshire, the West of England,\nYorkshire, etc., exist in MS.\n\nXXXVI. =Leah and Tiger=, p. 108.\n\nThe tune is in the Aeolian Mode.\n\nLXIII. =Oh, Samuel, oh=, p. 168.\n\nThis tune is in the Mixolydian Mode.\n\nLXXXVIII. =War down a Monkland=, p. 187.\n\nThe tune is in the Dorian Mode. By far the most interesting tune in\nthis collection. It is a fine Dorian air, I should think an old\ntraditional tune imported by English or Irish.\n\nThere are slight modal influences in other tunes, viz.: \"Bad homan\noh,\" \"Bell oh,\" \"A Somerset me barn,\" \"Whe me loon de,\" \"Me da li,\"\nand \"Since Dora Logan a wahk with Gallawoss\" (Nos. 56, 57, 85, 91,\n100, 122).\n\nCXI., p. 209.\n\nThis tune is a variant of the well-known children's game-song, \"Here\ncome three Dukes a-riding.\"\n\nCXIX., p. 218.\n\nThe tune is a variant of one commonly sung in the North of England and\nin various parts of Scotland, to a children's game, \"Hullaballoo\nballie,\" in which reference is made to lifting the right foot and the\nleft foot.\n\nCXXVII., p. 225.\n\nThis air is the first part of the tune of \"O dem Golden Slippers,\" the\nnegro revival song of some twenty years ago.\n\nCXXX., p. 227.\n\nThis is a reminiscence of the Scotch dance-tune usually sung to the\nwords \"There's nae luck aboot the hoose.\"\n\nCLXXVIII., p. 264.\n\nThis is a well-known old English dance-tune, known also in Scotland.\n\nCLXXXII., p. 267.\n\nThe second part of this tune is merely a reminiscence of \"We won't go\nhome till morning.\"\n\nCLXXXVII., p. 271.\n\nThis tune is the first part of a very commonplace modern Italian\npopular composition called \"La Mandolinata,\" played on every\nconceivable instrument, and sung also, about the year 1876 and for\nsome years afterwards.\n\nL.E. BROADWOOD.","title":"Jamaican song and story : $b Annancy stories, digging sings, ring tunes, and dancing tunes","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":74512}