The Annotated African American Folktales by Gates, Henry Louis -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Contents Foreword: The Politics of “Negro Folklore” by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Introduction: Recovering a Cultural Tradition by Maria Tatar African Tales

I: Making Sense of the World With Anansi: Stories, Wisdom, and Contradiction

How the Sky God’s Stories Came to Be Known as Spider Stories Rabbit Wants More Sense How Wisdom Came into the World The Two Friends How It Came About That Children Were (First) Whipped How Contradiction Came to the Ashanti

II: Figuring it Out: Facing Complications with Dilemma Tales

Who Should Marry the Girl? Trackwell, Divewell, Breavewell A Vital Decision The Story of the Four Fools

III: Adding Enchantment to Wisdom: Fairy Tales Work their Magic

The Story of Demane and Demazana The Tail of the Princess Elephant The Maiden, the Frog, and the Chief’s Son Adzanumee and Her Mother The Story of the Cannibal Mother and Her Children Tsélané and the Marimo

IV: Telling Tales Today: Oral Narratives from Africa

The Filial Son Men Deceive Women Know Your Relatives or Else You’ll Be Mistaken for a Slave Which of the Three Men Was the Most Powerful?

African American Tales

I: Defiance and Desire: Flying Africans and Magical Instruments

Flying Africans

The Flying Man All God’s Chillen Had Wings All God’s Chillun Got Wings Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Now Let Me Fly Little Black Sambo from Guinea Flying Africans

Magic Instruments

How The Hoe Came to Ashanti The Do-All Ax

Testimonials About Flying Africans

II: Fears and Phobias: Witches, Hants, and Spooks

Witches

Skinny, Skinny, Don’t You Know Me? Skin Don’t You Know Me? The Cat-Witch Witches Who Ride Out of Her Skin Macie and the Boo Hag

Hants and Spooks

The Headless Hant In the Name of the Lord The Girl and the Plat-Eye The Jack-o’-My-Lantern

III: Speech and Silence: Talking Skulls and Singing Tortoises

The Talking Skull The Skull That Talked Back Dividing Souls Talking Bones Talks Too Much The Hunter and the Tortoise What the Frog Said Pierre Jean’s Tortoise The Talking Turtle John and the Blacksnake Farmer Mybrow and the Fairies

IV: Silence and Passive Resistance: The Tar-Baby Story

Spider and the Farmer Tale of Ntrekuma Tar Baby De Wolf, De Rabbit, and De Tar Baby The Story of Buh Rabbit and the Tar Baby The Wonderful Tar-Baby How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox Tar Baby Tar Baby Anansi and the Tar Baby The Rabbit and the Tar Wolf The Rabbit and the Tar Wolf (Second Version) Buh Wolf, Buh Rabbit, and de Tar Baby

V: Kindness and Treachery: Slipping the Trap

Gratitude An Example of Ingratitude The Boy and the Crocodile Mr. Snake and the Farmer The Tortoise and the Toad

VI: Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus Tales

Uncle Remus Initiates the Little Boy The Sad Fate of Mr. Fox How Spider and Kawku Tse Killed the King’s Cows and Took His Wives (Africa) Mr. Rabbit Grossly Deceives Mr. Fox Rabbit Makes Wolf His Horse (South Sea Islands) Brother Rabbit’s Love-Charm Brother Rabbit’s Laughing-Place Brother Rabbit Doesn’t Go to See Aunt Nancy The Adventures of Simon and Susanna

VII: Folklore from the Southern Workman and the Journal of American Folklore

Brer Rabbit’s Box, with Apologies to Joel Chandler Harris The Donkey, the Dog, the Cat and the Rooster Jack and the King Plantation Courtship Echoes from a Plantation Party Hags and Their Ways / The Conquest of a Hag Why the Clay Is Red Fish Stories Two Ghost Stories Haunted House, Buried Treasure, The Six Witches The Witch Cats The Boy and the Ghost Mr. Claytor’s Story and Mrs. Spennie’s Story Playing Godfather, Flower of Dew, and Soul or Sole

VIII: Folktales from The Brownies’ Book

The Story of “Creasus” The Twin Heroes Chronicles of Br’er Rabbit Br’er Rabbit Wins the Reward Br’er Rabbit Learns What Trouble Is How Mr. Crocodile Got His Rough Back How Br’er Possum Learned to Play Dead Yada: A True African Story

IX: Zora Neale Hurston Collects African American Folklore

Franz Boas, Preface to Mules and Men From Zora Neale Hurston, Works-in-Progress for The Florida Negro From Zora Neale Hurston, “Negro Folklore” From Zora Neale Hurston, “Culture Heroes” From Zora Neale Hurston, “Research” How the Cat Got Nine Lives “Blood Is Thicker Than Water” and Butterflies When God First Put Folks on Earth and Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men Why de Porpoise’s Tail Is On Crosswise and Rockefeller and Ford Anansi and the Frog The Orphan Boy and Girl and the Witches Jack and the Devil King of the World

X: Lessons in Laughter: Tales About John and Old Master

John de First Colored Man “ ’Member Youse a Nigger!” Catching John The Mojo How? John Outwits Mr. Berkeley Old Boss and John at the Praying Tree Old Master and Okra A Laugh That Meant Freedom How Buck Won His Freedom Voices in the Graveyard Swapping Dreams How John Stopped His Boss-Man from Dreaming John and the Constable Old John and the Master

XI: How in the World? Pourquoi Tales

Why We See Ants Carrying Bundles as Big as Themselves Why the Hare Runs Away Tortoise and the Yams What Makes Brer Wasp Have a Short Patience De Reason Why de ’Gator Stan’ So Why the Nigger Is So Messed Up Two Bundles Compair Lapin and Madame Carencro

XII: Ballads: Heroes, Outlaws, and Monkey Business

John Henry Annie Christmas Stagolee Frankie and Johnny Railroad Bill The Titanic The Signifying Monkey

XIII: Artists, Pro and Con: Preacher Tales

How the Brother Was Called to Preach The Farmer and the G.P.C. Jump on Mama’s Lap Deacon Jones’ Boys and the Greedy Preacher Poppa Stole the Deacon’s Bull The Haunted Church and the Sermon on Tithing Old Brother Tries to Enter Heaven

XIV: Folkloric Cousins Abroad: Tales from Caribbean and Latin American Cultures

The Oranges The President Wants No More of Anansi The Night Beauty Man-Crow Words Without End Why People Do Not Live Again After Death The Man Who Took a Water Mother for His Bride The Girl Made of Butter Tiger Softens His Voice A Boarhog for a Husband

XV: Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Fairy Tales

Cinderella Mr. Bluebeard The Chosen Suitor: The Forbidden Room The Chosen Suitor: The Forbidden Room (Second Version) The Singing Bones The Singing Bones (Second Version) The Murderous Mother The Stolen Voice The Mermaid The Big Worm The Talking Eggs Ramstampeldam King Peacock

Prefaces to Collections and Manifestos About Collecting African American Lore

William Owens, “Folklore of the Southern Negroes” Joel Chandler Harris, Introduction to Nights with Uncle Remus (1883) Anonymous, “Word Shadows” Alice Mabel Bacon, “Folk-Lore and Ethnology Circular Letter” and Letters in Response to the Call William Wells Newell, “The Importance and Utility of the Collection of Negro Folk-Lore,” and Anna J. Cooper, “Paper” Zora Neale Hurston, “High John de Conquer” Sterling A. Brown, “Negro Folk Expression”

Poets and Philosophers Remember Stories: Meditations On African American Lore Image Gallery A: Tale-Telling Sites: At Home and in Common Spaces Image Gallery B: Tale-Telling Sites: Places of Labor Image Gallery C: Illustrated Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar Image Gallery D: Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus Tales Bibliography Acknowledgments Other Annotated Books From W. W. Norton & Company Copyright

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