Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to accounts of how the world was created and got to be the way it is to moral fables that tell of encounters between masters and slaves. They include stories set down in nineteenth-century travelers' reports and plantation journals, tales gathered by collectors such as Joel Chandler Harris and Zora Neale Hurston, and narratives tape-recorded by Roger Abrahams himself during extensive expeditions throughout the American South and the Caribbean.
With black-and-white illustrations throughout Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folkore Library
By:
Roger Abrahams
Imprint: Random House USA Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 155mm,
Spine: 24mm
Weight: 397g
ISBN: 9780375705397
ISBN 10: 0375705392
Series: The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 15 March 1999
Recommended Age: From 9 to 12 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
PREFACE • xv INTRODUCTION • 3 PART I. Getting Things Started: How the World Got Put Together That Way • 37 1. Never Seen His Equal • 41 2. The Man Makes and the Woman Takes • 42 3. Bringing Men and Women Together • 45 4. The Fight Over Life • 46 5. The Wind and the Water Fighting • 47 6. The Word the Devil Made up • 48 7. The Knee-High Man Tries to Get Sizable • 49 8. Pig’s Long Nose and Greedy Mouth • 50 9. Getting Common Sense • 52 10. Hankering for a Long Tail • 53 11. The Devil’s Doing • 62 12. The John Crows Lost Their Hair • 63 13. Tadpole Loses His Tail • 65 14. The Owl Never Sleeps at Night • 66 15. Why Hens are Afraid of Owls • 68 16. The Gifts of Dipper and Cowhide • 69 17. Buh Nansi Scares Buh Lion • 72 18. Testing the Good Lord • 74 19. Mr. Possum Loves Peace • 75 20. Get Back, Get Back • 77 21. No Justice on Earth • 78 PART II. Minding Somebody Else’s Business and Sometimes Making It Your Own • 81 22. Meeting the King of the World • 85 23. Mr. Bamancoo Gets Dropped • 87 24. The Tug-of-War between Elephant and Whale • 89 25. Tiger Becomes a Riding Horse • 91 26. The Telltale Pepper Bush • 94 27. Making the Stone Smoke • 97 28. The Latest Song • 99 29. The Signifying Monkey • 101 30. The Singing Bones • 105 31. A Boarhog for a Husband • 108 32. The Woman Who Was a Bird • 111 33. My Mother Killed Me, My Father Ate Me • 113 PART III. Getting a Comeuppance: How (and How Not) to Act Stories • 115 34. What Makes Brer Wasp Have a Short Patience • 119 35. Between the Fiddler and the Dancer • 121 36. Being Greedy Chokes Anansi • 122 37. The Doings and Undoings of the Dogoshes • 123 38. Spreading Fingers for Friendship • 124 39. Don’t Shoot Me, Dyer, Don’t Shoot Me • 125 40. Little Eight John • 128 41. The Poor Man and the Snake • 130 42. The Little Bird Grows • 132 43. Tricking All the Kings • 136 44. The Feast on the Mountain and the Feast Under the Water • 140 45. Hide Anger Until Tomorrow • 141 46. Buying Two Empty Hands • 142 47. Cutta Cord-La • 144 48. Brer Bear’s Grapevine • 147 49. A Foolish Mother • 149 50. Old Granny Grinny Granny • 151 51. You Never Know What Trouble Is Until It Finds You • 153 52. He Pays for the Provisions • 159 53. The Cunning Cockroach • 163 54. Little Boy-Bear Nurses the Alligator Children • 164 55. The Girl Made of Butter • 167 56. Poppa Stole the Deacon’s Bull • 169 57. The Trouble with Helping Out • 173 58. The Rooster Goes Away in a Huff • 175 PART IV. How Clever Can You Get? Tales of Trickery and Its Consequences • 177 59. Why They Name the Stories for Anansi • 182 60. Brother Rabbit Takes a Walk • 183 61. The Lion in the Well • 185 62. A License to Steal • 192 63. The Race between Toad and Donkey • 194 64. Crawling into the Elephant’s Belly • 197 65. A Strange Way to Sleep • 199 66. Goobers Gone, Rabbit Gone • 200 67. Assaulting All the Senses • 202 68. Brer Rabbit’s Riddle • 203 69. The Horned Animals’ Party • 206 70. Anansi Plays Dead • 207 71. Anansi Climbs the Wall • 210 72. Dancing to the River • 211 73. “Trouble” Coming Down the Road • 214 74. No Chicken Tonight • 216 PART V. The Strong Ones and the Clever: Contests and Confrontations • 219 75. Golden Breasts, Diamond Navel, Chain of Gold • 223 76. The Flying Contest • 230 77. Loggerhead • 232 78. Trying to Get the Goldstone • 234 79. Stackolee • 238 80. Escaping, Slowly • 240 81. Turning into Nóuna—Nothing • 241 82. The Old Bull and the Young One • 244 83. Fasting for the Hand of the Queen’s Daughter • 251 84. Weak in the Day and Strong at Night • 253 85. Jack Beats the Devil • 255 86. Three Killed Florrie, Florrie Killed Ten PART VI. Getting Around Old Master (Most of the Time) • 263 87. They Both Had Dead Horses • 270 88. You Talk Too Much, Anyhow • 274 89. Making the Eyes Run • 275 90. Making a Wagon from a Wheelbarrow • 276 91. The One-Legged Turkey • 277 92. John Outruns the Lord • 278 93. A Flying Fook • 280 94. Horses Stay Outside • 281 95. The Sinking of the Titanic • 282 96. Competition for Laziness • 283 97. John Outwits Mr. Berkeley • 284 98. Black Jack and White Jack • 288 99. Philanewyork • 291 100. The Barn is Burning • 293 PART VII. In the End, Nonsense • 297 101. Big-Gut, Big-Head, Stringy-Leg • 300 102. A Chain of Won’ts • 300 103. Animal Talk • 301 104. A Comic Conversation • 302 105. A Smoking Story • 303 106. The Things That Talked • 304 107. Endings • 305 APPENDIX: Sources, Annotations, and Index of Tales • 307 BIBLIOGRAPHY • 321 PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • 325
ROGER D. ABRAHAMS(1933-2017) was the Hum Rosen Professor of Folklore and Folklife at the University of Pennsylvania, president of the American Folklore Society, and the author of many books, monographs, and articles on African American, Creole, Caribbean, and American culture.
Reviews for African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World
""Roger D. Abrahams is one of the preeminent scholars of African American vernacular culture."" —Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ""The text rolls along easily and amusingly. The rales are divided into types—trickster stories, moral example stories, old master stories—so that you can find the right sort of story for your taste or mood. Skipping about, in fact, is the way to enjoy the book and to appreciate the variety of background, tone, and narrative structure that it reveals."" —The Atlantic ""In spite of the scholarly fullness of this book, the earthiness and zestful wit of the tales themselves are uncompromised . . . Abrahams' thesis—that the black storytelling tradition is an incredibly rich and affirmative one—is well served by this extraordinary book, which is likely to become a standard text in the field."" —Choice ""Earthy and comedic . . . a rousing good read . . . I suspect Mr. Abraham's book will be read a generation hence."" —The New York Times Book Review ""Another masterful addition and accessible introduction to the captured myths of what the Mede calls 'God's Chiefdom' . . . Sweeping across the continent . . . the juxtaposition of tribes and pacing of story lengths make for lively reading."" —The Washington Post Book World
