Jamaica Anansi stories

Chapter 279: 15. Long Shirt. [Story]

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About This Book

A collection of Jamaican folktales gathers short animal and trickster narratives centered on the spider Anansi alongside tales about tigers, monkeys, goats, and birds. Stories account for curious animal traits, stage comic reversals, and probe themes of cunning, justice, and social order through episodic plots and origin motifs. The volume also presents riddles, dance and song materials, and field-recorded music, arranged in thematic sections that compile variants, brief notes, and folkloric context for each tale.

[Contents]

15. Long Shirt. [Story]

Hendrick’s version of this good story is the only one I heard in Jamaica. It has a European coloring in the speaking garment, which resembles the English versions of Jack and the Bean-stalk. The setting of the dance resembles number 4, but in this story the dance plays no motivating part. For the horn as stump see Aesop, Phaedrus 2: 8. The conclusion is no doubt a turn of Hendrick’s own, as he was fond of explanatory endings and got one in whenever he could. [242]