WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular cover

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular

Chapter 101: XLIX.
By Jr. Charles C. Jones
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Mythology, Legends & Folklore

About This Book

This collection assembles short folktales and tall tales drawn from the coastal rice- and swamp-region oral tradition, rendered in local vernacular speech. The pieces range from animal trickster episodes—featuring a clever rabbit, alligator, wolf, turkey, and other creatures—to human-centered anecdotes about conjuring, superstition, plantation life, and humorous misadventures. Arranged as many brief numbered stories, the volume preserves regional expressions, rhythm, and humor while alternating fables, jokes, and supernatural accounts. Recurrent themes include cunning over brute strength, community memory, survival in marshland settings, and the interplay of practical wit and folkloric belief.

XLIX.

DE SINGLE BALL.

Er Buckra man bin berry lub fuh hunt deer. Eh nussen fuh brag too. Eh hab er Serbant wuh always gone wid um der wood fuh dribe de deer. Him bin berry fond er eh Mossa, an eh ready any time fuh schway ter de tale wuh him tell bout how much deer dem kill, an way dem shoot um. One time dis Buckra man bin tell eh fren say him shoot er deer long er rifle, an wen eh gone fuh zamine um, eh fine say de ball shoot off eh hine foot an hit um een eh yez. Him fren couldnt see how dat happne, an dem yent bin want fuh bleeve de tale. Den de hunter man call pon topper him Serbant fuh proobe wuh him bin say. De Serbant speak de wud same luk him Mossa bin talk um. Den de gentlemans ax um how de same ball could er hit de deer een eh hine foot an een eh yez same time. De Nigger cratch eh head, an den eh mek answer: “Gentlemans, me spec wen Mossa fire pon topper um, de deer mus be bin er bresh fly offer eh yez wid eh hine foot.” Dat sorter saterfy de gentlemans, an sabe de Buckra man wud.

Arter de gentlemans done gone, de Serbant call eh Mossa one side an eh say: “Mossa, me willin fuh back anyting you say bout hunt an kill deer, but lemme bague you nex time you tell bout how you shoot um, you pit de hole closer. Dis time you mek um so fur apart, me hab big trouble fur git um togerruh.”