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Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular cover

Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular

Chapter 33: XV.
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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.

XV.

BUH OWL AN BUH ROOSTER.

Buh Owl, him bin a great music-meker. Him an Buh Rooster bin good fren. Heap er bud blan wisit Buh Rooster house fuh yeddy music an fuh dance. Buh Owl, him sing so well an eh pick de banjo so clear, nobody kin listen ter um an keep eh foot still; but eh no wan leh nobody shum wen eh duh sing an play. Buh Rooster, him always blan hab a dark room fuh Buh Owl fuh set in wen eh duh play fuh de bud. Lamp day in day, but eh hab shade on um. Buh Owl kin see de bud wuh duh dance, but de bud, dem cant see Buh Owl. Buh Owl, him faid light, an eh yent der bole bud no how.

One ebenin Buh Owl bin a sing an play oncommon well fuh de bud at Buh Rooster house fuh dance. De pahler bin full, but dem yent bin know who dat bin a mek de music. Buh Rooster, him bin prommus Buh Owl dat eh yent guine tell who duh sing an play. Wen dem all bin dance tel dem tired, dem all bague Buh Rooster fuh show dem de man wuh bin mek sich pooty music fuh dem fuh dance long. Buh Rooster say him cant. Dem keep on bague, tel, at lenk, Buh Rooster gone in tarruh room, an eh tek de shade offer de lamp. Wen dem look pon topper Buh Owl, eh yeye so big, an eh yez cock up so high, eh skade de people, an dem all holler an run.

Buh Owl, him berry bex case Buh Rooster broke eh wud, an he fall out wid Buh Rooster. From dat day Buh Owl hate Buh Rooster, eh wife, an eh chillun. Wenebber, duh night, eh yeddy any er um duh crow er der fix ehself topper eh roose, eh mek fuh de place an eat um up. Eh yent do, in dis wul, fuh man fuh ceive eh fren.