Negro myths from the Georgia coast, told in the vernacular

Chapter 35: XVI.

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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.

XVI.

BUH LION AN BUH GOAT.

Buh Lion bin a hunt, an eh spy Buh Goat duh leddown topper er big rock duh wuk eh mout an der chaw. Eh creep up fuh ketch um. Wen eh git close ter um eh notus um good. Buh Goat keep on chaw. Buh Lion try fuh fine out wuh Buh Goat duh eat. Eh yent see nuttne nigh um ceptin de nekked rock wuh eh duh leddown on. Buh Lion stonish. Eh wait topper Buh Goat. Buh Goat keep on chaw, an chaw, an chaw. Buh Lion cant mek de ting out, an eh come close, an eh say: “Hay! Buh Goat, wuh you duh eat?” Buh Goat skade wen Buh Lion rise up befo um, but eh keep er bole harte, an eh mek ansur: “Me duh chaw dis rock, an ef you dont leff, wen me done long um me guine eat you.” Dis big wud sabe Buh Goat. Bole man git outer diffikelty way coward man lose eh life.