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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 47: XXII.
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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.

XXII.

DE CAT, DE RAT, DE CHEESE, AN DE FOX.

De Cat an de Rat, dem fine one big piece er cheese een er closet. Dem cahr um way fuh share um. Dem cant gree how eh fuh dewide, an dem call een de Fox fuh jedge between um.

De Fox, eh berry cunnin, an eh nebber furgit ehself. Eh bring eh scale, an eh pit de cheese een um. Den eh tek eh knife an eh cut off big piece, an eh pit um one side an eh say dis fuh de jedge. Den eh weigh de cheese gen een de scale, an eh tek um out an eh cut off narrur slice, an eh pit um one side an eh say dat fuh de jedge.

By dis time eh done tek mo ner half de cheese. Wen eh pit de cheese back een de scale, an hole um up gen, Buh Cat an Buh Rat, dem bofe call out: “Hole on, Jedge! Dis ting wrong. You gwine tek all we cheese an leff we none.” Buh Fox, him berry bex, on eh gedder de cheese an eh fole up eh scale, an eh holler out: “Begone, you rogue. You lib pon tief, an you gwine tell me how fer do jestice? Good fuh you me only tek de cheese, an leh you go wid you life. Me great mine fuh kill you bofe.”

Wid dat, Buh Cat an Buh Rat, dem leff, an Buh Fox, wuh bin de jedge, eat all de cheese.

Wen tief git plunder, better fuh dem fuh share um mongst demself den trus ter call een bigger rogue fur dewide um.