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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 91: XLIV.
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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.

XLIV.

BUH SQUIRLE AN BUH FOX.

Buh Squirle bin berry busy duh gedder hickry not on de groun fuh pit way fuh feed ehself an eh fambly duh winter time. Buh Fox bin er watch um, an befo Buh Squirle shum, eh slip up an eh graff um. Buh Squirle, eh dat skaid eh trimble all ober, an eh bague Buh Fox fuh lem go. Buh Fox tell um say eh bin er try fuh ketch um long time, but eh hab sich sharp yeye, an keen yez, an spry leg, eh manage fuh dodge um; an now wen eh got um at las, eh mean fuh kill um an eat um. Wen Buh Squirle fine out dat Buh Fox yent bin gwine pity um an tun um loose, but dat eh fix fuh kill um an eat um, Buh Squirle say teh Buh Fox: “Enty you know say nobody oughter eat eh bittle befo eh say grace ober um?” Buh Fox him mek answer: “Dat so;” an wid dat eh pit Buh Squirle een front er um, an eh fall on eh knee, an eh kibber eh yeye wid eh han, an eh tun een fuh say grace.

Wile Buh Fox bin er do dis, Buh Squirle manage fuh slip way; an wen Buh Fox open eh yeye, eh see Buh Squirle duh run up de tree way him couldnt tetch um.

Buh Fox fine eh couldnt help ehself, an eh call arter Buh Squirle an eh say: “Nummine, Boy, you done git way now, but de nex time me clap dis han topper you, me gwine eat you fus an say grace arterward.”

Bes plan fuh er man fuh mek sho er eh bittle befo eh say tenky fuh um.