You will find over 200 stories in this book (many in multiple versions), plus riddles, proverbs, toasts, verses, games, songs, and folk traditions. Here is a list of titles linked to pages at the Internet Archive: Dog and Dog-Head /
Playing Godfather /
Playing Godfather: Tell-tale Grease /
Tell-tale Grease /
Selling Mothers: Tell-tale Grease /
Tell-tale Grease: Mock Plea /
Fire Test: Mock Plea /
Rabbit seeks Endowments /
Gives Himself Away /
Guessing a Name /
Ramstampeldam /
Woman-Cat /
Tar Baby /
Tar Baby: Mock Plea (In the Brier-Patch) /
Tar Baby: Mock Plea: Refugees in the Roof: Watcher Tricked /
Frog Escapes /
Playing Poisoned /
Buried Tail /
Mock Fire: Buried Tail /
Fatal Imitation /
The Password (Honey-Tree) /
The Password (Eagle-Nest) /
The Password (In the Store): Take my Place /
God Above /
Cartload of Fish /
Who Dives the Longest: Cartload of Fish /
The False Message /
The False Message: Take my Place /
The False Message: Take my Place: Ants in the Hole /
Decoyed: "Fly, don't worry me!" Mock Plea /
Playing Sick /
The Chosen Suitor /
The Chosen Suitor: The Devil's "Yes" /
The Chosen Suitor: The Forbidden Room /
Tiger's Wife /
Tiger's Wife: Magic Flight /
The Devil's Daughter /
Rabbit makes Wolf his Horse /
Rabbit makes Wolf his Horse: Watcher Tricked /
Insult Midstream: Rabbit makes Alligator his Horse /
Insult Midstream /
Dilatory Buzzard /
The Lazy Man /
House A-Fire /
Don't Suck your Teeth /
God and Fortune /
Only a Lamb /
Seeing Trouble /
Broom-Straw A-Fire /
Tar Baby: Blinding the Owner: Broom-Straw A-Fire /
Bewitching the Master /
Witch-Man and Rooster /
Out of her Skin /
To meet in Hell /
Watch or Rattlesnake /
Watch or Rattlesnake: "Knee-Deep" and "Better go Round" /
Tie me Tight! /
Dividing the Souls /
The Three Dreams /
Big-Claw and Little-Claw /
The Talking Mule /
Racing a Ghost /
Purgatory /
Chair-Bound /
Man in Liquor /
Trackwell, Divewell, Breathewell /
Master Disguised /
The Irishman and the Donkeys /
Treaty of Peace /
Relay Race /
Asleep in the Race /
Frog Pays /
Escape up the Tree /
The Deserted Children: Escape up the Tree: Rescue of the King's Daughter /
The Rich Old Man /
The Doctor and his Man /
The Three Sweethearts /
Man under the Bed /
The Two Cowards /
Minstrel Monologue /
On the Log /
Gooseberry Gallows /
Used to it /
Landing is Hell /
Lucky Hunter /
Lucky Hunter: Tooth Out /
Three more Damn Fools /
Unruly Children /
Splinter in his Toe /
The Giant Pumpkin /
Hackumsaw /
The Big Bull /
Gallinipper and the Oyster-Boat /
Gallinipper on the Bridge /
Sundown /
The Widow's Son and the Lion /
In Arkansaw /
Tornado /
Rattlesnake Pilot /
Sport on Sunday /
The Bag of Stories /
The Bald-Headed Wife /
Boiling Water on the Rice /
Rabbit envies Crane /
Sends for her Husband /
The Dreamer /
Three Men in a Boat /
One-Foot Man and One-Arm Man /
Worm-Tracks /
In the Oven /
On the House-Top /
Under the Ground and over the Ground /
Endures Mosquitoes /
Too Lazy to live /
The Master Thief /
All Mine: I might, and I might not /
The Blind Old Woman /
Feasting on Dog /
Old Bones /
Wolf! Wolf! /
Dead Duck and Wounded Duck /
The Single Ball /
Spit on my Hand /
Who darkens the Hole? /
Fasting-Trial /
Wait upon the Lord /
Sunrise calls /
Guinea-Hen Call /
Prayer /
Cinderella /
Nice to the Ladies /
The Widow won /
The Murderous Mother /
The Apple-Tree /
Fish to Every Cut /
Buried Treasure /
Curry-Comb Fodder /
Never shake nor shiver /
The Lion's Toss /
A Little While I gone /
Hard-boiled /
Paul /
Changing Places /
The Murderous Husband /
Robber Bridegroom /
The Clever Companions /
Mr. Hard-Times /
The Girl who learned to talk Proper /
Suitors who would talk Proper /
Old Thief and Young Thief /
Gallinipper and Mosquito /
The Imitative Choir /
By God! /
Boot or no Boot /
In the Well /
The Mermaid /
Cow Partnership /
Prize Jumper /
The Frightened Guest /
Three Preachers /
Illusion /
The End of the Family /
Sunday Dinner /
Jacob's Call /
John Bunyan /
Crane loses his Fish /
The Give-Away (Mock Funeral) /
The Music-Box /
The Haunted House /
Incriminating the Other Fellow /
The Boy and his Cap /
Duck-Egg, Hen-Egg, and Goose-Egg /
The Milk that Wolf got /
A Prayer in the Bulrushes /
Watch Overboard /
How can a Boar-Hog have Pigs? /
Bible, or Cards /
Stick-Lick /
Riddles /
Proverbs /
Toasts /
John Brown's Body /
Grizzly Bear /
The Rose is Red /
Jordan /
So, Mister Brown! (a Dance-Song) /
Little Sissie (a Dance-Song) /
True-Love, True-Love /
Lifeboat /
Nancy Beulah /
Sun and Moon /
Lady, string those Beans! /
London Bridge /
Here comes a Bluebird! /
Old Grandmother in the Dining-Room /
The Farmyard /
Sandy Grey /
Johnny Smoker /
Who dat a-ticklein' me? /
He shall hang to-morrow /
Old Ned /
The Maid freed from the Gallows /
Titanic /
Ship on the Ocean /
Down on my Knees /
Good News, Dinah, Good News! /
The Whole World on Fire.
The song section includes the musical transcription too:
This is just the first of many contributions from Elsie Clews Parsons that I will be featuring in this blog series; she was one of the most significant scholars of African American folktales and folkways in the early 20th century, and she also studied Native American traditions. Parsons was born in 1875 in New York City and graduated from Barnard College in 1896, and then received a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1899. In addition to her work as a folklorist, she was a radical feminist in her day. You can read more about her life and work at Wikipedia. (The article is strangely silent on her work with African American folklore, so after I finish this series of blog posts about her contributions, I'll see if I can update that article.)
So, I'll dedicate next week to more of Parsons' work; meanwhile, enjoy this wide-ranging collection of stories from the Sea Islands. It is one of the most important collections of African American folktales of the early 20th century.
by Elsie Clews Parsons
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