African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Callie Ann and Mistah Bear

Yesterday and the day before I wrote about Caribbean folktale books by Robert San Souci; today I want to write about one of his books inspired by an African American story: Callie Ann and Mistah Bear. 

The lively illustrations are by Don Daily:

San Souci cites as his sources a Creole story from Louisiana collected by Alcee Fortier, "Compair Taureau and Jean Malin," and there is a similar story in Joel Chandler Harris (which San Souci does not cite): "Why Brother Bull Growls and Grumbles." Souci also notes the connection with an even more widespread folktale type: "Escape Up the Tree" (as documented in Parsons's catalog) which is found in African American, Caribbean, and African stories, as, for example, in Harris's "The Little Boy and His Dogs," which appears have suggested the bear character to San Souci; he does cite this Harris story as a source in his note.

In both Fortier and Harris, the dangerous suitor is a bull, not a bear; here's what that bull looks like in an edition of Harris illustrated by A. B. Frost:

And here's the illustration by Jerry Pinkney for Julius Lester's retelling of Harris's stories: 

Here's Daily's depiction of the bear suitor:

Not only has San Souci changed the animal from a bull to a bear, he has given the story a young girl as a heroine instead of a young boy, which is a nice change also. The way that she defeats the bear in the end is also not with magic but instead by using her wits. It's a wonderful story, and if you are a teacher, you might ask your students to compare this story and the stories by Fortier and Harris to see what similarities and differences your students notice, and they might be inspired to come up with their own version of the story, thinking about the different dangerous animals, the qualities of the human characters, etc., all those choices that each storyteller makes as they craft their story.

Callie Ann and Mistah Bear

by Robert San Souci