African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Lapin of Louisiana

For today's post, I wanted to share two books about "Lapin," the trickster rabbit of Louisiana. They both are by Sharon Arms Doucet, and the first is Why Lapin's Ears Are Long and Other Tales of the Louisiana Bayou, published in 1997.

The illustrations are by David Catrow. Here's Lapin with Madame Tourtue (Mrs. Turtle):

The second book is Lapin Plays Possum: Trickster Tales From the Louisiana Bayou, published in 2002. 

The illustrations for this book are by Scott Crook. Here's the Tar Bébé (Tar Baby) that Bouki has created to trap Lapin:

Doucet is a Cajun writer and also a musician, and Cajun culture is itself a multifaceted mixture of French, Native American, African, and Afro-Latin Creole. Each book also includes a glossary of Cajun English words that are used in the stories.

And you can find out more about Cajun English at Wikipedia.

"Lapin" (the French word for rabbit) is a famous trickster in the Cajun and Creole cultures of Louisiana. You'll also find "Bouki" here, which is the Wolof word for "hyena," who was rabbit's sidekick in the African stories, and his name lives on here, even though the hyenas of Africa are not remembered. I really like how Doucet explains that in her afterword to Lapin Plays Possum:

The trickster Compère Lapin and his sidekick, Compère Bouki, have been pestering each other since before they left their native soil of western Africa over two centuries ago. In the early 1700s, they were brought to North America by the African men and women who were captured and sold into slavery. They quarreled all the way to French-speaking Louisiana, where folks have been telling their stories around the hearth and on the porch ever since, in both the black Creole and the white Cajun communities. Lapin's famous cousin ended up on the East Coast and is known to all as Brer Rabbit. Bouki started life in Africa a hyena. But since hyenas tend to be scarce in Louisiana, he has evolved into a vague dog-wolf character, always large on size but short on brains.

I also really like the way the stories are connected with one leading to another to another, so that Bouki finally gets his revenge in the final story... although Lapin gets away once again, with Bouki getting tangled in the briar, kind of like the way Lapin got tangled up with the tar baby, but of course Lapin gets the last laugh!

Why Lapin's Ears Are Long and

Other Tales of the Louisiana Bayou

by Sharon Arms Doucet

Lapin Plays Possum: Trickster Tales

from the Louisiana Bayou

by Sharon Arms Doucet