The Caribbean Story Finder A Guide To 438 Tales From 24 Nations and Territories Listing Subjects and Sources 1st Edition Sharon Barcan Elswit

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438 Tales from 24 Nations and

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The Caribbean
Story Finder
AlSo by ShAron bArCAn ElSwiT
And From mC FArlAnd
The Latin American Story Finder:

A Guide to 470 Tales from Mexico, Central America
and South America, Listing Subjects and Sources (2015)
The East Asian Story Finder:
A Guide to 468 Tales from China, Japan and Korea,
Listing Subjects and Sources (2009; softcover 2014)
The Jewish Story Finder:
A Guide to 668 Tales Listing Subjects and Sources, 2d ed. (2012)
The Caribbean
Story Finder
A Guide to 438 Tales
from 24 Nations and Territories,
Listing Subjects and Sources
ShAron bArCAn ElSwiT
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina
librAry oF CongrESS C ATAloguing-in-PubliCATion dATA
names: Elswit, Sharon, author.
Title: The Caribbean story finder : a guide to 438 tales from 24 nations and
territories, listing subjects and sources / Sharon barcan Elswit.
♾
description: Jefferson, north Carolina : mcFarland & Company, inc.,
Publishers, 2017. | includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: lCCn 2017035298 | iSbn 9781476663043 (softcover : acid free paper)
Subjects: lCSh: Tales—Caribbean Area—bibliography. | Folklore—Caribbean
Area—bibliography.
Classification: lCC Z5984.37.C37 E47 2017 gr120 | ddC 398.209729—dc23
lC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017035298
briTiSh librAry CATAloguing dATA ArE AvAilAblE

ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-6304-3
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-3001-4
© 2017 Sharon barcan Elswit. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover image © 2017 galyna_P/iStock
Printed in the united States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Beyond mountains there are mountains.
—haitian proverb
This page intentionally left blank
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Introduction 3
I—musical Tales (Stories 1–18) 11
II—winning and losing with gods and Spirits (Stories 19–75) 25
III—Seeking Justice (Stories 76–116) 53
IV—be Careful: beautiful Shape-shifters, loup-garous, devils,

Zombies, and other Supernatural dangers (Stories 117–174) 77
V—Tearful love and Playful Courtship (Stories 175–205) 109

Love 175; Courtship 193
VI—goodness: Kindness and Friendship (Stories 206–225) 129
VII—Powers That be in the Community: The weak and the Strong,

yearnings, Teachers, Clever Thinkers, and Characters
(Stories 226–310) 141
VIII—Tricksters: besting the bully and Schemes for Survival

(Stories 311–362) 184
Anansi 311; Malice 337; Rabbit 345; More Tricksters 350
IX—Tricksters getting Tricked (Stories 363–385) 216
X—Fools: hopeful Expectations and Surprising Successes …

Sometimes (Stories 386–409) 233
Juan Bobo 386; Bouki 398; More Fools 405
XI—magical rescues and Escapes (Stories 410–438) 247
vii
viii Table of Contents
Appendix A. Geographic Lexicon: A Guide to Story Source References 267
Appendix B. Sources for Stories Told in Creole and Patois 269
Appendix C. Glossary and Cast of Characters 271
Bibliography 279
Story Title Index 291
Subject Index 298

Preface
From islands in the Caribbean Sea exuberant with sunshine comes a vibrant oral
folklore. you might expect lyrical stories wondering how our world came to be, and
there are a few remnants, like the origin of the colorful Colibrí hummingbird who kisses
each red flower, searching for his lost love. however, with the arrival of white European
colonizers, darkness clouded these islands, some for four hundred years. native Kali-
nago and Taíno People who first populated the islands were decimated by disease, bru-
tality, and wars.
needing labor then, the Spanish, English, French, and dutch wrenched black west
Africans from their homelands to work as slaves on the sugar, cotton, and tobacco plan-
tations. indentured servants arrived from india and worked there, penniless and also
treated as inferior. businessmen and plantation owners with slaves came down from
the new united States up north. And so fresh stories were created which mix inherited
cultures and religions with encounters in the new world. They are rawer and rougher,
with a beauty tied to resilience of spirit, for the land was not paradise for the many peo-
ple who had never chosen to live there.
in the Caribbean you find stories which begin “in the starving time” and then iron-
ically crackle with humor. The clever tricksters in them are heroes, rattling the status
quo. Anansi from Jamaica and Trinidad, and his counterparts Ti malice from haiti and
rabbit (rabby, lapin) from Puerto rico, the bahamas, montserrat, and Saint lucia, get
food and triumph over those much more powerful. They do what is forbidden. The
Jamaican storyteller louise bennett wrote, “we were fascinated by Annancy because
we could never, never, be like him.”
To hide their subversiveness, stories were also shared in a composite language
masters would not understand. These creoles mixed African and European languages
with their own grammar and structure, specific to different communities. once con-
sidered “broken” English, French, or dutch, creoles are now recognized as official lan-
guages. Still, between the amorality and language, some islanders felt shame about
letting the tales out for the negative image they might portray. As far back as 1899, the
collector una Jeffrey-Smith (wona) eloquently rued the loss for Jamaicans of their own
folktales, stories she felt should be celebrated as “national treasures.” it has only been
more recently that cultural pride has been replacing reluctance to let others into the
tales.
1
2 Preface
The Caribbean Story Finder is here to share 438 tales from 24 island countries and
territories with the outside world and with the people they belong to. The majority of
stories recorded in print and online, as text and performance, come from Jamaica, haiti,
Cuba, Puerto rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. i thought it might be a much shorter
Finder than any of the others i’ve written. many works, including those by the ground-
breaker Pura belpré, in whose name the American library Association honors hispanic
authors and illustrators each year, are out of print. many materials were inaccessible
outside of the brilliant Schomburg Center collection in new york City and other major
research libraries. many newer stories and publications are still hidden on the islands
themselves, where tales remain within the oral tradition, meant to be dramatized, and
works published and performed on the islands are rarely disseminated to markets and
reviewers or collected by libraries outside.
it was only when i discovered the fun of including those stories told in creole which
an English-speaker might understand that the book took off. in fact, the rhythm and
liveliness of creole tellings grew on me over English translations. A shiver of delicious
anticipation builds in walter Jekyll’s “brother Annancy and brother death” as death
watches Anansi help himself over and over to food from death’s pot, but “deat’ no
’peak.” The 1904 book this one is from, plus other older titles, even just in the past year,
have been digitized, further opening access. i found fieldwork stories collected in The
Journal of American Folklore readily available online. And then, spurred by a corre-
spondence with Professor Karen Sands-o’Connor, i went hunting for storytelling per-
formances on the web.
A lot more needs to be done to put some beautiful books and recordings out there
for latino and hispanic communities, and i believe that The Caribbean Story Finder
is part of a growing challenge to give people back their heritage and to catch the stories
before they disappear. what it does is identify their own cultural stories for adults and
children within the largest minority in the united States and to acknowledge the magic
and strength, adventure and song in their tales with the rest of the world. From canny
tricksters to the seductive la diablesse and dangerous loup-garous, the next pages will
let you know what those are.
introduction
when people own nothing but their voices, song, storytelling, and wordplay may be
powerful tools to keep their spirits alive. So it is with stories from the Caribbean, where
ancestors of the majority of people who now live there arrived as slaves, beginning in
the mid–1600s. many were then ruled by a white European minority for the next two
hundred years, with their positions in society so changed from what they may have been
before. words matter in resistance. Anansi, the magical spider whose stories traveled
with black people on the slave ships from west Africa, acquires all the stories as his
own from Tiger by flattering Snake, who allows himself be tied up just to prove that he
is longer than a bamboo tree is tall. with words and devious set-ups, Anansi successfully
tricks bosses, his friends and family, and even death in the new world to acquire food.
A symbol of triumph by the weak over the strong, Anansi became celebrated as a
champion of hope and possibility and the cause of everything that happens. “Anancy
mek it,” the Jamaicans say. They then shift the blame for his often amoral actions away
from themselves, ending tales with “Jack mandora mi nuh choose none,” which the
great storyteller louise bennett has translated as “i take no responsibility for the story
i have told.” And yet, much of the power of the stories is in their telling. resilience is
roused when listeners participate. Creole speech developed as a secret language, a way
for members of the community to communicate to each other outside of the masters’
understanding.
Which 438 Tales Are Here?

The Caribbean Story Finder selects from the strongest tales published and recorded
in English and those creoles which may be readily obtained and understood by English
speakers. The most visible stories for sharing with multicultural audiences of all ages
come from Jamaica, haiti, Cuba, Puerto rico, and Trinidad and Tobago, in that order.
depending on locale, races, cultures, and religions blended in different ways and some-
times remained distinct. in haiti, where outward practice of African culture was for-
bidden, a vodoun priest and Catholic god may show up together in tales told by African
Americans. on Cuba and other Spanish-speaking islands those in power assimilated
some immigrant heritage into their own. new stories were formed.
3
4 introduction
Shared themes rise. Conflicts over status, identity and human and spiritual power
dominate one-quarter of the tales here, whether by animal tricksters, humans, or deities.
Justice, injustice, racism, and inequity matter in another hundred stories. discontented
turtles want to fly. A donkey thinks he will receive better treatment as a dog, and a dog
wants to be emancipated from his slavery to man. rabbit goes to god for more wisdom
and ends up with longer ears. in a dramatic confrontation, a young bull, raised in secret
by his mother, challenges his father ol’ nelson godoń, who has killed all other males
to hold exclusive control over the herd.
Status is humorously challenged in “Tiger becomes a riding horse,” the story with
more variations than any other here. how cocky rabbit maneuvers himself onto Tiger’s
back, politely adding saddle, reins, and whip, and then humiliating the grand beast by
riding him past his girlfriend has been told in barbados, Jamaica, nevis, Saint Thomas,
haiti, Puerto rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. A popular Cuban chain tale features
refusals by those ever higher in the hierarchy of power to help a rooster get the grass
to clean his beak or, from montserrat, an owner try to get a stubborn goat to move. it
is not until the sun threatens to dry up the water and on down the line until the stick
threatens to beat the goat who threatens to eat the grass and the grass acts, so the pro-
tagonists can finally get on their way.
Seeking status, haughty daughters ignore all the warnings and marry fancy
strangers from outside their neighborhood, and those strangers turn out to be demons,
boarhogs, or snakes. A turtle who is fed up with being belittled by the deer cleverly
plants look-alike relatives along the racecourse to win, in a popular tale from six coun-
tries. A haitian father asks his sons how many times it will take before they stop some-
thing bad from happening again. only the youngest brother who has answered “one
time” is able to take revenge. he provokes the king, who unfairly worked his brothers
without food until they lost their tempers and their lives, into losing his own. by having
each son represent a particular social character type and come up against the devil,
the nobel-winning author derek wolcott turned a variant of this tale into a play-length
parable about colonialism and the west indian fight for autonomy.
where a great number of folktales from the African American and hispanic cul-
tures slyly protest injustice, indian tales from Trinidad and Jamaica weave strong moral-
ity into magical fantasies. instead of devouring the haji’s son, a lion teaches him that
the raja’s son’s demand that the boy lure a girl away from the lion for him, comes from
the power of class, not true friendship. A young woman with golden hair does not know
how to avert war for her father’s kingdom when she refuses to marry a prince she does
not love. in despair, she sings to her family from a banyan tree, which takes her inside.
banished by his mother, a boy seeks to ask god whether giving charity is so wrong. An
unfaithful princess learns that a scar will remain when she cuts down her husband’s
golden apple tree for the flute player, who now scorns her for having done it.
mysterious forces swirl through Caribbean tales, where magic shows up with strong
visual imagery. when all of the paths disappear on Cuba, isolating people for genera-
tions, hero twins are born who outwit the devil who has caused this tyranny. A village
girl who gets lost in the city ends up cooking soup for two dogs who rule over a zombie
servant. The beautiful la diablesse seduces young men with the sway of her walk and
leads them to their doom in her elegant gown, under which hides one cloven hoof. The
Introduction 5
anaconda-like water spirit, maman dlo from Trinidad, draws a young woman doing
wash forever into her realm. darkness may be forced on the world by a supernatural
bird with seven heads or a djab which has snapped day into a purse in its stomach.
nighttime itself brings dangers. A wife may take off her skin and disappear to suck the
blood of children. A kindhearted man will regret stopping to pick up the baby aban-
doned by a silk cotton tree
Song and the Power of Words in the Tales

Caribbean tales were, and still are, meant to be performed, told aloud, and shared
in person. ordinary talk becomes “sings” when characters converse. Song is also central
to the plot of many tales from different islands. with variations from Antigua, Jamaica,
the bahamas, Cuba, grenada, and haiti, a villainous tiger gets the blacksmith to soften
his voice so he can imitate the song a protective mother sings, which tells her daughter
it is safe to unlock the door. Protagonists from tales told in five different countries
escape when ogres, witches, giants, kings, cooks, grannies, saints, and even god himself
are swept away dancing to music and get distracted from tasks they set out to do. music
played by a mysterious cat unlocks tears of feeling in a miserly old man. Through song,
baby herons identify their true parents. magic words in song get a tree to stand up
straight so the hero does not fall into the clutches of demons; they cause an orange tree
to grow tall and carry a cruel stepmother up so she cannot cause harm anymore. magic
figs, peppers, roses, and bones all sing to reveal true stories about the guilty parties
behind murderous deeds.
Ah, the power of suggestion. in stories, you do not need money to build or acquire
dreams with words. The other slaves feel proud to pay up for Tito’s freedom, when he
wins a bet just by asking their miserly master how much ever-larger gold bars are worth.
greedily, the master fawns over him, sure Tito has actually found such gold. A father,
concerned about how his lazy sons will survive once he is gone, tells them that treasure
is buried in the garden, so they will dig and, as he hoped, then begin to plant once the
ground is turned. Thoughts of the money he will make growing yams seems so real,
bouki chases his son all around the garden for pretending to ride “his” burro, the donkey
bouki does not yet own.
making up stories helps characters resist authority and gets them out of trouble.
when cornered, a clever goat mother loudly tells her kids to stop crying, for she will
soon find a lion for them to eat; the lion overhears and runs. when bouki wants money
back for a horse he no longer needs to rent, Ti malice not only gets the down payment
refunded but alarms the owner into paying more for canceling the agreement, just by
measuring the horse and adding more and more passengers onto a verbal list of all who
will be riding on it when bouki goes to market. Even though a young girl now tells the
bullying monkey her lunch basket carries only rice and peas, the monkey leaves her
alone. he hasn’t forgotten how one time she said the same thing, and a bulldog jumped
out. ordered by the devil to get firewood, El bizarrón doesn’t actually have to do the
work; he frightens the devil into thinking he has superhuman strength just by wrapping
rope around many trees and telling him he plans to bring the entire forest in all at once.
6 introduction
Taking words literally gets Juan bobo of Puerto rican tales both into and out of
delightful misadventure. Juan thinks he is caring for the pig as his mama instructed
when he dresses the squealing pig up just like his mother and sends her off to join his
mother at church. verbal misunderstandings are also used to laugh at those in authority,
be they parsons, teachers, or kings. guessing the name of a more powerful person can
help commoners acquire freedom or riches. And when witch boy calls, his dogs Cut-
throat, Chawfine, and Suckblood arrive to do exactly what their names say to rescue
him from twelve little men with cutlasses.
words matter here. Cat and monkey both end up with more than they bargained
for when they think trouble is the sweet syrup a woman has spilled and visit Papa god
to ask for more. when the god obatalá challenges his helper orula to prepare the most
perfect meal and the worst meal to test if he is wise enough to control the world, orula
serves him beef tongue both times, for the tongue and the words which issue from it
have the most power both to hurt and help people. god, le bon dieu, and Papa god
still hold ultimate authority as they did in the old world, but are part of the family in
the new. Cats, dogs, rabbits, and other animals come to visit and argue and discuss
with them. Sometimes, the deities are moody or jealous. god complains when pintards
eat rice from his fields; he takes away dog’s gift of speech for tipping off three bewildered
farmers that god has been waiting for them to appreciate his grace.
wonder about creation of the earth on a grand scale often takes a back seat
to smaller explanations of appearance or behavior in cautionary tales. bredda ratta
always runs to hide in rocks now, ashamed because his pants split when he was show-
ing off as usual and danced too wildly one night. An eclipse happens when the moon
passes in front of her restless brother, the Sun, to remind him to share the sky. Anansi’s
head becomes bald after he plops a hat full of hot beans on it so he will not be caught
sneaking food, when he is trying to win respect by demonstrating great sadness at
his mother-in-law’s funeral. Frog’s call is his invitation for all to share the water from
Papa god’s well, replacing lizard, who officiously kept everyone away when he was the
guard.
Chapters and Challenges

i was originally going to include tales from the Caribbean within The Latin Amer-
ican Story Finder, since many people arrived from the same places. but even with the
presence of diverse cultures on different islands, Caribbean folktales have a distinct fla-
vor and sound all their own. Song and music thread through almost every tale from
every island, creating a natural first chapter here to gather those tales where music is
central to the plot. i have referenced here variants of similar tales which appear in both
books. The Caribbean Story Finder also contains almost twice as many trickster tales,
so many that they have been divided into three chapters of their own: tricksters who
succeed; those who are too arrogant and have the tables turned on them by watchful
observers; and the ones who get fooled, like bouki, who may start a scheme only to
greedily and gullibly fall prey to malice’s tricks. Perhaps life was much harsher and the
fight for survival more desperate, for the resourceful tricksters who humorously best
Introduction 7
bullies and succeed, sometimes also selfishly take food from their own families and
friends. deprivation and humor often show up in the same tale.
And so, social and historical context can bring listeners to a fuller understanding
and appreciation of the humor in Caribbean tales. Though told across ages in their
own lands, the stories may speak to an older audience outside of the islands. There is
curriculum from india out on the web for seventh graders to explore James berry’s “bro
Tiger goes dead” from Spiderman Anancy. This humorous story involves Tiger playing
dead to lure Anansi to get revenge for all the tricks Anansi has played on him in the
past, and, of course, Tiger gets tricked again. it seems simple, but to understand the
symbolism of who Tiger represents, the bully with power and might behind him, and
who little Anansi is, always hungry, owning nothing, always looking to see what he can
get, may require some background.
in a social structure with haves and have-nots, the chapter Powers That be in the
Community is filled with characters who jockey for a change in status. yearnings
abound. Characters want to have what they do not and may toy with those who do. Pel-
ican wants to catch more fish and keeps Frigate bird’s large beak, after they trade. in
an indian tale from Trinidad, a poor boy grabs the tail of an elephant just to see if he
is strong enough to stop it. The king, feeling threatened by the boy’s strength, tells his
mother to stop feeding him the only two foods the boy eats, first roti and then, salt.
Ticoumba shows his rear to the president of haiti, who, exasperated, has said he does
not want to see Ticoumba’s face anymore.
death, real and feigned, and murder, real and attempted, show up in well over
eighty tales. Fifty stories involve revenge. Some of the local storytellers mention leaving
out or retelling more earthy or violent actions in stories. in his intro to Folklore from
Contemporary Jamaicans, daryl dance speaks of being told a bawdy big boy tale by a
young girl, with other kids trying to shush her. Eddie burke rejected some of the trickster
tales for presenting islanders as tied to “slave consciousness.” This is where background
can make a difference. The trickster stories are wildly popular in their own lands. laugh-
ter is their triumph and their guide.
Teachers, librarians, and storytellers count on my guides to find the right story for
the right time to use with others. in selecting for this guide, i focused on presenting
stories with human universals which speak to people both within the island cultures
and outside. Even if it is grisly, a person can enjoy the cleverness when Anansi lures
victims into putting their hand into a hole from which he accidentally discovered mr.
wheeler will fling them and places a sharp stick not too far away. Anansi will have din-
ner. however, the humor in the haitian tale where the fool, bouki or Jack, prepares a
bath for his grandmother and misreads the grimace on her face for pleasure when he
accidentally scalds her to death, just does not seem nourishing. i also rejected sexist
versions of tales and those which disparage “Africans” or natural ethnic traits, such as
the version of Cendrillon, where the young man turns the scullion’s kinky hair silky, so
his mother will now find her pretty. many of the tales come from one hundred years
ago, with language and phrases from that time. For sharing now, i also rejected versions
where one group refers to another with an offensive term, such as “coolie.” however,
“pickney” in the Caribbean, unlike its use in the American South, seemed to be used
regularly by people to refer to their own children, and those tales are included.
8 introduction
Featured Stories and Variants

is it a good story? And, will i be able to find it and comprehend it? is this a story
i will want to share? The collections, picture books, journal articles, videos, and audio
sources included in this guide have been chosen for these criteria and their readability
or listenability. many of those sources in turn, through their notes on the origins, history,
significance, and folkloric archetypes of a particular story, will lead readers who desire
to know more to primary source and scholarly material in reference books. They also
introduce mores of storytelling on different islands, such as the lively haitian call and
response Krick? Krack! when beginning a tale.
Through library holdings and interloans, new and used booksellers, and what is
accessible on the web, The Caribbean Story Finder culls the best stories from everything
readily available in English on united States soil and in creoles, which may be under-
stood by an English-speaker. There are definitely more entries from periodicals and
online videos and audio, than have appeared in other titles in the Story Finder series
and fewer picture books. Frustrating was not being able to get hold of some current
elusive titles published on the islands themselves. A few have been included with hopes
that these titles will be digitized one day. how could i leave out a living artist like Peter
minshall, whose fanciful costumes and lyrical scripts for Carnival mas in Trinidad cap-
ture the imagination?
But hear. It [dis little piece of Eart] have a story dat does hol a little piece of all de res. It tall an it
short and it fat an ugly, an sometimes it long an windin. Sometimes again it so sweet to de heart. A
story wid a laugh in he belly, yes! Yes. A story wid a laugh, an love an sadness too. Dis is de story of
callaloo an de crab.
For those interested in more stories told in native language of the islands, Appendix
b lists creole titles from which specific tales were chosen for this guide. Some of the
anthropological collections date back to the late 19th century. The first caveat is that
introductions to some of the older collections, such as Charles l. Edwards’ Bahama
Songs and Stories from 1895, are condescending, but the actual story presentations
themselves are not. more Caribbean authors are choosing now to speak totally in
authentic creole as a matter of pride. in between, are the tales written with narratives
in English and characters’ dialogue and songs in island creole.
As a subject guide to stories, The Caribbean Story Finder describes each tale, robust
enough to have been featured, with enough summary to give its flavor and send readers
to the source to read or see or hear the entire story for themselves. That goes for keeping
spelling and sometimes grammar as the reader will find them. variants of the entry
story are listed below it, so that someone may find a similar version in a different col-
lection closer at hand. major differences are described, and countries and territories
noted, for the user to select the most appropriate tale from several offerings.
Sometimes it was hard to choose which version to highlight among worthy narra-
tives. Availability and personal appeal were definite factors. The stories listed below
each featured story are of two types: reappearances, the very same story reprinted in
a new collection, and retellings, the basic plot retold in a new version. reappearances
may be found under “where Else This Story Appears” and include audio and video
recordings as well as print. retellings, usually by other authors, appear under “how
Introduction 9
Else This Story is Told.” A story title from a collection is offered in standard roman
type; a story title in italics indicates that the story is published as an individual, usually
picture, book. when titles of stories appear in two languages, a slash (/) is used between
the titles; when titles of books appear in two languages, an equal sign (=) is used between
the titles. This follows library of Congress conventions.
All stories, featured and variant, appear in the Story Title index, where they are
listed alphabetically with references by main story number.
Using the Connections

between the main tale and its variants are story connections, terms which catch
characters, subjects and themes important to each entry group. They define the main
thrust of a particular story and serve as guideposts to suggest all the possible applica-
tions for this tale. “how the rabbit lost its Tail,” for example, hits several themes.
Jealous about rabbit’s friendship with dog, Anansi starts trouble by telling the two
about a boat which is taking only animals with horns to a party. dog really wants them
to go, so rabbit helps him fashion a pair of horns with sticks and leaves, but dog runs
off, before helping rabbit make his. miffed, rabbit calls out to let the captain know
that one of the passengers is a fake. dog jumps overboard and chases rabbit once he
reaches land, biting off rabbit’s tail before rabbit manages to escape totally down his
hole. As much as to explain why rabbits have little tails, this story may be used to explore
betrayal; Friendship; identity; Jealousy; revenge; yearning and more. The connections
section includes all themes explored in a story. These words and phrases are also listed
in the Subject index, to identify other stories which follow any of these threads. in addi-
tion, in the Subject index, you will find a link to other stories from Antigua, haiti,
Jamaica, Saint lucia, and Trinidad, all places where the party for horned animals has
been told.
Using the Subject Index

Each featured story and all its variants have been given one number. references
in both the Subject index and the Story Title index are to that story number. The story
number includes subject connections for all variants listed below the featured story,
too. For example, if the subject index cites a particular entry number for agoutis, an
agouti may not appear in the featured story under that number, but he will appear in
at least one of the variants listed below. A descriptive note with the variant will let you
know which tale you will find him in.
The index also references indigenous tribes and geographic identities for stories
by country or territory name. These labels come from the sources i consulted, but many
times references were not specific enough, stating merely “The Caribbean” or “west
indies.” To recognize which islands might be included under larger categories, i created
Appendix A to serve as a geographical guide. Stories from Puerto rico, for example,
will appear under Puerto rico in the Subject index, but might also have a lot in common
10 introduction
with another tale listed under the Antilles. i suspect many more tales may be African
American than the over half identified as such in the index, but again, i took origins
from the sources and did not presume when they were not specified. many informants
are of mixed ethnicities and refer to their island identity over race. i found no stories,
for instance, specifically labeled as being mulatto.
Spellings for character names, such as Anansi or bouki, varied from island to island,
so library of Congress choices serve as an authority control when possible. Alternate
spellings for words used to describe the same object or person appear alongside its
main entry in Appendix C, the glossary. however, to transmit the souls of tales, i left
spellings as the authors and retellers wrote them within the story descriptions them-
selves. Connections and the Subject Index gather variations under single terms with see
references.
Trails have a way of vanishing in some Caribbean stories, but here you will find
the path to variant tellings of well-known tales, to laugh with the serendipitously lucky
fool Juan bobo or gasp when martina the cockroach’s beloved Pérez falls into the soup.
you will also travel to haunting tales of justice and hurt, with characters who may be
hiding in just a few places, but catch hold and will not let go. An ominous black bird
pushes a coffin all over Jamaica looking for mr. brown. The Taíno cacica yuisa argues
with her tribe to trust Pablo, the former Spanish viceroy’s servant she loves. Three
times, a slave outwits the devil his master promised him to in exchange for his wife’s
health. The king of the duppy birds forces the boy who killed him to prepare him for a
meal, asking over and over, “mea Simon Tutu / why ya shoota me for?” with imagina-
tion, musicality and verve, the strong tales which come from the Caribbean islands call
to be shared.
I
Musical Tales
1. The Ibelles and The losT PaThs

Pedro Pérez Sarduy. In Faustin Charles, Under the Storyteller’s Spell
Cuba
All of the paths and roads in Cuba disappear, isolating each village. Those who try
to leave never return—caught and devoured by the devil ogre Okurri Boroku, the obeah
men say. Twenty years later, twin boys are born to an old African couple, who have
already lost many children to the bush. Taewo and Kainde glow with divine light. They
carry the hope of the entire village with them when they leave. Perhaps, with help from
the sky gods, they will be able to open the paths. One week later, they find the fearsome
Okurri Boroku in a valley, surrounded by human bones. Taewo hides, while Kainde wakes
the ogre and demands to pass. Surprised by the boy’s fearlessness, Okurri Boroku demands
that Kainde play the guitar to make him dance until he falls. Kainde plays, and Taewo takes
his place when Kainde receives permission to take a drink. They play on, trading places
until the devil drops. With instructions from the ebony crosses they wear, the twins cut
out and bury the ogre’s heart. Curse broken, the paths appear again. The twins climb
a Royal Palm into the sky to ask the god Obatala to restore life to those whose bones
lie in the valley. These hero twins hold a special place in the hearts of Cubans.
Connections
Courage. Curses. Dancing, cannot stop. Devils. Escapes. Freedom. Gods and humans. Heroes
and heroines. Hope. Ibelles. Identity. Journeys. Kaínde. Music, swept away by. Obatalá.
Obeah men and women. Ogres. Outwitting supernatural beings. Palm trees. Patakí (Tales).
Paths, lost. Perseverance. Restoring life. Sorcerers and sorceresses. Tawó. Tests. Trees and
bushes. Tricksters. Twins. Unselfishness.
How Else This Story Is Told

Cuban variations:
Dance, Nana, Dance / Baila, Nana, baila—Joe Hayes, Dance, Nana, Dance = Baila, Nana Baila.
Twin brothers take turns drumming and singing to outlast the dancing sorceress and bring
back fire, without being turned into stone. In English and Spanish; and told in English at
Storyteller Joe Hayes (Online performance). In English.
11
12 The Caribbean Story Finder
The Roads of the Island / Los caminos de la isla—Elvia Pérez, From the Winds of Manguito =
Desde los vientos de Manguito. Here the identical twins are called Tawó and Kaínde. In
English and Spanish.
Caribbean variation, country unspecified:

When the Paths Disappeared—Robert Hull, Caribbean Stories.
2. The KIngdom wIThouT day

Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, The Singing Turtle and
Other Tales from Haiti (Print and online)
African American People. Haiti
Emilien’s first adventure when he sneaks off from his father’s blacksmith’s shop is to
free a turtledove from a trap. She rewards him with three magic feathers. Reaching a city
darkened by an exiled magician, Emilien lays down the feathers for the bird to reassem-
ble herself and help him figure out how to bring back the daylight. The king of the dark
country, previously jealous of his daughter’s suitors, has offered the princess’s hand in
marriage to the one who succeeds. The bird tells Emilien where the box containing
daylight is buried, how to let the king know that he knows, and what song to sing when
he opens the box. However, the king now tries to block Emilien from singing that day
will break, by singing that it will not. The turtledove intervenes with a tiny dropping,
enabling Emilien to sing and release the sun. The king dies, poisoned by his own evil,
and Emilien happily rules the kingdom with Star of the Morning and their family.
Connections
Animal helpers. Bird, fantasy. Captivity. Comeuppance. Darkness. Day. Devils. Doves. Fantasy.
Feather, magic. Gods and humans. Hard-heartedness. Heroes and heroines. Jealousy. Jesus.
Kindness to animals. Kings and queens. Rescues. Rewards. Song, magic. Sun. Supernatural
beings. Supernatural events. Tasks, challenging.

Petit Bōdye/Son of God—Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, “Creole Tales from Haiti,” The Journal of
American Folklore (Print and online). Coming to the rescue of mankind, the Son of God
cuts his way out of the Devil-made Creature which has also swallowed the sun. Told in Hait-
ian Creole and English, accompanied by lyrics for the Son of God’s song that day will break.
The Coming of Day and Night—Gyneth Johnson, How the Donkeys Came to Haiti and Other
Tales. After Ti Fou cuts his way out of the djabbe’s stomach, he releases Day from the small
purse he finds there. Shutting the purse brings Night.
3. The m agIc orange Tree

Diane Wolkstein, The Magic Orange Tree (Print and online)
Fearing her stepmother’s anger over three oranges which she has eaten, a hungry
child runs to her mother’s grave and falls asleep. One pit falls into the earth the next
I—Musical Tales 13
morning and immediately begins to grow. As she sings to the plant, a tree grows, blos-
soms, and produces oranges. The girl sings for the branches to come lower and picks
oranges to bring home. The stepmother eats them and forces the girl to take her to the
place where the delicious oranges have come from. When they reach the tree, the girl
sings for the tree to grow, lifting the oranges out of reach. The stepmother promises to
treat the girl better if she will lower the tree. The girl does, but once the stepmother
has climbed into the tree, she sings it up higher and higher into the sky. The girl sings
for the tree to break. It crashes down, breaking the stepmother, too. The girl plants one
orange pit and sings a new tree into existence with sweet oranges to sell. She scolds the
narrator at the end for expecting an orange for free. With music and lyrics for the girl’s
song in English and Haitian Creole.
Connections
Anger. Comeuppance. Cruelty. Fantasy. Fear. Firewood. Hunger. Oranges. Origin tales, appear-
ance. Revenge. Seed, magic. Song, magic. Stepparents and stepchildren. Supernatural events.
Transformation. Tree, magic.
Where Else This Story Appears

At Diane Wolkstein tells “The Magic Orange Tree” in Central Park (Online video performance).
At Spirit of Trees (Online print).
In Joanna Cole, Best-Loved Folktales of the World (Print and online).
On The Magic Orange Tree and Other Haitian Folktales, Vol. 1 (CD audio).

The Legend of the Firewood—Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, “Creole Tales from Haiti,” The Journal
of American Folklore (Print and online). The stepmother and tree break into pieces when
they fall, which explains the origin of firewood. In Haitian Creole and English.
The Mean Stepmother and the Orange Tree—Liliane Nérette Louis, When Night Falls, Kric!
Krac!
Small Orange Tree—Bob Lapierre, Bouki and Malis. Cruelly threatened by his stepfather, Ti
Morris receives his magic orange seed from a stranger.
Zoranj / The Oranges—Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, “Creole Tales from Haiti,” The Journal of
American Folklore (Print and online). The little boy shares oranges with other children after
his stepmother falls and then tells the tree to rise so high, others never see its slim stem.
Told in Haitian Creole and English.
4. The FIg Tree / l a maTa de hIgo

Joe Hayes, Dance, Nana, Dance = Baila, Nana Baila
Cuba
Nicolasa blames her stepdaughter Marcelita for the fig missing from her coveted
tree, even though it was a blue bird with golden wings who ate it. She lures the girl into
a hole to get three golden objects and then shuts her in with a heavy rock. One of
Marcelita’s hairs has been left out, though. Overnight, the hair grows into a bush with
one rose. Marcelita’s voice sings out when her brother Manolito tries to pick the rose.
Manolito, frightened, brings his father to hear the song describe what Nicolasa did.
Remorsefully, Nicolasa moves the rock and begs Marcelita to forgive her. Marcelita
does, and they become a true family. A few weeks later, Nicolasa’s golden thimble,
thread, and scissors transform into a little blue bird with golden wings, which flies away.
In English and Spanish.
Connections
Accusations. Bird, fantasy. Brothers and sisters. Burying alive. Bush, magic. Cautionary tales.
Changes in attitude. Cruelty. Deceit. Fantasy. Figs. Flower, magic. Flowers. Hair, magic.
Human flesh. Jealousy. Magic. Murder. Parents and children. Pepper, magic. Revenge. Rose
bush, magic. Shifting blame. Song, magic. Stepparents and stepchildren. Storytelling. Super-
natural events. Talking animals and objects. Transformation. Tree, magic. Truth. Virgin
Mary. Voice, supernatural. Women and girls, resourceful.

The Fig Tree at Storyteller Joe Hayes (Online performance). In English.

Grenadian variation, African American People:
The Pepper Tree—Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Lore of the Antilles, French and English, Part I (Print
and online). When a picked pepper sings the truth about a mother burying the daughter
who ate figs, the father digs the girl up and buries the mother there instead. Told in creole.
Puerto Rican variation:

The Chili Plant—Ricardo E. Alegría, The Three Wishes (Print and online). The evil stepmother
dies of remorse after a chili pepper sings the truth, and the father and brother dig up the
girl, who has been protected by the Virgin.
Saint Vincentian variation, African American People:

The Telltale Pepper Bush—Roger D. Abrahams, African American Folktales (Print and online).
A jealous witch stepmother is buried alive when a singing pepper bush reveals that has done
this to her stepdaughter.
Variation from St. Thomas:

The Pepper Tree: She Eats Her comado—Florence O. Meade, “Folk Tales from the Virgin Islands,”
The Journal of American Folklore (Print and online). A mother kills the eldest daughter
whom her sisters have framed and lies about it to the father. When a singing pepper reveals
the truth, he pickles the mother, whose friend consumes her, unaware. The moral given for
this very short tale concerns the uselessness and consequences of hate.
5. The sIngIng bone

Diane Wolkstein, The Magic Orange Tree (Print and online)
A man’s third wife kills the younger stepson, cooks the boy, and has the food deliv-
ered to his father, who throws the last bone under a tree. The bone sings to his older
brother, their father, and the king that their stepmother killed him and that his father
ate him. When the king asks to hear the song a second time while lighting a cookfire,
the stepmother melts. The king rubs the singing bone with grease from the melted
stepmother, and the missing son returns. The king then lectures the father, “Choose
whom you want to marry, but if you choose a tree that has fruit, you must care for the
fruit as much as for the tree.” With music and lyrics for the bone’s song in English and
Haitian Creole.
Connections
Accusations. Bamboo, magic. Bone, magic. Brothers and sisters. Cautionary tales. Competition.
Deceit. Fantasy. Flowers. Flute, magic. Human flesh. Jealousy. Kings and queens. Murder.
Music. Origin tales, appearance. Parents and children. Restoring life. Revenge. Song, magic.
Stepparents and stepchildren. Storytelling. Supernatural events. Talking animals and objects.
Truth. Voice, supernatural.

Haitian variations, African American People:
La-Bèl-De-Nwi / The Night Beauty—Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, “Creole Tales from Haiti,” The
Journal of American Folklore (Print and online). Small singing bones reveal that Night
Beauty’s eldest brother killed her and buried her in a cornfield, jealous of the roses she
received from the King’s son. In Haitian Creole and English.
The Legend of the Rose-Bush—Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, “Creole Tales from Haiti,” The Journal
of American Folklore (Print and online). Voila! A small singing bone reveals the murder of
a younger brother when the elder brother hears that his father loves him more. The bone
becomes the first rose-bush. In Haitian Creole and English.
Saint Vincentian variation, African American People:

The Singing Bones—Roger D. Abrahams, African American Folktales (Print and online). A
brother buries his sister, jealous of the flowers she has gathered to bring to their father,
the king. A hollow bone the dog digs up sings what has happened, and the king burns his
son.
Caribbean variation, Indian People, country unspecified:

The Voice of the Flute—Kennth Vidia Parmasad, Salt and Roti: Indian Tales of the Caribbean.
A bamboo flute by the pond sings the truth of the sister’s murder to her disconsolate younger
brother and his resentful siblings (Print and online at NALIS: The Digital Library of Trinidad
and Tobago).
6. The e arrIngs
Pura Belpré, The Tiger and the Rabbit and Other Tales
Puerto Rico
Julia’s mother has warned her to stay away from the river, but Julia finds herself
there one hot afternoon while her mother is away planting pineapples. She secures her
earrings in a niche in the rock, undresses, and plays in the water. She is hurrying home,
when she realizes she has forgotten her earrings and runs back. An old man is playing
with them. As she reaches for the earrings, he pushes her into a sack. He performs from
town to town, ordering his “magic” sack to sing or be stuck by his lance. From inside
the sack, Julia sings about her earrings, and the townspeople give him money. In Julia’s
own town, a young girl guesses that Julia who disappeared must be inside and frees her
while the man is sleeping. They fill the sack with stones and mud, and leave. When the
“magic” sack doesn’t sing, the man is ordered out of town.
Connections
Brothers and sisters. Captivity. Disobedience. Earrings. Kidnapping. Parents and children. Res-
cues. Songs. Women and girls, resourceful.

In Lisa Sánchez-González, The Stories I Read to the Children.

Sing, Little Sack! A Folktale from Puerto Rico—Nina Jaffe (Print and online). It is Marisol’s mother
who recognizes her daughter’s voice inside the sack and rescues her.
The Singing Sack—Ricardo E. Alegría, The Three Wishes. White Flower is rescued by her brothers
after her mother recognizes her voice inside the sack, which, afterwards, will not sing for
the King.
7. we sIng lIKe ThIs / nosoTras canTamos a sí

Cuba
A strong wind blows two white herons far away from the three eggs they have been
singing to in their treetop nest. The babies continue to grow on their own. Pecking
their way out of the shells, though, they are disappointed not to see the mama and papa
who sang to them. The babies fly off to find them, knowing only that they will recognize
their parents by their song: Tin ganga o, tin gangao, you mama ganga reré. Many dif-
ferent birds, and even a woman washing clothes and a turtle, are ready to say they are
the herons’ parents, but they cannot sing that song the babies sing to them. Flying back
to their nest, the little herons hear two big white birds singing their song and know
they are home. In English and Spanish.
Connections
Birds. Herons. Identity. Journeys. Misfortune. Music. Quests. Parents and children. Perseverance.
Reunion. Separation. Songs.

We Sing Like This at Storyteller Joe Hayes (Online performance). In English.

The Herons / Las garzas—Elvia Pérez, From the Winds of Manguito = Desde los vientos de Man-
guito. In English and Spanish, with lyrics and music for the heron parents’ song, plus the
songs four others sang to the little herons.
8. The sIngIng TorToIse

Harold Courlander, A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore
When the birds grab back the wings they have lent him, a slow tortoise is caught
eating in the field. He amazes the farmer by singing about the tragedy of not having
wings to fly away with. The President wants to hear this singing tortoise, but the tortoise
tricks the President’s wife into letting him sing by the river, where he escapes. She sub-
stitutes a lizard in the box, and when it merely croaks the President is going to drown
the farmer for pretending he has a singing tortoise. Just then, the tortoise sings from
the water how it is a tragedy that the farmer has no wings to escape with. The President
laughs and releases the farmer with money.
Connections
Anansi. Animals and humans. Birds. Captivity. Cleverness. Dancing, cannot stop. Devil. Escapes.
Farmers. Fish. Humorous tales. Kings and queens. Mudfish. Music, swept away by. Pigeons.
Presidents. Songs. Turtles and tortoises. Watchmen.

In The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian People.

Pierre Jean’s Tortoise—Harold Courlander, The Piece of Fire and Other Haitian Tales (Print and
online).
The Singing Turtle—Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, The Singing Turtle (Print
and online); and in Marcela Breton, Rhythm & Revolt: Tales of the Antilles.
The Turtle That Could Sing—Liliane Nérette Louis, When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! An end note
states the relevance of this story from Africa is still valid, “as people in power are still trying
to get what the poor people have.”
Jamaican variations, African American People:

Anancy and the Power of Music—Peter-Paul Zahl, Anancy Mek It: Bedtime Stories from Jamaica.
Turtle gets captured after Pigeon takes back the feathers Anancy suggested he lend him, but
then escapes when cook gets carried away dancing to his song. Told in patois.
Anansi and Turtle and Pigeon—Robert E. McDowell and Edward Lavitt, Third World Voices for
Children (Print and online). When caught, Turtle remembers Anansi’s advice not to protest,
but to sing, when he is in a tough situation.
Anansi and Turtle and Pigeon—Philip M. Sherlock, Anansi the Spider Man; and in The Illustrated
Anansi. Turtle remembers what Anansi said about singing when he doesn’t know what else
to do.
Dancing to the River—Roger D. Abrahams, African American Folktales (Print and online). Mud-
fish enchants the singing Watchman who has captured him by saying he can also sing in
ever larger amounts of water, until he finally wriggles away.
Dancing to the River—Grace Hallworth, Sing Me a Story (Print and online). This version includes
the lyrics and musical score for the song Turtle sings to the watchman, as she dances away,
as well as suggestions for a participatory dance for young children.
Turkle and Pigeon—Pamela Colman Smith, Chim-Chim. When Turtle sings and dances away,
the Devil’s cook substitutes goat meat for the stew and sings Turtle’s song to the Devil and
his friends, who keep dancing until they die. Told in patois.
Also in Sharon Elswit, Latin American Story Finder as “Tricky Turtle,” entry 117 (Mexico).
9. The boy, The m agIc drum & The dancIng wITch

Patricia Glinton, An Evening in Guanima: A Treasury of Folktales from the
Bahamas
African American People. The Bahamas
With his magic drum, a man can summon strong men from the ground to do all
the field work and then make them disappear by playing the rhythm backwards. He
warns his son that the drum’s purpose is not to make the family rich. Paul impatiently
sneaks the drum from a locked room. He beats it by the bay, and a frightening, tall,
black witch springs up from the mangrove roots and summons imps with musical instru-
ments. In alternating male and female voices, she challenges Paul to kill her by playing
longer than she can dance, or she will kill him. Paul beats the drum until he is aching,
but Vashti never stops dancing, even when her feet bleed and even in the air. His father
hears the drumbeats and takes Paul’s place. Now, the father controls the witch and her
imps. He cuts off their heads when they fall and takes Vashti’s tiny shoes as a reminder
for Paul to wait until he is ready. People still caution stubborn children, “Hard head
bird don’t make good soup. Remember the white shoes.”
Connections
Dancing, cannot stop. Disobedience. Drum, magic. Fiddle, magic. Impatience. Imps. Magic.
Music, swept away by. Parents and children. Rescues. Tests. Threats. Witches.

Between the Fiddler and the Dancer—Roger D. Abrahams, African American Folktales (Print
and online). A son gets into trouble with a dancing witch when he takes his father’s magic
fiddle before his father thinks he is ready.
10. T HE DANCING GRANNY (PrInT and onlIne)

Ashley Bryan
African American People. Antigua
Trying to trick up some dinner without working hard, Spider Ananse hides in a
tree by old Granny Anika and drums and sings. He knows the old woman will not be
able to resist dancing off her field. When she does, he takes her corn and plays the same
trick on other days for the rest of her crops. Even though Granny Anika realizes that
the singer is Ananse, she cannot keep from dancing when he sings. When he appears
openly one day, Granny Anika grabs Ananse hard, pinches him to sing, and spins off
with him in a wild dance, pictured in spirited line drawings.
Connections
Anansi. Comeuppance. Dancing, cannot stop. Drums. Flutes. Grandparents and grandchildren.
Music, swept away by. Songs. Tricksters.

Antiguan variation, African American People:
He Sings to Make the Old Woman Dance—Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Lore of the Antilles, French
and English, Part II (Print and online). In the end, Bra Nancy helps his grandmother with
the chores, before making her dance. In creole.
Jamaican variation, African American People:

Annancy and the Old Lady’s Field—Walter Jekyll, Jamaican Song and Story (Print and online).
Annancy acquires the old lady’s field, when she dances off a rock to his flute playing and dies.
Saint Thomasian variation:

Dance, Granny, Dance—Pleasant DeSpain, Tales of Insects.
11. TUKAMA TOOTLES THE FLUTE

Phillis Gershator
African American People. Saint Thomas
Tukama waves away his grandmother’s warning about a two-headed giant out by
the rocks and continues to play his flute there. But one evening, he is grabbed by the
giant, who orders him to keep playing. The giant lures the boy closer by challenging
Tukama to play first on his toe and then on his chest. He stuffs Tukuma into a sack and
brings him to the cave for his wife to fatten up. The next morning, Tukama offers to
play his flute for the giant’s wife if she opens the sack, so he can get more air. He plays
and sings and convinces her to keep opening the bag a little wider, so he can make her
dance on her toes and then on her head, which is when Tukama runs away.
Connections
Bravado. Captivity. Cleverness. Dancing, cannot stop. Escapes. Fear. Flutes. Giants. Grandparents
and grandchildren. Humorous tales. Music, swept away by. Supernatural beings. Warnings.

Can’t Scare Me!—Ashley Bryan. This version is told in rhyme, accompanied by vivid, full-page
watercolors.
12. TIger s oFTens hIs VoIce

Georges Parkes. In Martha Warren Beckwith, Jamaica Anansi Stories (Print
and online)
African American People. Jamaica
A mother moves her daughter into a locked house in the woods because Tiger has
threatened to kill the girl if he cannot marry her. Her mother locks all one hundred
doors and windows when she goes to work. When she returns, she sings a special song
to her daughter, and the girl sings back. Her mother sings again, and this time the girl
sings and opens the door. Tiger, who has been lurking about, tries to mimic the mother,
but when he sings, the girl recognizes Tiger’s gruff voice. Tiger asks the blacksmith for
help, but his voice sounds coarser after the blacksmith treats his throat with a hot iron.
He tries again, but it is not until Tiger eats before the treatment that his voice resounds
with her mother’s clarity. The daughter opens the door, and Tiger swallows her. The
mother finds Tiger lying down in the open house. She runs for men who tie him up,
cut him open, and lift her daughter out, barely alive. When the daughter revives, the
woman takes her far away to another country… “which is why you always fin’ lot of old
houses unoccupied that no one lives in.” There is a bit of patois throughout this telling.
Connections
Anansi. Animal helpers. Blacksmiths. Bouki. Brothers and sisters. Changes in attitude. Deceit.
Defense. Devil. Disguises. Fantasy. Fear. Identity. Kidnapping. Lion, fantasy. Murder. Music.
Parents and children. Perseverance. Princes and princesses. Rescues. Secrets. Songs. Threats.
Tiger, fantasy. Tricksters. Voice, disguised.

In George Shannon, A Knock at the Door.

Antiguan variation, African American People:
Lion Makes His Voice Clear—John H. Johnson, “Folk-Lore from Antingua, British West Indies,”
The Journal of American Folk-Lore (Print and online). Told in creole.
Bahamian variation, African American People:

The Devil and the Daughter—Edith Knowles. In Zora Hurston, “Dance Songs and Tales from
the Bahamas,” The Journal of American Folklore. After the devil takes off with the daughter,
her mother’s tears cause the berries she had come back with to grow a bush around her,
which the mother travels through. Her daughter recognizes her mother singing by the sea
and runs to get her things from the devil, whose rooster tells her to wash her bloomers and
sprinkle water over the grass to cover their tracks as they escape. In creole.
Father Found—Elsie Clews Parsons, Folktales of Andros Island, Bahamas. It is the father who
protects his daughter in this telling, but the king’s soldiers deceive her and bring her to
marry the prince. This version, told in creole, includes musical score and lyrics for their
song. (Print and online)
Cuban variation:
The Hairy Old Devil Man / El diablo peludo—Joe Hayes, Dance, Nana, Dance = Baila, Nana
Baila. The mother teaches their special song to the boatman who rescues the girl by drown-
ing the devil man in his own wet hair. In English and Spanish.
Grenadian variation, African American People:

Crocodile and the Devil—Lezmore Evan Emanuel, Broo ’Nansi. Mother learns to love scaly Croc-
odile when the Devil sings her song and makes off with her three beautiful daughters, Minnie,
Minnie Po, and Minnie Matilda.
Bouki Steals Marie Louiz—Liliane Nérette Louis, When Night Falls, Kric! Krac! In this humorous
version, Bouki gets bones stuck in his throat, trying to sing the mother’s song in order to
capture Marie Louiz for the prince. Marie Louiz reunites with her mother while crossing
the bridge her mother lives under with her seven children and hears her singing their song.
La Belle Venus—Gyneth Johnson, How the Donkeys Came to Haiti and Other Tales; and in George
Shannon, A Knock at the Door. A wealthy father sends a man to learn the song the mother
sings so her daughter will open the door in order to appease his spoiled son’s desire to marry
the girl with the star shining from her forehead. The mother, a servant, rejoices that her
daughter will now have a good life. Told in Haitian Creole.
Mariwòz—Bob Lapierre, Bouki and Malis. The king wants Uncle Bouki to learn the mother’s
song and bring him the girl, whose mother has hidden her from a werewolf.
“One, My Darling, Come to Mama”—Diane Wolkstein, The Magic Orange Tree (Print and online).
A devil tricks the three oldest girls by singing their mother’s song after a plumber works on
his voice. He misses the mother’s least favorite, Philamandré, in the corner, but she leaves
home and marries the prince. With music and lyrics for the mother’s song in English and
Haitian Creole.
Jamaican variations, African American People:

Anancy and Bredda Tiger—Wona, A Selection of Anancy Stories. When Tiger’s voice is too rough
to get into the young ladies’ house, Anancy brings Sister Pecheree to sweetly sing their
mother’s song. Tiger eats them when they open the door, and Anancy pretends to be sad.
He shows their mother the tiger footprints and tells her “this is what comes from shutting
up picknie like chicken, better for them to marry….” The dialogue is presented in patois.
Leah and Tiger—Walter Jekyll, Jamaican Song and Story (Print and online). Told in patois, with
musical score for the mother’s song.
Variation from Trinidad and Tobago, African American People:

Quaka Raja—Grace Hallworth, Sing Me a Story (Print and online); and in Listen to This Story.
The son who is out of favor is the one who begs his sisters not to open the door when the
fearsome Zobolak tries to imitate their mother’s song. They do, and Quaka Raja wins the
respect of his family, when he rescues them.
13. BOUKI DANCES THE KOKIOKO: A COMICAL TALE

FROM H AITI
Diane Wolkstein
In his garden alone one night, the King of Haiti comes up with his own song and
Samba dance, he calls the Kokioko. The King is so tickled by his creation that he offers
a reward to anyone who can guess how to perform it. Some people come close, but no
one can do the King’s Kokioko just right. Malice, the royal gardener, happens to see the
King practicing his dance one evening. To avoid suspicion, he teaches it to his gullible
friend Bouki, who surprises the King and wins the bag of gourdes. On their way home,
Malice teaches Bouki another dance which involves closing his eyes and putting the
sack of money on the ground, whereupon Madame Malice makes off with the reward.
Musical score and lyrics for the King’s Kokioko are included in English and Haitian
Creole.
Connections
Bouki. Competition. Dancing. Fools. Gullibility. Humorous tales. Kings and queens. Malice
(Character). Mastery. Songs. Teachers and students. Tricksters.

Note: Some critics view the colorful picture book illustrations in the title above as caricaturish
and others as appropriately playful. The listings below offer an alternative, with complete
print, music, and lyrics and with either different or no illustration.
In Helen East, The Singing Sack: 28 Song-Stories from Around the World.
In Grace Hallworth, Sing Me a Story (Print and online). With simple illustrations and dance
steps.
In Diane Wolkstein’s, The Magic Orange Tree (Print and online).
14. The legend oF The royal Palm

María C. Fuentes in Pura Belpré, Once in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Jealous of the power of Milomaki’s voice to sing the Taino people into happiness,
the gods decide to act. People blame Milomaki for causing their fish to spoil in the sun
by singing to the fisherman on their way home. The gods fan the flame of their anger.
Milomaki sings as the Taino tie him to a log. The beauty of his voice makes the people
forget their plans to burn him, and then a gentle rain reminds them. With horror, they
rush to untie him, but Milomaki vanishes. In his place stands a tall palm tree, which
becomes known on Boriquen island as the Royal Palm, where Milomaki’s voice sings
with wind through the leaves.
Connections
Accusations. Fantasy. Gods and humans. Jealousy. Native American People. Origin tales, appear-
ance. Palm trees. Revenge. Shifting blame. Songs. Supernatural events. Talents. Transfor-
mation. Trees and bushes.
15. un, deux, TroIs , cInq, sIx

Harold Courlander, The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian
People
Haiti
Some djab children, devils, invite the hunchback boy Jean to join in their game of
singing the numbers one to six, skipping the number four. He adds in the number seven,
and they delightedly bring him home to sing it for their parents, who remove his hump
and reward Jean with a bag of gold. Hearing this, spoiled, rich Jacques plans to fill three
sacks with djab treasure. However, when Jacques hears their song, he insults the djab
children by saying they do not know how to count. The adult djab take care of Jacques
by giving him Jean’s hump and filling his empty sacks with rocks.
Connections
Appearance. Calendar. Cautionary tales. Counting. Devils. Disabilities. Fantasy. Gratitude. Greed.
Humorous tales. Magic. Manners. Music. Punishment. Rewards. Songs. Supernatural beings.
Unkindness.

Remi’s Magical Gift = Gade Yon Kado Remi Jwenn—Mireille B. Lauture. Magical woodland crea-
tures appreciate one boy’s addition of “Thursday” to their song of days, but punish his friend’s
addition of “Friday.” In Haitian Creole and English.
Also in Sharon Elswit, Latin American Story Finder as “The Two Little Elves,” entry 222 (Chile).
16. T HE B ANZA: A H AITIAN STORY (PrInT and onlIne)

Diane Wolkstein
Haiti
Teegra the little tiger and Cabree the little goat become friends when they both
seek shelter in a cave during a thunderstorm. Being together makes them feel strong,
but Teegra goes home when his parents find him. He returns with a banza for Cabree,
passing along his Auntie’s advice to play with it over her heart. Cabree does feel less
lonely when she strums the banza. One day growling tigers confront Cabree when her
banza is behind a bush. Quaking inside, she calmly picks it up and tells the tigers she
will play the song she always sings before dinner. She sings about eating tigers raw. Now
she has the tigers worried. Becoming one with the banza has made her strong.
Connections
Banjo. Cleverness. Confidence. Courage. Education. Fear. Friendship, interspecies. Goats. Lone-
liness. Humorous tales. Mastery. Misunderstanding. Music. Prey. Sharing. Songs. Story-
telling. Strength. Tigers.
17. T HE C AT’S PURR

Ashley Bryan
The West Indies, country unspecified
Cat is happy to share what he has with Rat, until his uncle brings him a special
family drum, which he says is only for Cat to play. Cat’s uncle has shown how the drum
makes a pleasing “purrum” sound when he strokes it gently. Rat wants to try and is
miffed when Cat says no. Now Rat wants to play that drum more than ever. He pretends
to be sick, but picks up the drum as soon as Cat leaves him to rest. Rat finally discovers
how to get the drum to purrum. Out in the field Cat hears the sound and runs home.
He yells, but Rat feigns innocence. When Cat leaves again, Rat sings about fooling Cat
and makes the drum purrum again. The third time this happens, a furious Cat sneaks
back and catches Rat with the drum. Rat thrusts it into Cat’s open mouth and flees. Cat
swallows the little drum, which only purrums when his belly is stroked kindly.
Connections
Accusations. Allegories and parables. Cats. Cautionary tales. Conflict, interspecies. Coveting.
Deceit. Disobedience. Drums. Education. Kindness to animals. Mastery. Mice and rats.
Music. Origin tales, behavior. Sharing. Sounds.

(Text)
In Poems and Folktales (Audiobook).
In Amy L. Cohn, From Sea to Shining Sea (Print and online).
In Margaret Hodges, Pourquoi Tales (Print and online).
18. The elePhanT KIng’s drum

Nina Jaffe, Patakin (Print and online)
Brizé truly does not know where to go to find the great drum of the King of ele-
phants, which his ailing father has requested for his burial. Beginning his journey, Brizé
shares bread with a blind man, then a crippled beggar with one foot, and at last an old
man. They are Merisier the houngan, who rewards Brizé’s kindness by sending his own
spirit off to search for the elephant King’s drum. When the spirit returns, Merisier
hands Brizé four wari nuts in case of danger and tells him where to go. The elephants
charge when Brizé runs off with the giant drum. Three times, Brizé throws a magic nut
over his shoulder to slow them down, calling, “Merisier is stronger than the elephants.”
He makes it home to find his father now well. When the elephant King himself shows
up and runs out with his drum, Brizé throws the last nut. The drum breaks into many
small drums, and the elephant King breaks into many drummers to play them. This
story is accompanied with notes on Haitian rhythms and notation for kongo music.
Connections
Animals and humans. Chant, magic. Drum, magic. Elephant, fantasy. Fantasy. Escapes. Honoring
parents. Houngans. Journeys. Kindness. Music. Old man, magical helper. Origin tales,
appearance. Parents and children. Pursuit. Quests. Sharing. Supernatural events. Theft.
Transformation. Walnut, magic.

Mérisier, Stronger Than the Elephants—Harold Courlander, The Piece of Fire and Other Haitian
Tales (Print and online); and as Mérisier in A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore.
II
Winning and Losing

with Gods and Spirits
19. The creaTIon oF The world / l a creacIón del mundo

Elvia Pérez, From the Winds of Manguito = Desde los vientos de Manguito
African American People. Cuba
In the beginning, the powerful god Olofi sends his daughter Yamayá to cool a fiery
earth with her waters. Yamayá comes down as rain, which fills crevices with water. She
creates animals and humans to live there and goes to sleep at the bottom of the ocean.
Olofi sends his son Obatalá to give the humans heads, so they can think and build.
With heads he shapes from clay, Obatalá enables the humans to solve problems on
earth and respect their gods. The humans prepare to honor Obatalá and Olofi with a
wemilere, a grand party. Forgotten and furious, Yamayá rises as a giant wave and starts
to destroy everything. The humans cry out to Obatalá for help. Obatalá asks his sister
to forgive him, and out of love for their father, Yamayá stops the water. She says that
she will protect the humans, if they respect her in the future as their mother. In English
and Spanish.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Anger. Bargains. Brothers and sisters. Cautionary tales. Compassion.
Conflict. Creation. Destruction. Disrespect. Floods. Forgiveness. Gods and humans. Grat-
itude. Human beings, creation. Obatalá. Olofi. Origin tales, behavior. Orishas. Parents and
children. Patakí (Tales). Praise. Resentment. Respect. Revenge. Understanding. Water. Yemayá.
20. M AMA GOD, PAPA GOD: A C ARIBBEAN TALE (PrInT and

onlIne)
Richardo Keens-Douglas
African American People. The Caribbean, country unspecified
There is playfulness and togetherness when Papa God creates the world, beautiful
and round for Mama God. Together they put plants and animals, fish, and weather on
25
this world and set it spinning into day and night. Mama God asks him to make some-
thing that looks like him, like love. He makes a man, and she in turn makes a woman.
They make more people, and then Mama God wants to leave things for people to do,
too. Papa God hums music into nature on the earth and they bless all of nature and
people with different colors and shapes. In each place, Papa God has people speak a
different language, so “they can live their lives learning about each other.”
Connections
Blessings. Coexistence. Creation. Education. Gods and humans. Gods and spirits. Language.
Music. Origin tales, behavior. Understanding.
21. aFTer The Flood

Robert Hull, Caribbean Stories
The Caribbean, country unspecified
Until the big flood, humans coexist in harmony with animals and birds, and all
speak the same language. Man and Woman, however, are desperate for food once the
waters subside. They debate about eating Gull’s egg, but then do. Having eaten Bird-
Coming, Man thinks about eating Birds themselves and figures out how to catch them.
Birds warn other animals to stay away from Man and Woman, who can no longer under-
stand their talk and are now dangerous. Arawidi, the sun spirit, fears there will soon
be no fish left in his favorite river. He thinks that a companion creature could help
people hunt elsewhere. From their uncooked fish, Arawidi shapes a cheerful Dog. This
Dog understands some of what people say, but no longer tries to tell them how they
used to share the world with other creatures.
Connections
Animals and humans. Coexistence. Dogs. Ecology. Floods. Food. Gods and humans. Human
beings, status. Conflict, interspecies. Language. Origin tales, behavior. Understanding. Water.

The Big Flood—Vic Parker, Traditional Tales from the Caribbean.
22. HOW THE SEA BEGAN: A TAINO MYTH

George Crespo
Taíno People. Puerto Rico
Yayael always brings home game when he hunts with a special bow his father has
carved from tabonuco wood. One day, he does not return after a hurricane. His father
Yaya finds only the bow and arrows, which, weeping, he and his wife Itiba hang with a
gourd from the ceiling, in case Yayael’s spirit comes to visit. The hungry villagers have
not been able to find meat, and Yaya thinks he will try hunting with his son’s bow and
arrow. As Itiba lowers the gourd, fish spill out. Rejoicing, they share fish with the villagers,
II—Winning and Losing with Gods and Spirits 27
who assign four boys to guard the gourd when they leave to work in the fields. The
curious boys tip the gourd and eat the fish that flop out, but then, afraid of being caught,
rush to raise the gourd and break it. Salty water gushes out over the fields and covers
the land with water and fish. From a mountaintop, villagers watch their land become
an island, Boriquén. They thank the supreme god Yúcahu for the gift of fish in the sea
that will now save them from hunger.
Connections
Accidents. Blessings. Bone, magic. Disobedience. Fantasy. Fish. Floods. Gods and humans. Gourd,
magic. Gratitude. Honoring parents. Hunger. Islands, creation. Mourning. Murder. Origin
tales, appearance. Parents and children. Remorse. Respect. Supernatural events. Water.

How the Sea Was Born—Lulu Delacre, Golden Tales. Yayael’s father kills his son for showing dis-
respect and then hangs the gourd in remorse.
23. T HE GOLDEN FLOWER : A TAINO MYTH FROM PUERTO R ICO

(PrInT and onlIne)
Nina Jaffe
A child sows some blowing seeds on a bare mountaintop. Trees and plants begin
to bloom there. Two men fight over the mysterious, golden ball which grows from one
vine. They believe that possessing the shining ball will give them the power to control
darkness and light. The ball, a pumpkin, rolls down the mountain and breaks open.
Water filled with sea life from inside floods everything up to the forest. This is how the
island of Puerto Rico was formed.
Connections
Combat. Fantasy. Floods. Gourds. Islands, creation. Origin tales, appearance. Ownership. Power.
Pumpkin, magic. Seed, magic.
24. PaPa g od’s well

Margaret Read MacDonald, Earth Care (Print and online)
Thirsty from drought, the animals call out to Papa God for help, since he is respon-
sible for their being on earth. Papa God creates a deep well for them. He says the water
in the well is for all, but it will need a guard to make sure the water remains clean.
Lizard volunteers for the job, but he thinks only he can decide who drinks from the
well, since he is in charge. He even challenges Papa God’s right to be there. Papa
God repeats that the water belongs to everyone. The well needs a guard who knows
how to share. This time Frog volunteers. He is still there, inviting all to drink from
Papa God’s well. In Haiti, they say, “The well may belong to you, but the water belongs
to God.”
Connections
Allegories and parables. Drought. Coexistence. Frogs and toads. God. Gods and animals. Lizards.
Origin tales, behavior. Ownership. Power, abuse of. Sharing. Thirst. Watchmen. Water. Wells.

Chief of the Well—Harold Courlander, The Piece of Fire, and Other Haitian Tales. God punishes
Lizard for his arrogance by making him wait to drink from rain puddles.
The Chief of the Well—Sophia Lyon Fahs and Alice Cobb, Old Tales for a New Day.
Frog, Chief of the Well—Harold Courlander, The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore of the Haitian
People; and in A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore. God cuts off Frog’s tail when he
becomes too officious about guarding the well.
25. The dIsTrIbuTIon oF The orIshas’ P owers

When the orishas are suffering because of a drought, they beg Obatala to speak
with Olofin, Father of Heaven and Earth, for she is the only one who knows how to
climb the mountain to him. Olofin tells Obatala he is too exhausted to continue. She
brings this message to the other orishas. They ask her to tell him to turn over his powers,
then so they will be able to fix things. Obatala lets Olofin know that the orishas want
him to try to go on, but if he cannot, to share his powers with them. Olofin thinks that
is reasonable. He tells Obatala to assemble everyone under the ceiba tree. Obatala cooks
calming foods for the gathering. The orishas eat and argue and wait. When Olofin
descends, he gives each one an appropriate power—a thunderbolt, lightning, the river,
the sea. Olofin remains the Supreme Orisha, with Obatala in charge as his representative
on earth. She also holds the power to help a sick person to recover.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Drought. Healing. Leadership. Obatalá. Olofi. Origin tales, behavior.
Orishas. Patakí (Tales). Powers. Sharing. Women and girls, resourceful.
26. The gIFT

Obbara lives humbly, for which the other Holy Ones scorn him. He is the only one
who is not disappointed when Olofi invites the Orishas to choose a gift among many
pumpkins. Obbara collects all the pumpkins which the others have discarded and brings
them home to cook. Cutting open the smallest pumpkin, Obbara’s wife finds gold, which
Obbara uses to buy a black horse. He rides up in style to the next meeting Olofi calls.
The other Orishas are ashamed that they have nothing to show. Olofi praises Obbara
for recognizing the value of being offered a gift and now gives him the power to show
people how to value the riches hidden within words and all of life. In English and Span-
ish.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Changes in attitude. Expectation. Gifts. Gratitude. Humility. Obbara.
Olofi. Orishas. Patakí (Tales). Perspective. Power. Pumpkin, magic. Rewards. Ridicule.
27. elegguá , The lord oF The roads / elegguá: dueno de

los camInos
Elvia Pérez, From the Winds of Manguito = Desde los vientos de Manguito
The prince Elegguá possesses great skill at finding new routes and paths through
the land. At one crossroad, he picks up a curious coconut, an Obi, which is shining with
light. Elegguá packs it into his saddlebag. The Obi’s light fades and grows dark, and
Elegguá falls from his horse. He is brought home with a fever and dies. Pain and illness
spread through the kingdom. Orula, the god of divination, sends word to the elders
that Olofi, the supreme god, has taken Elegguá to teach him to better respect the gift
he sent. To make amends, the people need to honor a stone idol with a face of shells,
which they place behind doors to guard all homes and crossroads. Orula makes Elegguá
god of the roads and crossroads. Told in English and Spanish.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Coconut, magic. Gifts. Idols. Illness. Misunderstanding. Origin tales,
behavior. Orishas. Patakí (Tales). Paths. Praise. Princes and princesses. Punishment. Respect.
Supernatural events. Traditions.
28. The beeF Tongue oF orula

Harold Courlander, Ride with the Sun
Unsure whether his young helper Orula is wise enough to control the world, the
god Obatalá challenges Orula to prepare the most perfect meal. Orula carefully con-
siders everything in the market and chooses a piece of beef tongue. Cooked with herbs
and spices, the tongue is truly delicious. When Obatalá asks Orula why he chose to
prepare tongue, Orula praises the many good deeds for which the tongue is responsible.
Obatalá is impressed with Orula’s choice and now asks him to prepare the worst meal.
After careful consideration, Orula brings tongue again. He tells Obatalá all the ways
the tongue can destroy and hurt people. Appreciating the young man’s deep knowledge
of the world, Obatalá tells Orula he is now ready to turn it over to him.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Food. Humorous tales. Language. Leadership. Obatalá. Orishas. Orula.
Patakí (Tales). Tests. Tongue (Food). Wisdom. Words, hurtful.

Obatalá and Orula—Salvador Bueno, Cuban Legends.
29. m ango and orange

Daryl C. Dance, Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans
African American People. Jamaica
Adam and Eve name all the fruits in the garden, but two. So Adam goes to Christ
and asks what these two fruits are called. Christ answers, “Man, go and arrange,” which
is how we now have the mango and orange. Told in patois.
Connections
Adam and Eve. Gods and humans. Humorous tales. Jesus. Fruit. Mangos. Misunderstanding.
Oranges. Origin tales, name. Name, origin. Wordplay.
30. CHILD OF THE SUN: A CUBAN LEGEND

Sandra Arnold
Ciboney People. Cuba
Before going to sleep, the Earth divides powers between her two children, so the
Sun will bring warmth and light by day and then leave so the Moon can rule the oceans
at night. Bored, the Sun creates a man Hamao from sand and clay. When Hamao weeps
with loneliness one night, the Moon creates the woman Guanaroca to keep him com-
pany. The Sun becomes jealous that Hamao now only pays attention to Guanaroca and
their new son Imao. He kidnaps Imao and imprisons Guanaroca with clouds. Hamao
calls upon the animals to help him find his son. The flaming Sun keeps blue heron and
refuses to leave the sky at night. The Wind rescues Imao. Sun’s anger wakes Earth, who
orders Sun to stop the fight and Moon to block Sun’s rays. Sun is ashamed of how he
scorched everything. Moon sometimes has to remind her restless brother to share the
sky by passing in front of him; humans call this an eclipse.
Connections
Animal helpers. Brothers and sisters. Conflict. Creation. Destruction. Earth (Character). Eclipses.
Gods and humans. Human beings, creation. Jealousy. Kidnapping. Loneliness. Moon (Char-
acter). Native American People. Origin tales, behavior. Powers. Praise. Remorse. Restless-
ness. Sharing. Sun (Character). Taino People. Wind (Character).

Variation from Sint Maarten:
Anana, the Maker—Petronella Breinburg, Stories from the Caribbean. Here, the Moon and the
Sun are two fighting brothers.
31. híalI
Douglas Taylor, “Tales and Legends of the Dominica Caribs,” The Journal
of American Folklore (Print and online)
Kalinago People. Dominica
Someone is sneaking in to make love to a girl, who does not know it is the Moon.
Her mother rubs soot from her hands on his face to identify him, and the Moon remains
a man with a dirty face. Perhaps the lover is her brother who became so ashamed, he
rose into the sky. She gives birth to a child named Híali (He-has-become-bright), who
founds the Carib nation. The iorótto flies the child up to the sky for his father to see
and is rewarded with colorful feathers and a little head cap.
Connections
Animal helpers. Gods and humans. Hummingbirds. Identity. Lovers. Moon (Character). Mys-
teries. Name, linked to fate. Origin tales, appearance. Parents and children. Supernatural
beings. Supernatural events.

No title—Raymond Breton in P. Banks, “Island Carib Folk Tales,” Caribbean Quarterly.
32. how The moonFIsh came To be

Dorothy Sharp Carter, Greedy Mariani (Print and online)
The Antilles, country unspecified
In ancient times when the Sun and Moon are husband and wife, the Sun works
only part of the day, whereas the Moon shines down from the sky all the time. Bored
one night, the Moon drops down from the sky to play in the water, which frightens
both fish and people. Le Bon Dieu orders the Moon to return to the sky. When she
refuses, he calls upon the creatures of earth, sea, and sky who work together to block
the Moon and capture her. The mother of all herons tears off a part of the Moon, and
sharp sea creatures prick her. Fishermen bring the Moon to le Bon Dieu, who scolds
her and then repairs her tatters. He says she will now live apart from the Sun, and they
will never have children. However, Le Bon Dieu admits there was a beauty to the Moon’s
light playing in the waves. He scatters dust from fragments of the Moon to glow with
phosphorescence over the water. Then, Le Bon Dieu blows into a flattened ball which
becomes the moonfish, a moon in the water with many children.
Connections
Birds. Disobedience. Fantasy. Fish. God. Husbands and wives. Moon (Character). Moonfish. Ori-
gin tales, appearance. Punishment. Restlessness. Sun (Character).
33. baKámu, VersIon b

Douglas Taylor, “Tales and Legends of the Dominica Caribs,” The Journal
of American Folklore (Print and online)
Kalinago People. Dominica
A woman is bearing a strange child with a human head and a boa’s body that slithers
off to eat grass and then returns to her womb. A magnetist advises her to spit into a
big burgau shell when the child is away and then cross the river. She does this. Her
spittle answers the boa child’s call with her voice, but his head gets stuck as he tries to
curl up into the shell. He comes after her with the shell, and the river sweeps him away,
just as the magnetist has predicted.
Connections
Babies. Birth. Deceit. Gods and humans. Outwitting supernatural beings. Parents and children.
Pregnancy. Shells. Sorcerers and sorceresses. Spittle, magic. Supernatural beings. Supernat-
ural events. Voice, supernatural.
34. The s ong oF el coquí

Nicholasa Mohr, The Song of El Coquí (Print and online)
Puerto Rico
In the beginning, the silence which follows a great storm Huracán himself created
saddens and angers the god. Then a sound—coqui—sends him searching for the source.
Stopping to rest by a mango tree, the god hears tiny frogs sing coqui followed by all the
other voices of nature on the island, which cheers Huracán up again.
Connections
Anger. Coquí. Frogs and toads. Gods and animals. Music. Sadness. Silence. Songs. Taíno People.
Storms. Voices.
35. The orIgIn oF l amPs

Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, The Singing Turtle and
Other Tales from Haiti (Print and online)
Haiti
The sky is so close to the earth in ancient times that stars softly light the night. A
woman taller than the mountains becomes annoyed by low clouds as she tries to sweep
her courtyard. When the woman whacks them away with her broom, the whole sky
grows frightened and lifts up into space, taking along clouds and God and all those who
live in the sky. After that, people need lamps to find their way in the dark.
Connections
Frustration. Gods and humans. Lamps. Origin tales, appearance. Origin tales, behavior. Sky. Sta-
tus quo, resistance.
36. nananbouclou and The PIece oF FIre

Harold Courlander, The Piece of Fire and Other Haitian Tales
When the messenger Legba informs the other gods in ancient times that fire has
fallen from the sky, they work together to capture a piece of it to bring back to their
city. The god of the sea surrounds the fire with water to keep it from burning the earth.
The god of lightning throws the fire into the city on a thunderbolt with the chain the
god of ironwork has made. Their mother Nananbouclou admires the fire until they
begin to quarrel over who should possess it. To bring back harmony, she throws it into
the sky, where it becomes Baiacou, the evening star.
Connections
Arguments. Cooperation. Fire. Gods and spirits. Legba. Loa. Origin tales, appearance. Ownership.
Parents and children. Problem solvers. Stars. Women and girls, resourceful.

Nananbouclou and the Piece of Fire—Harold Courlander, A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore.
37. anansI and The mInd oF g od

Geraldine McCaughrean, The Golden Hoard: Myths and Legends of the
World (Print; online; and CD audio)
African American People. The West Indies, country unspecified
Anansi has been boasting how important he is to God, and now God wants Anansi
to show his cleverness by bringing three things which are in God’s mind. Anansi does
not know what they are. He secretly sews together feathers he has borrowed from every
kind of bird so he can fly up to eavesdrop and learn what God wants. God does not rec-
ognize this many-colored bird as his creation. While telling his advisers why he cannot
ask Anansi himself about the bird, God reveals the three things Anansi needs to get.
Anansi overhears and also learns that God misses him. He brings total darkness, the
moon, and finally, the sun to God in a sack, but as Anansi pulls out the bright sun, it
burns some spots in God’s eyeball. The blind spots keep God from finding Anansi. Told
in rhyming couplets.
Connections
Accidents. Anansi. Braggarts. Cleverness. Darkness. Disguises. Fantasy. Feathers. God. Justice.
Moon. Origin tales, behavior. Quests. Secrets. Status. Sun. Tests.

Jamaican variation, African American People:
Anansi and God—Enid F. D’Oyley, Animal Fables and Other Tales Retold. The python gives
Anansi advice in rounding everything up, but first the earth grows too dark and then too
light, so God divides them into day and night. Pleased, God makes Anansi the cleverest on
earth, with a warning not to boast.
38. oloFIn PunIshes babaluaye

When Olofin is handing out powers, he gives Babaluaye sexual strength, but
Babaluaye is continually lying with women. So, Olofin sends a message for Babaluaye
to control his sexual impulses until Good Friday. Babaluaye says the power is his to use
as he wishes. He does not wait and dies of syphilis soon after. His lover Oshun objects
to such a severe punishment, but Olofin refuses to restore Babaluaye to life. Olofin’s
assistant Orumbila helps her by secretly dripping magic honey throughout Olofin’s
house to give Olofin a pleasureable feeling. Orumbila only tells Olofin that a woman is
responsible. After questioning everyone else, Olofin calls for Oshun. She negotiates,
saying she will provide Olofin with the wonderful honey if he brings Babaluaye back to
life. Olofin does, and Babaluaye continues to enjoy his sexual prowess as he did before.
Connections
Allegories and parables. Babaluaye. Bargains. Disobedience. Happiness. Honey, magic. Justice.
Olofi. Orishas. Orula. Patakí (Tales). Power, abuse of. Powers. Punishment. Restoring life.
Sexuality. Tricksters. Women and girls, resourceful.

Oshún, the Keeper of Honey / Oshún, la dueña del oñí—Elvia Pérez, From the Winds of Manguito
= Desde los vientos de Manguito. Olofin brings Babalú Ayé back to life, but punishes his dis-
obedience by making him a sick old man, who wanders around the world begging. In English
and Spanish.
39. FIRST PALM T REES: AN ANANCY SPIDERMAN STORY

James Berry
African American People. The West Indies, country unspecified
Before there are any palm trees on earth, a priest tells the king that he has dreamt
of trees with plumes on top that give wine. The king offers a reward to anyone who can
make such trees grow on his land. Anancy Spiderman wants that reward. He offers to
share the money with the Sun-Spirit for his help, but frets about diminished returns
when the Sun-Spirit says he will need to involve Water-Spirit. Water-Spirit says he can-
not work without Earth-Spirit, who cannot work without Air-Spirit. Anancy is forced
to agree to split the money with them all. He waits impatiently for news, and then one
morning his son Tukuma tells him the trees have arrived. The king says many people
are claiming responsibility, but none can prove his work. The villagers all know Anancy
interceded with the spirits to bring the palm trees, but it takes a long while before he
gets the credit for doing so.
Connections
Acclamation. Air (Character). Anansi. Competition. Disappointment. Dreams. Earth (Character).
Evidence. Gods and animals. Gods and spirits. Kings and queens. Origin tales, appearance.
Palm trees. Quests. Sun (Character). Trees and bushes. Water (Character).
40. The KIng and hIs seVen daughTers

Lalita Chotkam. In Kumar Mahabir, Caribbean Indian Folktales
Indian People. Trinidad
Angry, a king banishes his youngest daughter who has answered that she lives by
God’s grace, instead of by her father’s. Deep in the forest, she meets an old man, a
beggar, who says he will marry her and take care of her and that God will help them
both. She stays with him. After a while, God appears and questions how they live day
to day. The daughter answers that she trusted God would come to help and asks for a
palace. God grants them this and makes her husband young again. She welcomes
her father who comes to see if it is true that his daughter now lives well. He says that
she has been blessed by God and admits he was wrong to disparage the truth of her
belief.
Connections
Anger. Banishment. Beggars. Blessings. Changes in attitude. Faith. Forgiveness. God. Gods and
humans. Kings and queens. Parents and children. Praise. Princes and princesses. Repentance.
Reversals of fortune.
41. guaní
Pura Belpré, Once in Puerto Rico
Soon after Guaní thanks his god Yukiyú for the beauty of the water before him,
twelve goats appear in the valley below. The lonely boy cares for them, but when the
goats turn to wood by the spring one day, he fears that he may have angered Yukiyú. A
painted Taino man in Guaní’s dream tells him to follow a trail to reach him. Upon
waking, Guaní fights his way through brush up a steep mountain path. He enters a
dark cave, where he finds the Taino. The boy asks how he may bring his goats back to
life, and the Spirit of the Cave hands him a wooden flute to break the spell which an
evil toad in the spring cast over them. The Spirit teaches Guaní to softly blow what he
feels in his heart and disappears. Guaní returns to the spring and plays the joy he felt
with the goats. Then they are there, running to him, and Guaní plays a song of grati-
tude.
Connections
Animals and humans. Charms and potions. Dreams. Education. Fantasy. Flute, magic. Goats.
Gods and humans. Gratitude. Kindness to animals. Loneliness. Loss. Music. Praise. Restoring
life. Separation. Spirits and ghosts. Transformation.
42. The sharK KIller

José Ramírez-Rivera, Puerto Rican Tales
Puerto Rico
Trying to impress the new Viceroy of New Spain before he travels on, the local
magistrate of Aguada boasts that they have a young fisherman who fights sharks. The
Viceroy would like to see this, but Rufino, of mixed European and Indian ancestry,
refuses to do it without the scapulars of the Virgin, which he always wears around his
neck when he goes fishing and which have been sent out for repair. Finally, still worried,
he accepts the Viceroy’s offer of an ounce of Spanish gold. Rufino disappears underwater
with his dagger as the crowd watches. After a terrible battle, the shark floats up lifeless,
and Rufino is rescued. The Viceroy advises him never to do this again. Hailed as a hero,
Rufino buys a boat and new nets with his reward money, but he never again fights sharks.
Connections
Amulets. Colonists, Spanish. Combat. Courage. Doubt. Faith. Fishermen. Power. Requests.
Rewards. Sharks.

Slayer of Sharks / El matador de tiburones—Genevieve Barlow, Stories from Latin America =
Historias de Latinoamérica. Rufino finally agrees to fight the shark without his religious
medallion in order to have money to marry his fiancée. In English and Spanish.
43. why d og losT hIs VoIce

Bastien Rémy. In Dorothy Sharp Carter, Greedy Mariani (Print and online)
Haiti
Three farmers think God is a traveler when he stops by with his Dog and asks them
how they are. Each day, they answer that they work hard and expect to finish weeding.
Each next day, however, they find the field they have cleared overgrown again. The
farmers are beginning to lose heart when God sends Dog to ask them for water. Dog
whispers to the farmers that they should greet the Traveler as Papa God and say their
work will be done with his grace. They do, and this time, the field stays clear. Dog feels
guilty, though, and is avoiding God’s gaze. God punishes Dog for giving him away by
taking away his ability to speak and making him dependent on man.
Connections
Animal helpers. Autonomy. Changes in attitude. Disobedience. Dogs. Faith. Farmers. God. Gods
and animals. Gods and humans. Guilt. Language. Origin tales, behavior. Punishment. Rever-
sals of fortune. Status. Tests. Voices.

If God Wills—Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, The Singing Turtle and Other Tales
from Haiti (Print and online).
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
3. I was now cast into the most grievous disquietude, having
sorrow in my heart daily. I was in a dreadful strait betwixt two, on the
one hand, my fears gave an edge to my convictions of sin. This
made me attend more to the word of God; the more I attended to it,
they increased the more; and I saw there was no way to be freed
from them, but by being thoroughly religious. On the other hand if I
should engage in religion in earnest, I saw the hazard of suffering,
perhaps dying for it. And this I could not think of. Betwixt both I was
dreadfully tost, so that for some nights, sleep went from my eyes.
There was often imprest on my fancy, one holding a dagger to my
breast, with “Quit your religion or die.” And that so strongly, that I
have almost fainted under it, being still terribly unresolved what to
do. Some times I would let him give the fatal stroke; but then my
spirits failed, and my heart sunk within me. At other times I resolved
to quit my religion, and take it again when the danger was past. But
neither could I find rest here. What thought I, if he destroy me
afterward, and so I loose both life and religion? Or what if I die,
before the danger is past, and so have no time to take it again.
♦4. For near a year, few weeks, nay, few days and nights, past
over me without these struggles. But after King James’s army was
overthrown, on July 27, 1689, I soon grew as remiss as before. All
my remaining difficulty was to stifle my convictions, which I
endeavoured partly by a more careful attendance on outward duties,
partly by promising to abstain from those sins, which most directly
crost my light, and partly by resolving to enquire farther into the will
of God, and to comply with it hereafter.
♦ “3.” replaced with “4.”

5. But these courses afforded no solid repose. The first sin
against light or omission of duty, shook all, and I was confounded at
the thoughts of appearing before God in such a righteousness.
Indeed, I had some ease when trials were at a distance; but it
vanished on their approach. This was not gold tried in the fire; nor
would it abide so much as a near view of danger; but at the very
appearance of a storm, the foundation fell away.
6. The effects of my being thus exercised were: 1. I was brought

to doubt of the truths of religion. Whenever I would have built on
them in time of distress, a suspicion secretly haunted me; “What if
these things are not so? Have I a certainty and evidence about them,
answerable to the weight that is to be laid upon them?” Death and
the trouble attending it, were certain things: but I was not so certain
of the truths of religion. Still when, under apprehensions of death, I
would have taken rest therein, but my mind began to waver. Not that
I could give any reason for it; but the way of the wicked is as
darkness; they know not at what they stumble. 2. I found plainly
hereby that I could never have peace, till I came to another sort of
certainty about religion. Death I saw was unavoidable and might be
sudden; nor could I banish the thoughts of it. Therefore I concluded,
“Unless I obtain such a conviction of religion, and such an interest in
it, as will make me look death in the face, not only without fear, but
with joy; good it were I had never been born.” But how or ♦where this
was to be obtained I was utterly uncertain. Here I lay in great
perplexity, under the melancholly sense that I had hitherto spent my
money for that which is not bread, and my labour for that which
profiteth not. 3. This perplexity was somewhat eased one day, while I
was reading how Mr. Robert Bruce was in a doubt, even concerning
the being of God, who yet afterwards came to the fullest satisfaction.
I then felt a secret hope, “That sometime in one way or other, God
might thus satisfy me.” Here was the dawning of a light, which
though if it was not soon cleared up, yet was never wholly put out
again. A light which though as yet it was far from satisfying, yet kept
me from utter despair.
♦ “were” replaced with “where” per Errata
7. About this time one Mr. Donaldson, a reverend old clergyman,

preached at Perth, and coming to visit my mother, called for me, and
asked me among other questions, “If I sought a blessing upon my
learning?” I frankly answered, no. He replied, with a severe look,
“Sirrah, unsanctified learning has done much mischief in the church
of God.” This saying left so deep an impression on me ever after,
that whenever I was any way straitened, I applied to God, by prayer
for help in my learning, and pardon for not seeking it before. Yet as
to the main, I was still afar off from God, and an enemy to him both
in my heart and works.
C H A P T E R IV.
Of the increase of his convictions, from Autumn 1690, till
May 1693.
1. OR the better advantage of my education my mother in 1690,

F removed with me to Edinburgh. I was now again put to school,
and in November 1692, entered at the college. Here my
knowledge of the law of God daily increased; and therewith my
knowledge of sin. I saw more and more, that he was displeased with
me for sins which formerly I had not observed. The impressions of
my mortality were likewise rivetted in me by new afflictions, and I
was more in bondage through the growing fear of death. Again the
scriptures being now daily preached, forced me to some enquiry into
my own sincerity in religion; and I was willing, provided I might save
my bosom-idols, not only to hear, but to do many things.
2. I was now carried far in a form of religion. I prayed not only
morning and evening, but at other times too: I wept much in secret: I
read and meditated, and resolved to live otherwise than I had done.
But this goodness too was as the morning cloud it was force and not
nature: and therefore could not be expected to last any longer than
the force which occasioned it.
3. While I was under this distress many a wretched shift did I

betake myself to for relief. When I read or heard searching things; if
any thing that was said seemed to make for me, I greedily catched
hold of it. When I found somewhat required that I neither did, nor
could even resolve to comply with; I thought to compound and make
amends some other way. Or else I questioned, whether God had
required it or no? Whether he that taught so was not mistaken? And
whether I might not be in a state of salvation, without those marks of
it which he assigned. Again, many times when I would not see, I
quarrelled with ministers or books for not speaking plainly. Always I
carefully sought for the lowest marks, and the least degrees of grace
that were saving. For I designed but so much religion as would take
me to heaven, the very least that would serve the turn. And when
none of those shifts availed, I resolved in general, to do all that God
commanded. But I soon retracted when he tried me in any
particulars that were contrary to my inclinations. And when I saw I
must do it, I begged a little respite: with St. Austin, “I was content to
be holy, but not yet:” forgetting that a delay is, in God’s account, a
refusal; since all his commandments require present obedience.
After all ways were tried I blamed my education. I knew religion was
a change of heart; but whether mine had undergone this change was
the question: Now, thought I, “If I had not been educated religiously,
but had changed all at once, it would have been more easily
discernable.” Thus was I entangled in my own ways, and even
seeking wisdom, I found it not.
4. Although I now seemed to have gone far; yet I was indeed
wholly wrong. For being convinced of the necessity of righteousness,
but ignorant of Christ, I sought it by the works of the law. Therefore
the carnal mind, which was enmity against God, still continued in me:
and all my struggles were only a toiling to and fro, between light and
love of sin, wherein sin was still conqueror; for my bosom idols I
could not part with. Beside the small religion I had, was not abiding,
but rose and fell with the above mentioned occasions.
5. About this time Clark’s Martyrology came into my hands. I

loved history and read it greedily. The patience, courage, and joy of
the martyrs convinced me that there was a reality in religion, beyond
the power of nature. I was convinced likewise that I was a stranger to
it, because I could not think of suffering. And withal I felt some faint
desires after it, so at least, as often to join in Balaam’s wish, Let me
die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.
6. At this time likewise God restrained me from many follies I was

inclined to, by bodily infirmity. He provided me too with friends who
were very tender of me. He fed me, though I knew him not. But so
far was I from being thankful for these mercies, that my proud heart
fretted at them. O what reason have I to say, The Lord is good even
to the evil and unthankful.
C H A P T E R V.
Of the straits he was in, and the course he took for relief,
from May 1693, to August 1696.
1. HE air of Edinburgh agreeing neither with my mother nor me, in
T May 1693 she removed to St. Andrews. And here I came
under the care of Mr. Taylor, a wise man, and one very careful
of me. Thus chased as I was from place to place, God every where
provided me with friends. And now by the searching ministry of Mr.
Forrester, he began to give me some small discovery of the more
spiritual evils of my soul. He opened to me first the pride of my heart,
and the wickedness and injustice of valuing myself upon those
deliverances from my own weakness, which had been wholly
wrought by his own strength. I likewise saw the impiety of drawing
near to him with my mouth, while my heart was far from him: and
indeed of trusting to any outward performance, without the life of all,
faith working by love.
2. This, added to what I was conscious of before, frequently

♦ threw me into racking perplexity; when finding no peace in my
former evasions I resolved to enter into a solemn covenant with God;
and having wrote and subscribed this, I believed all was right. I found
a sort of present peace; amendment I thought sufficient atonement,
and such an engagement I looked on as a performance. I now
likewise often found an unusual sweetness in hearing the word, and
sometimes the most piercing convictions. And these were indeed a
taste of the good word of God, and of the powers of the world to
come.
♦ “through” replaced with “threw” per Errata

3. But the merciful God would not let me rest here: the peace I
found by making this covenant, was soon lost by breaking it: at the
same time my heart smote me for my old sins, by which I found
former accounts to be still standing against me, which filled me with
confusion and jealousies of these ways. I perceived too, something
of the treachery of my engagements, and that my heart had not been
found therein, but had secret reserves for some sins, which were
then given ♦ up inward only. God also let loose some of my
corruptions upon me; which as soon as his restraint was taken off,
were more violent than ever, and bore down before them all that I
had set in their way. By these means he discovered to me the
fruitlesness of my covenant, and threw me afresh into the utmost
confusion: while the evil I thought so effectually provided against,
again came upon me.
♦ “me in one word” replaced with “up inward” per Errata

4. Yet notwithstanding I felt the vanity of these ways, I still
adhered to them. I again trusted my own heart, and hoped to recover
by renewing the peace I lost by breaking my covenant. I laid the
blame on some accidental defect in my former management, and
thought, were that mended, all would be well. When I found
something wanting still, I contrived to make it up with something
extraordinary of my own, with the multiplication of prayers, or of
some outward duty or other. But all these refuges failed, and my life
was so throughly miserable while I was pursuing them, that had not
the infinite mercy of God prevented, one of these effects had surely
followed. Either, 1. The convictions I was under would have ceased,
God giving over his striving with me, and then having attained to a
form of godliness, I should have rested therein and looked no farther.
Or, 2. If those convictions had continued, and I had been left to my
own way, I should have laboured in the fire all my days, wearying
myself with vanity, in a continual vicissitude of resolutions and
breaches, security and disquietude: engagements and sins, false
peace and racking anxiety, by turns taking place. Or, 3. When I had
wearied myself in vain, I should have utterly given up religion, and
gone over, if not to direct Atheism, at least to open prophaneness.
Or, lastly, Being forced to seek shelter somewhere, and being so
sadly disappointed in all the ways I tried, I had said, This evil is of the
Lord, why wait I any longer? And so sunk in final despair. And in fact,
I had some experience of all these. Sometimes I sat down with the
bare form. Sometimes I wearied myself in running from one of these
vain courses to another. At other times, finding no profit, I turned
careless, and was on the point of throwing off all religion. And very
often I was driven almost to distraction, and stood on the very brink
of despair.
5. When I had been disappointed again and again, I was in the
utmost perplexity to find where the fault lay. I found this way of
covenanting with God mentioned in scripture, recommended by
ministers, and approved by the experience of all the people of God. I
could not tax myself with guile in doing it: I was resolved to perform
the engagement I made. I made it with much concern and solemnity,
and for some time kept it strictly. But though I could not then see
where the failing was, I have since been enabled to see it clearly.
1. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God, I was still establishing
a righteousness of my own: and though in words I renounced this,
yet in fact I sought righteousness and peace, not in the Lord Jesus,
but in my own covenants and engagements, so that I really put them
in Christ’s room: and as to forgiveness of sins, my real trust was not
in his blood, but in the evenness of my own walk. Therefore, I
obtained not righteousness, because I still sought it, as it were by the
works of the law. And it was evident I did so, by this plain sign;
whenever I was challenged for sin, instead of recourse to the blood
of Christ, I still sought peace only in renewing my vows again; the
consent I gave to the law, was not from the reconcilement of my
heart to its holiness; but merely from fear. The enmity against it
continued: nor would I have chosen it, had that force been away.
Farther, my eye was not single; provided I was safe, I had no
concern for the glory of God. In a word, I engaged, before God had
thoroughly engaged me. We may be in a sort willing, before he hath
made us truly so. But the first real kindness begins with him: and we
never love till his kindness draws us. Fear may indeed overpower us
into something like it, as it did me. I was willing to be saved from hell:
but not to be saved in God’s way, and in order to those ends he
proposes in our salvation.
6. This was not my only trouble. I was now engaged in
metaphysics and natural divinity; accustomed to subtil notions, and
pleased with them; whence, by the just permission of God, the devil
took occasion to cast me into doubts about the great truths of
religion, especially the being of a God. I not only felt, as formerly, the
want of evidence for it, but various arguments were suggested
against it. But though the enmity of my heart against God was still
great, yet he suffered me not to yield to them. There remained so
much evidence of his being, in his works of creation and providence,
as made me recoil at the terrible conclusion, aimed at by those
arguments. And being likewise affected with deep apprehensions of
the shortness and uncertainty of the present life, I dreaded a
supposition that shook the foundations of any hope of relief, from the
other side of time.
7. In this strait between light and darkness, as my disturbance

was from my own reasonings, so from the same I sought my relief.
By these I hoped to obtain establishment in the truth, and give
answer to all objections against it. I therefore seriously set myself to
search for demonstrative arguments: and I found them, but found no
relief. The most forcible of them indeed extorted assent, by the
absurdity of the contrary conclusion: but not giving me any satisfying
discoveries of that God, whose existence they obliged me to own,
my mind was not quieted. Nay, and besides, those arguments not
dissolving contrary objections, whenever the light of them was
removed, and those objections came again in view, I was again
exceedingly shaken. I was like him, who reading Plato of the
immortality of the soul, said, “While I read, I assent: but I cannot tell
how; so soon as I lay down the book, all my assent is gone.”
8. I still hoped to attain what I had hitherto failed of, by some
farther progress in learning: but all in vain: the farther I went, the
greater was my disappointment; the more difficulties I continually
met with, and found he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth
sorrow. When this would not avail, then I spent my weary hours in
vain wishes for some extraordinary discoveries. Nay, but if one rose
from the dead, they will believe. And this, notwithstanding my
disappointment I gained: I was somewhat beat from that towring
opinion of my knowledge and abilities, which my first seeming
success in philosophy gave me, and brought to a diffidence of
myself.
9. But still my corruptions took daily root, and increased in

strength by my weak resistance. Yet I had a fair form of religion: I
avoided all those sins that plainly thwarted the light of my
conscience. I abstained from those evils which even the more
serious students gave into; and kept at a distance from the
occasions of them. I was more exact in attending both public and
private prayer, and not without some concern for my inward frame in
them. When I was insnared into any sin or omission of any duty, I
was deeply sorrowful. I had a kindness for all that feared God, and a
pleasure in their converse, especially on religion. I had frequent
tastes of the good word of God, which made me delight in
approaching him. I had many returns to prayer; when under a deep
sense of my impotence, I betook me to God in any strait, I was so
remarkably helped, that I could not but observe it. Hereby God drew
me gradually in, to expect every good gift from above, and
encouraged the very faintest beginnings of a look toward a return.
10. But tho’ by these means I got a name to live, yet was I really
dead. For, 1. My natural darkness still remained, tho’ with some
small dawnings of light. 2. The enmity of my mind against the law of
God was yet untaken away. I had not a respect unto all his
commands, nor a sight of the beauty of holiness: neither did my
heart approve of the whole yoke of Christ, as good and desirable;
and I complied with it in part, not from a delight therein, but because
I saw I was undone without it. 3. I yet sought righteousness as it
were by the works of the law; I was wholly legal in all I did: not
seeing the necessity, the security, the glory of the gospel-method of
salvation, by seeking righteousness and strength in the Lord Christ
alone. Lastly, my sole aim was to save myself, without any regard to
the glory of God, or any enquiry how it could consist with it to save
one who had so deeply offended. In a word, all my religion was
servile, constrained, and anti-evangelical.
11. From the foregoing passages I cannot but observe, 1. What a

depth of deceitfulness there is in the heart of man. How many shifts
did mine use to elude the design of all those strivings of the Spirit of
the Lord with me? I have told many, but the one half is not told. And
all these respect but one point in religion. If a single man were to
recount but the more remarkable deceits, with respect to the whole
of his behaviour, how many volumes must he write? And if so many
be seen, how many secret, undiscernable, or at least undiscerned
deceits must still remain! So much truth is there couched in that
short scripture, The heart is deceitful above all things: who can know
it?
*I observe, 2. How far we may go toward religion, and yet come

short of it. I had and did many things: I heard the scriptures gladly:—I
was almost persuaded to be a Christian: I had escaped the outward
pollutions that are in the world: yea, I seemed enlightened, and a
partaker of the heavenly gift; having many times tasted the good
word of God, and the powers of the world to come. I had undergone
many changes; but not the great change: I was not born of God: I
was not begotten anew, and made a child of God through a living
faith in Christ Jesus.
Again, I cannot but look back with wonder at the astonishing
patience of God, which suffered my manners so long, and the
steadiness he shewed in pursuing his work, notwithstanding all my
provocations. All the creation could not have afforded so much
forbearance: the disciples of Christ would have called for fire from
heaven: yea, Moses would have found more here to irritate him than
at Meribah. Glory be to God, that we have to do with him, and not
with man. His ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our
thoughts: but as the heavens are high above the earth, so are his
ways and thoughts of mercy above ours.
*Fourthly, I must bear witness to the reasonableness of God’s

way. It did not destroy my faculties, but improve them. He
enlightened my eyes to see what he would have me to do, and did
not force but gradually persuade me to comply with it. This was not
to compel, but gently bend the will, to the things that were really fit
for it to incline to: nor did he ever oblige me to part with any sin, till
he had let me see it was against my interest as well as duty: and the
smallest piece of compliance with his will, wanted not even a present
reward.
Lastly, Though this work was agreeable to reason, yet it was far
above the power of nature. I cannot ascribe either its rise or progress
to myself; for it was what I sought not, I thought not of; nay I hated,
and feared and avoided, and shunned and opposed it with all my
might. I cannot ascribe it to any outward means. There are many
parts of it which they did not reach: and as to the rest, the most
forcible failed; the weakest wrought the effect. Neither strong, nor
weak had the same effect always. But the work was still carried on,
by a secret and undiscernable power, like the wind, blowing where it
listeth. It bore the impress of God in all its steps. The word that
awakened me, was the voice of him who maketh the dead to hear,
and calleth the things which are not, as though they were. The light
that shone was, the candle of the Lord, tracing an unsearchable
heart through all its windings. It was all the work of one who is every
where, who knoweth every thing, and who will not faint or be
discouraged, till he hath brought forth judgment unto victory. And it
was all an uniform work, though variously carried on, through many
interruptions, over many oppositions, for a long tract of time, by
means seemingly weak, improper, contrary, suitable only for him
whose paths are in the great waters, and whose footsteps are not
known. In a word, it was a bush burning and not consumed, only by
the presence of God. It was as a spark in the midst of the ocean, still
kept alive, notwithstanding floods continually poured upon it. This
was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
P A R T II.
C H A P T E R I.
Of the progress of his convictions and temptations.
1. HAD now a design to go abroad: but on the advice of some

I friends, I laid aside that design, and engaged as chaplain to a
family. Accordingly in August 1696, I went to the Wemyss.
When I came hither, a stranger among persons of considerable
quality, I was in a great strait, and cried to God for help. And though
it was my own, more than his honour, I was concerned for, yet he,
who would not overlook even Ahab’s humiliation, did not fail to assist
me, so far as to maintain the respect due to the station I was in.
2. I had not been here long, when I was often engaged (and
frequently, without necessity) in debates about the divinity of the
scriptures, and the most important doctrines therein. This drew me to
read the writings of Deists, that I might know the strength of the
enemy. But I soon perceived, that these foolish questions and
contentions were unprofitable and vain. For evil men and seducers
will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. And to my
sad experience I found, that their word doth eat as doth a gangrene:
so that happy is he who stops his ears against it!
3. The reading these was of dangerous consequence to one who
was not rooted and grounded in the truth. Their objections I found
struck at the foundations; they were many, new, and set off to the
best advantage by the cunning craftiness of men practised in deceit.
Nor was I acquainted with that vigilance and humble sobriety that
were necessary for my defence against them. The adversary finding
all things thus prepared, set furiously upon me. He wrought up first
the natural atheism, darkness and enmity of my own heart,
blasphemously to ask concerning the great truths of religion, “How
can these things be?” To increase these doubts he employed some
who had all the advantages of nature and education, persons
smooth, sober, of generous tempers, and good understandings, to
oppose the truth with the most plausible appearances of argument
and reason. To all this he added his own subtil suggestions, “Hath
God indeed said so?” And sometimes he threw in fiery darts, to
enflame and disorder me; especially, when I was alone, or most
seriously employed in prayer or meditation.
4. By all these ways he assaulted me, both as to the being of

God, as to his providence, and as to the truth both of his revelation in
general, and of many particulars contained in it. Sometimes he
suggested the want of sufficient evidence; at other times, that it was
obscure or hard. Yea, some parts of it were accused as plain
blasphemy: some as contradictory to each other. The great mystery
of the gospel was particularly set upon and represented as
foolishness: and for fear of some or other of those suggestions, it
was even a terror to me, to look into the bible.
5. The subtle enemy, who had so often before tempted me to
pride, now pressed me to a bastard sort of humility. “How can such
an one as you expect to remove difficulties, which so many abler
men have sunk under?” By this I was brought into grievous
perplexity. I sought relief from my own reasonings, from books, and
even from prayer, but I found it not. Then I wished for some
extraordinary revelation; and at last sat down with the sluggard,
folding my hands, and eating my own flesh. My own reasonings
availed not against him, who esteems iron as straw, and brass as
rotten wood. All my books overlooked many of my scruples, and did
not satisfy me as to the rest. And as to extraordinary expectations,
God justly rejected them, seeing I would not hear Moses and the
prophets. So that I had quite sunk under the weight of my trouble,
and been swallowed up of sorrow and despair, had it not been for
some little assistances which the goodness of God gave me,
sometimes one way, sometimes another. When I was urged to reject
the scriptures, it was often seasonably suggested, To whom shall I
go? These are the words of eternal life. God powerfully convinced
me, and kept the conviction strong upon my mind, that whenever I
parted with revelation, I must give up all prospect of certainty or
satisfaction about eternal life. The boasted demonstrations of a
future happiness, built only on the light of nature, I had tried long
ago, and found to be altogether weak and inconclusive; though had
they been ever so conclusive, I had been not a whit the nearer
satisfaction. For, to tell me of such a state, without an account of its
nature, or the terms whereon it was attainable, was all one as if
nothing had been said about it, and left my mind in equal confusion.
Again, on a due observation of those who were truly religious, I could
not but even then think them the better part of mankind; and my soul
started at charging all the best of mankind with a lie in a thing of the
greatest importance. On the other hand, God opened my eyes to see
the unaccountable folly of those who had abandoned revealed
religion. The scripture tells them plainly, they must do his will, if they
would know whether the doctrine be of God. But they walk in a direct
contradiction to his will; how then can they know of the doctrine?
Nay, some sober, learned, and otherwise inquisitive persons, owned,
that we are already miserable, if we are either cut off from the hopes
of, or left at uncertainty about a future state of happiness. They
owned likewise themselves to be thus uncertain, and yet were at
little or no pains to be satisfied; yea, I found they rather sought for
what might strengthen their doubts than remove them; which plainly
shewed a hatred of the light.
6. I received further help from considering the lives, but more

especially the deaths of the martyrs. When I considered the number,
the quality, and all the circumstances of those who had been
tortured, not accepting deliverance, I could not but own the finger of
God, and the reality of religion. The known instances of its power
over children in their tender years, appeared likewise of great weight;
and I began to get frequent touches of conviction, whereby feeling
the piercing virtue of his word, making manifest the secrets of my
heart, I was forced to own God to be in it of a truth. Lastly, I found a
secret hope begot and cherished I know not how, sometimes even
amidst the violence of temptations, that as God had delivered others
from temptations like mine, (though I doubted, if ever any had been
so much molested as I) so he would deliver me at length; that what I
knew not now, I should know hereafter: that my mouth should yet be
filled with his praise: and that Satan’s rage shewed his time was but
short.
7. Hereby I was enabled, not only to persevere, and with more

earnestness, both in public and private duties, but also carefully to
conceal all my straits from others, who might have stumbled at, or
been hardened by them. I was unwilling others should know any
thing that might disgust them at religion; Tell it not in Gath, lest the
daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. *In converse with such as
were shaken, I still stood for the truth, as if I had been under no
doubt about it. And I must own, that while I did so, God often gave
me both success with others, and satisfaction in my own mind. How
good a master is God! A word spoken for him is not lost: nor will he
suffer the least service to be in vain. A Heathen Cyrus, yea
Nebuchadnezzar himself, shall not work without his reward.
8. Before I proceed, I must observe the folly of reasoning with
Satan; whenever I did so, he had still great advantage: he easily
evaded all my arguments, and enforced his own suggestions: and
even when they were not maintained by argument, he injected them
so strongly, that I was not able to stand against them: our safest
course is to hold him at a distance, and avoid all communion with
him. *I must observe likewise, the wise providence of God, that the
greatest difficulties against religion are hid from Atheists. None of the
objections they make are near so subtle as those which were often
suggested to me. Indeed they do not view religion near enough, to
see either the difficulties, or the advantages that attend it. And the
devil finding them quiet, keeps them so, not using force, where he
can do his work without it. Besides, God, in his infinite wisdom,
permits, not all these subtleties of hell to be published, in tenderness
to the faith of the weak, which could not bear so severe an assault.
9. I lay under many inconveniences all this while. Most of the

converse I had was with unholy men. I had no friend to whom I could
impart my griefs with freedom, or any prospect of satisfaction. And
the entire concealing my concern made it fasten more and more, and
drink up my blood and spirits. I laid aside my studies; I could not
pursue either business or diversion: I had no heart to any thing; I
could not read, unless now and then a small portion of scripture, or
some other practical book (except when, for a short space, there
was an intermission of my trouble.) For near a year and a half I read
scarce any thing; and this slothful posture laid me open to fresh
temptations, and made my corruptions grow stronger still.
10. Yet even now, God minding his own work, by the means of
his word, brought the law, in its spiritual meaning, nearer. And then I
found more discernibly the stirrings of sin, which taking occasion
from the commandment, and being fretted at the light let into my
soul, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Hereby I was
plunged into deeper guilt; My iniquities went over my head; and my
conscience was so alarmed, that I found no rest in my bones by
reason of my sin.
11. I still laboured for rest, either by extenuating my faults,
pleading the strength of temptation, (sometimes not without secret
reflections upon God) or by trying to persuade myself they were no
faults at all. When all these failed, I made new vows and resolutions;
and November 23, 1697, (a day I had set apart for fasting and
prayer) I drew up a short account of my treacherous dealing with
God from my youth up, and solemnly bound myself to him for the
time to come.
12. But tho’ by this means I was kept from open pollutions; tho’ I
was careful of outward duties; received the word with joy; watched
against pride of heart, unbelief, and other spiritual evils; though I
fasted, prayed, mourned, and was much in secret; yea, strove
against all sins, even those I loved best; yet all this was only a form
of religion, the power of which I was still a stranger to. I was a
stranger to that blessed relief of sinners, faith imputed for
righteousness. Though I professed to believe it, I was really in the
dark, as to its glorious efficacy, tendency and design. Still my eye
was not single; I regarded only myself, and not the glory of God. It
was still by some righteousness of my own, in whole or in part, that I
sought relief. Though I did part with my beloved sins, yet it was
neither without reluctance, nor without some secret reserve. Lastly,
My heart was utterly averse from all spiritual religion: and if I
sometimes aimed at fixing my mind on heavenly things; yet it was
soon weary of this forcible bent, and it seemed intolerable to think of
being always spiritual.

The Caribbean Story Finder A Guide To 438 Tales From 24 Nations and Territories Listing Subjects and Sources 1st Edition Sharon Barcan Elswit

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The Caribbean Story Finder A Guide To 438 Tales From 24 Nations and Territories Listing Subjects and Sources 1st Edition Sharon Barcan Elswit

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Copyright:

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The Caribbean Story Finder A Guide to

438 Tales from 24 Nations and

Sixty Folk Tales from Slavonic Sources 1st Edition A H

Reading Russian Sources A Student s Guide to Text and

A Straightforward Guide To Divorce And The Law Sharon

Bhumi and the Golden Cobra Adapted from the Ancient

What s in a name Adapted from the Ancient Indian folk

A Taste of Caribbean Traditional Caribbean Cooking Made

DK Eyewitness Jerusalem Israel and the Palestinian

The Latin American Story Finder:

ShAron bArCAn ElSwiT

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

briTiSh librAry CATAloguing dATA ArE AvAilAblE

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

Front cover image © 2017 galyna_P/iStock

Printed in the united States of America

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

I—musical Tales (Stories 1–18) 11

II—winning and losing with gods and Spirits (Stories 19–75) 25

III—Seeking Justice (Stories 76–116) 53

IV—be Careful: beautiful Shape-shifters, loup-garous, devils,

V—Tearful love and Playful Courtship (Stories 175–205) 109

VI—goodness: Kindness and Friendship (Stories 206–225) 129

VII—Powers That be in the Community: The weak and the Strong,

VIII—Tricksters: besting the bully and Schemes for Survival

IX—Tricksters getting Tricked (Stories 363–385) 216

X—Fools: hopeful Expectations and Surprising Successes …

XI—magical rescues and Escapes (Stories 410–438) 247

Appendix A. Geographic Lexicon: A Guide to Story Source References 267

Appendix B. Sources for Stories Told in Creole and Patois 269

Appendix C. Glossary and Cast of Characters 271

Story Title Index 291

Subject Index 298

Which 438 Tales Are Here?

Song and the Power of Words in the Tales

Chapters and Challenges

Featured Stories and Variants

Using the Connections

Using the Subject Index

1. The Ibelles and The losT PaThs

How Else This Story Is Told

Caribbean variation, country unspecified:

2. The KIngdom wIThouT day

How Else This Story Is Told

3. The m agIc orange Tree

Where Else This Story Appears

How Else This Story Is Told

4. The FIg Tree / l a maTa de hIgo

Where Else This Story Appears

How Else This Story Is Told

Puerto Rican variation:

Saint Vincentian variation, African American People:

Variation from St. Thomas:

5. The sIngIng bone

How Else This Story Is Told

Saint Vincentian variation, African American People:

Caribbean variation, Indian People, country unspecified:

Where Else This Story Appears

How Else This Story Is Told

7. we sIng lIKe ThIs / nosoTras canTamos a sí

Where Else This Story Appears

How Else This Story Is Told

8. The sIngIng TorToIse