THE PROVENIENCE OF CERTAIN NEGRO FOLK-TALES.
I.
Playing Dead Twice ^ in the Road.
During the past year I have collected this tale among three separate Negro communities — among the American Negroes of North Carolina,^ among the English Negroes of the Bahamas, and among the Portuguese Negroes of the Cape Verde Islands living in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The North Carolina tale is as follows :
or rabbit an' fox went afishin. 01' rabbit he was lazy an' he wouldn't fish none, an' ol' fox kep' atellin' him he'd better fish. An' he started home an' ol' rabbit tol' him to give him some fish. An' de ol' fox said he wouldn't give him none to save his life. De ol' rabbit asked ol' fox if he see a heap of rabbits layin' in de road would he pick 'em up } An' he said not 'less he see a heap of 'em.^
^ There is another and more familiar tale of playing dead once on the road, the tale of playing dead so as to be picked up by the carter and placed among his provisions. See Fortier, A., Louisiana Folk-Tales, p. 115 ; Metii. Anur. Folk-Lore Soc, ii. (1895) ; and cp. Cosquin, E., Contes Populaires de Lorraine, ii. 159, 160. Paris. Superficially alike, the patterns of these two tales of play- ing dead on the road are quite dissimilar.
2 See "Tales from Guilford County, North Carolina, "Z"'- American Folk- Lore, April-June, 191 7.
- A rationalising effort, it seems to me. In a Georgia tale (XV. Uncle
Remus His So7igs and His Sayings) the effort takes another turn. Brer Fox says the rabbit has been dead too long.
Harris gives the shoe variant of this tale, too (XXII. Uncle Remus and His Friends).
