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■
%he JfoUt-JCort .Staittj)
3x Bubik €\nh.
rOR COLLECTING AND PRINTING
ESTABLISHED IN
THE YEAR MDCCCLXXVHI.
Alter ct Id bid.
PUBLICATIONS
OF
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY
LV.
[1904]
JAMAICAN
SONG AND STORY:
ANNANCY STORIES, DIGGING SINGS, RING
TUNES, AND DANCING TUNES
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
WALTER JEKYLL:
/
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
ALICE WERNER,
AND APPENDICES ON
TRACES OF AFRICAN MELODY IN JAMAICA
BY
C. S. MYERS,
AND ON
ENGLISH AIRS AND MOTIFS IN JAMAICA
BY
LUCY E. BROADWOOD.
11 A few brief yean have passed away
Since Britain drove her million slaves
Beneath the tropic's fiery ray :
God willed their freedom; and to-day
Life blooms above those island graves ! "
Whittier
{tablishtb for tht dfxrlk-Jare gocitfy J>g
DAVID NUTT, 57—59 LONG ACRE
LONDON
1907
GLASGOW : PRINTED AT THX UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO, LTD.
mmt*
CONTENTS.
Introduction (Alice Werner),
Author's Prepack,
PAGE
is
xxxii
PACK
PART I. : ANNANCY STORIES,
PAGB
1. Annancy and Brother Tiger, 7
2. Yang-Kyum-Pyung, - - 11
3. King Daniel, 14
4. Tomby, 16
5. How Monkey manage Annancy, 20
6. Blackbird and Woss-woss, - 23
7. The Three Sisters, - 26
8. William Tell, - 29
9. Brother Annancy and Brother
Death, .... 31
10. Mr. Bluebeard, 35
11. Annancy, Pass and Ratta, - 38
12. Toad and Donkey, 39
13. Snake the Postman, 43
14. Doba, 46
15. Dry-Bone, 48
16. Annancy and the Old Lady's
Field, 51
17. Man-Crow, 54
18. Saylan, 58
19. Annancy and Screech-Owl, - 60
20. Annancy and Cow, - 63
21. Tacoma and the Old- Witch
Girl, ... 65
22. Devil's Honey-Dram, - - 68
23. Annancy in Crab Country, - 70
24. Gaulin, 73
25. Annancy, Monkey and Tiger, 77
26. The Three Pigs, 79
27. Dummy, 84
28. Annancy and Candlefiy, - 86
29. Parson Puss and Parson Dog, 91
3a Chicken- Hawk, 94
31. Pretty Poll, - 96
32. Annancy and Hog, . 98
33. Dry-River, .... 100
34. Yellow Snake, - - 102
35. Cow and Annancy, - - 104
36. Leah and Tiger, - - 108
37. Timmolimmo, - - -114
38. Calcutta Monkey and Annancy, 117
120
123
126
129
132
"35
137
140
143
145
146
148
152
39. Open Sesame,
40. Sea-Mahmy,
41. Crab and his Corn-piece,
42. Dry-Grass and Fire,
43. John Crow, -
44. Tiger's Death,
45. The Old Lady and the Jar,
46. John Crow and Fowl- Hawk,
47. Finger Quashy, •
48. Annancy and his Fish-Pot,
49. Hog and Dog,
50. Devil and the Princess,
51. Wheeler,
VI
Contents.
PAGE
PART II.
: DIGGING SINGS,-
■ft A ^*W
157
52. Oh hurrah, boys !
PAGE
159
70. Gold, amber gold,
172
53. Ho biddybye,
159
71. Gee oh mother Mac, -
173
54. Tell Mr. Linky, -
l60
72. Leah married a Tuesday,
173
55. Tell Mr. Bell,
l6l
73. Cheer me oh 1
173
56. Bad homan oh ! -
l62
74. Me cock a crow, -
174
57. Bell a ring a yard oh ! -
162
75. Oh Selina ! -
174
58. The one shirt I have, -
I64
76. Sambo Lady,
176
59. Jessie cut him yoke,
164
77. John Thomas,
177
60. Tree acre of Cahffee, -
165
78. Wh£ mumma d£ ?
178
61. Away, away,
166
79. Toady, ....
179
62. Wednesday morning before
80. Me know the man,
180
day, ....
167
81. Minnie, ....
181
63. Oh Samuel oh ! -
168
82. You want to yerry Duppy talk,
182
64. Oh 'lixa oh !
168
83. Me know Sarah, -
183
65. Aunty Mary oh ! -
I69
84. Me donkey want water,
183
66. Oh me yerry news !
170
85. A Somerset me barn, -
184
67. Jes' so me bam, -
170
86. Timber lay down 'pon pit, -
185
68. Tell Mary say, -
171
87. Me want go home,
187
69. Me tell them gall,
171
88. War down a Monkland,
187
PART
III.: RING
PACK
89.
Little Sally Water, -
- 190
104.
90.
Poor Little Zeddy,
- 191
IOS.
9i-
WW me lover de* ?
- 192
92.
Ring a diamond,
- 194
IO6.
93.
Carry Banana,
' 195
I07.
94-
Pass the ball, -
- I96
IO8.
95.
Me los' me gold ring,
" 197
109.
96.
Old mother Phoebe, -
" 197
97-
Deggy,
- 198
1 10.
98.
Me go da Galloway Road,
" 199
III.
99.
Rosybel, -
- 200
112.
100.
Bull a pen ho ! -
- 20I
"3«
101.
Two man a road,
- 20I
114.
102.
Adina Mona,
. 202
115.
103.
Palmer,
- 203
Il6.
TUNES,
PAGE
190
204
Mother Freeman,
Me have me goosey a me
yard, - 205
Drill him, Constab ! - - 205
If you make him come out, 206
Oh me Toad oh ! - - 207
There's a Black boy in a
ring, .... 207
Johnny, .... 209
Me lover gone a Colon bay, 209
Good morning to you, mother, 210
Johnny Millar, - - 211
Bahlimbo, - 212
Ohdenjacky, - - - 214
Ha, ha, ha, ha I - • 214
Contents.
vn
17. When I go home,
18. Guava root a medicine, - 218
19. Crahss-lookin' dog up'tairs, 218
[2a Goatridge have some set a gal, 219
(21. Me carry me akee a Linstead
market, .... 219
[22. Since Dora Logan, • 220
[23. Fire, Mr. Preston, Fire ! - 221
[24. Tiefcahffee, - - - 222
125. Fan me, soldierman, - - 223
[26. Manny Clark, - - - 224
[27. Bungo Moolatta, - - 225
[28. Bahl, Ada, - 225
[29. Rise a roof in the morning, 226
[3a Oh we went to the river, - 227
[31. Aunty Jane a call Minnie, - 228
[32. Marty, Marty, - 228
[33. What make you shave old
Hall? - 229
[34. Run, Moses, run, - 230
[35. Wheyoudado? - 231
[36. Mother William, hold back
Leah, .... 232
[37. Oh, General Jackson ! - 233
[38. Soldier, da go 'way, - - 234
[39. Don't cry too much, Jamaica
g*U 234
[40. Dip them, .... 235
[41. Very well, very well, - - 235
[42. Oh trial ! - 236
[43. Father, I goin' to join the
confirmation, - - 237
[44. Oheah down d6, - - 239
[45. The other day me waistcoat
cut, .... 240
[46. All them gal a ride merry-
go-round, • -241
[47. Merry-go-round a go fall
down, .... 242
[48. Try, dear, don't tell a lie, - 243
[49. Look how you mout', - - 244
[50. Breezy say him no want
Brown lady, - - - 245
PART IV. : DANCING TUNES
PACE
- 217
PACK
2l6
51. Isaac Park gone a Colon, - 245
52. Matilda de 'pon dyin' bed, 246
53. Mas 1 Charley, - - - 247
54. Me buggy a sell, - 247
55. Oh 'zetta Ford, gal, - - 248
56. Birdyzeena, - 249
57. Me an' Katie no 'gree, - 249
58. Down-town gal, - - - 249
59. Sal, you ought to been ashame, 250
60. Good morning, Mr. Harman, 250
61. Hullo me honey ! - - 251
62. When mumma dere, - - 252
63. Ohjillyoh! - - - 253
64. James Brown, you mahmy
call you, .... 253
65. When I go home, - - 254
66. Feather, feather, feather, - 254
67. Quaco Sam, - - 256
68. Anch a bite me, - - - 257
69. Me know one gal a Cross
Road, .... 257
70. Moonshine baby, - - 258
71. I have a news, - 259
72. Once I was a traveller, - 260
73. Oh me wouldn' bawl at all, - 261
74. You take junka 'tick, - - 262
75. Yellow fever come in, - • 262
76. Jimmy Rampy, - - - 263
77. Susan, very well why oh ! - 264
78. Bahss, Bahss, you married
you wife, - - - - 264
79. Blackbird a eat puppa corn,
oh ! 265
80. Me da Coolie sleep on Piazza, 265
81. NottyShaw, - - - 266
82. You worthless Becca Watson, 267
83. Since the waggonette come in, 267
84. Them Gar'n Town people, - 268
85. Young gal in Jamaica, take
warning, ... - 270
86. Me no min de a conceit, - 270
87. Complain, complain, complain, 27 1
88. I can't walk on the bare road, 271
Vlll
Contents.
DANCING TUNES— Continued.
189. Come go da mountain,
19a Amanda Giant, -
191. Last night I was lying on
me number,
192. Me lassie, me dundooze,
PACE
272
273
273
274
193. Mister Davis bring somet'ing
fe we all, - - - -
194. A wh6 the use, -
195. Quattywort* of this ! -
196. Mahngoose a come,
PAG*
275
275
276
277
Appendix :
A. Traces of African Melody in Jamaica — C. S. Myers, -
B. English Airs and Motifs in Jamaica — L. E. Broad wood,
279
285
ERRATUM.
Pages 3 and 5, page-heading, for Introduction rtad Annancy Stories.
INTRODUCTION.
Mr. Jzkyll's delightful collection of tales and songs from
Jamaica suggests many interesting problems. It presents to us
a network of interwoven strands of European and African
origin, and when these have been to some extent disentangled
we are confronted with the further question, to which of the
peoples of the Dark Continent may the African element be
attributed ?
The exact relationship between the "Negro "and Bantu races, —
which of them is the original and which the adulterated stock
(in other words, whether the adulteration was an improvement
or the reverse), — is a subject quite beyond my competence to
discuss. It seems certain that the Negro languages (as yet
only tentatively classified) are as distinct from the singularly
homogeneous and well-defined Bantu family, as Aryan from
Semitic. Ibo, at one end of the area, has possible Bantu
affinities, which await fuller investigation; the same thing has been
conjectured of Bullom and Temne at the other end (Sierra
Leone); but these are so slight and as yet so doubtful that
they scarcely affect the above estimate.
The difference in West Coast and Bantu folk-tales is not so
marked as that between the languages ; yet here, too, along with
a great deal which the two have in common, we can pick out
some features peculiar to each. And Mr. JekylTs tales, so far as
they can be supposed to come from Africa at all, are not Bantu.
The name of "Annancy" alone is enough to tell us that.
Annancy, or Anansi is the Tshi (Ashanti) 1 word for "spider" ;
and the Spider figures largely in the folk-tales of the West Coast
1 Fanti is a dialect of this language, which is variously called Twi, Chwi,
Otyi, and Ochi.
x Jamaican Song and Story.
(by which we mean, roughly, the coast between Cape Verde
and Kamerun), while, with some curious exceptions to be
noted later on, he seems to be absent from Bantu folk-lore.
His place is there taken by the Hare (Brer Rabbit), and, in
some of his aspects, by the Tortoise.
We find the " Brer Rabbit " stories (best known through Unck
Remus) in the Middle and Southern States of America, where a
large proportion, at any rate, of the negro slaves were imported
from Lower Guinea. Some personal names and other words
preserved among them (e.g. " goober " = nguba, the ground-nut, or
" pea-nut n ) can be traced to the Fiote, or Lower Congo language ;
and some songs of which I have seen the words, 1 look as if
they might be Bantu, but corrupted apparently beyond recognition.
But the British West Indies would seem to have been chiefly
supplied from Upper Guinea, or the "West Coast" proper (it
really faces south, while Loango, Congo, etc, are the "South- West
Coast " — a point which is sometimes puzzling to the uninitiated).
Among the tribes to be found in Jamaica, Mr. Jekyll tells me
are the Ibo (Lower Niger), Coromantin (Gold Coast), Hausa,
Mandingo, Moko (inland from Calabar), Nago (Yoruba), and
Sobo (Lower Niger).
Mr. Jekyll furnishes a bit of confirmatory evidence in the
list of names (p. 156) given to children according to the day
of the week on which they are bom. These are immediately
recognizable as Tshi. As given in Christaller's Dictionary of the
Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (1881), the boys' names
are identical or nearly so (allowing for the different systems of
spelling) with those in Mr. Jekyll's list. They are: Kwasi,
1 One is given by Mr. G. W. Cable in the Century Magazine, xxx. 820, as a
Louisiana Voodoo song :
Heron mande 1 , tigui li papa, H£ron mand£, dose" dan godo.
Another by Mr. W. £. Burghart Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk,
p. 254 — apparently a lullaby :
Doba na coba gene me, gene me !
Ben d' nu li, nu li, nu li, nu li, bend'le.
I can make nothing of these. In the latter case, uncertainty as to the
phonetic system adopted complicates the puzzle. One might be tempted to
connect the last two words with Zulu endhle or pandhU= outside, — but I can
find nothing else to support this resemblance, and such stray guesses are
unprofitable work.
Introduction. xi
Kwadwo, Kwabena, Kwaku, Kwaw (or Yaw), Kofi, Kwame.
(Mr. George Macdonald, in The Gold Coast Past and
Present, gives Kwamina, instead of Kwame, probably owing
to a difference of dialect. The girls' names are less easily
recognizable, but a careful scrutiny reveals the interesting
fact that in some cases an older form seems to have been
preserved in Jamaica. Moreover, the sound written w by Christ-
aller approaches that of b, which seems to be convertible with
it under certain conditions, all the girls' names being formed
by means of the suffix ba — z. child. Conversely, ekpo in the
mouth of a West Coast native sounds to a casual ear like ekwo.
Akosuwaf = Akwasiba] = Quashiba.
Adwowa = Jubba. (Cf. dw = dj in " Cudjo ").
Abeua = Cubba.
Akuwa = Memba.
Ya [ = Yawa]«Abba.
Afuwa = Fibba.
Amma [ = Amenenewa] = Beniba.
The boys' names have "Kwa" { — akoa, a man, slave)
prefixed to that of the day, or, more correctly speaking, of its
presiding genius. These latter are: Ayisi, Adwo, Ben2, Wuku,
Yaw, Afi, Amin. The names of the days appear to be formed
from them by the omission of the initial A (where it exists), and
the addition of the suffix da, with some irregularities, which no
doubt a fuller knowledge of the language would explain: Kwasida,
Dwoda, Benada, Wukuda, Yawda, Fida, Memeneda (Meminda).
The week of seven days does not seem to be known else-
where in Africa, except as a result of Moslem or Christian
influence. The Congo week of four days is puzzling, till one
remembers that it, too, rests on a division of the lunar month :
7x4 instead of 4 x 7. 1
The Tshi, Ewe and Yoruba languages are genderless, like
the Bantu. (The word ba has come to mean " a daughter " when
appropriated as a suffix to feminine names; but, properly, it
seems to mean "a child" of either sex.) This fact explains
the appearance of such personages as " Brother Cow " (see also
Mr. Jekyll's note on p. 107), and the wild confusion of pronouns
1 R. E. Dennett, Folklore of the Fjort, p. 8.
xii Jamaican Song and Story.
sometimes observed : " Annancy really want that gal fe marry,
but he couldn' catch him." — "When the gal go, him go meet
Brother Death," — etc.
The few words given as "African" by Mr. Jekyll seem to be
traceable to Tshi. "Massoo" (pp. 12, 13) is md so = to lift.
Afu ("hafoo," "afoo," p. 18) is not in Christaller's Dictionary,
except as equivalent to "grass," or "herbs' 1 ; fufu is a food
made from yams or plantains boiled and pounded ; perhaps there
is some slight confusion. Nyam is not "to eat," but en&m is
Tshi for "meat," as nyama (in some form or other) is in every
Bantu language. The nonsense-words in the songs may be
corrupted from Tshi or some cognate language, but a fuller
knowledge of these than I possess would be necessary in order
to determine the point.
Transplanted African folk-lore has a peculiar interest of its own,
and one is very glad to find Mr. Jekyll doing for Jamaica what
Mr. Chandler Harris, e.g. has done for Georgia. But the
African element in the stories before us is far less evident than
in "Uncle Remus," and is in many cases overlaid and inextricably
mixed up with matter of European origin. At least eleven out of
the fifty-one stories before us can be set down as imported,
directly or indirectly, from Europe. I say directly or indirectly,
because an examination of Chatelain's Folk-tales of Angola and
Junod's Chants et Contes des Baronga shows that some tales,
at any rate, have passed from Portugal to Africa. Such are
La fille du Roi (Ronga), which is identical with Grimm's The
Shoes that were danced to pieces, and with the Slovak-gypsy story
of The Three Girls (Groome, Gypsy Folk-tales, p. 141). But
in the absence of more detailed and direct evidence than we
yet possess, it would be rash to assume that they have passed
to America by way of Africa, rather than that they have been
independently transmitted.
The eleven stories above referred to are : II. Yung-kyum-pyung,
III. King Daniel, VI. Blackbird and Woss-woss, X. Mr. Blue-
beard, XVII. Man-crow, XVIII. Saylan, XXI. Tacoma and the
Old-witch Girl, XXVI. The Three Pigs, XXXI. Pretty Poll
(another version of III.), XXXIX. Open Sesame (variant of VI.),
VII. The Three Sisters. But some of these, as I hope to show
presently, also have genuine African prototypes, and it is a question
Introduction. xiii
how far these fading traditions have been amalgamated with
fairy-tales told to the slaves by the children of their European
masters. The last named is one of a small group of tales (VII.,
XXIV., XXXIV., L.) which I cannot help referring to a common
African original.
By far the greater number of the stories in this book, whether,
strictly speaking, "Annancy stories" or not, come under the
heading of animal-stories, and are of the same type as " Uncle
Remus,'' Junod's " Roman du Lifcvre," and numerous examples
from various parts of Africa. It will be remembered that, in
most of these, the difference between animals and human beings
is not very clearly kept in view by the narrators. As M. Junod
says, "Toutes les b&tes qui passent et repassent dans ces curieux
recits repr6sentent des gtres humains, cela va sans dire. lis
sont personnalis6s par un proc£d6 linguistique qui consiste k
mettre devant le nom de l'animal un pr^fixe de la classe des
homines." (This is a point we must come back to later on.)
"Ainsi mp/oundla, le li&vre ordinaire, devient dans le contes
Noua-mpfoundla .... La Rainette, c'est Noua-chinana, l'£l£-
phant, Noua-ndlopfou .... Leurs caract&res physiques particuliers
sont presents devant l'imagination du conteur pour autant qu'ils
donnent du pittoresque au r6cit. Mais on les oublie tout aussi
ais£ment dfes qu'ils ne sont plus essentiels k la narration." This
feature constantly meets one in Bantu folk-lore: the hare and
the elephant hire themselves out to hoe a man's garden; the
swallow invites the cock to dinner and his wife prepares the
food, in the usual native hut with the fireplace in the middle
and the nsanja staging over it; the hare's wife goes to the
river to draw water, and is caught by a crocodile; the tortoise
carries his complaint to the village elders assembled in the smithy,
and so on. M. Junod seems to me to overrate the conscious
artistic purpose in the narrators of these tales : the native mind
is quite ready to assume that animals think and act in much
the same way as human beings, and this attitude makes it easy
to forget the outward distinctions when they appear as actors
in a story. No doubt this haziness of view is increased by
the popular conception of metamorphosis as a possible
occurrence in everyday life. When, as has more than
once been the case, we find men firmly believing, not
xiv Jamaican Song and Story.
only that they can, under certain circumstances, turn into
animals, but that they actually have done so, we may expect
them to think it quite easy for animals to turn into men.
The prefix given by the Baronga to animals, when they are,
so to speak, personified in tales, may seem a slight point, but
it is not without interest The Yaos in like manner give them
the prefix Che {Che Sungula, the Rabbit, Che Likoswe, the
Rat, etc.), which, though usually translated "Mr.," is of
common gender and used quite as often in addressing women
as men. In Chatelain's Angola stories the animals sometimes
(not always) have the honorific prefix Na or Ngana, "Mr.";
the latter is sometimes translated "Lord." In Luganda folk-
lore the elephant (enj'ovu) is called Wa Njovu. In Zulu, Ucakijana
(to whom we shall come back presently) is the diminutive form
of icakidC) the Weasel, put into the personal class. I do not
recall anything similar in Nyanja tales, but cannot help con-
necting with the above the fact that animals, whatever class
their names may belong to, are usually treated as persons in
the tales. Not to be unduly technical, I would briefly explain
that njobvu (elephant) and ngona (crocodile) would naturally
take the pronoun /, but in the stories (and, I think, sometimes
in other cases) they take a, which belongs to the first, or personal
class. Now, the reader will notice how often the animals in
the stories before us are distinguished as "Mr." or "Bro'er"
(cf. pp. 20, 23, 31, 86, etc.), though the Jamaica people seem
to be less uniformly polite in this respect than Uncle Remus.
"Brer Rabbit" is so familiar as to be taken for granted, as a
rule, without further question ; but, years before he had become
a household word in this country, we find a writer in Lippincotfs
Magazine* remarking, "The dramatis persons are honoured
with the title Buh, which is generally supposed to be an abbrevia-
tion of the word J brother/ but it probably is a title of respect
equal to our c Mr.'" The "but" seems hardly called for, since
both assertions are seemingly true. We might also compare
the Zulu u Cakijana (1st class), who is human or quasi-human,
while i-eakide (2nd class) is the name for the Weasel.
1 December, 1877, p. 751. The article is one on " Negro Folk-lore," by
W. Owens, and contains several stories, some of these independent versions
of " Uncle Remus" tales, while others are not to be found in that collection.
Introduction. xv
Annancy, then, is the Spider, and as such he is conceived through-
out the folk-lore of West Africa. If he seems, as he continually
does, to take on a human character, going to Freetown to buy
a gun and powder (Cunttie Rabbit, p. 282), or applying to a
"Mory man" for amulets (ib. p. 139), he only behaves like
all other animals, as explained above. A Temne authority (ib.
p. 93) maintains that "Spider was a person" in old times, and
did not look the same as he does in these days, " he done turn
odder kind of thing now." But this looks like an attempt at
rationalising the situation, possibly in response to European
inquiries. The change of shape alluded to at the end of the
Temne Tar-baby episode is comparatively a minor matter: he
was formerly "round lek pusson," but became flattened out
through the beating he received while attached to the Wax
Girl. In the Gold Coast stories, too, Anansi is quite as much
a spider as Brer Rabbit is a rabbit; but in Jamaica, though
he still retains traces of his origin, they are somewhat obscured —
so much so that Mr. Jekyll speaks (pp. 4-5) of the " metamorphic
shape, that of the Spider," which he assumes, as though the
human were his real form, the other only an occasional disguise.
In "Annancy and Brother Tiger" we And that he has to "run
up a house-top " to escape the revenge of the monkeys, which
accounts for some of his habits to this day. In "Yung-kyum-
pyung" (a version of Rumpchtilzchen^ or Tom Tit Tot\ the
only hint of his spider character is contained in a mere allusion
(quite external to the story) to his "running 'pon him rope."
In "Brother Death," Annancy and all his family cling to the
rafters, hoping to escape from Death ; but it scarcely seems in
character that they should be incapable of holding on long.
They drop, one after another, Annancy last (p. 33). He is
always in danger from Cows (p. 107): "Anywhere Cow see
him, he reach him down with his mouth"; and he lives in a
banana branch (p. 119) for fear of Calcutta Monkey and his
whip. His moral character is consistently bad all through; he
is a "clever thief" — greedy, treacherous, and cruel, but intellec-
tually he does not uniformly shine. He has to call in the help
of a wizard in his love affairs ; " Monkey was too clever for
him " on more than one occasion ; he has to be extricated from
the slaughter-house (p. 23) by Blackbird and his army of Wasps,
xvi Jamaican Song and Story.
and in "Man-crow" he is signally discomfited. In other cases
his roguery is successful, and he is described as the greatest
musician and " the biggest rascal in the world " (p. 62). Much
the same is the character given to Mr. Spider in " Cunnie Rabbit."
Not one amiable trait is recorded of him.
A Gold Coast story, 1 however, shows him arbitrating between
a Rat and a Panther in very much the same way as the Yao
Che Sungula settles the difficulty between the Man and the
Crocodile, 8 making the latter go back into the trap whence he
had too confidingly been released, in order to show how it
was done. Once having got the ungrateful Panther back into
the trap, the Spider advises the Rat to leave him there.
As there is a Gold Coast tradition which affirms the human
race to be descended from the Spider, 8 it might be expected
that he should sometimes appear in a more favourable light, and
also that those peoples who had lost this myth, or never possessed
it, should concentrate their attention on the darker side of his
character. At the same time, even in what may be called his
own home, he does not appear as infallible. A very curious
story, given by Zimmermann in his Grammatical Sketch of the
Akra or Ga Language^ shows us the Spider and his son in the
character of the two sisters who usually figure in tales of the
"Holle" type, 4 and, strangely enough, it is the father who, by
his wilfulness and indiscretion, forfeits the advantages which
the son has gained. During a time of famine the young spider
crawls into a rat-hole in search of a nut which has rolled into it,
*J. C. Christaller, in Banner's Zeitsckr. far Afr. Spraehen. M. Ren6
Basset says of a similar story included in Col. Monteil's Con/es Soudanais :
"L'Enfant et le caiman est le sujet bien connu de l'ingratitude punie que l'on
retrouve dans tons les pays de l'ancien monde, et dont M. Kenneth Mackenzie
vient d'ltudier les diverses variantes." The idea is one so likely to occur
independently that we must not in all cases resort to the hypothesis of
borrowing.
2 Duff Macdonald, Africaner ii. 346.
8 Ellis, Tiki-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast.
4 No. 16 in the Handbook of Folklore (p. 122). It might also be referred to
the " Golden Goose " type (51). Stories of this kind are the Ronga " Route
du Gel," and "The Three Women" in Duff Macdonald's African*. But
perhaps the tale referred to in the text comes nearer to "The Two
Hunchbacks."
rr
Introduction. xvii
and there meets with three unkempt and unwashed spirits, who
desire him to peel some yams and cook the peelings. He does
so, and they are changed into large yams. They give him a
large basket of yams to carry home, and teach him a spell
which is not to be imparted to any one else. He repeatedly
obtains supplies from the same source, but at last is followed
by his father, who insists on going in his stead. He derides and
disobeys the spirits, loses his yams, and is flogged into the
bargain.
We have mentioned the comparative absence of the Spider
from Bantu folk-lore. I have been able to discover only two
references to him in East Africa, both to be found in Duff
Macdonald's Africana. The first is in a creation-myth of the
Yaos (i. 297), which informs us that when Mulungu was driven
from earth by the conduct of mankind, who had set the bush
on fire, he went, being unable to climb a tree as the Chameleon
had done, to call the Spider. "The spider went on high and
returned again, and said, 'I have gone on high nicely/ and
he said, 'You now, Mulungu, go on high.' Mulungu then went
with the spider on high. And he said, * When they die, let them
come on high here.' " The other is in the story of " The Dead
Chief and his Younger Brother" (ii. 322) — also Yao. The dead
chief gives his brother four bags to enable him to overcome
the obstacles which his enemies put in his way; he opens the
first on coming to a large tree in his path — a wood-moth comes
out and gnaws a way through. From the second bag comes out
a manis (scaly ant-eater), which digs a way under a rock, and
from the third (which he opens when he comes to the bank of
a river) a spider, which "went to the other side," and, pre-
sumably (though this is not expressly stated), made a bridge
with its web for him to cross. 1
Mr. R. E. Dennett (Folk-lore of the Fjort^ p. 74) gives a
Lower Congo story, telling how the Spider brought fire down
from Nzambi Mpungu in heaven, and won the daughter of
Nzambi (Mother Earth) by so doing. In an Angola story (Heli
1 In Mr. Dudley Kidd's Savage Childhood (published since the above was
written), I find that Zulu (or Pondo ?) boys draw certain omens from spiders,
in connection with dreams (p. 105), and that in Gazaland the rainbow is
called " the spider's bow " (p. 153).
b
xviii Jamaican Song and Story.
Chatelain, p. 131) the Spider is mentioned as affording a means
of communication between heaven and earth, by which the Sun's
maidservants go down to draw water, and his daughter is ulti-
mately let down to be married to the son of Kimanaueze. But
the Spider only comes in incidentally; it is the Frog whose
resourcefulness makes the marriage possible. The notion of the
spider's web as a ladder to heaven is one that might occur
independently in any part of the world, and there is no need
to suppose these tales to be derivatives of the Hausa one given
by Schto. 1
So far, the appearances of the Spider in Bantu folk-tales are
so infrequent as to be almost a negligible quantity. We find
him, however, playing a tolerably conspicuous part in the folk-
lore of the Duala. These, living in the German territory of
the Kamerun, may be considered the north-western outpost of
the Bantu race, and their language, unmistakable in its general
character, has departed, perhaps more widely than any other,
from the normal Bantu standard. Herr Wilhelm Lederbogen,
formerly of the Government School, Kamerun, has collected a
large number of stories, some of which are published in the
Transactions of the Berlin Oriental Seminary (see Afrikanische
Studien for 1901-1903). These comprise 67 " Tierfabeln" and
18 tales of the ordinary marchen type. The latter (some of them
recognizable as variants of tales current in Bantu Africa) introduce
animals along with human beings, and the incident of the Spider
being consulted as a soothsayer repeatedly occurs. "Die Spinne
tritt itnmer als Wahrsagerin auf n says the collector in a note.
But the malignant aspect of Anansi seems to be absent
The late W. H. J. Bleek, who supposed the animal-stories
which he had collected from Hottentots and Bushmen to be
characteristic of and peculiar to these races, had built up a
somewhat elaborate theory, scarcely borne out by the facts as
known to us to-day, in connection with this point. Briefly, it
amounted to this : that a fundamental limitation in the Bantu
race, which had prevented, and always would prevent, their
advancing beyond a certain point, was denoted by the absence
of grammatical gender in their languages, their supposed incapacity
for personifying nature, and their worship of ancestors, as opposed
1 Magana Hausa y 63.
Introduction. xix
to the alleged moon-worship of the Hottentots. 1 The Zulus,
he says, believe that the spirits of the dead appear to them in
dreams, and also show themselves to the waking eye in the
shape of animals, usually serpents. " No personification of the
animal takes place, however, such as we find, for instance, in
the mythical world of our earliest [Teutonic] literature. The
imagination of the ancestor-worshipper does not even, as a rule,
show us the animal as possessing the gift of human speech ; it
is only supposed to perform acts well within its capacity as an
animal, though such acts are considered, in the case of individual
animals supposed to be possessed by the spirits of deceased
persons, as emanating from the spirits." Thus, a serpent, known
by various tokens to be an idhlozi, may enter a hut and consume
the meat left for it, or it may engage in combat with other snakes
which must be supposed to represent the enemies of the deceased.
Animals thus revered by ancestor-worshippers always have the
distinguishing characteristic that they have once been human
beings; and spirits, unless they appear as animals, are always
invisible. "A personification of the animal world (such as we
find in our own fables), or even of other things (as in the
mythologies of Europe), is utterly absent from this primitive,
prosaic way of looking at things." The poetic impulse implied
in such personification can only arise, in Bleek's view, among
the speakers of a sex-denoting language. The linguistic argument
I cannot here reproduce in detail; its tendency is sufficiently
shown by the following quotation, which bears directly on our
subject :
" The form of a sex-denoting language, by exciting sympathy
even for creatures not connected with us by human fellowship,
leads in the first instance to the humanization of animals, and
thus especially gives rise to the creation of fables. Even on
the lowest stage of national development, we find the Hottentot
language accompanied by a literature of fables, for which we
may vainly seek a parallel in the literatures of the prefix-pronominal
languages."
The validity of Bleek's theory was seriously doubted by the
late Dr. C. G. Buttner, in 1886, and the masses of fresh material
which have come to light during the last forty years, have com-
1 See Ur sprung der Sprache (Weimar, 1 868), pp. six, xxiii (Introduction).
xx Jamaican Song and Story.
pletely altered the aspect of the question. The Hottentot myth
of the Hare and the Moon, to take but one example, which
appears among the Zulus as the tale of Unkulunkulu and the
Chameleon, is told by the Anyanja (of the Shire Highlands and
Lake Nyasa) of the Chameleon. The Duala have the same
Chameleon story; and there is a Gold Coast version, in which
the two messengers are the Sheep, who linger on the way to
graze, and the Goat, who arrives first with the tidings that man
shall not return after death. The Krumen of the Ivory Coast
say that Nemla (a small antelope probably representing, if not
identical with, the "Cunnie Rabbit" of Sierra Leone), malici-
ously, not accidentally, rendered inoperative the remedy against
death provided by the fetich Blenyiba. Who is responsible for
the original version it is perhaps impossible to settle. But there can
be no question of recent borrowing ; and supposing that the Bantu
did derive the myth from their predecessors (now represented by
the remnant of the Bushmen, and perhaps the Pygmies), this would
surely prove them at least capable of assimilating fresh ideas and
thus advancing beyond the line so inexorably traced for them from
the beginning. It may be remarked in passing that there seems
some probability of the Bantu Anyanja in the Shir£ district having
largely absorbed, instead of exterminating as was elsewhere the
case, a smaller-sized race who previously occupied the country.
In the same way, the Abatembu of the Cape Colony are the
descendants of a Bantu clan amalgamated with the Bushman tribe
of the Tambuka, and traces of similar fusion could no doubt be
discovered elsewhere. But we doubt its being necessary to the
introduction of animal-stories into folk-lore,— or, in general, of
ideas connected with the personification of nature.
The Zulu tales which Bleek had before him present a character
very different from that of the Hottentot beast-fables. But a
comparative study of Bantu folk-lore suggests at least the possi-
bility that they may have been developed out of animal-stories.
Hlakanyana is conceived of as certainly human, and reminds us
of Tom Thumb ; but some of his adventures are identical with
those of the Hare, the Jackal, or Brer Rabbit Cakijana shows
still clearer traces of animal origin. The episode of Hlakanyana's
demanding a digging-stick in exchange for the birds he accuses
his companion of having eaten, and the sequence of exchanges
Introduction. xxi
whicn culminates in his acquiring a cow, 1 is in substance the same
as the story told by the Anyanja about the Hare (kalulu) which
was given in Folk-Lore for Sept. 29th, 1904. This again reminds
us of "The Man who Lived by Overreaching Others " (Dr.
Elmslie in Folk- Lore, vol. iii.), and of a Sukuma story given by
Herrmann, 3 in which a boy gives his grandmother some honey
to keep for him, and, coming back after a time, and rinding
she has eaten it, makes her give him some corn in exchange.
The corn is then exchanged for an egg, the egg for sticks, the
sticks for a knife, and the knife for a cow's tail, for which, by
the same trick as in Dr. Elmslie's story, he obtains a cow.
There is no suggestion of trickery in the Nyanja story, whereas
it is brought out very strongly both in Hlakanyana and the
Sukuma example.
We shall have occasion to refer, later on, to more than one
instance where a story is found in two forms, one having animals,
the other human beings, as its characters.
The animals figuring in folk-tales must necessarily vary with the
locality of the tale, and in cases where a story has travelled (or
possibly where the same idea has arisen independently in different
places) it is interesting to note the changes in its dramatis persona.
Thus, the incident of the race between the swift creature and the
slow seems to be found in the folk-lore of every country. In
Africa the winner is always, so far as I know, the Tortoise, as
Brer Terrapin is in " Uncle Remus." The Jamaica version in the
volume before us substitutes the Toad, while the defeated party
is the Donkey. In a Konde (North Nyasa) variant, the prota-
gonists are the Elephant and die Tortoise, in a Duala one, the
Ngolon (a large kind of Antelope) and the Tortoise. Another
version of the Duala story, contained in Marchen aus Kamerun y
by the late Frau Elli Meinhof, has the Hare and the Tortoise, but
with the explanation that by " hare " is meant " eine kleine Anti-
lopenart, eseru genannt" The curious thing is that Njo Dibone,
the native authority for the tales, himself suggested the name of
"hare," but added "Hase ist nicht wie hier, 8 sondern hat kleine
1 McCall Theal, Kaffir Folk-Tales, pp. 96-98.
•"Afirikanische Studien," 1898 {Transactions of the Berlin Oriental
Seminary, vol. i.) p. 194.
* He had been brought to Europe by a German naval officer in 1885, and
remained for some time an inmate of Professor Meinhof s family.
xxii Jamaican Song and Story.
Horner." It is not stated whether he had himself seen the
European hare, but apparently he thought the two animals so far
similar that Hast would be the nearest available rendering for
eseru. This may throw some light on the question why the
Dorcathtrium gazelle, or possibly the Royal Antelope, Neotragus,
is called "Cunnie Rabbit" in Sierra Leone English.
The Tortoise plays a conspicuous part in the folk-lore both of
Bantu and West African Negroes. In Yoruba tradition he takes
the place of the Spider with the Fantis, all mankind being
descended from him. Perhaps this is not strange, when we con-
sider how much there is about him which would appeal to the
primitive mind as uncanny and mysterious. A recent writer in
the West African Mail 1 says on this subject: "The original
conception of the tortoise culminated in a belief concerning its
attributes that, in the eyes of these [Niger] Delta natives, elevated
it to the sovereignty of the beasts of the forest . . . Absolutely
harmless and inoffensive in himself, the tortoise does not prey on
even the smallest of insects, but subsists entirely on the fallen
fruits of the forest 1 ' — or, in some cases, on fungi. "In the
gloomy forests of the Delta there are only two enemies capable
of doing him any serious harm. The one is man, who is able
to lift him up and carry him bodily away, which, however, he
does not do, except in those instances in which the animal is
regarded as sacred, and required in connection with certain
religious ceremonies. His other and most dangerous enemy is
the python, who having first of all crushed him by means of the
enormous power of constriction which it can apply, swallows him
alive, shell and all. But pythons large enough to do this, unless
the tortoise happens to be very young and small, are very scarce,
so that he has not much to apprehend in that quarter. To the
elephant — herbivorous, like himself — he is too insignificant, for
unlike the mosquito or the sand-fly, he has no sting; and although
they meet in fable, in real life the hippopotamus and himself are
not much thrown together. From the leopard or the bush-cat, he
has nothing to fear, for their teeth cannot penetrate his shell, nor
can [their] claws do him any damage. Thus it is that . . . the
tortoise has been practically immune from attack and therefore
destruction — a feet that in a great measure explains his longevity."
•May 25, 1906, p. 202.
f
Introduction. xxiii
If we add to this his power of living for a long time without
food, his silence, the extreme slowness and caution of his move-
ments, his instinct of keeping out of sight, and the peculiar air
of dogged determination with which he sets about overcoming or
circumventing obstacles, it is " easy to understand how in process
•of time the word which stood for tortoise became a synonym for
cunning and craft, and a man of exceptional intelligence was in
this way known among the Ibo as * Mbai,' and among the Ibani
as * Ekake,' meaning a tortoise. For although he of the shell-back
was slow, he was sure, as the old Greek Aesop tells us. . . .
This sureness, in the native mind, implied doggedness and a fixed
determination, while silence and secrecy implied mystery and a
veiled purpose behind which it is impossible to get"
The tortoise of African folk-lore is sometimes, in fact usually,
the land-tortoise (as implied in the above extracts), of which there
are several species, living either in forest-country or in deserts
like the Kalahari. In Angola, the story of " Man and Turtle"
{Chatelain, p. 153 — identical with "Mr. Fox tackles Old Man
Tarry pin" in "Uncle Remus") refers to a kind which, if not
aquatic, is evidently amphibious. We find tortoise stories all
over Negro and Bantu Africa; we have Temne, Bullom, and
Yoruba examples, besides Duala, Konde (Nyasa), Yao, Nyanja,
Herero, Bemba, Congo (Upoto), Angola and Sesuto ones. This
does not exhaust the list I have made out, and further research
would no doubt bring to light many more. One of these is the
well-known "tug-of-war" story, which in "Uncle Remus" has the
title " Mr. Terrapin shows his strength." We have two versions
of this (agreeing in their main points) from the Kamerun, one
told by the Duala, the other by the Yabakalaki-Bakoko tribe.
Here it is the Elephant and the Hippopotamus whom the Tortoise
induces to pull against each other. The American Negro sub-
stitutes the Bear for one of these competitors, and then, apparently
at a loss for a wild animal strong enough to take the place of the
other, makes " Brer Tarrypin " tie " Miss Meadows's bed-cord " to
a root in the bed of the stream. But it is interesting to find two
native African versions in which other animals are substituted for
the Tortoise. The Temne (Cunnie Rabbit, p. 117) gives his part
to the Spider, while the Bemba people (North-eastern Rhodesia)
make the Hare the hero of the adventure. Col. Monteil gives a
xxiv Jamaican Sang and Story.
Mandingo variant, introducing a different motive for the contest :
the Hare has borrowed a slave apiece from the Elephant and the
Hippopotamus, and when pressed for payment hands each of his
competitors in turn the end of a rope, with the words, "Tu n'as
qu'& tirer sur cette corde, le captif est au bout." 1
Another Temne story collected by Miss Cronise, " Mr. Turtle
makes a riding-horse of Mr. Leopard, 11 is paralleled by an Angola
one (Chatelain, p. 203) in which it is Mr. Frog who plays the
trick on Mr. Elephant In the New World, it will be remembered
that Brer Rabbit has usurped the part.
In M. Rene Basset's Anthology of African Folk-talcs 1 is in-
cluded a tale about a monkey and a tortoise from Baissac's
Folklore de Pile Maurice which recalls a Nyanja one obtained by
me at Blantyre and printed in the Contemporary Review for
September, 1896. In the latter it is the iguana, not the monkey
who robs the Tortoise ; but in both, the Tortoise exacts retribution
with a cold-blooded relentlessness suggestive of Shylock. A
Brazilian negro story is also given, which looks like a variant of
one told in Calabar to account for the fact that the Tortoise's
shell is composed of separate plates, as though it had been broken
to pieces and put together again.
But we look in vain for the tortoise .in these stories of Mr.
Jekyll's. Even in the race-story, as we have seen, the part which
in Africa is so peculiarly his own, is taken by the Toad. Pro-
bably this is because the land-tortoise is not found in Jamaica,
and the great turtle of the seas is not a creature whose ways
would come under the daily observation of the peasantry. In
the same way familiar animals have been substituted for un-
familiar ones in a great many cases, though not in all. Mr.
Jekyll thinks "Tiger" is a substitute for "Lion," but it seems
equally possible that "Leopard" is meant. All over South
Africa, leopards are called "tigers" by Dutch, English, and
Germans, just as hyenas are called "wolves," and bustards
"peacocks" {paauw). "Tiger" is used in the same sense in
German Kamerun, and probably elsewhere in West Africa.
1 Contes Soudanais, p. 49.
* P. 425. Another Mauritius negro tale from the same source is identical with
the Yao one of the Elephant and the Hare (Duff Macdonald, ii. 353)— also
found elsewhere in East Africa.
Introduction. xxv
Lion and elephant are known — perhaps by genuine tradition —
to Uncle Remus ; but they seem to have faded from the recol-
lection of the Jamaica negroes; indeed, the lion is not found
in their original homes, being absent from the whole West Coast
as far as Sierra Leone.
" Brer Rabbit," so characteristic a figure of Bantu folk-lore that
his adventures are related from one side of Africa to the other
(though in the west he is less frequently met with north of
Angola), only appears in two of Mr. Jekyll's stories, in none of
which we can recognize anything of his traditional character.
In "Annancy and his Fish-pot," he is unscrupulously victimised
by Annancy, and subsequently dies of fright and worry; in
" Snake the Postman," he escapes from Annancy's machinations,
but there is no indication that he could ever be considered a
match for " that cravin' fellah." In " John Crow and Fowl-hawk "
he is merely alluded to (p. 142, "This company was Rabbit").
In "Dry Bone," he is induced by Guinea-pig to carry the un-
welcome load, but succeeds in passing it on, for the time being,
to Annancy. Finally, in "Gaulin," he cuts a poor figure as the
unsuccessful suitor. A Bantu story by no means complimentary
to the Hare's intelligence is given by M. Junod, 1 and seems to
have reached Louisiana 2 as "Compair Lapin et Michi6 Dinde,"
where the Rabbit gets his head cut off under the belief that the
Turkey has removed his when he puts it under his wing to sleep.
M. Junod thinks this must refer to a second species of Hare, a
by-word for stupidity, as the other is for cuteness; but it is at
least worth noting that the same story is told by the Basumbwa
(south of Lake Victoria) of the Hen and the Tiger-cat
Besides Annancy himself, and the " Tiger " already mentioned,
we have, in these stories, either domestic or quasi-domestic
animals: Cow, Hog, Dog, Puss, "Ratta," etc, or creatures
indigenous to Jamaica, such as John-Crow, Chicken-Hawk,
Sea-Gaulin, Candle-Fly, Crab and Tarpon. Some stories, for
which I fail to recall any exact parallel, either in Africa or
Europe, may be of purely local origin ; this is most likely to be
true of those which profess to explain some elementary fact in
1 Chants et Conies, p. 135, see also the preceding story, and some remarks
on p. 86, footnote 2.
8 Alcee Fortier, Louisiana Folklore, p. 24.
xxvi Jamaican Song and Story.
natural history, such as the inability of two bulls to agree in one
pasture (" Timmolimmo "), or the hostility between dogs and
«2Lts. Even were this not so, the amount of local colour intro-
duced (as always where tales are transmitted orally) could
change them almost beyond recognition. This often has a very
quaint effect, as in " Parson Puss and Parson Dog/' who are
evidently conceived as ministers of some rival Methodist denomi-
nations, and in the references to weddings, funerals, and dances
possibly ending up with a free fight, as in "Gaulin," "How
Monkey manage Annancy," " Doba," etc. Annancy's inviting the
animals to his father's funeral and slaughtering them (with the
exception of Monkey, who is too clever for him) reminds us of
the Temne "Mr. Leopard fools the other animals," 1 but in this,
Leopard himself pretends to die. Cunnie Rabbit's test, " Die
pusson nebber blow," is less ingenious than that applied by Brer
Rabbit in " Uncle Remus " : 2 " When a man go to see dead folks,
dead folks allers raises up der behime leg en hollers wahoo \ "
{In Mr. Owen's version, they " grin and whistle.") In the Sesuto
story 8 the Monkey suspects a trick and escapes, when the Hare
persuades the Lion to entrap the other animals by shamming
death. Perhaps the baptism of the crabs ("Annancy in Crab
Country") may be connected with "Mr. Spider initiates the
fowls," 4 where the Temne Spider, assuming for the nonce a quasi-
religious character, gathers his victims together to celebrate the
Bundo mysteries, and massacres them wholesale.
"Annancy and Hog" (XXXII.) is a fragmentary story, not
very easy to understand as we have it, but something has
evidently dropped out The sentence "An' when Hog think
him done up Annancy him done up him own mother" may
point to some original similar to the Fiote story given by Mr.
Dennett, in which the Leopard's wife is induced to eat her
husband's head. 5 But in that case it is difficult to understand
the connection with the opening incidents.
In "John-Crow and Fowl-hawk" (XLVI.) we may have a
reminiscence of the class of stories represented by the Yao
•" Kalikalanje," in which an unborn child is promised by the
1 Cunnie Rabbity p. 219. * " Mr. Wolf makes a failure."
"Jacottet, p. 19. 4 Cunnie Rabbit, p. 133.
* Folklore of the F/ort 9 pp. 82-84.
Introduction. xxvii
mother in return for a service rendered her by some person
or animal. The resemblance, however, is not very marked, and
the incident is quite lost sight of in the later part of the story.
" Annancy and Death " is curious, and, as it stands, not very
intelligible. Death, as a person, is introduced into several
African stories, 1 and even (in one from the Ivory Coast) together
with the Spider, but none of these have anything parallel with
the one before us. The last part, however, where Annancy and
his children are clinging to the rafters, and Death waiting for
them below, recalls the story to be found on pp. 224-226 of
Cunnie Rabbit The Spider and his family take refuge in the
roof when pursued by the Leopard, and he sits on the ground
and catches them as they drop one by one. Last of all, the
wife, Nahker, "he say he done tire, en Spider say: 'Yo' wey
< = who) big so? Fa* down now, yo' go get de trouble.'
Nahker fa' down, Lepped yeat um. Spider he one lef hang."
He escapes, however.
In " Dummy," Annancy wins a bet and the hand of the King's
daughter by inducing "Peafowl" to make the dumb man talk.
This " Peafowl " does by the sweetness of his song ; but in a
Duala story given by Lederbogen as "Der Tausendfuss und
das stumme Kind," the means adopted more nearly resemble
the time-honoured recipes for detecting changelings in this
country. The Mouse advised the dumb child's parents to con-
sult the Spider, who told them to hang up a centipede over the
fireplace, set on a pot of water just underneath it, and leave
the child sitting beside the fire. They did so, and went out.
As soon as the steam rose from the water, the centipede, feeling
the heat, began to struggle, and the dumb child watching it
cried out in his excitement, " Father ! there is a centipede going
to fall into the pot."
" William Tell " is puzzling. There is no single point of contact
between the owner of the witch-tree and the mythical archer of
Europe. It is most probable that the name (a likely one to remain
in the memory) had been picked up by some negro story-teller
who did not know the tale belonging to it and simply attached
1 Kalunga in Angola, Ko by the Ne" Kru-men. Some curious episodes
connected with the latter are given by M. Georges Thomann in his Essai de
Manuel de la langue nionld (Paris : E. Leroux).
xxviii Jamaican Sang and Story.
it to the first character that came handy. The " sings" by
means of which Annancy fells the tree occur frequently in
native African stories ; we need only mention the incident (found
not only in the Xosa " Bird that made Milk/' but in a Duala
tale, and elsewhere) of the song which made the hoed garden
return to grass and weeds, and that of Simbubukwana's sister 1
who sang " Have legs, have arms/ 1 and the boy who was with-
out those members immediately grew them. The notion of
spells to be sung, however, does not seem to be confined to
any country or race.
I do not remember any exact parallel to "Dry River"
(XXXIII.), but the incident of the river rising is found in
Africa with several different sequels. In a Nyanja story which
I have in MS., some children go out into the bush to gather
wild fruit, and are cut off on their return by the rising of the
river. They are helped across by "a big bird, with one wing,
one eye and one leg " (one of the " half-beings " 2 whose place
in Bantu folk-lore has not yet been fully worked out), and
charged not to tell who took them over. One boy tells his
mother, and is drowned on the next expedition, his companions
getting across in safety. In "The Village Maiden and the
Cannibal " (Mrs. Martin's Basutoland, its Legends and Customs),
the girls cannot cross the swollen stream till they have thrown
a large root into the water, and complied with the directions.
The last girl, who is reluctant to obey, but finally gives in, is
not drowned, but she and her sister have an adventure with
cannibals of a not uncommon kind, which may be referred to
Mr. Jacobs's " Flight from Witchcraft " type. Two other stories,
a Kinga (North-east Nyasa) and a Machame (Kilimanjaro) one,
have the same opening incident (in the one -case, however, it
is a rock and not a river which enlarges itself and blocks the
way), but continue in quite a different way — the girls are helped
by an animal (in one case a jackal, in another a hyena) who
subsequently insists on marrying one of them. The Machame
tale, to which we shall have to return presently, as it belongs
to the group to which we refer "Yellow Snake" and some
1 McCall Theal, p. 68.
9 See Junod, Chants et Conies des Baronga, p. 197 ; also a note in Chatelain,
Folk-tales of Angola, p. 254, and Callaway, Zulu Tales, p. 199.
Introduction. xxix
others, goes on to relate how the girl escaped from the hyena's
village ; thr <Kinga one takes an entirely different course.
" Leah and Tiger * is one of the stories which can be most
unhesitatingly identified as African; and, as it happens, the
examples at present known to me are nearly all Bantu. Perhaps
the closest parallel is the Suto "Tselane" (Jacottet, p. 69), 1
where, however, the girl, instead of being secluded by her father
to avoid the trouble which her refusal to marry threatens to
bring upon him, herself insists on staying in the house her
parents are leaving. As in the Jamaica version, they bring her
food every day, and sing to let her know of their approach.
The cannibal on the prowl (represented in Jamaica by the
"tiger") imitates the mother's voice, but fails; after swallowing
a red-hot hoe, he succeeds at the first trial. He does not
eat Tselane, however, and so end the story with a warning
against obstinacy; he puts her into a bag to carry her home, and
rests on his way at a hut, which proves to be her uncle's.
While he is resting inside the hut, leaving his bag outside,
the family discover the girl and let her out, substituting a dog
and some biting ants. In other versions it is bees and wasps,
or snakes and toads; but the result is always the same — the
death of the cannibal. The incident of swallowing red-hot iron
to soften the voice is found also in " Demane and Demazana "
(Theal) and elsewhere. In a curious Masai story, "The Old
Man and his Knee " (Hollis, The Masai: Language and Folklore^ .
p. 153), the "enemies" (not said to be cannibals) carry off
the old man's two children by means of the same stratagem.
After failing in the first attempt they consult a medicine-man to
find out how they can " make their voices resemble an old
man's." He tells them merely to go back, and eat nothing on
the road. They eat a lizard and an ant, and their voices do
not produce the desired effect. On trying again, and this time
complying exactly with the doctor's directions, they deceive the
children and get the door opened This incident is preserved in
" Leah," and, like the Masai " enemies," Tiger thinks that such
a trifle as the guava and "duckanoo" cannot possibly do any
harm. The Masai story concludes with the killing of the old
man by making him swallow a hot stone — a incident which crops
1 This story is also given by Arbousset.
xxx Jamaican Song and Story.
up in various connections in the Hare stories, but seems out
of its place in this one. On the whole (though I do not like
to hazard a conjecture) it seems more probable that the Masai
had picked up this tale from some of their Bantu neighbours
than that the Bantu should have adopted it from them.
As regards the imported stories, it seems reasonably clear that
" Yung-Kyum-Pyung" is a " Rumpelstiltzchen " story which has
accidentally become associated with Annancy. Though the
superstition on which these stories are based exists in Africa
as well as in other parts of the world, and is one of the factors
in the custom of hlonipa, I do not remember any tale embodying
it in this form, though there are numerous examples of those
which turn a tabu of some sort.
"King Daniel" is the story of the jealous sister, best known,
perhaps, in the ballad of "Binnorie." But it has African pro-
totypes as well, though the resemblance to these is not so close,
in which the crime is discovered by the song of a bird — some-
times the metamorphosed heart of the victim. In " Masilo and
Masilonyane" and the Kinga "Die Reiherfeder," l one brother
(or companion) kills the other; in "Unyengebule" (Callaway) the
husband kills the wife, and here it is her feather head-dress
which turns into a bird. "Pretty Poll" (XXXI.) is a variant
of this story.
Another pair of variants, apparently, are "Blackbird and
Woss-woss" and "Open Sesame." But the former of these, it
seems to me, corresponds much more closely with a Nago story
of the Lizard and the Tortoise, given by M. Basset {Contes
populaires d'Afrique, p. 217); and it should be remembered
that the Nagos of Yoruba are one of the tribes represented
among the Jamaica negroes. The lizard finds a rock containing
a store of yams, and overhearing the words used by the owner
"Stone, open I n obtains food for himself in time of famine.
He imparts the secret to the tortoise, and they go together,
but the tortoise lingers behind to load himself with all he can
carry, and not knowing the word fails to get out, and is
killed when the owner returns. He revives, however, and gets
the cockroach to stick his shell together, thus presenting a
1 R. Wolff, "Grammatik der Kingasprachen " {Arckiv fur das Stadium
deutschm Kblonialsprachen, iii.), p. 135.
Introduction. xxxf
point of contact with other aetiological myths about the Tortoise.
The rescue by the army of wasps I have been unable to match.
''Man-crow" is the story, which exists in so many variants,,
where the hero is robbed of the fruit of his achievement by an
impostor stepping in at the last minute. The nearest parallel
which occurs to me is "Rombao" (probably obtained from a
Portuguese source by the Quilimane natives who related it to
Mr. Duff Macdonald), where the hero kills the whale and cuts
out its tongue; the captain who finds it dead claims his reward,
but is discomfited by Rombao's appearance with the tongue.
"The Three Pigs" will be readily recognized as the familiar
English story, and corresponds pretty closely to the version in
Mr. Jacobs's English Fairy Tales. A version current among
the negroes of the Southern States is given by Mr. Owens in
the paper in Lippincotfs Magazine already referred to. This
version, entitled "Tiny Pig," omits the two incidents of the
apple-tree and the butter-churn; but curiously enough these
appear as " fiuh Rabbit " episodes in another part of the same
paper, the apple-tree having become a pear-tree, and the churn
a tin mug which Buh Rabbit puts over his head, while he hangs
various articles of tinware about his person.
"Sea-Mahmy" introduces several different elements. The
mermaid herself is probably of European extraction, 1 and the
device by which Blackbird brings Annancy to the feeding-tree
might be a far-off echo of the Daedalus and Icarus myth. But
Annancy's trick for conveying Trapong to his house and eating
him recalls one of the stock incidents of Bantu folk-lore — the
one where Hlakanyana, or the Hare, or some other creature,
induces his dupe to get burnt or boiled by pretending to
undergo the process himself and to escape with impunity.
The Suto Hare 2 commends this as a device for attaining
immortality — in which there is a faint suggestion of Medea's
caldron. I was at first disposed to refer this episode to the
" Big Klaas and Little Klaas " (or the " Getting-to-Heaven-in-a-
Sack") group; but the inducement to enter the sack, which
is so great a point in these, is here wanting. It is found in a
1 One kind of duppy is a mermaid — but I can find no indication that she
came from Africa.
'Jacottet, p. 15.
xxxii Jamaican Song and Story.
Zanzibar story ("Abu Nuwasi na waziri na Sultani") in Dr.
Velten's collection, 1 where Abu Nuwas is sewn up into a sack
to be thrown into the sea, and induces another man to take
his place by saying that he is to be drowned for refusing to
many the Sultan's daughter. This is evidently an Arab tale,
though I do not remember it in the Arabian Nights.
The exotic tales to be found in Bantu Africa come mainly
from two sources — Arab and Portuguese. The former is exem-
plified at Zanzibar and all down the Mozambique coast; the
latter in Angola and Mozambique. We have already referred
to an example obtained at Delagoa Bay by M. Junod; but
"Bonaouaci" (Chants et Contts, p. 292), though the names are
Portuguese, and the local colouring goes so far as to introduce
the Governor of Mozambique in person, is in substance identical
with one of the " Abu Nuwas " stories given by Dr. Velten, the
incident of the egg-production being nearly the same in both,
as well as the two other impossible tasks set the hero-— sewing
a stone and building a house in the air. I fancy the same is
the case with " Djiwao," though the incidents have been a good
deal remodelled, and the concluding episode — the boiling of the
chief Gwanazi in the pot he had intended for Djiwao, is the
purely Bantu one alluded to in the last paragraph — in a some-
what unusual setting. "Les trois vaisseaux," 2 again, is an
Arabian Nights story, of which a curious version has been
obtained at Domasi, probably brought from the coast by some
member of a Yao trading caravan. Mr. Dennett's No. III.,
"How the wives restored their husband to life," looks like a
much altered and localized form of this. If so it might have
reached the Congo through the Portuguese. We also find it on
the Ivory Coast 8 where it might have come from an Arab source
through Mandingoes or Hausas.
The stories of "Fenda Maria" and "Fenda Maria and her
elder brother Nga Nzua" 4 ("The Three Citrons" and "Cinde-
rella"), are good examples of transplanted stories invested with
local colour by successive generations of narrators, till, as
^Suaheli Marchen, p. 154 (p. 241 in the German translation).
*Zfc p. 304.
'See Thomann, op. cit.> "Trois maris pour une femme."
'Chatelain, No. I. and No. II.
Introduction. xxxiii
Mr. Chatelain says, "the fundamental idea of exotic origin has
been so perfectly covered with Angola foliage and blossoms, that
science alone can detect the imported elements, and no native
would believe that [these tales] are not entirely Angolan."
A curious stage in the migration of stories is exemplified by
the "Taal" (or Cape Dutch) versions of Oriental stories
imported into South Africa by the Malays, and existing in
a purely traditional form among the coloured people. One
of these was printed by Mr. H. N. Muller in De Gids for
Jan., 1900, but I think hardly any attempt has been made to
collect them. And here I may mention that Herr Seidel's LUder
und Geschkhten der Afrikaner* contains a Nama version of the
Lear story, taken down and translated by Herr Olpp, of the
Rhenish Mission, who seems quite unaware of its real origin, in
spite of the very obvious parallel in Grimm's Hausmarchen. He
says in a note : " Diese Begebenheit kann sich nur in der Kap-
Rolonie ereignet haben zu einer Zeit in welcher Kolonisten sich
schon angesiedelt hatten und unter den Eingeborenen wohnten.
Der Name der Tochter spricht dafur und enstammt dem Hollan-
«*■• dischen." Now the youngest daughter's name is " Katje Leiro "
it* — surely, all things considered, not such a very far cry from
Cordelia.
9 It is interesting to trace the African elements in these imported ,f
tales as distinct from those which are merely derived from West *
Indian surroundings. Thus Mr. Bluebeard's three-legged horse :
(compare also the three-legged horse in " Devil and the Princess ")
is, as explained in the footnote, a "duppy"; and the duppy,
whatever the derivation of his name, seems to be West African in
origin. Duppies are the souls of the dead, "capable of assuming
various forms of men and other animals." 2 Some of these forms
are monstrous, as the " three-foot horse " already alluded to, the
"long-bubby Susan," and the "rolling calf." The informant who
is responsible for these statements also says that "the duppy in
human form generally moves along by spinning or walking back-
wards." Perhaps this may explain the mysterious "Wheeler"
(LI.) who has his habitation in a hollow tree, and seizes the hand
of any unwary person who puts it into the hole. What he would
>P. 135, "Iiebe bis 2am Safe."
■See Folk- Lore, March, 1904, p. 90.
xxxiv Jamaican Song and Story.
have done if not requested to "Wheel me mile an' distant,"
remains obscure; but apparently the persons making the
request are whirled through the air and then dropped at the place
where Annancy (who has previously passed through the experience
unscathed) has prepared a trap for them. The story suggests —
though the resemblance is not very close — the episode of " The
Stone that wore a Beard" in Cunnie Rabbit (p. 167), where the
Spider, having had a narrow escape from the magic powers of
the bearded stone (a transformed " devil ") utilises them for the
destruction of his acquaintances. Those who remark on the
peculiarity of the stone are struck down unconscious, and Spider
exercises all his ingenuity in inducing his victims to say, "Dah
stone get plenty bear'-bear' 1 " Cunnie Rabbit will not say the
words till Spider has himself done so, and has suffered the
consequences ; both are afterwards rescued by Trorkey (Tortoise).
Somewhat similar to "Wheeler" is the magic jar in XLV. —
which might, however, be due to a distorted reminiscence of
"Bluebeard." Spirits are often believed on the Gold Coast to
take up their abode in trees, as well as to assume the form of
animals. The usual Tshi name for them appears to be bonsutn
or bossum: the word "duppy" I have been unable to trace.
* The method of divination in " Mr. Bluebeard " is one I do not
I remember to have met with, though it may be akin to the " magic
I mirror of ink." The magic drum by which Calcutta Monkey
I (XXXVIII.) finds out Annancy's whereabouts is African. I do
' not recall any parallel story, but drums are much used by witch-
doctors and in ceremonial dances, and in some cases auguries are
drawn from their sound. But Monkey first discovers Annancy to
be the thief by cutting the cards, which of course is European.
Two stories, "Annancy and the Old Lady's Field" (XVI.) and
" Devil's Honeydram," introduce the incident of a woman com-
pelled to dance against her will — in one case to dance herself to
death. In both cases the music seems to be the compelling
power ; but it is not clear whether, in " Devil's Honeydram," the
knowledge (and use in the song) of the woman's name has any-
thing to do with the spell. If so, the idea is so universal that
one can scarcely refer to it as specially African. It is interesting,
though perhaps scarcely pertinent to the matter in hand, to note
that the Akikuyu believe their images (of which Mr. Scoresby
Introduction. xxxv
Routledge has brought home specimens) to have the power, if
held up before people, of compelling them to dance.
The folk-lore of Jamaica, as given in the interesting papers
published in Folk-Lore, 1904-5, is decidedly of a composite
character. The negroes have, as there pointed out (1904, p. 87),
" adopted many of the most trivial of English superstitions,"
while at the same time preserving some reminiscences of their
African beliefs. These are especially seen in the notions
respecting "duppies," which again are perceptibly influenced
by Christian ideas, cf. the efficacy of the name of Christ (p. 90)
and the statement that the "rolling calf" is the spirit of a person
not good enough for heaven or bad enough for hell, or the
recipe of "sitting on a Bible" to get rid of a duppy. The
directions for "killing a thief" (p. 92) belong to the system
(universal throughout Negro and Bantu Africa) of guarding crops
by means of "medicine," or "fetish," or whatever one likes to
call it: the technical name in Chinyanja is chiwindo. I do
not remember any of the particular forms of chiwindo here
enumerated; and the silver threepence to be planted with the
"guinea yam" is a civilized addition, but the principle is the
same. The methods of "finding out the thief," on the other
hand, which follow on p. 93, are certainly English — the Bible
and key, and the gold ring, hair and tumbler of water. There
is a third alternative : — "A curious kind of smoke, which, when it
rises, goes to the house of the thief, etc." — but it is too vaguely
stated to enable us to pronounce upon it
Among funeral customs we find the following (p. 88) : " If a
person dies where there are little children, after the body is
put into the coffin, they will lift up each little child, and calling
him by name, pass him over the dead body." According to a
Siena Leone paper this custom is observed there; but it is not
stated by which of the tribes who make up the extremely mixed
population. It may even be found on investigation that some of
the freed slaves brought the notion back from the New World.
The same authority states that it is considered unlucky to whistle,
and adds the rationalizing explanation that whistling attracts
snakes, lizards, and other undesirable creatures into the house.
In Jamaica, you must not "whistle in the nights, for duppies
will catch your voice."
xxxvi Jamaican Song and Story.
The proportion of native and acquired, or African and
European ideas in these superstitions can only be determined
by a much more detailed examination than I can make here,
and one based on fuller materials than are yet accessible.
In conclusion, I would briefly glance at five stories which I
have grouped together as derived from a common African
original, and which present several features of interest, though
I am unable to examine them as much in detail as I should
like to do. These are " The Three Sisters " (VII.), " Gaulin "
(XXIV.), "Yellow Snake" (XXXIV.), "John Crow" (XLIIL),
and "Devil and the Princess" (LI.). The type to which these
may be referred resembles the one registered by Mr. Jacobs
as the "Robber-Bridegroom"; but the African prototypes are
certainly indigenous, and it might seem as if the stories Mr.
Jacobs had in view were late and comparatively civilized versions
of the corresponding European and Asiatic ones, the Robber
being the equivalent of an earlier wizard or devil, who, in the
primitive form of the story, was simply an animal assuming human
shape. The main incidents of the type-story are as follows :
(i) A girl obstinately refuses all suitors.
(2) She is wooed by an animal in human form, and at once
accepts him.
(3) She is warned (usually by a brother) and disregards the
warning.
(4) She is about to be killed and eaten, but is saved by the
brother whose advice was disregarded
A Nyanja variant of this story, where the bridegroom is a
hyena, corresponds very closely with the Temne "Marry the
devil, there's the devil to pay" (Cunnie Rabbity p. 178) — even to
the little brother who follows the newly-wedded couple, against
the wishes of the bride, and who is afflicted — in the one case
with "craw-craw," in the other with sore eyes. A translation
of the Nyanja story may be found in the Contemporary Review
for September, 1896. In Mrs. Dewar's Chinamwanga Stories
(p. 41) there is a variant, — " Ngoza," — where the husband is
a lion. In the Machame story, previously alluded to, the
hyena, having befriended a girl, marries her, and she escapes
with some difficulty from being eaten by his relations. Yet
another variant is " Ngomba's Balloon " in Mr. Dennett's Folklore
Introduction. xxxvii
of the Fjort? Here the husband is a Mpunia (translated
"murderer") — apparently a mere human bad character, and
Ngomba escapes by her own ingenuity.
In the Jamaican stories it strikes one that the idea of trans-
formation is somewhat obscured. We are told how "Gaulin"
(Egret) and "John Crow" provide themselves with clothes and
equipages — the latter a carriage and pair, the former the humbler
local buggy; — and this seems to constitute the extent of their
disguise. Yellow Snake is said to "change and fix up himself" —
but the expression is vague. Gaulin, however, can only be
deprived of his clothes (and so made to appear in his true shape)
by means of a magic song. The " old-witch " brother, who has
overheard the song, plays its tune at the wedding and thus
exposes the bridegroom, who flies out at the door. "John-Crow"
is detected by a Cinderella-like device of keeping him till day-
light, and his hurried flight through the window (in which he
scraped the feathers off his head on the broken glass) explains a
characteristic feature of these useful but unattractive birds.
In neither of these is the bride in any danger : but in " Yellow
Snake" her brothers save her when already more than half
swallowed ; in " Devil and the Princess/ 1 she escapes by the aid
of the Devil's cook, who feeds the watchful cock on corn soaked
in rum. In this story, too, it is not the girl's brother, bat the
" old-witch " servant-boy, who warns her ; and, as he is cast into
prison for his pains, he has no hand in the release. In two
cases ("Gaulin" and "John Crow") Annancy is one of the
unsuccessful suitors, and, in the former, "Rabbit" is another.
(He, apparently, takes no steps to change his shape, being rejected
on the ground that he is " only but a meat," #.*., an animal.) In
the Nyanja story, Leopard and Hare are mentioned as meeting
with refusals, before the Hyena arrives on the scene. "The
Three Sisters," while keeping one or two points of the original
story, is much altered, and seems to have introduced some rather
unintelligible fragments of an English ballad (as to which see
Appendix, p. 286). The Snake is never accepted; and the
youngest of the sisters, who answers him on behalf of all,
would seem to represent the " old-witch " brother who detects his
true character. His "turning into a devil" is another alien
element — perhaps due to Biblical recollections, and the con-
xxxviii Jamaican Song and Story.
eluding assertion that he " have chain round his waist until now "
seems to refer to something which has dropped out, as there
is no previous allusion to a chain in the story as it stands. Of
all the five, " Yellow Snake " is, on the whole, the closest to what
we may suppose to have been the original; "Devil and the
Princess " is in some respects complete, but has acquired several
foreign features, and "John Crow" has quite lost the charac-
teristic conclusion. It is to be hoped that we may one day
succeed in discovering, if not all the African variants of this
story, yet enough to render those we possess more intelligible,
and to afford materials for an interesting comparative study.
A. Werner.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
THE stories and tunes of this book are taken down from
the mouths of men and boys in my employ. The method
of procedure has in every case been to sit them down
to their recital and make them dictate slowly; so the
stories are in their ipsissima verba. Here and there, but
very rarely indeed, I have made a slight change, and
this only because I thought the volume might find its
way into the nursery. The following list exhausts the
emendations: (i) It was not his fat that Tiger took out
when he went bathing, but his viscera ; (2) The " Tumpa-
toe" of one of the stories is n Stinking-toe " ; (3) Dog
always swears, his favourite expression being, " There will
be hell here to-night," and the first line of one of the
dance tunes runs really : " Hell of a dog up'tairs " ;
(4) "belly" is replaced by a prettier equivalent
The district in which I live is that of the Port Royal
Mountains behind Kingston. Other districts have other
"Sings," for these depend upon local topics. The
Annancy Stories are, so far as I know, more or less
alike throughout the island. This title seems to include
stories in which Annancy himself does not figure at all,
but this is of course an illegitimate use of it. The
collection in this book is a mere sample both of stories
and tunes.
The book as a whole is a tribute to my love for
Jamaica and its dusky inhabitants, with their winning
ways and their many good qualities, among which is to
be reckoned that supreme virtue, Cheerfulness.
W. J.
Jamaica, January, 1906.
***;r-r
6'
i
%
JAMAICAN SONG AND STORY.
PART I. ANNANCY STORIES.
When the hoes stop clicking and you hear peals of
laughter from the field, you may know that somebody is
telling an Annancy story. If you go out, you will find a
group of Negroes round the narrator, punctuating all the
good points with delighted chuckles. Their sunny faces
are beaming, and at the recital of any special piece of
knavery on Annancy 's part ordinary means of expression
fail, and they fling themselves on the ground and wriggle
in convulsions of merriment
Annancy is a legendary being whose chief characteristic
is trickery. A strong and good workman, he is invariably
lazy, and is only to be tempted to honest labour by the
offer of a large reward. He prefers to fill the bag which
he always carries, by fraud or theft His appetite is vora-
cious, and nothing comes amiss to him, cooked or raw.
No sooner is one gluttonous feast over than he is ready for
another, and endless are his shifts and devices to supply
himself with food. Sometimes he will thrust himself upon
an unwilling neighbour, and eat up all his breakfast At
another time he carries out his bag and brings it home full
of flesh or fish obtained by thieving. He is perfectly
selfish, and knows no remorse for his many deeds of vio-
lence, treachery and cruelty. His only redeeming point is
a sort of hail-fellow-well-met-ness, which appeals so much
A
2 Jamaican Sang and Story.
to his associates that they are ready almost, if not quite,
to condone his offences.
Annancy has a defect of speech owing to a cleft palate,
and pronounces his words badly. He speaks somewhat
like Punch, through his nose very rapidly, and uses the
most countrified form of dialect. He cannot say "brother/ 1
and has to leave out the tk owing to the failure of the
tongue to meet the palate, so he says " bro'er." He even
pretends he cannot say " puss," and turns it into " push/ 1
Strings of little words he delights in, such as, in the Brother
Death story, the often-repeated " no mo so me no yerry,"
an expressive phrase difficult to render into good English.
It means " I must have failed to hear/' The words are
" no more so me no hear/' equivalent to " it must be so
(that) I (do) not hear," the " no more " having something
of the force of the same words in the colloquial phrases,
* no more I do," " no more I will" When, for instance, to
the remark, u I thought you didn't like the smell of paint,"
we make the rejoinder " no more I do," Priscian strives in
vain to disentangle the words and reduce them to rule of
syntax, but they mean " Well ! I do not" Thus " no more
me hear " would be " Well ! I do not hear." The " so "
introduces the hypothetical element and the " no " before
" yerry " is a reduplicated negative.
Thus far for the sense. Now for the pronunciation.
The accent indicates where the stress of the voice falls, and
unless the accent is caught, the phrase will not run off the
tongue. This is how it goes :
n& md | so mS n6 | yerry.
As an illustration of the necessity of right placing of the
accent, take the name of that town in Madagascar, which
we so often saw in our papers a few years ago, Antana-
narivo. Most of us just nodded our heads at it, but never
tried, or at least only feebly, to articulate it With all this
* an an" it was the same sort of hopeless business as the
Introduction. 3
deciphering of the hieroglyphics of those writers whose
words seem to be composed of nothing but tris. And yet
how simple, and easy to say, the word is when we catch the
accent. First "an " ; then stop a little; "tanana ," same values
as traveller ; and finally " rivo." French sounds for the
vowels of course, An-tananarivo. This grouping of accents
is that which in music is known as rhythm. Rightly
grouped they make musical sense, wrongly grouped — and
alas! how often we hear it — musical nonsense. See the
stuttering hopelessness and helplessness of dn-tdn-dn-d —
there might be any number more of "an-an"s to follow, and
compare with this the neat satisfying form Antdnanarivo.
So let no bungler read in the story of Brother Death " no
m6 so n\6 no yerry " with halting and panting, but let him
reel off as quickly as he can " no mo s6 me no yerry " with
just the accent that he would use in this phrase; — "It is here
that I want you/' Remember, too, that the <?'s have the
open sound of Italian, and not the close sound of English.
So is exactly like sol (the musical note) with the / left out,
and not as we pronounce it. And above all, speed.
When the stranger lands in Jamaica and hears the rapid
rush of words, and the soft, open vowels, he often says :
" Why, I thought they talked English here, but it sounds
like Spanish or Italian!' 1 The difficulty in understanding a
new language lies in the inability to distinguish the point
where one word ends and the next begins. The old
puzzle sentence, CailU a haut nut, taupe a das nid, shows
this very well. The ear catches the sound but fails to
differentiate the words, and, their real identity being dis-
guised, the listener has a sort of impression of modern
Greek or Italian, writing these fragments in his brain
oni y banu
Just as hopeless is negro English to the new-comer, and
the first thing to do is to set about learning it. And well
it repays investigation. It is the boast of the English
language that it has got rid of so much superfluous
Jamaican Song and Story.
grammatical matter in the way of genders, inflections and
such-like perplexities. True, it has abolished much that
was evil, and enables us to speak and write shortly and
to the point. But negro English goes a step further,
and its form is still more concise. Compare these
expressions :
Negro.
Com the horse.
Care the child.
Him wife turn fire.
You middle hand.
My bottom foot
Out the lamp.
The boy too trick.
I did him nothing.
See the 'tar up a Icy.
No make him get 'way.
Me go buy.
A door.
Short-moused.
Bull a broke pen.
Bell a ring a yard.
Same place him patch.
To warm fire.
You no give.
Bring come.
A bush.
English.
Give the horse some corn.
Take care of the child.
His wife became a shrew.
The middle of your hand.
The bottom of my foot
Put out the lamp.
The boy is very tricky.
I did not provoke htm.
Look at the star up in the sky.
Do not let him get away.
I am going to buy.
Out of doors.
Quick at repartee.
The bull has broken out of the pen.
The bell is ringing in the yard.
In the place where it was patched.
To warm oneself by the fire.
If you do not give.
Bring it here. ■
In the bush. 1
These are a few typical sentences out of a host which might
be cited to show the neat, short turn they take in the
mouth of the Jamaica Negro.
The rapidity of utterance natural to all the Blacks is
exaggerated by Annancy. He generally affects, too, a
falsetto tone as in " Play up the music, play up the music,"
in Yung-kyum-pyung. He has a metamorphic shape,
1 These idioms are Y&ry similar to those of Cape Dutch, especially as spoken
by the coloured people, and may help to illustrate its development. Ctjy is
U skeUum % —ek gaan (or better, Corp) korp, etc. "To warm fire" reminds
one of the Bantu Ku oi a moto> of which it is almost a literal translation. (A. W. )
Introduction. 5
that of the Spider. At one moment he is a man " tiefing
(thieving) cow/' the next he is running upon his rope (web).
As he is the chief personage in most of the stories in
this book, it is well to have a perfectly clear idea of the
pronunciation of his name. Unnahncy does not represent
it badly, but the first letter has actually the sound of short
French a as in la. The accent falls strongly on the middle
syllable. In "Tacoma" all the syllables are very short
The first has the sound of French ta, and takes the accent;
co is something between English cook and Italian con, and it
is impossible to determine whether to write the vowel o or
u ; ma again as in French. The exact relation in which
Tacoma stands to Annancy is obscure. In one case he is
described as Annancy's son, but, according to most of the
stories, he appears to be an independent neighbour.
The stories are obviously derived from various sources,
the most primitive being no doubt those which are con-
cerned only, or chiefly, with animals. These may be of
African origin, but we should have expected to find the
Elephant and not the Tiger. I have a suspicion that
Tiger was originally Lion, and that he is the Ogre of Jack
the Giant-killer, and other fairy stories brought to Jamaica
from England. Ogre would easily be corrupted to Tiger,
and with the information, which might have been acquired
at the same time, that Tiger was a fierce animal which ate
men, his name would find its way into stories repeated
from mouth to mouth. This is, however, pure conjecture.
How much the stories vary may be seen from the two
versions of Ali Baba, in one of which the point is so
entirely lost that the door is not kept shut upon the
intruder.
The tunes are in the same case as the stories. What I
take to be certainly primitive about them is the little short
refrains, like u Carry him go 'long" (Dry Bone) and u Com-
mando " (Annancy and Hog). These suggest tapping on
a drum. Again, the same influence that has produced
6 Jamaican Song and Story.
the American Plantation Songs is occasionally visible,
as in " Some a we da go to Mount Siney " ( Annancy in
Crab Country). This kind of patter is just what the
Negro likes. Some of the tunes are evidently popular
songs of the day, as, for instance, the vulgar " Somebody
waiting for Salizon" (Snake the Postman). But others
are a puzzle, showing as they do a high order of melodic
instinct Such are the melodies in " The Three Sisters "
and " Leah/' and the digging-tunes, " Oh, Samuel, Oh ! "
and "Three Acres of Coffee." These digging-tunes are
very pleasant to hear, and the singers are quick at im-
provising parts. They are an appropriate accompaniment
to the joyous labour of this sunny, happy land.
One more word with regard to the tunes. They gain a
peculiar and almost indescribable lilt from a peculiarity
in the time-organisation of the Negro. If you as* him to
beat the time with his foot, he does it perfectly regularly,
but just where the white man does not do it We beat
with the time ; he beats against it. To make my mean-
ing quite plain, take common measure. His first beat
in the bar will be exactly midway between our first
and second beats. The effect of this peculiarity in their
singing is, that there is commonly a feeling of syncopa-
tion about it The Americans call it "rag-time."
The men's voices are of extraordinary beauty. To
hear a group chatting is a pure pleasure to the
ear, quite irrespective of the funny things they say;
and their remarks are accompanied with the prettiest
little twirks and turns of intonation, sometimes on the
words, sometimes mere vocal ejaculations between them.
The women's voices have the same fine quality when
they speak low, but this they seldom do, and their
usual vivacious chatter is anything but melodious.
f
Annancy and Brother Tiger.
I. ANNANCY AND BROTHER TIGER.
One day Annancy an' Bro'er Tiger go a river fe wash'kin.
Annancy said to Bro'er Tiger: — "Bro'er Tiger, as you
are such a big man, if you go in a de blue hole with
your fat you a go drownded, so you fe take out your
fat so lef' it here."
Tiger said to Bro'er Annancy: — "You must take out
fe you too."
Annancy say : — " You take out first, an' me me take out
after."
Tiger first take out
Annancy say : — " Go in a hole, Bro'er Tiger, an' make
me see how you swim light"
Bro'er Annancy never go in.
As Tiger was paying attention to the swimming, Annancy
take up his fat an' eat it
Then Annancy was so frightened for Tiger, he leaves
the river side an' go to Big Monkey town.
Him say : — " Bro'er Monkey, I hear them shing a shing
a river side say : —
Allegretto.
If H|j J'fl J' J J-J' l -I J JJ
Yesh-ter-day this time me a nyam Ti-ger fat,
i f w
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat, Yeshterday this time me a
nyam Ti-ger fat, Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat
8 Jamaican Sang and Story.
The Big Monkey drive him away, say they don't want
to hear no song.
So him leave and go to Little Monkey town, an 9 when
him go him said : —
"Bro'er Monkey, I hear one shweet song a river side
say: —
" Yeshterday this time roe a nyam Tiger fat
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat"
Then Monkey say: — * You must sing the song, make
we hear."
Then Annancy commence to sing.
Monkey love the song so much that they made a ball
a night an' have the same song playing.
So when Annancy hear the song was playing, he was
glad to go back to Bro'er Tiger.
When him go to the river, he saw Tiger was looking
for his fat
Tiger said : — u Bro'er Annancy, I can't find me fat at all"
Annancy say : — " Ha ha ! Biddybye I hear them shing
a Little Monkey town say : —
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat
Bro'er Tiger, if you 1 think I lie, come make we go a
Little Monkey town."
So he and Tiger wented
When them get to the place, Annancy tell Tiger they
must hide in a bush.
Then the Monkey was dancing an 9 playing the same tune.
Tiger hear.
Then Annancy say : — " Bro'er Tiger wha' me tell you ?
You no yerry me tell you say them a call you name up
ya?"
An' the Monkey never cease with the tune ; —
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat
Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat
Annancy and Brother Tiger. 9
Then Tiger go in the ball an' ask Monkey them for
his fat
The Monkey say they don't know nothing name so, 'tis
Mr. Annancy Tarn them the song.
So Tiger could manage the Little Monkey them, an' he
want fe fight them.
So the Little Monkey send away a bearer to Big
Monkey town, an' bring down a lots of soldiers, an' flog
Bro'er Tiger an' Annancy.
So Bro'er Tiger have fe take bush an' Annancy run up
a house-top.
From that, Tiger live in the wood until now, an' Annancy
in the house-top.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
Go a rrver fe wash Ida, go to the river to wash their skins. Pronounce fe
like fit without the t.
In a do, into the.
▲ go drownded, will be drowned.
lb tain, short for mast nave ft take, must take
■0 VbC , and leave.
a you, for you, yours.
ma me, I wilL Annancy is fond of these reduplications.
In a nolo, in the hole.
make ma see, let me see. Make and let are always confused.
frighten, frightened. Past participles are seldom used.
take, eat, leave, go, takes, eats, leaves, goes. This shortening is always
adopted. If a final 8 is used, it is generally in the wrong place.
ahlng a shing, sing a song. Annancy's lisp will not always be printed, but
in reading, it should be put in even when not indicated.
a river tide, at the river's side. The v is pronounced more like a b, and the
i in river has the sound of French u.
ma a nyam, I was eating, I ate. Vyam is one of the few African words
which survive in Jamaica.
make we hear, and let us hear it.
have the same song playing; the past participle again avoided, and its
place supplied by the present participle. Song and tune are interchangeable
io Jamaican Song and Story.
terms, and, even when there is no singing, the fiddle speaks words to those
who are privileged to hear ; see " Doba" and other stories.
Biddy/bye, by the bye.
a Little Monkey town, in little Monkey town. So already in this story
we have had a standing for to, in, the, at, will, besides being interjected, as
in ma a nyam and elsewhere.
make we go, let as go.
in a tmah, in the bosh, in the jangle.
rtanrlng an' playing. No mention of singing, observe.
a wna' ma tall yon, ate. What did I tell you ? Did you not hear me tell
you they were talking about you up here? A good phrase to illustrate the
use of the interjected say. Call yon nana, mention your name.
Monkey them ; another common addition.
nothing name so, nothing called so.
a bearer. Bearers are important people in the Jamaica hills where post-
offices are few. They often bear nothing but a letter, though some carry loads
too.
Jack Mantoxa, ate All Annancy stories end with these or similar words.
The Jack is a member of the company to whom the story is told, perhaps its
principal member ; and the narrator addresses him, and says : " I do not pick
you oat, Jack, or any of your companions, to be flogged as Tiger and Annancy
were by the monkeys." Among the African tribes stories we know are
often told with an object The Negro is quick to seize a parable, and the
point of a cunningly constructed story directed at an individual obnoxious
to the reciter would not miss. So when the stories were merely told for
diversion, it may have been thought good manners to say: "This story of
mine is not aimed at any one."
Yung-Kyum-Pyung. 1 1
II. YUNG-KYUM-PYUNG.
A KING had free daughter, but nobody in the world know
their name. All the learned man from all part of the
eart* come to guess them name, an* no one could'n guess
them.
Brother Annancy hear of it an' say : — " Me me I mus'
have fe fin' them ya-ya gal name. Not a man can do it
abbly no me."
So one day the King free gal gone out to bathe, an'
Brother Annancy make a pretty basket, an' put it in a the
house where he knew they was going to come fe eat them
vittle.
He leave it there, an' go under the house fe hear the
name.
When them come, them see the basket, an' it was the
prettiest something they ever see in their life.
Then the biggest one cry out : —
Yung-kyum-pyung ! What a pretty basket !
Marg'ret-Powell-Alone ! What a pretty basket !
And the next one say : —
Margaret- Powell-Alone 1 What a pretty basket !
Eggie-Law ! What a pretty basket !
And the youngest bahl : —
Eggie-Law t What a pretty basket, eh ?
Yung-kyum-pyung ! What a pretty basket, eh ?
Brother Annancy hear it all good, an' he glad so till him
fly out a the house an' gone.
Him go an' make up a band of music with fiddle an*
•drum, an' give the musicians them a tune to sing the
names to.
12
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' after a week him come back.
When him get where the King could yerry, him give
out : — " Play up the music, play up the music"
So they play an' sing : —
Albgro.
► » J r j
ii
mm
rung Ec-ffie-Lai
p^»
Yung-kyum-pyung Eg-gie-Law Marg'ret- Powell- A - lone.
After six times sing the Queen yerry.
She say : — " Who is that calling my daughter name ? "
Annancy tell them fe play all the better.
Then the Queen massoo himself from up'tairs, an' t*row
down broke him neck.
Dat time de King no yerry, so Annancy harder to play
de music still.
At last the King yerry, an' him say: — "Who is dat,
calling me daughter name ? "
Annancy let them sing the tune over and over : —
iftmijJr jhjj .MjJj^Jif^ ^i
Yung-kyum-pyung Eg-gie-Law Marg'ret-Poweil- A - lone.
An' the King trow himself off a him frone an' lie there
'tiff dead.
Then Annancy go up an' take the t'rone, an' marry the
youngest daughter an' a reign.
Annancy is the wickedest King ever reign. Sometime
him dere, sometime him gone run 'pon him rope an tief
cow fe him wife.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
M», hm I nutf bare, etc, I will find out those girls' names. Anybody
would have said : — " Me mus* have fe find them ya (those here) gal name,
bnt Annancy likes to add a few more syllables. His speech is
i?
Yung-Kyum-Pyung. 1 3
The Jamaican looks down on the Bungo (rhymes with Mungo) who "no 'peak
good English."
abuy no me, except me.
go under the house. It is no absurdity to the narrator's mind to picture
the King's house on the pattern of his own. This is a two-roomed hat, con-
sisting of the hall or dining-room and a bedroom. It is floored with inch-
thick cedar boards roughly cat and planed, so that they never lie very close.
An air space is left underneath, and anybody who creeps under the hut can
hear all that goes on above.
MO, bawl.
hear it an foot, hears everything perfectly.
Hoy mp tfce male. He almost sings, like this :— -
Play up the mu-sic.
an the better, all the harder.
maesoo himself, lifts herself up. " Massoo" is an African word. The hall
seems to have a sort of gallery.
frow down, eve., throws herself down and breaks her neck. They always
say to broke.
Da* time do King. The turning of th into a d or nearly a d is characteristic
of negro speech. To avoid the tiresomeness of dialect-printing, and for another
reason to be mentioned by and by, this is not always indicated. The change
is introduced occasionally to remind readers of the right pronunciation.
lot them sing, makes them sing.
Sometime mm dare, sometimes he is there (at home), sometimes he goes
and runs upon his web and steals cows for his wife. Other stories will show
Annancy's partiality for beef, or indeed anything eatable.
ttef, thieve.
Spiders' webs of any kind are called Annaney ropes.
14 Jamaican Song and Story.
III. KING DANIEL.
There was two young lady name Miss Wenchy an'
Miss Lumpy. The King Daniel was courtening to Miss
Wenchy, an' the day when they was to get many Miss
Lumpy carry Miss Wenchy an' show him a flowers in
the pond. Miss Wenchy go to pick it/ an' Miss Lumpy
shub him in the pond.
An' she said : — " Tank God ! nobody see me."
Now a Parrot sat up on a tree, an' jes' as Miss Lumpy
say u Tank God ! nobody see me " the Parrot say : — " I
see you dough!"
Then Miss Lumpy said to the Parrot: — "Do, my
pretty Polly, don't you tell, an' I'll give you a silver
door an 9 a golden cage."
And the Parrot sing:— r
Moderato.
^3
H^jJ >J*m J»J* |
No, No, I don't want it, for the
same you serve an - o - ther one yon will serve me the same.
"Oh do, my pretty Polly, don't you tell, an' I'll give
you a silver door an' a golden cage."
But the Parrot wouldn' stay, and he fly from houses
to houses singing this tune: —
Allegro.
i j'li'Hjljijjflr fcc l l' r l p g^
I brought, I brought a news to the young King Daniel ; Miss
King Daniel. 1 5
iAimpy kill Miss Wenchy loss, on becount of young King Daniel.
At last the Parrot got to the table where the young
King Daniel was.
An' Miss Lumpy was into a room crying. Many
pocket-handkerchief she got wet with tears. An 9 the
Parrot sing the same song: — "I brought, I brought a
news to the young King Daniel; Miss Lumpy kill Miss
Wenchy loss on becount of young King Daniel."
Then Miss Lumpy call out: — "Oh drive away that
nasty bird, for Miss Wenchy head hurting her."
But King Daniel wouldn' have it so, but said: — "I
heard my name call. I would like to know what is it"
An' the Parrot fly near upon the King's shoulder an'
tell him what become of Miss Wenchy. An' they go
an' look in the room an' find her not.
An' pretty Polly take them to the pond an' show
them where Miss Wenchy is, an' she was drown.
Then the King call Miss Lumpy an' head him up
into a barrel an' fasten it up with tenpenny nails, an'
carry him up to a high hill an' let him go down the
gully, an' he drop in the gully pom-galong.
An' the Parrot laugh Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha !
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
I Me you dough. The first three words are pitched high and the voice falls
as low as possible on the dough and dwells upon it.
Do, my pretty Polly, etc I have heard this story many times, and these
words never vary. Obviously it was once a silver cage with a golden door. 1
I brought ; brought for bring, as we had broke for break.
1 The well-known and lately-current ballad of May Cohrin % in which this
incident occurs (though it is the false lover, not the sister, who is murdered),
has a cage of gold with an ivory door. (C. S. B. )
1 6 Jamaican Song and Story.
lorn. It is donbtml what this word represents. It may be lots or losL
Observe bocount*
I would lis* to know what is It, I should like to know what it is, what the
matter is. The perverse misplacing of these words strikes a newcomer to the
island. In questions they misplace them again and say " What it is?"
And her not. The not has a heavy accent
gully, precipice.
pan-galoot imitates the sound of the barrel as it goes bumping down. The
o's have the Italian sound.
IV. TOMBY.
One day there was a gal, an' Annancy really want that
gal fe marry, but he couldn' catch him. An' Annancy
ask a old-witch man — the name of him was Tomby — an'
the old-witch man had a 'mash-up side, an' him was the
only man could gotten the gal for Annancy. An* Annancy
give the old-witch man a threepence to give the gal when
him goin' to the market to buy a threepence of youricky-
yourk. An' the gal take the t'reepence. An' as she
walk along the pass to market she meet up one of her
friend call Miss Princess Johnson an' she said : — " Good
mornin' me love," an' the answer: — "How you do, me
dear? Where you a come from now?"
An Miss Justina say : — " Me a come from Tomby yard,
an' see de tVeepence he give me fe go buy youricky-
yourk."
"Never you bodder with something 'tan' so. Gi' ahm
back him fuppence because him goin' to turn trouble fe
you."
" How I manage fe gi' him the fuppence ? "
"When you go to the market come back tell him you
no see no youricky-yourk."
"An' what you go go buy, Miss Princess?"
Tomby.
*7
" Me go buy me little salt fish an' me little hafoo yam,
f reepence a red peas fe make me soup, quatty 'kellion,
gill a garlic to put with me little nick-snack, quatty ripe
banana, bit fe Gungo peas, an' me see if me can get
quatty beef bone."
"Ah! me missis, Cocoanut cheap a market ya."
"Yes, me love, make me buy sixpence."
An' as they talking they get to market They buy
what they want an' turn back, an' when they reach up
Princess yard they tell goodbye an' Justina call in to
Tomby.
An' Justina bring back the t'reepence an' sing: —
Me go to market, me look, Tomby; look oh! me
look, Tomby, look oh ! me look, Tomby, seenoyouncky-yourk; Me
went to Lingo Starban, 'coram! day, me went to Lingo StarBan^comful
i
(fop 1 r =*
igiiiiipsy
i
day, me went to Lingo Star - ban, 'cornral day.
An' Tomby very vex as, being a old witch, he knew
all what the gal do already. An' he answer: —
Allegretto.
^m
Hm hm ! hm hm ! me have me mash-up side gee oh ! a
pjfar i* rW}j>t*.*&A ± *m
him make you say Ta - ta - lin - go ya you bit oh ! 'cornral day.
B
1 8 Jamaican Song and Story.
An' he won't take the threepence. Now the rule is
that anybody take something from old-witch an' can't
give it back, it give him power to catch him. An' so
comes it that Tomby catch Justina an' send for Mr.
Annancy an' make him a present to be a wife. His
name was Miss Sinclair, but she becomes now Mrs.
Annancy Sinclair.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
Old-witch, a person of either sex possessed of supernatural powers, not
necessarily old in years, as will be seen in other stories. The name " white
witch " applied to men is familiar to dwellers in the West of England.
'mash-up, smashed up, wounded, lacerated.
youzlcay-yourk, a nonsense word for some kind of plaster.
paaa, path.
Mlas Frineaaa. Prince and Princess are common names for boys and girls.
good morula'. This broad o is always pronounced ah.
yard, a house with its immediate surroundings.
Marat you boddar, don't you bother with something which stands so, with
that sort of commission.
ahm, frequently used for him.
rnppenea, with Italian n having a turn towards o, fivepence in the old
Jamaica coinage, equal to threepence English. Princess advises the return of
the tuppence because it is going to get Justina (English a and Italian 1) into
trouble, coming as it does from an old-witch. It would not be guessed that
the Jamaica coinage is identical with that of England. Such is, nevertheless,
the case in spite of these curious names :
3 farthings i gill.
2 gills I quatty (quarter of sixpence, pronounced quotty).
2 quatties i treppence or fuppence (old coinage).
3 quatties I bit.
4 quatties I sixpence or tenpence (old coinage).
5 quatties, bit-o-fuppence.
7 quatties, bit-o-tenpence.
8 quatties i shilling or maccaroni.
io quatties, mac-o-ruppence.
go go bay. It is not only Annancy who uses reduplications. The close
English is replaced in the Negro's mouth by an Italian open 0.
hafoo (pronounced hahfoo, really afoo, an African word), a kind of yam.
Tomby. 19
Icelllan, skellion or scallion, a kind of onion which does not bulb.
Ckmgo, Congo. This pea is not only excellent for soap, bat the growing
plant improves the soil by introducing nitrogen into it.
ya, do you hear ? a common ending to any remark.
tell goodbye. They tall howdy (how do you do ?) and goodbye.
lingo Btarban. This should probably be Lingo's tavern, lingo's tahvern ;
▼ and b being indistinguishable as in Spanish and Russian.
'ooraful day, a day of scorning or flouting. Justina wishes Tomby to believe
that she tried everywhere to get some youricky-yourk, but met only with flouts
and jeers.
Hm, km, grumbling.
a 1dm, it is him, it is that which makes you say : — " Tatalingo, here's your
bit," your three quatties. She only had a treppence but the Negro is above
accuracy as the Emperor Sigismund was above grammar.
Tatalingo. Lingo's name is now transferred to Tomby. Italian vowels in
Tata. In " Finger Quashy " we find Tatafelo as one of the cats' names.
make mm a pr e s e nt, make her (Justina) a present to Annancy.
Mrs. Annancy Sinclair. 'They are not particular in the matter of surnames.
A remarried widow is constantly called by the surname of her first husband.
20 Jamaican Song and Story.
V. HOW MONKEY MANAGE ANNANCY.
ONE day Mr. Annancy an' his wife sat under a tree an'
don't know that Mr. Monkey was on the tree. Mr.
Annancy say to his wife : — " You know I really want little
fresh." The wife say to Annancy: — "What kind a fresh?"
" How you mean, me wife, fe ax me dat question ? Any
meat at all Me wife, you know wha' we fe do. Make we
get a banana barrel an' lay it on de bed, make him favour
one man, so get white sheet an' yap him up from head to
foot, an' sen' go call Bro'er Cow, Bro'er Monkey, Bro'er
Sheep, Bro'er Goat an' Bro'er Hog. An' when them come
we mus' put all the strange friend them inside de house an'
den you fe stay inside de room wi' dem."
Now Bro'er Annancy send fe all his friend, Sheep, Goat,
Hog, Monkey. Cow was the minister.
When they come to Annancy yard they met him was
crying.
Parson Cow say : — " Don't cry so much, my good friend,
because it is the all a we road."
Annancy say : — " Ah, ah ! Bro'er Cow, you no know the
feeling me have fe me one puppa. Bro'er Cow, as you is the
parson, take you frien' in, you will see de ole man 'pon bed."
During this time Mrs. Annancy was inside the room.
The Reverend Cow went in to raise up the sheet
Mrs. Annancy say : — " No ; me husban' say nobody fe
look on the ole man face till in the morning."
So Cow don't rist*
Mr. Monkey who hear all what Annancy was saying, he
an' his wife wouldn' go in the house.
Mr. Annancy say : — " Bro'er Monkey, go inside. Go see
the last of the ole man."
He has to left Monkey, for Monkey was too clever tor
him.
An' by that time Mr. Annancy hid his cutlass back of
his door well sharpen an' go in the house an' shut the door.
It was the only door in the whole house, so he sat back of
the door after lock it.
An' after, Bro'er Annancy ask Bro'er Cow to say a word
of prayer.
During the praying Annancy was crying.
Hog with an old voice say: — "Keep up Mr. Annancy,
keep up Mr. Annancy."
He cry much the better.
The prayer was finish. Mr. Annancy ask Cow to raise
a hymn.
The Cow commence with hundred a de hymn, hundred
a de page.
Lagrintoio.
John, me see the lsst to-day y», meseethelast, puppagone.
Bro'er Annancy want fe kill Parson Cow, begin with a
big confusion, say that him don't like that hymn.
During this time his door was well lock, an' same time
Bro'er Annancy draw his cutlass an' raise a fight, say that
him don't like that hymn.
Ad' the poor friend them didn' have anything to fight.
He kill the whole of them.
22 Jamaican Song and Story.
In the morning Monkey laugh, say : — " Bro'er Annancy,
If me min come in a you house you would a do me the
same."
*>
Annancy say " No.'
Him give Monkey a piece of the meat.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
freeh, fresh meat In the country districts the only meat to be had as a rule
is ancient salt beef out of a tub.
favour, look like. In some parts of England the word is still used in this
sense.
met him wm crying, found him crying.
all a we. All of us have to tread the road of death.
one, own.
who near, who had heard previously when he was on the tree.
cutlass. Every Negro carries one. It is used for every sort of purpose, but
seldom murderously as here.
old voice, voice of simulated grief*
much the better, all the more.
hundred a de, hundredth.*
me gallon ho, nonsense words.
confusion, quarrel.
mln, been. If I had come in you would have done the same to me.
Blackbird and Woss-Woss. 23
VI. BLACKBIRD AND WOSS-WOSS.
One day there was a place where they usual to kill
plenty of meat An' Mr. Blackbird has a certain tree,
hiding himself. An' every cow them kill Mr. Blackbird
see how them kill it. An' going into the house, the
house don't lock with no key nor either open with no
key. When they want to go in them use a word, say
"one — two — free — me no touch liver," an' the door open
himself. An' when them want to come out of the house
them use the same words "one — two — t'ree — me no touch
liver." An' Mr. Blackbird tief them fe true, an' them
never find it out.
An' one day Mr. Blackbird write his friend Mr. Annancy
to take a walk with him, an' him will show him where
he is getting all these meat. An' when he is going him
tell Mr. Annancy all the rule, that when he go on the
tree he must listen, an' him will hear what them say to
open the door both going in an' coming out.
What Mr. Annancy did ; when he see the butcher them
passing with the meat, Annancy was trembling an'
saying : — " Look a meat, — Look a meat."
" Bro'er Annancy hush you mout', you a go make dem
shot me."
When the butcher them gone, Mr. Blackbird come down,
he an' Mr. Annancy, an' go inside the house the very same
as the butcher them do, say "one — two — t'ree — me no
touch liver." As they go into the house Blackbird tell
him that him mustn't take no liver. An' Mr. Annancy
took liver an' put in his bag. An' when Blackbird started
out with the same word Mr. Annancy left inside was tying
his bag.
24 Jamaican Song and Story.
Now Mr. Annancy ready fe come out of the house,
count "one — two — t'ree — me no touch liver," and by this
time he has the liver in his bag.
The door won't open.
Blackbird call him " Come on/'
He say : — " The door won't open."
Then he count more than what he was to by get so
frighten. He say:— " One — two — t'ree — four — five — six —
seven — eight — nine — ten — me no touch liver."
The door won't open.
Mr. Blackbird say : — " Look in your bag, you must be
have liver."
The fellow so sweet-mout' say in a cross way " No."
Blackbird leave him.
When Blackbird go home he look an' can't see Mr.
Annancy, so him fly a bush an' get up a whole regiment
of soldier. Who these soldier was, was Woss-Woss. Mr.
Blackbird was the General, march before. When them
reach to the place they were just in time, for the butcher
were taking Mr. Annancy to go an' tie him on a tree
to cut him with hot iron. Word of command was given
from Mr. Blackbird, an' by the time the butcher them
come to the door with Mr. Annancy the whole world of
Woss-Woss come down on them.
They have to let go Mr. Annancy. Not one of the
butcher could see. Mr. Blackbird soldier gain the battle
an' get 'way Mr. Annancy. They take all the butcher
meat an' carry home. Then Mr. Blackbird take Mr.
Annancy under his wing an' all his soldiers an' fly to his
own country. From that day Woss-Woss is a great fighter
until now, so bird never do without them to guard their nest.
Jack M ant or a me no choose any.
NOTES.
Wom-Wom. The West Indian wasp hangs its paper nest to the twigs of
boshes and trees as a rale, though it does not despise the shelter of the
Blackbird and Woss-Woss. 25
verandah. The wasps live in colonies, making many small nests instead of
one big one. The nests are shaped like the rose of a watering-pot with the
shank turned upwards.
This story clearly owes its origin to Ali Baba. The conversion of Sesame,
which meant nothing to the negro, into one-two-three, which at least means
something, is not unnatural.
fe true, literally for true is an expressive phrase conveying the idea of
intensity. It hot fo true, it is intensely hot. Ho ttaf fe true, he steals
terribly. It rain fe true, it is raining very hard. He wortlees fe true,
he is a regular scamp. He alnnlcky fe true, he is a horrid sneak. Hie
eon hard fo true, his ears are outrageously hard, said of a boy who will
not do as he is told. He nyam fe true, he eats immensely. Lasy fo true,
abominably lazy. Ugly fe true, exceedingly ugly. The water cold fe true,
the water is very cold. White yam burn fe true, the white yam is sadly
burnt. Orange hoar fe true, the oranges bear heavily. Poos catch ratta
fe true, the cat catches any amount of rats. Him favour tiger fe true,
he looks for all the world like a tiger, said of a man who has a sullen
expression. Ho head hart me fo true. I have a very bad headache. Boot
burn mo fe true, my boots gall me dreadfully.
by got 00 frighten, through fright ; literally, owing to his getting so much
frightened.
must he have, must have.
ffweet-mout', sweet-mouthed, greedy.
26
Jamaican Song and Story.
VII. THE THREE SISTERS.
THERE was free sister living into a house, an' everybody
want them fe marry, an 1 them refuse.
An' one day a Snake go an' borrow from his neighbour
long coat an' burn-pan hat an' the whole set out of
clothing. Then he dress himself, an' him tell his friends
that him mus' talk to those young lady. An' what you
think the fellow does? He get up a heap a men to
carry him to the young lady yard. An' when him got
there the door was lock with an iron bar. An' when
he come he say : — " Please to open the door, there is a
stranger coming in." An' he sing like this: —
Andante.
$hrr -*-r*&=tf« jjjydTf-T^
My el - des* sis-ter, will you o-pen the door? My el -des'
sis-ter, will you open the door oh ? Fair an' gande-low steeL
An' the eldest one was going to open the door. An'
the last one, who was a old-witch, say to her sister: —
''Don't open the door," an' she sing: —
Andante,
My door is bar — with a scotran bar, My door is
bar — with a scotran bar oh, Fair an* gandelow steel.
The Three Sisters.
27
Then the Snake ask again to the same tune: —
My second sister will you open the door?
My second sister will you open the door oh?
Fair an' gandelow steel
An' the youngest, which was old-witch, sing again: —
My door is bar with an iron bar,
My door is bar with an iron bar oh,
Fair an' gandelow steel.
An' the Snake turn to a Devil, an' the t'ree sister come
an' push on the door to keep it from open.
An' the Devil ask a third time: —
My youngest sister will you open the door?
My youngest sister will you open the door oh?
Fair an' gandelow steeL
But the last sister won't have it so, an' she said with
a very wrath: —
i
|4n jJJftl J 1 j^^TpTr
The Devil ro - guer than a woman-kind, The Devil id-
j.-T' JY j C PH I
guer than a woman-kind oh, Fair an' gandelow steel.
An' the Devil get into a great temper an' say: —
i j'atM* j ^ijs
What is ro-guer than a woman-kind? What is ro-
guer than a woman -kind oh? Fair an' gandelow steel.
Then the Devil fly from the step straight into hell
an have chain round his waist until now.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
28 Jamaican Song and Story.
NOTES.
Snake is pronounced with an indefinite short vowel between the ■ and n,
senake.
born-pan hat, the tall hat of civilized towns. The pan is the usual cylin-
drical tin vessel used for cooking. When blackened by fire it is a bain-pan.
or burnt pan. It is pronounced like French bonne.
Qandftlow, lootrmn, The meaning of these words is lost.
roguer. This word is doubtful. Sometimes it sounds like rowgard, at
others like rowgod. It may mean "more roguish." The boy who gave me
this story often quotes this line from a hymn :
" To break the bonds of cantling sin. 1 '
One day I asked him to point it out in his hymnbook. It was co n que r ing.
He can say it perfectly well, but he still goes on with cantling. It is not
surprising, therefore, that we cannot recover words passed from mouth to
mouth for generations.
womankind. Again it is doubtful whether this is a single word or two
words. The article would fix it as the latter in pure English, but in negro
speech it goes for nothing.
old-wlton, though she was a young girl : see notes to No. IV. (Tomby).
William Tell. 29
VIII. WILLIAM TELL.
ONCE there was a man who name William Tell, an' him
have a lots of cow. An' in the yard there was a tree, an'
the tree no man can fall it. Any animal at all go under
that tree it kill them, an' the name of the tree is Huyg.
An* William Tell wanted the tree to cut down.
An 1 him offer a cow to any man that kill the Huyg.
They shall get the cow.
An' first of all Tacoma went to cut down the tree, an*
him couldn' bear the itch, I mean 'cratch of the tree.
An' William Tell made a law that any man come to
cut the tree they must not 'cratch their 'kin or else they
would lose the cow.
An' Mr. Tacoma were very sorry, an' he was to leave
the cow just to save his life.
An' that great man Mr. Annancy heard about the cow
an' him got a very sharp axe. An' when Mr. Annancy
come, William Tell show him the cow — Annancy glad
when he see the cow — an' after he show Mr. Annancy
the tree.
Then Mr. Annancy say : — " Ho, me good massa, don't
you fret of the tree. If one sing don't send 'way the
tree another one must send him 'way."
An' the first sing was: —
Allegro.
Big chip, fly ! little chip
He repeat the word over an' over, but the tree don't
fall yet.
3Q
Jamaican Song and Story.
So him take up another sing again : —
Allegro.
i
r-n-iH
J J iJ 1 !
Me go to Ricky-Ian - jo, eye come shine, come
hfr-J — ^
show me your mc
1
I
don,
eye come shine.
An* Mr. Annancy never cease till him cut down the
tree an' receive his reward.
NOTES.
Hnyg for Hag, as they say buyg for bag. The spelling is awkward but it
seems the only convenient one to adopt. The sound will be best understood
from the second example. Say tray and put a hard g after it. The Hoyg
seems to combine the qualities of the Upas and Cow-itch ( Mucuns pruriens).
The last, a common Jamaica weed, looks like a scarlet runner. It bears pods
covered with a pretty velvet of hairs which ' ' scratch " or irritate the skin.
stag. Further on there is a collection of these lings.
■bow ma your motion, let me see you begin to topple.
Brother Annancy and Brother Death. 3 1
IX. BROTHER ANNANCY AND BROTHER
DEATH.
One day Brother Annancy sen' gal Annancy fe go a
Brother Deaf yard fe go beg fire.
When the gal go, him go meet Brother Deaf dis a eat
fe him breakfas' enough eggs. Brother Deat' give gal
Annancy one. Gal Annancy take the egg an', after eat
done, put the shell 'pon him finger.
Brother Annancy wait an' wait but can't get the fire,
till at last he see the gal a come.
When him see the gal with the egg shell 'pon him finger,
him run an' bit off the gal finger slap to the hand. Him
take 'way the fire, out it, an' go back to Deat' say : —
* Bro'er Deat', de fire out"
Brother Deat' give him fire an 1 one egg, tell him fe
go home.
" Say, Bro'er Deat', I goin' to give you me daughter fe
marry to."
So Annancy do marry off Deaf an' him daughter the
same day. So him lef them gone for a week, then come
back again fe come see him son-in-law.
When him come him say : — " Bro'er Deat', me son, me
hungry."
Brother Deat' no 'peak.
So Annancy begin fe talk to himself : * Bro'er Deaf say
me fe go make up fire, but no mo so me no yerry."
After five minutes him call out : — " Bro'er Deaf, me
make up de fire."
Deat' no 'peak.
11 Bro'er Deaf say me fe wash de pot, but no mo so me
no yerry.
J
32 Jamaican Sang and Story.
When the pot wash done, him call out : — " Pot wash."
Deat' no 'peak.
" Bro'er Deat' say me fe to put him on, but no mo so
me no yerry."
Soon him say : — " Bro'er Deat', where de vittle ? "
Deat' no 'peak.
" Him say me fe look somewW 66 me see enough yam,
me fe peel dem put dem a fire, but no mo so me no yerry."
Annancy cook all Deat' food.
When it boil, him take it off. Him say : — " Bro'er Deat',
him boiL"
Deat' no 'peak.
" Bro'er Deat' say me fe share, but no mo so me no
yerry."
Annancy eat fe him share, then turn back say : — " Bro'er
Deaf, you no come come eat ? "
Deat' no 'peak.
" Bro'er Deat' say him no want none, but no mo so me
no yerry."
So Annancy eat off all the food him one.
Then Deat' get vex in a him heart, and him run into the
kitchen.
" Bro'er Annancy a wh£ you mean fe do me, say a come
you come fe kill me ? "
So Deat' catch Annancy an' say : — " Me no a go let
you go again, no use, no use."
Then, after, Deat' carry Annancy in a him house an'
leave him, gone to get his lance to kill him.
So, after Annancy sit a time an' about to go away, him
say : — u Bro'er Deat' say me fe go take piece a meat, but
no mo so me no yerry." .
When Annancy go to the meat cask, him see the cask
full with meat Him take out two big piece of meat.
Then he see fe him daughter hand with the missing finger.
Him jump out of the house an' bawl out : — " Bro'er Deat',
you b'ute, you b'ute, you kill me daughter."
•:
Brother Annancy and Brother Death. 33
Deat 1 catch him again an* was going to kill him, but the
feller get 'way, run home a fe him yard.
Brother Deaf follow him when him go home.
Annancy take all him children an' go up a house-top, go
hang up on the rafter. Brother Deat' come in a de house,
see them up a de house-top.
Annancy say to his family — there was two boy an' the
mumma — " Bear up ! If you drop de man a dirty di a go
nyam you."
Here come one of the boy say : — " Puppa, me han'
tired."
Annancy say : — " Bear up ! "
The boy cry out fe de better.
Annancy say : — " Drop, you b'ute ! No see you dada
a dirty d6 ? "
Him drop.
Deat' take him and put him aside.
Five minutes the other one say: — "Puppa, me han'
tired."
Annancy say again : — " Drop, you b'ute ! No see you
dada a dirty 66 ? "
Him drop.
Deat' take him an' put him aside.
Soon the wife get tired, say : — " Me husban', me han*
tired."
Annancy say : — " Bear up, me good wife ! "
When she cry she couldn' bear no more, Annancy bawl
again : — " Drop you b'ute ! No see you husban' a dirty
At ? "
She drop.
Deat' take her.
At last Annancy get tired. Das de man, Bro'er Deat'
been want. Annancy was so smart, no want fe Deat' catch
him, so he say : — " Bro'er Deat', I goin* to drop, an' bein'
me so fat, if you no want me fat fe waste, go and fetch
somet'ing fe catch me."
c
34 Jamaican Song and Story.
* What me can take fe catch you ? "
" Go in a room you will see a barrel of flour an' you fe
take it so fe me drop in d&"
Deat' never know that this flour was temper lime.
Deat 1 bring the barrel an', just as he fixing it up under
where Annancy hanging, Annancy drop on Deat' head
PUM, an jam him head in a the temper lime an' blind him.
So he an* all him family get 'way.
Jack M ant or a me no choose any.
NOTES.
41b a oat, just as he had eaten.
no mo ao mo no yony, I most have foiled to hear. See page 3.
Deaf no 'peak, Death won't speak. The comedy is well sustained.
Annancy goes through the various stages of preparation for breakfast,
pretending that he is carrying out orders from Death which he fails to hear.
put him on, put the pot on the fire.
■omewhe* do, somewhere there. The o's are like French 6, and do is
said with a strong accent and made very short.
enough yam, plenty of yams.
say a come yon come, say do you come.
mo no a go etc, I am not going to let you go again.
no use, no mistake about it this time.
bawL Remember to pronounce it bahL
tfute, brute, pronounced bynte like the island Bute.
a fe him yard, to his yard.
a dirty d6, etc., on the ground there will eat you.
fo do bettor, all the more.
Dai, that's.
temper lime, tempered lime originally no doubt, but now meaning quick
lime. Temper, I am told, means cross. And in further explanation my
informant adds : " You can't fingle (finger) temper lime as you have a mind ; it
cut up your hand."
pom with the shortest possible vowel represents the thud of Annancy's mil
upon Death's head.
The Kitchen is outside the house, often at a considerable distance from it.
Mr. Bluebeard. 35
X. MR. BLUEBEARD.
There was a man named Mr. Bluebeard. He got his
wife in his house an 1 he general catch people an' lock up
into a room, an' he never let him wife see that room.
One day he went out to a dinner an' forgot his key on
the door. An' his wife open the door an' find many dead
people in the room. Those that were not dead said : —
" Thanky, Missis ; Thanky, Missis."
An' as soon as the live ones get away, an' she was to
lock the door, the key drop in blood. She take it up an'
wash it an' put it in the lock. It drop back into the blood.
An' Mr. Bluebeard was a old-witch an' know what was
going on at home. An' as he sat at dinner, he called out
to get his horse ready at once. An' they said to him : —
"Do, Mr. Bluebeard, have something to eat before
you go."
u No ! get my horse ready."
So they bring it to him. Now, he doesn't ride a four-
footed beast, he ride a t'ree-foot horse.
An' he get on his horse an' start off itty-itty-hap, itty-
itty-hap, until he get home.
Now, Mrs. Bluebeard two brother was a hunter-man in
the wood. One of them was old-witch, an' he said : —
" Brother, brother, something home wrong with me sister."
u Get 'way you little foolish fellah," said the biggest
one.
But the other say again : — " Brother, brother, something
wrong at home. Just get me a white cup and a white
saucer, and fill it with water, and put it in the sun, an' you
will soon see what do the water."
Directly the water turn blood.
36
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' the eldest said : — " Brother, it is truth, make
we go."
An' Mrs. Bluebeard was afraid, because he knew Mr.
Bluebeard was coming fe kill him. An 9 he was calling
continually to the cook, Miss Anne : —
Moderate,
te
Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah ! you see an - y one is coming ?
Sis- terAnne, Sis- ter Anne, Ah) you sec an -y one b coming?
An* Sister Anne answer : —
Moderato.
no, I see no one is coming,
f j j 1 - j '.
m
wm?
But the dust that makes the grass so green.
An' as she sing done they hear Mr. Bluebeard coming,
itty-itty-hap, itty-itty-hap.
Him jump straight off a him t'ree-foot beast an' go in a
the house, and catch Mrs. Bluebeard by one of him plait-
hair an' hold him by it, an' said : — " This is the last day
of you."
An' Mrs. Bluebeard said : — " Do, Mr. Bluebeard, allow
me to say my last prayer."
But Mr. Bluebeard still hold him by the hair while he
sing : —
Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah ! you see any one is coming ?
Sister Anne, Sister Anne, Ah ! you see any one is coming ?
Mr. Bluebeard.
37
An* Sister Anne answer this time : —
Oh — yes ! I see someone is com-ing,
tf»j jj j-ir^j5j i j.
^
And the dust that makes the grass so green.
Then Mr. Bluebeard took his sword was to cut off him
neck, an' his two brother appear, an' the eldest one going
to shot after Mr. Bluebeard, an' he was afraid an' begin
to run away. But the young one wasn't going .to let him
go so, an' him shot PUM and kill him 'tiff dead.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
three-foot, three-legged. 1 Sand is used for arm in the same way.
ttty-ltty-hap, imitating the halting gait of the three-legged horse. The
voice rises on bap which is said with a sharp quick accent 1
Is kill him, to kill her. The use of masculine for feminine pronouns is
bewildering at first.
1 " The ' three-foot horse ' is believed to be a kind of duppy with three legs,
hence its name ; and is able to gallop faster than any other horse. It goes
about in moonlight nights, and if it meet any person it blows upon him and
kills him. It will never attack you in the dark. It cannot hurt you on a tree."
Folklore of the Negroes of Jamaica, in Folklore* VoL XV., p. 91. (C.S.B.).
3«
Jamaican Song and Story.
XL ANNANCY, PUSS, AND RATTA.
One day Annancy an' Puss make a dance, an' invite Ratta
to the ball. Annancy was the fiddler. The first figure
what him play, the tune say : —
Presto.
J? fl .t-^^w- — JM\f\M ... J ,-p-
rc>g-.jjj»j ** ** w PP r * * i < "
Yingdeyingdeying, Yingdeyingdeying, takecareyougotalkoh,
min'you tattler tongue ying deying, min'you tattler tongue ying deying,
min' you tat - tier tongue ying de ying.
The second tune he say : —
AlUgro Vivace.
m
K
K-R
EP=
Epi
£p£
Ban-dy - wichy wich, Ban-dy-wichy wich, Ban-dy-wichy wich,
m
^m
w
Timber hang an' fell la la, fall la la, fall la.
Then, as the Ratta dance, the high figure wh£ him
make, him slide in the floor an' him trousies pop. Then
the shame he shame, he run into a hole, an' him make
Ratta live into a hole up to to-day day.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
^ ■■■ J ' «**MHP«MH«H|
Annancy, Puss, and Ratta. 39
NOTES.
This story should be rattled off as quick as possible.
Batta, rat or rats.
Ting de ylng imitates the " rubbing " of the fiddle, as they call it
take oare yon go talk, mind you don't talk, mind your tattling tongue.
figure irnt Urn make, caper that he cuts.
trouales pop, trousers burst.
XII. TOAD AND DONKEY.
One day a King made a race and have Toad and Donkey
to be the racer. An' Toad tell Donkey that him must
win the race, an' Donkey mad when him yerry so. And
the race was twenty mile.
An' Donkey say : — " How can you run me ? I have
long tail an' long ear an' a very tall foot too, an' you a
little bit a Toad. Let me measure foot an' see which one
longer."
An' Toad say to Donkey: — "You no mind that man,
but I must get the race."
An' Donkey get very vex about it
An' Donkey say to the King : — " I ready now to start
the race."
An' the King made a law that Donkey is to bawl at
every miles that he might know where he got "
Now that little smart fellah Toad says to the King
that he doesn't fix up his business yet, an' will he grant
him a little time.
An' the King grant him a day, an' say to the two of
them : — " Come again to-morrow."
An' Donkey wasn't agree, for he know that Toad is a
vtry trickified thing.
40 Jamaican Song and Story.
But the King wouldn' hear, an' say : — " No, to-
morrow."
Now Toad have twenty picny. An' while Donkey is |
sleeping, Toa^ take the twenty picny them along with I
him on the race-ground, an' to every milepost Toad leave
one of his picny an' tell them that they must listen for
Mr. Donkey when he is coming. "An' when you yerry
that fellah Mr. Donkey bawl, you must bawl too." An*
Toad hide one of his picny behind every milepost until
him end the twenty mile.
So the race begin.
Donkey was so glad in a him heart that he was going
to beat Toad that he say to himself : — " Tche ! That
little bit a fellah Toad can't manage me, so I must have
plenty of time to eat some grass."
So him stand by the way, eat grass and poke him head
through the fence where he see some potato-slip, an' try
a taste of Gungo peas. An' he take more than an hour
fe catch up the first mile-post, an' as him get him bawl : —
Modcrato.
\fy "f r f Y '^^ J r "
Ha ! Ha ! Ha! me more than Toad.
An' there comes the first picny call out : —
■3- If -f
Jin - ko - ro - ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
An' Donkey quite surprise, an' say : — " Tche 1 How him
manage to be before me ? "
An' he think : — " Me delay too long with that grass,
I must quicker next mile."
An' him set off with a better speed an' only stop a
minute for a drink of water. An' as him get to the next
post him bawl : —
Toad and Donkey.
4*
IpH^
£
m
Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! memorethanToad.
An' there come the second picny call out : —
333
Jin - ko - ro - ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
An* Donkey say : — " Lah ! Toad travel fe true. Never
mind, we will chance it again."
So him 'tart, an' when him reach the third mile-post him
bawl : —
\ i> h f v f i* I J-ATJ'J t- I I
Hal Ha! Ha! memorethanToad.
An* the third picny behind the post say : —
333
Jin - ko - ro - ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
Jackass get vex when he hear Toad answer him, an' he
go fe 'mash Toad, an' Toad being a little man hide himself
in a grass.
Then Donkey say: — "Hi! fellah gone ahead; make I
see if I can catch up the next mile-post before him." An'
he take him tail an' touch it like a horsewhip an' begin fe
gallop.
An' him get to the fourth mile-post an' bawl : —
\ i> n f i* r -iuj -j/jj i* 11
Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! memorethanToad.
T
42
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' there comes the fourth picny answer him : —
Jin - ko - ro - ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
When him yerry, him 'tand up same place an' trimble,
say: — "My goodness King! a wh£ me a go do? Make
me gallop so I knock off all me hoof self upon the hard
hard dirty because I must beat the race. 11
An' he gallop so fast than he ever do before, until when
he get to the fifth mile-post he was really tired an' out of
breath.
But he just have enough to bawl : —
$
b t\ f r
P
r,WJ r I I
Ha I Ha ! Ha 1 memorethanToad.
When he hear : —
555
Jin - ko - ro - ro, Jin-kok-kok-kok.
This time he really mad, an' race on harder than ever.
But always the same story. Each mile-post he catch him
bawl: — "Ha! Ha! Ha! me more than Toad." An'
always come answer: — " Jinkororo, Jinkokkokkok."
An' Donkey begin to get sad in his mind for he see that
he lost the race. So through Toad smartness Donkey can
never be racer again.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
tall foot, long leg. A tall bridge is a long one, not one that stands high
above the river.
Toad and Donkey. 43
wasn't agrae, didn't agree. Auxiliaries are a snare.
ptany. This is the almost universal form of picaninny in Jamaica, varied
occasionally by picany.
Tone I the Pshaw 1 of books and »the Tush ! of the Psalms. There is a
world of contempt in this ejaculation, which is accompanied by an upward
jerk of the chin. The vowel is that of French la.
potato-slip. The sweet potato (Ipomaa Batatas) is cultivated by slips or
cuttings. Our kind of potato is called " Irish potato."
Jlnkororo, etc. This is a capital imitation of the Toad's croaking chuckle.
The second bar should be made as out of tune as possible and the kok is on
the lowest note of the voice. It is the repeated k's that make the croak so
life-like.
take him talL They are fond of this expression. Other examples are : —
4 'The horse take him mout' fe 'cratch him foot," the horse scratches his leg with
his mouth. " Me take me owny yeye an' see it," I saw it with my own eyes.
a whe* me a go do ? What am I going to do, what shall I do?
tfirty, ground.
XIII. SNAKE THE POSTMAN.
One day Annancy ask Snake to be his postman.
Snake ask him how much he is going to pay him.
An' Annancy tell Snake that he know he is a man
love blood, an' when him come in the night he will give
him a bite off his head.
An' Snake did agree.
An' the first night he give Annancy a bite in his head,
an' Annancy feel it very much.
An' the second night when Snake is to come back
Annancy invite his friend Mr. Rabbit. An' Annancy
usual to sleep out in the hall. An' that night, when
his friend Mr. Rabbit did come, he move an' go in the
room an' make a very high bed. An' his friend Mr.
Rabbit didn' know what Annancy mean to do.
So Annancy put him out in the hall, an' tell him
44 Jamaican Sang and Story.
that one of his cousin is sleeping in here too, so he will
come in later on; an' when him hear him call he must
just get up an' open the door an' see who it is.
An' when Annancy out lamp Rabbit think it very
hard, an* say to himself: — "Bro'er Annancy up to some
trick."
An' Rabbit wake up an' begun to dig a hole, an' him
dig a hole until him get outside the door an* find him-
self back to his yard.
When Snake come in the night to get the other bite
from Annancy him call Annancy.
Annancy wouldn' give answer as him being put Rabbit
outside in the hall, an* Snake continually calling until
Annancy give answer.
An' when him give answer he begin to wake Rabbit
an' thought Rabbit was inside the house. He didn' want
was to receive his bite, an' he begun to call Rabbit
" Cousin Yabbit," that Rabbit may glad an' give him
answer. When him couldn' hear, him say "Godfather
Yabbit." An' him call again "Bro'er Yabbit," an' him
couldn' hear him. An' he call again " Puppa, Puppa ! "' an'
he couldn' hear.
An' him light the lamp an' come out the hall an' begin
to s'arch for Rabbit An' when him look, him see Rabbit
dig a heap of dirt an' come out
An' Annancy beguns to cry inside the house an'
wouldn' open the door. An' he begin to complain to
Snake that the first bite him gi' him he 'mash up the
whole a him head.
An' Annancy 'tudy a 'cheme, catch up a black pot
an' turn it down over him head.
An' as he put out him head Snake bite the pot,
t'ought it's Annancy him catch. An the whole of
Snake mouth was in sore. An' when he get home he
send back to Annancy that he sick an' won't manage
to come back another night
Snake the Postman.
45
An' Annancy was very glad an' send go tell him that
himself is in bed.
An' when the bearer start for home him sing this
song: —
Andante,
Somebody waitingfor Sa - li • zon, Somebody waiting for Sa-li-zon,
^' Ce^ J l j. ' i l
Somebody waiting for Sa - li-zon, Takeupyourletteran'go.
An' from that day Snake broke friend with Annancy.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
The house would have two rooms, first the hall and then the inner room or
bedroom. From Rabbit's burrowing operations it appears to have no floor.
This was a common condition in the old times, but now it gets rarer and rarer.
Only Coolie (East Indian) houses are unfloored.
him being pat, he had put.
tody a 'cheme, studies a scheme. It is more usual 'tady a plan. This
common, vulgar song is evidently of late origin and probably does not really
belong to the story.
46
Jamaican Song and Story.
XIV. DOBA.
ONE day Puss make a ball an' invite the whole world of
Ratta.
All the Ratta dress in long coat an' silk dress. There
was t'ousand of them women, an' men. When them come
they bring a little boy an' the mother with a young baby.
When all the Ratta settle, the door was shut, an' the
Puss them have them junka 'tick secretly in a them trousies'
foot They made a bargain between themselves that, when
the Ratta deep in dancing, Doba must out the lamp, then
the licking-match commence.
When the music begin, it sweet Ratta so that they dance
till their white shirt-bosom was wet
The fiddler was Dandy Jimmy Flint.
An' this is what the fiddle say : —
Allegro.
n>* Bap ! twee twee, Ball-in - to - ny Bapl ti
"he boy Ratta take notice of what the fiddle say.
lim go to him dada an' whisper: — " Puppa, you no
ry what the fiddle say ? "
ny Bap I twee twee.
Doha. 47
The father say : — " Get 'way, Sir, you little fellah you !
It the worst fe carry any little boy out fe met Go, off,
Sir, you lying fellah ! "
During this time the boy hear what the music say in
truth, went an' dug a hole fe him an' him mumma.
When Ratta in hot dancing the gate-man Puss, Mr.
Doba, out the lamp. Then the junka 'tick fly round an'
all the Ratta was kill. Blood was cover the floor an' all
the Puss take their share.
Only boy Ratta an 1 his mumma an* the young baby, get
way.
If the puppa did take what the boy say him wouldn'
dead.
Puss ball was flourish with meat.
If boy Ratta an 1 his mumma didn' get 'way we wouldn'
have no Ratta in dis ya-ya-world again.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
Ratta, rats.
Pom them. These words are closely joined together.
Junka 'tick, short sticks.
troualee' foot, the legs of their trousers. The Negroes are expert in the art
of hiding things about their person.
Fighting with sticks is called a Uoklng-matoh.
sweet (a verb), pleased, delighted.
In these stories the fiddle is often made to sing words which some have the
gift of hearing.
Bap I is the knock of the stick, or " lick of the stick " as they say.
twee twee, the squeak of the rat.
no make, don't let.
it the wont fe carry, etc. It is very troublesome to take a little boy out
to a meeting. Met, dance, spree, picnic are convertible terms.
Oarry is seldom used as in English. They say :— Carry the mule a pastor
(to the pasture). When a man carries you over a river on his back he
•* crosses you over."
Doba, long o as in Dover.
48 Jamaican Song- and Story.
Blood m MW, etc., the floor was covered with blood.
Dim J*-ya, the vulgar English "this here." Ya-ya is said very quickly,
It docs not come into common speech but is reserved for Annuity stories and
it generally fmrod only in Annancy's mouth.
XV. DRY-BONE.
One day Rabbit invite Guinea-pig to his yard.
An' when Guinea-pig go, Rabbit ask Guinea-pig to go an
hunting.
An' Rabbit meet up Dry-bone.
An' when him meet up Dry-bone, him t'row down his gun
an' him call to Guinea-pig an' tell him : — " I meet with a
luck."
An' Guinea-pig tell Rabbit : — " I won't carry none of the
Dry-bone, but you must make me carry the birds what we
kUL"
Rabbit wasn't agree to let him carry the birds, but
Guinea-pig coax him until Rabbit consent an' they fix up
the bargain : Rabbit was to carry Dry-bone, an' Guinea-pig
was to carry the birds.
So they put ,Dry-bone into the bag, an' Rabbit ask
Guinea-pig to help him up.
An' Guinea-pig help him up an' pick up the gun an'
carry it
An' they start home to their yard.
An' when Rabbit got half part the road he found the
load getting heavier an' heavier, an' him ask Guinea-pig to
take it for a while.
Guinea-pig tell him that he made no promise was to
help him with Dry-bone.
Dry-Bone. 49
Rabbit walk on till the load get so heavy him begin to
cry, say that him going to t*row down Dry-bone.
An* Dry-bone fasten on his head an 9 begin to talk.
He say to Rabbit : — " You take me up you take up
trouble"
An' that time Guinea-pig was laughing after Rabbit
Just then that cravin' fellah Mr. Annancy was passing
an' see Rabbit with his load. He thought that it was
something good, an' he ask Rabbit that he will help him
carry it.
An' Rabbit was very glad to get relief of his trouble.
So Annancy take Dry-bone from Rabbit an' put him on
his own head.
An' when Annancy 'tart, he t'ought that Rabbit was
coming.
An' Rabbit turn back an' hide a bush an' leave the
trouble to Annancy.
When Annancy get home to his yard him find that it
was Dry-bone, an' it vex him in a him heart.
An* Annancy want to leave Dry-bone an' go away.
An' Dry-bone find out what Annancy mean to do.
Annancy have a cock in the yard.
Dry-bone tell him that him must watch Annancy, keep
him a yard, an' he will pay him.
An' the Cock ask Dry-bone : — M What is your name ? "
An Dry-bone say : — " Tis Mr. Winkler."
So Dry-bone live in Annancy yard.
An' one day Annancy ask him if him don't want to
warm sun.
Dry-bone say : — * Yes."
An' Annancy tell him that to-morrow he will put him
out a door.
Annancy went away an' make a bargain with Fowl-hawk,
that him have a man name of Mr. Dry-bone, him must
come to-morrow an' take him up an' carry him an' drop him
in the deepest part of the wood.
5o
Jamaican Sang and Story.
An' so Fowl-hawk did do.
When the Cock see Fowl-hawk take up Mr. Winkler him
sing out : —
AndantitUk
i jiii- -njjir -N'J 1
Mister Wink - ler, Winkler come give me me pay.
An' Annancy look up a *ky an' sing : —
Andantino.
j~fl jg^jj* 1 «N2 ^E}M\ JW/P
Carry him go 'long, An - nan-cysay so, Carry him go 'long,
Mellpay fe cock,
JJU'XI^J'
m
Carry him go long, An - nan-cy say so,
S7\
^m
I
J&i'Jl
p
Carry him go long, Me'llpay fe cock,
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
^SE
Carry him go 'long.
NOTES.
help him up, to get the load on to his head. In this story and some others
the load once taken up cannot be put down. It sticks to the head of the
bearer and, until it reaches its destination, can only be transferred to another
head.
eravln', craving, greedy, often sounds like craven. A man who is cravta'
is generally cubbich, covetous. This has lost its original meaning of desiring
possession of other people's things and is used only in the sense of close-fisted.
A cravm' man wants to get hold of what others have got, a ca b bloh (ends
with the sound of rich) one will not part with what he has.
laughing after, laughing at
him must watoh. The Cock must watch Annancy and not let him leave
the yard, Dry-bone is helpless, and requires attention.
to warm fan, to warm himself in the sun. So they have :— u Puss warm
fire,' 1 the cat warms herself by the fire.
a 1y, in the sky.
Dry-Bone. 5 1
Mrtl pay It cock, I will pay the Cock's wages which Dry-bone agreed to
give. We pay a person for a thing, but the Negro pays for the person as well.
Walk, talk, warm, hawk, all have the vowel ah. This story refers to the
time of slavery. It is almost indisputable that in certain cases, when a slave
was in a weak state owing to incurable illness or old age, he was carried out
and left to die. To his pitiful remonstrance, " Massa me no dead yet," the
overseer made no reply, but went on with his directions to the bearers, " Carry
him go along." This kind of barbarity was not practised by owners living in
Jamaica. By them the slaves were well treated and such a thing would have
been impossible. But when the masters went away they left the control in the
hands of overseers, men of low caste who had neither scruples nor conscience.
XVI. ANNANCY AND THE OLD LADY'S FIELD.
One day there was a old lady work a very nice field on a
rock, an' an old-witch boy is the watchman.
An' one day Annancy heard about the old-witch boy,
an' Annancy send an' invite him to his yard. An when
the old-witch boy come, Annancy ask him what his name.
An' he says to Annancy that his name is John-John Fe-
We-Hall.
An' the boy ask Annancy why him ask him like that.
An' Annancy say : — " Don't be afraid my frien', I very
love you ; that's why I ask wM you name."
An' by this time the old lady didn't know that the old-
witch boy gone to Annancy yard.
An' Annancy have a son is a very clever tief, call
Tacoma.
An' Annancy made a bargain that, when him see John-
John Fe-We-Hall come, he must walk to the back door an'
come out, an' go to the old lady ground an' destroy the
provision.
An' when Tacoma come home, Annancy leave John-John
out the hall, an' tell him that he is going to get some
breakfast for him.
52
Jamaican Sang and Story.
Now the old lady make a law that, if the watchman eat
any of his provision, it going to make him sick in a way
that he will find out if it is the same watchman tiefing
him. 1
An' being the boy is old-witch, he know that the food
Annancy is getting ready is from the old lady field. So
when Annancy bring the breakfast he won't eat it
Annancy tell him that he must eat the food, he mustn't
be afraid.
An' the boy say : — " No."
An' Annancy send an' tell the old lady that the man is
here clever more than him.
An' when the old lady receive the message from
Annancy, he sent to the ground to tell the old-witch boy
that he must look out for Mr. Annancy, for him receive a
chanice from Annancy.
An' this time the old lady didn't know that the watch-
man is at Annancy yard.
An' the old-witch boy is a fluter, an' when the old lady
want to dance it's the same boy playing for the old lady.
An' the old lady have a tune which he is dancing with.
An 9 Annancy ask the boy to play the tune when he is
going home, an' Annancy know if the tune play the old
lady will dance till she kill herself.
When the boy going home, him took up his sing with
the flute : —
Giocoso*
l <>m! l l EC' l J J lj JlhJl»J J JW
Old lady yoa too tore danoe, tun dom, Old lady yon too lore danoa, tun
dan^TondominakodiOmlaj, tun dtm, Torn demmakedem lay, tun dam.
1 This is evidently a reminiscence of the "medicine" (Nyanja, chiwindc)
used in Africa to protect gardens. Sometimes it kills the thief, sometimes
makes him ill. (A. W.)
Annancy and the Old Lady's Field. 53
An 9 when the old lady hear the sing she beguns to dance
an' wheel until she tumble off the rock an' dead.
An' Annancy becomes the master of the field until now.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
A rock would be a bad place for a field. Her boose was on a rock probably,
and her field or provision-ground elsewhere. For Provision-grounds and
their contents see Digging-Sings.
old-witen. Join these words as closely as possible wherever they occur.
Fa-Wa-HalL Very humble houses are called So-and-so Castle and So-
and-so Hall. Fa w», for us, our. He was John of our Hall.
dsatroy, take away, so that they are lost to the owner and destroyed as far
as she is concerned.
oat the hall, out in the hall.
breakfast, the principal repast of the day at twelve o'clock.
tba man u here. They delight in this enigmatic language. Annancy
speaks of himself. He sends word that the man here (himself) is more clever
than her (the old lady). Straightforwardness is a quality which the Negro
absolutely lacks. If you try to get at the truth of any story he brings, and
cross-question him upon it, he will shuffle and change it little by little, and
yon cannot fix him to any point. Language with him is truly, as the cynic
said, the art of disguising thought.
flftairlfla, more usually cnaliea, challenge.
Boys constantly carry their musical instruments about with them. The Flute,
a cheap kind of fife, and the Concertina are the favourites. They play as they
walk along the road.
The tune, which is quick, is sung over and over and gets uproariously and
deliriously merry ; gasps on an inward breath, which there is no time to take
properly, doing duty for some of the notes.
The words are fragments of a song referring to fowls and eggs. It runs : —
Mother Bonner me hen a lay, turn dem,
Them a lay t'ree time a day, turn dem,
Turn dem make dem lay, turn dem.
54 Jamaican Sang and Story.
XVII. MAN-CROW. 1
ONCE there was a bird in the wood name Man-crow,
an 9 the world was in darkness because of that bird.
So the King offer thousands of pounds to kill him
to make the world in light again.
An' the King have t'ree daughter, an' he promise that,
if anyone kill Man-crow, he will make them a very rich
man an' give one of his daughter to marry.
So thousands of soldiers go in the wood to kill Man-
crow. An' they found him on one of the tallest trees
in the woods. An' no one could kill him, an' they
come home back.
So there was a little yawzy fellah call Soliday.
An' he say to his grandmother: — "Gran'mother I am
very poor. I am going in the wood to see if I can
kill Man-crow.
An' the grandmother answer : — " Tche, boy, you better
go sleep a fireside than you go to the wood fe go
dead."
" Gran 'mother, I goin' to town fe buy six bow an'
arrow."
So he went to Kingston an' bought them.
An' when him return home he ask his grandmother
to get six Johnny-cake roast, an' he put it in his namsack,
an' he travel in the wood.
He s'arch until he find the spot a place where Man-
crow is, an' he see Man-crow to the highest part of the
tree.
Z C£ the story of "Rombas" in Duff Macdonald's Africctna II., which
would seem to have reached Africa through the Portuguese. Rombas lolls the
whale which has swallowed the girl, and removes the tongue. (A. W.)
Man- Craw.
55
An' he call to him with this song: —
Andante.
Good marnin' to you, Man-crow, Good marnin' to you, Man-
crow, Good marnin' to you, Man-crow, How are yon this marnin' ?
An* the bird answer: —
Good marnin* toyon, So-li - day, Good marnin' to yon, So-li
day, Good marnin' to you, Soli -day, How are you this marnin'?
An' Soliday shot with his arrow at Man-crow an* two
of his feather come out
An' Man-crow come down to the second bough.
An' Soliday sing again: —
Good marnin' to you, Man-crow, Good marnin' to you, Man
J^IAN
crow, Good marnin' to you, Man-crow, How are yon this marnin'?
An' Man-crow answer as before : —
Good marnin' to you
Good marnin' toyou, So - li
b J t«
day, Goodmarnin'toyoUjSoli-day, How are you this marnin'?
56 Jamaican Song and Story.
An' he fire after Man-crow an' two more feather fly
out
An' so the singing an' shotting go on.
At every song Man-crow come down one branch, an'
Soliday fire an arrow an' knock out two feather, till five
arrows gone.
So Brother Annancy was on a tree watching Soliday
what he is doing.
An' the song sing for the sixth time, an' Man-crow
jump down one more branch.
An' Soliday put his last arrow in the bow an' took
good aim an' shot after Man-crow.
So he killed him an' he drop off the tree.
An' Soliday go an' pick up the bird an' take out the
golden tongue an' the golden teeth, an' shove it in a
him pocket, an' Soliday come straight home to his
grandmother.
An' Annancy come off the tree an' take up the bird,
put ahm a him shoulder, cut through bush until he get
to the King gate, an' he rakkle at the gate.
They ask :— " Who come ? "
He say: — ''Me, Mr. Annancy."
An' they say: — "Come in."
An' the King said: — "What you want?"
"I am the man that kill Man-crow."
An' they take him in an' marry him to one of the
King daughter an' make a very big table for him an"
his family.
They put him in the middle of the table, but he refuse
from sit there. He sit to the doorway to look when
Soliday coming. (The King then do know that that
fellah up to trick.) An' directly Annancy see Soliday
was coming, he stop eating, ask excuse, " I will soon be
back." An' at that same time he gone outside into the
kitchen.
An' Soliday knock at the gate.
Man-Craw. 57
An* someone answer him an' ask:— "What you want? "
"I am the boy that kill Man-crow."
An' they said : — " No, impossible ! Mr. Annancy kill
Man-crow."
An 9 he take out the golden tongue an' teeth an' show
it to the King, an' ask the question : — " How can a bird
live without teeth an' tongue?"
So they look in the bird mouth an' found it was true*
An' they call Annancy.
An' Annancy give answer: — "I will soon be there."
An' they call him again.
An' he shut the kitchen door an' said: — *Me no feel
well."
All this time Brother Annancy shame, take him own
time fe make hole in the shingle get 'way.
They call him again, they no yerry him, an' they
shove the kitchen door.
Annancy lost in the shingle up to to-day.
An' the King marry Soliday to his daughter an' make
him to be one of the richest man in the world.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
Tawxy. Yaws is a disease very prevalent among the Negroes. It causes
ulcers to form on the soles of the feet. In old slave days every estate had its
yaws-house for the accommodation of the sufferers. This complaint does not
attack the Whites.
six bow an' arrow, a bow and six arrows, we suppose.
Johnny saga, journey cake made of flour and water fried in lard.
■pot a plac+y spot of place, exact place.
Mk axxraaa, asks to be excused. Pronounce the a like s.
■name, etc, was ashamed and was quietly making a hole in the shingle roof
so as to get away.
58
Jamaican Song and Story.
XVIII. SAYLAN.
There was a man have two daughter. One of the
daughter belongs to the wife an' one belongs to the man.
An' the wife no love for the man daughter, so they drive her
away.
An' she get a sitivation at ten shillings a week, an' the
work is to look after two horses an' to cut dry grass for
them.
An' every night she put two bundles of dry grass in the
'table.
An' the mother was very grudgeful of the sitivation that
she got.
An' one night she carry her own daughter to the pastur'
an' they cut two bundles of green grass. An' they go
secretly to the horse manger an' take out the dry grass an'
put the green grass in its place.
So the horse eat it, an' in the morning they dead.
An' the master of that horse is a sailor.
The sailor took the gal who caring the horse to hang her.
An' when he get to the 'pot a place to hang her he take
this song : —
AndanU.
Mourn, Say • Ian, mourn oh ! Mourn, Say -Ian
, mourn; I
I jW j jj-f hl-^ i l J JJ ."Na si
come to town to see you hang, bang, youmus'behang.
An' the gal cry to her sister an' brother an' lover, an'
they give her answer : —
Say Ian.
59
Allegretto.
i$ > v « ^ ^
81ster,yonbringinasomasilTor?ffo, my ohi]d,Ibring 701 now.
H
fc> f*
B
Brother, yon brfngmoanma gold? Ho, my ohild, I bring you noma.
| J^ JV^)71T7J ;■!■! j*j j.| , ^
Itfrer, you bringme soma aJl-vertTaa, my dew, Ibringyon tome.
nfrV j'p Wt^m
Lover, yonbringmeaame gold? Tat, my dear, I bring yon
ooma to town to aaa youaave, aave you mna' be savad.
An' the lover bring a buggy an 9 cany her off an' save
her life at last
An' the mumma say : — * You never better, tuffa."
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
This is quite an unusual form of story, but appears to be of some antiquity in
my district, where it ranks as an Annancy story. 1
caring:, taking care o£ This is so convenient a word that it is used by
everybody.
Yon never batter, you will never be good for anything.
tuflfc, with Italian u imitates spitting, a sign of contempt
] Cf. The Maid Freed from the Gallews, F. J. Child, Ballads, vol. ii.,
p. 346. (C S. B.)
6o Jamaican Song and Story.
XIX. ANNANCY AND SCREECH-OWL.
ONE day Annancy made a dance, an 9 ask 'creech-owl
to be the musician. An' Annancy send an' invite all
his friend.
An' when they come Ratta was in long coat an 9 Guinea-
pig too, for Ratta tell Guineapig they must wear long coat
an 9 they will get all the gal to dance with.
An' 'creech-owl is a great player, but the only danger he
cannot sing in the day.
An' 'creech-owl has a Cock in his yard, an' he sent
an' ask Annancy if he can bring a friend along with
him.
An' Annancy send an' tell him that 'tis no objectin to
bring the friend, an' Annancy tell 'creech-owl that he will
get a lots of drink.
At that time Annancy didn't know the friend as yet
So, as he being hate 'creech-owl, he didn't wish to see no
friend of his.
So when the friend come the friend was a Cock.
An' Annancy was very sorry for he knew that the Cock
going to crow when day clean, an' 'creech-owl going to
know when day is cleaning an* go away.
An' Annancy got some corn, an' get a pint of 'trong rum,
an' t'row the rum in the corn, an' let the corn soak in the
rum.
An' when the Cock call out to 'creech-owl that he is
hungry, he says to Mr. Annancy that he must treat his
friend Mr. Cock, an' Annancy took some of the corn an'
give to the Cock.
An' it so being that he love corn, Annancy continually
feed him with the corn until he get drunk an' fast asleep.
Annancy and Screech-Owl.
61
An' Annancy feel very glad in his heart that he is going
to kill Brother 'creech-owl for his breakfast.
An' when 'creech-owl playing, his mind was on his dear
friend Mr. Cock, an' he continually listen to hear him crow,
an' he couldn' hear him.
An' he ask for him.
Mr. Annancy tell him that he is having a rest
An' 'creech-owl play an' play till day catch him.
An' Annancy got a kettle of boiled water an' dish it out
an' ask his friend them to have some tea.
An' 'creech-owl get very sad to see day catch him.
An' Annancy didn' know wh£ make 'creech-owl
wouldn' drink the tea.
So Annancy begin to raise a confusion over it, say, as he
won't drink the tea he must made up him mind to sarve
him breakfast
An' 'creech-owl began to cry.
An' the same time Annancy (that wicked fellah !) take
up 'creech-owl music, an' ask young ladies an' young
gentlemen to assist him in a noble song which he is going
to kill Mr. 'creech-owl with.
An' this the song : —
There'sa blind boy in a ring, tra la la la la, There's a
n?rt >j i
blind boy in a ring, tra la la la la, There's a blind boy in a ring,
r J J, J'J u j I m
tra la la la la, He like su-garan' I like plum.
An' when Annancy sing the sing done, he catch up
'creech-owl an' wring off him neck, an' get him cook for
his breakfast an' becomes the master of 'creech-owl's band
of music
62 Jamaican Song and Story.
An' from that day Mr. Annancy becomes the greatest
player an' the biggest raskil in the world.
Jack Man tor a me no choose none.
NOTES.
tilt only danger, the only danger is. This omission is frequent.
At daylight, or soon after, it is the custom to drink tea. This is generally hot
water and sugar with, or more often without, milk. Sometimes they make
an infusion of the leaves of lime, orange, mint, fever-grass, cinnamon, pimento
or search-me-heart. Coffee and chocolate are also occasionally used. These
all grow in Jamaica, but, owing to its high price, actual tea is beyond the
reach of the peasant. Lime is, of course, not the English tree of that name,
but the tropical one which bears that small juicy fruit which is so much better
than the coarser lemon. Fever-grass {Andropogon citratus) has the exact
smell and taste of lemon-scented verbena. Search-me-heart {Rhytidophyllum
tormmtosum) is a pretty wild plant with leaves of green velvet, which on moist
days give out a delicious aromatic smell much like Hunua.
raise a oonfuslon, get up a quarrel. Annancy resorted to the same artifice
when he killed Cow and the other animals at the mock obsequies of his father.
•aire him breakfast, serve for his breakfast.
The song will be found again among the dance tunes.
sins; the sing done, finished the song.
'oree oh -owl sounds like creechole.
Annancy and Caw. 63
XX. ANNANCY AND COW.
One day Annancy tell his family that he is going in the
wood.
Before he start he get some cane-liquor an' pour it
into a big gourdy, an' he tell him wife that " me gone."
An* he travel so till he meet three Cow.
An* he tell one of the Cow marnin', say: — "Marnin',
Bro'er Cow."
Cow say : — " Marnin', Brother Annancy."
Annancy say : — " Beg you a little water, Bro'er Cow."
When Annancy get the water he said : — " The water no
sweet not 't all." An' he say to Cow : — " Come taste fe me
water." An' he no make Brother Cow know say a cane
liquor him got.
When Cow taste it him lick him tongue.
Annancy say : — " No say fe me water sweeter more than
fcyou?"
Cow said « Yes."
Annancy said : — " Bro'er Cow, you want to go home
with me becausen me have it di a run like a river? Bro'er
Cow, if you want to go with me you fe make me put one
wiss-wiss over you harn. But, Bro'er Cow, me have some
picny a me yard, dey so fooyish, when time we most yech,
dey ma go say 'Puppa bring Cow.' When them say
' Puppa bring Cow ' you mus' say ' A so him do.' "
Annancy carry Cow into his yard an' tie him upon a
tree, an' tell Cow him goin' to get a yitty breakfus' for him.
(Annancy 'tudy trick fe nyam Cow; he was very anxious
for his beef.)
An' he get into his house and take his tumpa bill
coming to Cow force ace fe chop off Cow's neck. He miss
6 4
Jamaican Song and Story.
the neck an' chop the wiss-wiss, an' Cow take him tail put
on him back an' gallop away.
Annancy a bawl, a call : — " Say, Bro'er Cow, a fun me a
make, me a drive fly, come back."
Cow no a yerry but gallop till him get home an' tell him
wife an' picny, said Annancy want fe kill him : — " Thank
God me get 'way; the whole family must sing we own
tune to-day ya " : —
t^b 1 * (1 - =F=*F
Brother An - nan - cy tie somebo - dy, M$
no min know da bad me do, Brother An-nan-cy tie somebody, Me
m
fl: , i. ^frfr gT :
m
tie, me tie, me tie oh ! Brother Annancy tie some-bo - dy.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
ohm liquor, juice of sugar-cane.
govrdy, the dried shell of the gourd-like fruit of the Calabash (Crescentia
Cujete).
wlM-wla*, withe. There are many kinds of these natural ropes to be found
in the bush.
fooylah, foolish.
moat raoH, almost reach, are just getting to the yard.
day ma go aay, they may go and say.
A ao him do, so he does. The reciter imitates lowing here, the voice falling
to a deep prolonged note on the last word.
carry, lead.
yltty, little.
nyam, eat.
Annancy and Cow. 65
tump*, stumpy, abort.
force aos, post haste.
a fan mt a make, it's fan I mm making, I was only pretending.
mlB, been, wrong auxiliary for did. I did not know that I had done
anything wrong.
Substitute the vowel all in water, all, bawl, call.
XXI. TACOMA AND THE OLD-WITCH GIRL.
One day there was a old-witch gal, an' Tacoma want
the gal to marry. An' Tacoma went to the gal yard
an' ask the gal to courten to. An' the gal tell Tacoma
that he don't want a husband as yet
So Tacoma get very sad in his heart, an' he comes
home back to his yard, an' when he come he 'tudy a
plan. An' when he 'tudy the plan he fix a day to go
back to the gal yard.
An' Tacoma get a buggy, an' get Ratta for his Coach-
man, an' get a pair of brown-coloured mongoose to be
the horse.
An' when Tacoma was going he sent to notice the
the gal that he is coming such a day.
An' Tacoma went to his friend Annancy an' borrow
long boots an' dress himself nicely, an' borrow a gold
watch an' chain, an' got a helmet to his head.
An' when Tacoma ready he order his coachman to
harness up the horses. An' when he start he carry
lots of present, an' hitch a grey horse behind the buggy,
an' take along with him t'ree pieces of music
An' this time Tacoma didn' know the gal was a old-
witch, an' all what Tacoma talk from home the gal really
know everything.
E
66
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' he reach up the yard an' sing:-
Afodcfixto,
I willmakeyouhaveapresentof a nice gold watch, Just to
wear it on yov side for to l«t the peo-ple tea,
If you'll only be my
J'J p I J'J-'J'JM J | J, ;j II
true lov-er, If you'll on- ly be my true lov-er.
An* the gal answer: —
>* . ■ » . ■ - ■ » ■> - ^ u
No, no, dear, not for all your gold watch, I will never be yours
true lov-er,
I willne-ver be yours true lov-er.
An' Tacoma have plenty more t'ing is to make a
present to the gal. An' he promise to give her a nice
silk dress, an' a nice silver bangle, an' a nice gold egg,
an' a nice grey horse, an' tell the gal that everyt'ing, which
is going to make him a present to, he must wear it
along the street to let the people see, if you will only
be my true lover.
An the gal say to Tacoma: — "No, for I want the
best thing which you have."
An' Tacoma guess an' guess an' he couldn' find out
An' the gal say if Tacoma find out she will marry
Tacoma.
An' Tacoma guess an' guess until he made the gal a
promise that he will give him the key of his heart.
^^■my/gms^m
Tacoma and the Old- Witch Girl. 67
An' then the gal was so glad an' said to Tacoma
that 111 ever be yours true lover.
An' Tacoma sent for the gal's parents an' his parents
an' many off the gal, an from that day the gal becomes
Tacoma wife.
NOTES.
mongoose, see the note to the dance tune " Mahngoose a come."
701m true lortr, always yours. Generally it is " yon " for " your." They
say " this is yours " correctly and then add " and this is mines."
ting la, things.
whleh is going, etc, which he is going to make her a present of.
When, commenting on Tacoma's directions, I objected that the girl could
not wear the grey horse, the boy who was telling the story saw it at once and
said: — "No, he must carry it." When the story was done (it is reproduced
exactly from his dictation) he sang all the missing verses with the girl's answer
to each verse, and instead of his usual " carry" which did not fit he substi-
tuted " lead it in the street." The singer will see at once where to make the
necessary alterations. The words " silver bangle" want four quavers instead
of two crotchets, and it will be worn on the hand as they call the wrist or any
part of the arm. "Just to keep it in your hand " follows " gold egg." " The
silk dress is worn 'long the street," and after "the key of my heart" comes
"just to keep it in your own." I was looking out in this last verse for a
change in the words " for to let the people see," but none came. To the last
verse the answer is : — "Yes, yes, dear, for the key of your heart I will ever
be yours true lover." [Cf. Baring-Gould, Songs of the West, No. xxii. ;
Fuller-Maitland and Broadwood, English County Songs ; and Journal of the
Folk-Song Society, Vol. u\, pp. 85*87. (C. S. B.)]
68 Jamaican Song and Story.
XXII. DEVIL'S HONEY-DRAM.
One day Devil set his honey-dram near a river side.
An' Annancy has a little son name of John Wee-wee, an'
when the boy find out Devil honey-dram he continually
tiefing all the dram.
An' Devil couldn' find out who was doing it
An' Devil put out a reward that if any one can prove who
is tiefing his dram he will pay them a good sum.
An' one day Annancy miss his son, an' Annancy guess
that the little boy must be gone to Devil honey-dram.
An' as Annancy being a tief himself he went an' s'arch
for the boy. An' when he go he found him drunk an'
fast asleep. An' Annancy lift him up an' bring him
home.
An' when the boy got sober, about three days after, he
got so use to the dram an' he went back.
An' Devil gone out to hunting. An' when he was going
he ask his mother to give a heye upon his dram until he
come in. An' the mother went down to the dram an' he
found the boy drunk the very same again.
An' there was no one know the woman name except Mr.
Annancy.
An' Annancy went an' look for his son.
An' when he go the woman catch the boy already an'
carry him to Devil yard. An when the boy go the woman
gi' him some corn to beat.
An' Annancy went an see his son was beating corn, an'
he ask the woman what the boy is doing here. An' the
woman tell him that this is the boy was tiefing all Devil
honey-dram, an' now him catch him, an' him wouldn' let
him go until the master come.
• *» »<%.■
Devtfs Honey-Dram.
6 9
An' Annancy ask the woman if he don't have any more
corn to beat.
The foolish woman say : — " Yes, Brother Annancy, but
not all the corn you going to beat you won't get your son
till the master come."
An' Annancy begin to fret for him know when Devil
come he won't have no more son again, for Devil will kill
him an' eat him.
An' the woman name is Matilda.
An' Annancy took the corn an' begun to beat an' he
start to sing : —
Allegretto.
i f v 11 J . J.
j j. 1 j- j-
1 r 1
g^
Tain the wa - ter-wheel oh Ma -til - da ! Ma - til - da mah - my
\§^ j s>± M
los' him gold ring, Turn the wa - ter-wheel oh Ma - til - da.
An' the woman begun to dance an' wheel. An she dance
an' dance till she get tired an' fall asleep. An' Annancy
(the clever fellah) took his son out an' light Devil house
with fire.
An' when Devil in the bush look an' see his house is
burning he t'row down his gun an' 'tart a run to his yard.
Until he come the house burn flat to ground.
An' Devil couldn' find Matilda his faithful mother, an'
Devil take to heart an' dead.
An' Annancy take Devil honey-dram for himself an'
build up a house in Devil own place, an' from that day
Mr. Annancy becomes the smartest man.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
70 Jamaican Song and Story.
NOTES.
HMuy dram. The ingredients are honey, water, chewstick, ginger and
mm. When mixed the dram is put in the sun to ripen. Chewstick {Gonania
domingensis) is bitter and takes the place of hops.
Imatfng corn, i.e. maize, to separate the grain from the husks, called also
boxing corn (husking).
When an animal is found trespassing it is brought down to the yard, and its
owner comes to redeem it by a money payment. John Wee- wee was brought
in in the same way and according to custom was given something to do while
he waited.
faithful. A faithful person is one in whom confidence is reposed.
XXIII. ANNANCY IN CRAB COUNTRY.
■
One day Annancy form himself as a minister, an' was
going out an' preaching about. An' Annancy preach an'
preach till he get in Crab country. An' Crab them
wouldn' hear Annancy at all.
An' Annancy went home back, an' dress himself in
a black gown, an' get some red paint an' redden his
'tummy, an' ask a few friend to walk with him.
An the friend was Mr. Toad an' Ratta an' Blackbird.
An' they all start.
An' when Annancy reach to Crab country he beguns
to preach.
An' he preach an' preach till they wouldn' hear him
again.
An' Annancy hire a house from Crab to stop in the
night
An' Annancy, seeing he couldn' catch them with his
preaching, made a drum an' a fiddle an' give Blackbird
the fiddle to play. An Ratta was playing the drum.
An' Annancy see that the music didn't sufficient. He
Annancy in Crab Country.
7*
wait, until the next day he made a flute an' give to
Toad.
An' when he done he put up the music them an' got
in friendship with Crab, an' begun to do the same as
Crab them are doing.
An' poor Crab didn' know what Mr. Annancy mean.
An' Annancy go on go on until they got used to
Annancy.
An' when they got used to Annancy, Annancy write
out plat-card and put it out an' tell his friend Mr. Crab
that he is going to have a nice baptism at his house, an'
tell them that he will have a bands of music playing
in going home, an' how the music will be so sweet they
won't tired walking.
An' when Annancy start with his three friend he tell
Ratta to roll the drum, an' Blackbird is to rub the
fiddle 'tring till it catch fire, an' Toad is to blow the
flute as hard as he can, an' he will be reading the
tune.
An' he start like this: —
ijjHi - ijjshf ^j^j^ i p m p j ^
The bands a roll, the bands a roll, the bands a
roll, a go to Mount Si-ney. Sa
lem is Zakki-
$
i
J^r^ll
low,
Some a we da go to Mount Si-ney.
An' when Annancy get home he made a bargain with
his free friend that he is going to baptize them an' let
Crab see.
An' when he baptize them, Crab they were very glad
to see this treat which Annancy do to his t'ree friend,
1
72 Jamaican Song and Story.
an* they say that they want Annancy to do them the
very same.
An' Annancy tell them that they must wait till
to-morrow.
An' Crab them agree.
An' Annancy made a bargain with his t'ree friend an*
is going to baptize Brother Crab with boiling water.
An' he get a deep barril an' order Crab them that
they must go in the barril, an' Crab they do so.
At that time Annancy have a good pot of boiling
water an' as Crab a settle theirself in the barril Annancy
tilt the pot of boiling water on them an' the whole of
Crab body get red.
An' Annancy was very glad an' said: — "Tank God
I have got some of the clever man them for me break-
fus\"
An' from that day Annancy was going about an' fool
all his friend.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
The black land-crab is a much-esteemed delicacy. Formerly every property
had its crabber, whose duty it was to provide crabs for the house. Since the
introduction of the mongoose they have become scarcer.
form himself as, pretends to be.
■top in the night, stop in for the night.
put up, put away.
do the same, etc., live in the same way as the Crabs.
plat-card, placard; a rough written advertisement affixed to the trunk of
a tree. When there is a public gathering the musicians play as they walk to
the place of entertainment and again as they leave it.
Gaulin. 73
XXIV. GAULIN.
One day there was an India woman who have a daughter,
an' when the gal born she born with a gold ring on her
finger. An* everybody hear about it but they never see it.
An' Mr. Annancy was very crave to got the gal to be
his wife.
An' Annancy study a plan an' take up his bands of
music an' go down to the gal yard, an' when him go down
they admit Mr. Annancy.
An' when they admit him Annancy beguns to play all
different tune just to see if the gal would laugh with him.
But the gal was very sad, neither would laugh nor smile,
until Annancy see there was no good, an' tell good bye
an' go home back.
Annancy when him goes home back, met his friend
Mr. Rabbit in the road.
Rabbit ask him : — " Brother Annancy, where you is
comin' from ? "
An' Annancy begun to tell Rabbit
So Rabbit make a bargain with Annancy that he is
going to try his luckl
So Annancy say: — "As you being such a clean an*
white gentleman I think you will succeed. So if you
succeed, when you coming home back you must make me
know ; then you can take me to be your servant"
That time Rabbit didn' know what Annancy study.
Annancy mean was to take away the gal from Rabbit.
So Rabbit start to the yard, an' when him go they
admit him in.
An' the mumma ask Rabbit what he come about
Rabbit says he is looking for a courtier.
An' the mumma say to Rabbit : — " Oh, my dear Mr.
74
Jamaican Song and Story.
Rabbit, I am very sorry ! You is only but a meat, 1 so I
can't give you my daughter."
An' Rabbit spend a little time till he tell goodbye.
Meanwhile Annancy wouldn' go home. Him sit in the
road till Rabbit coming home back. An' him ask Rabbit
if him succeed.
Rabbit say :— " Oh no ! "
So they begin to talk. An' by this time Sea-gaulin was
passing an' hear what they are saying.
An' when Gaulin go home back, him 'tudy between him-
self that, if him only get a bus an' dress himself tidy an'
drive to the gal yard, she'll sure be his wife.
An' Sea-gaulin goes down, an' the gal was very glad
to see him an' invite him inside the house, an' they begun
to arrange to be married.
An' there was a old-witch boy which was brother to the
gal whisper to her : — " That one is Gaulin."
An' the gal say : — " Oh no, it is my dear love."
So the boy say to then : — " Never mind, one day you
will find out if he is not Mr. Gaulin."
So, when Gaulin tell goodbye an' go home to his yard
back, the boy follow him an' go to the river side where
Gaulin is fishening, an' he climb a tree which hung over
the water.
An' when Gaulin come down the river he 'tart a singing: —
Moderate.
My id - dy, my id - dy Pyang ha - lee, Come go da ri - ver go
tip- r ■r i j.rJv.rh j Ij p
Pyang,
me
Yah -ky Yab-ky Pyang me jew -ah- lee
Pyang, me Yah-ky Yah-ky Pyang me jew - ah - lee Pyang.
2 Cf. the Bantu use oinyama ("meat") for "an animal." (A. W.)
Gaulin. 75
An' that time Gaulin didn' know that the boy was on
the tree hearing him.
When he first sing his hat fall off.
An' he sing again his jacket was off.
That time the boy was seeing every bit
An' he sing again an' his shirt was off.
Sing an' sing till the trousies drop off.
An' as he done he find himself inside the water begun
to fishening.
An' as him put him head under a stone-hole the boy
come down off the tree an' find himself back to his yard.
An' next Wednesday when Gaulin come to get married,
the boy provide for him to sing that very same tune when
they are on the cake table.
An the boy say : — * Ladies and gentlemen will you like
to hear a song ? ,'
An' everybody say " Yes."
An' that time the boy was a fiddler, an' he tune up his
violin an' beguns to play M My iddy, my iddy Pyang halee."
Gaulin say : — " Oh no, my brother, stop that tune. That
same very tune kill my grandfather, an' when you sing
it you let me remember my old grandfather."
An' the boy never stop sing an' play till all Gaulin
clothes drop off.
An' Gaulin fly out the door mouth an' find himself right
up in the air.
An' from that day that's what make Gaulin fly so high.
Jack Man tor a me no choose none.
NOTES.
Gaulin, the Egret In stormy weather the egrets leave the sea-side and fly
up into the country to fish in the streams. They are especially fond of the
small crabs which abound in the mountain rivulets. The words of the song
have been spelt so as to convey as nearly as possible their right sound. Halee
rhymes in both syllables to the stall of the Venetian gondolier. Jewahlee is
Jubilee with a different middle syllable. Pyang with French a made as short
as possible is the Egret's cry. It should be accented and brought out strongly.
y6 Jamaican Song and Story.
When him goes home back, as he was going home.
white gentleman. This counts many points in the estimation of the Negro.
Rabbit spend a little time. Most characteristic. After the rebuff one
would have expected him to go away at once, but that is not the Negro's way.
He is never abashed, and after the curtest refusal of any favour he has come to
ask, will sit on and talk of other things, finally taking his leave as if nothing
had happened.
boa, the buggies which ply for hire in Kingston are so called.
Wednesday, the favourite day for weddings. The bridegroom is accom-
panied to church by a godmother, not the baptismal one but another specially
appointed for the occasion. 1 They ride to church, which is usually at some dis-
tance from the yard. The bride also rides from her yard, accompanied by a god-
father and two bridesmaids between the ages of eight and eleven. The ceremony
and signing of the register over, the newly-wedded couple mount and gallop to the
wife's yard, the rest of the company following more leisurely. Arrived there,
the bride proceeds to put on her wedding-clothes and the guests are received
by the godfather and given sugar-water and bread. When the bride has donned
her satin gown and veil (she was married in her riding-habit) and with much
sorrow pinched her feet into white shoes too small for them, the company sit
down to the cake table. This has upon it two cakes, two fantastically fashioned
loaves of shewbread, triumphs of the baker's art with their doves and true
lovers' knots, and three vases of cut flowers. The bread is not eaten then but
is distributed {distribbled t as they have it,) to friends on the days following the
wedding. One cake is cut. A knife and fork being handed to a bridesmaid
she takes off the cake-head, which is a small top tier or addition to the cake
proper. This is put aside and afterwards sent to the officiating minister. The
godfather then proceeds to the more serious work of cutting up the cake,
giving pieces first to the bride and bridegroom and then to the guests. The
second cake is left intact. Wine is poured out, and there are speeches and
toasts and hymns. Then follows dinner, which is over about five o'clock.
They then begin to play Sally Water (see introduction to the Ring tunes)
which goes on for an hour or two, and as night falls dancing is started. This
goes on all night and does not end, at the earliest, till dusk on the following
day, Thursday. It is often kept up until Friday evening or even until Satur-
day, the dancers and musicians appearing to require no rest The latter are
well supplied with rum and when they get sleepy they beg for an extra tot to
rub their eyes, which burns them and keeps them awake. The whole of this
time refreshments are supplied to the guests, and as long as these hold out they
do not disperse, or as they put it : — " till hungry bite them they no go 'way."
*Is this a survival of the African institution of "sureties" (Yao, ngoswe %
see Duff Macdonald, I. 118), or "sponsors," who arrange the marriage? I
am not sure whether the custom exists among Negro as well as Bantu
tribes. (A. W.)
Gaulin. 77
The Sunday after the wedding is 'turn t'anks (return thanks). The married
couple and their friends get all the beasts, i.e. horses and mules, they can
muster, and ride to church dressed in their best. The bride and bridegroom,
attended by the godfather and godmother, sit in " couple bench," the rest of
the party going to their own pews. After service the whole cavalcade gallops
as hard as it can, regardless of the precipices which skirt all Jamaica mountain
paths, up hill and down hill to the husband's yard. There wine is provided,
and the second cake is cut and eaten. Dinner follows at three, and then Sally
Water is again played until midnight, when dancing recommences and goes
on till four or five o'clock on Monday afternoon. This is the end of the
festivities, which sometimes cost twenty pounds or more.
provide for him, prepared himself.
door month includes not only the opening, but also the whole space just
outside the door.
XXV. ANNANCY, MONKEY AND TIGER.
One day Annancy an' Tiger get in a rum-shop, drink an'
drink, an' then Monkey commence to boast Monkey was
a great boaster.
Annancy say : — " You boast well ; I wonder if you have
sense as how you boast 1 '
Monkey say : — " Get 'way you foolish fellah you, can
come an' ask me if me have sense. You go t'rough de
whole world you never see a man again have the sense I
have."
Annancy say : — " Bro'er Monkey, how many sense you
have, tell me ? "
Monkey say : — " I have dem so till I can't count dem to
you, for dem d^ all over me body."
Annancy say : — " Me no have much, only two, one fe me
an' one fe me friend."
One day Monkey was travelling an' was going to pass
where Tiger live. Annancy was working on that same
road.
78 Jamaican Song and Story.
As Monkey passing, Tiger was into a stone-hole an'
jump out on the fellah an 1 catch him. All his sense was
gone, no sense to let him get 'way. Tiger was so glad,
have him before him well ready to kill.
Here come the clever man Mr. Annancy.
When he saw his friend Monkey in the hand of such a
wicked man he was frighten, but he is going to use his
sense.
He said: — "Marnin*, Bro'er Tiger, I see you catch dat
fellah ; I was so glad to see you hold him so close in hand.
You must eat him now. But before you eat him take you
two hand an' cover you face an' kneel down with you face
up to Massa God an 1 say, ' Tank God fe what I goin' to
receive.' "
An' so Tiger do.
An' by the time Tiger open his eyes Monkey an'
Annancy was gone.
When they get to a distant Annancy said to Monkey : —
" T'ink you say you have sense all over you 'kin, why you
no been get way when Bro'er Tiger catch you ? "
Monkey don't have nothing to say.
Annancy say: — " Me no tell you say me have two sense,
one fe me an' one fe me friend? Well! a him me use
to-day."
From that day Tiger hate Annancy up to now.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
can come and ask me, that can come. The ellipsis is best explained by-
giving the sentence another turn : " Get away yoa man who are so foolish that
yon can come," etc.
into a stone-hole, in a cave.
Tiger waa ao glad, etc, Tiger was well pleased and held him in his paws
all ready for killing.
why you no been, why didn't yoa.
a him me nee, that is the one I used.
The Three Pigs. 79
XXVI. THE THREE PIGS.
One day a Hog have three Pig an' the three of them
was boy. When they were about two month the father
died, so the mother grow them up herself. When the
Pig them come to big young man the mother said to
the first son : — " Me son, a time fe you go an' look you
own living."
The day come when he was to start. The mother tie
up his clothes an* give him, an* said : — " If you get work
sen' an' tell me."
The Pig start
As he was going he meet a man with a cart of hay.
He said : — " Please, sir, you can give me that hay that
I may go an' build a house?"
The man give him.
Pig go an' make up a house with his hay, an' find it
very warm an' comfortable.
One day Wolf come, call :— " Little Pig, little Pig, let
me come in."
Pig say: — "No, no, by the hair of my chinnychin-
chin.
Wolf said : — " I will huff an' I will cuff an' blow you
house down."
Wolf huff an' cuff an' blow down the house, an' go in
an' eat Pig.
The mother wait an' can't get no letter from the first
son.
She send the other one, second to the first, an' that one
travel until he meet a man with a cart of kindling.
He say: — "Please, sir, you can give me that kindling
that I may go an' build a house?"
So Jamaican Sang and Story.
The man give him.
He make up his house, an' one day Wolf was passing,
see that it was pig house, call to him: — a Little Pig,
little Pig, let me come in."
Pig say : — " No, no, no ! by the hair of my chinnychin-
chin."
Wolf say: — "I will huff an' cuff an' will blow you
house down.
An' he do so an' go in an' eat Pig.
The mother wait six months an' don't get no letter.
She said : — M Those boy must be get good work an'
can't get to write."
The last son she said: — "Me own little son, time fe
you go look you living."
Pig say: — "Yes, mumma me wi' go now."
She tie up his bundle give him some money an' kiss
him, say: — "You must try write me."
The boy start
He travel an' travel till night take him. He has to
sleep under a stone-hole. When he was sleeping he get
a dream that he see his two brother was in a frying-
pan. He was so frighten he wake an' start away the
same hour. He travel till day clean. At about nine
o'clock he get to a big road. He travel on that road
till he meet a man with a cart of brick.
He said: — "Please, sir, you can give me that brick
that I may go an' build a house?"
The man give him.
He go an' make up a grand house with the brick.
When his house finish Wolf hear, an' come one day,
call to Pig: — "Little Pig, little Pig, let me come in."
Pig say : — * No, no, no ! by the hair of my chinnychin-
chin."
So wolf think that this house was like the rest
He said : — " I will huff an' cuff an' will blow you house
down."
TT-
The Three Pigs. 81
He try for one whole day an' never succeed, so he
lef an' go home an 9 'tudy upon Pig.
One evening he come an' call Pig an' tell him he
know where there is a garden of all sort a t'ing, so Pig
must come an' let them take a walk.
Pig ask him: — ''What time you will be going?"
He said: — "A two in the morning."
Pig 'tart eleven, go an' come back with all good food.
At two Wolf come an' call : — " Little Pig, you ready ? "
Pig say: — "You lated; I go an' come back already."
Wolf was so vex he go home back. He didn' want
nothing but to eat Pig.
He said a next day : — " Little Pig, I know where there
is a apple tree a Mr. Simmit garden, make we go an'
get some."
Pig ask :— " What the time ? " Wolf say " Tree."
Pig go two.
By Pig was on the tree fulling up his basket here
come Wolf. Pig was so frighten he was on the tree
trimbling. Wolf was quite glad to think he was going
to catch Pig. He couldn 1 stand his ground, but dance
about with joy.
Pig say : — " The apple is so sweet that I have fe
take a good load. Mr. Wolf, you would like to taste
one ? "
Wolf say "Yes."
Pig say : — " Let me see if you can run as that apple ? "
Pig throw one of the apple far an' Wolf run after it
By the time he is come back Pig get down off a the
tree, leave him baskit an' everyt'ing, an' run nearly reach
home.
Wolf was so sorry when he come, left the apple an'
gone home,
Next night he call to Pig an' tell him that he know
where there will be a met, so they must take a walk.
Pig say:— "What hour?" Wolf said "Tree."
F
82 Jamaican Song and Story.
Pig start twelve an' go dance till two. He was] the
best dancer an' they give him a butter-churn as a re-
ward. As he walking home he see Wolf at a distant
coming.
He said : — * My goodness King ! What I going to
do ? "
Nevertheless he get in the churn a roll down the hill.
Wolf see the thing. He run for his home.
The next day he go an' ask Pig if he did go to
the ball.
Pig said : — " Yes, an' as I was coming home I see you,
an' was so frighten I get in me churn an' roll down to
see if you don't run. An' so you did run, Ha 1 Ha ! "
Wolf get vex. He huff an' cuff all day again to see
if he could broke down the building, but all he do he
has to lef it.
So one rain night he send his wife with a young
baby to see if Pig would take her in by changing her
voice.
She went an' call; — "Mr. Pig, please Sir, if you can
give a night rest, Sir; for rain, an' I am from far."
Pig said : — " No, I don't take in no stranger what-
ever, especially you, Mrs. Wolf. You husban' try an*
try an' can't manage, an' now him send you to see if
you can kill me."
Mrs. Wolf commence to climb the chimley.
Pig put a big copper of water on the fire an', by
the time she reach the top an' was coming down the
chimley, she drop in the water an' dead, she an' the
child.
Wolf come again an' call Pig.
An' Pig take up this song: —
Allegretto.
f ^^-M
Wolf, Wolf, Wolf ! no use you try fe come in, Yon
r
The Three Pigs.
83
wife dere
/ i ^r r "ij.jJj. r ^ijjj/i
da ready; Ha! Ha! Ha! Yon wanta try fe
it* g|rJ. | J i
Jji r ^ 11
come in, Come Wolf, Me will put you both together.
Wolf get worser vex, commence to beat Pig house
with all his might an' couldn' get in. He climb up the
chimley, an', by he fe get to the top, the pot of boiling
water was long time ready waiting for him, an' he going
down in a haste make a slip, drop in the water.
Pig salt them an' put them in his cask to soak, an'
write to invite his mother to help him eat them for he
find out it was them eat his two brother. 1
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
Pig them. Read these words together, not, Pig — them come.
you can girt, can yon give.
huff, scratch with the hoof.
kindling, small wood to light fires with.
day clean. Day is clean when you can see to walk.
big road, one that is what the Italians call carouabile, carriageable. In
the hills of Jamaica the roads are for the most part mere mule tracks.
Ummlt, Smith.
mate we go, let us go.
What the time ? at what time ?
By Fig, as Pig.
rolling, trimming, always so.
when he come, eto., when he came back to the tree, that he left the apples
and went home.
met, meeting, ball.
da ready, already.
by he fe get, by the time he got.
oaak to soak. Salt meat is kept in a tub of brine.
1 C£ Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Talis, No. xiv., and note, p. 333.
(C. S. B.)
84 Jamaican Sang and Story.
XXVII. DUMMY.
There was a man couldn' talk, called Dummy.
One day Annancy bet the King he going to make
Dummy talk.
So the King say : — u If you make Dummy talk I will
give you one of my daughter fe marry."
Well, Annancy went to Hog, ask him : — " Bro'er Hog if
I carry you fe Dummy, wh£ you wi' say ? "
Hog say : — " Me wi' say ugh ! ugh I "
Annancy say : — " You won't do."
He went to Goat: — " Bro'er Goat, if I carry you fe
Dummy, wh6 wi' you say ? "
« Me wi' say Meh— eh— eh ! "
" You won't do."
So he went to fowl.
Fowl say :— " Me wi' say Clk ! Clk ! Clk ! "
"You won't do."
So he went to Bro'er Peafowl an' ask him : — " What you
will say if me carry you fe Dummy ? "
Peafowl say : — " Me wi' say : —
Andante.
i
tt*— t- m b r. i f t» r s
W
Chirry - way, Chirry • way, Chir - ry
Itji Jj'J ■■ ■■ hjJj, ■■ J. J I -Tj'J ' ijji^
waydemd^, Ctany-way, Constan' dead to-day, Chirry -way.
Then Annancy say : — •* A you me wanty." l
1 See the story of Tangalomlibo in Torrend, Comparative Grammar of
S. African Bantu Languages* p. 319, where the cock is chosen as messenger,
when the ox and goat are rejected. (A. W.)
-, y.
Dummy. 85
So Annancy beg Broker Peafowl he must come with him
to Dummy.
An' when Dummy hear the tune it sweet him so, he
commence to shake him head an' hum.
So them went to the King yard, Peafowl before, Dummy
in the middle, Annancy 66 a back.
An' as they reach up Annancy say " Wheugh i " being
him breat' gone an' him tired, but peafowl never cease with
the song.
When Annancy got him breat' he say to the King : —
" Master me a come, me a go make Dummy talk."
Then the King say : — * I will like to hear Dummy talk."
An 9 Peafowl sing an' sing, an' make all sort of figure
before Dummy.
Dummy commence to shake him head two free time de
way de song sweet him."
At last Dummy begin to hum.
As Peafowl see him commence to hum, Peafowl make a
sudden spring, went up to Dummy with a great flourish,
an' at last Dummy sing right out the same as Peafowl : —
Chiny-way, Chiny-way, Chir-ry
\ $ j > <■ -ggpLj, j 1 J j'J ■■ Tjjlp i
waydemdl, Chiny-way, Constan'dead to-day, Cmxry-way.
An' Annancy get the bet an' the King marry him off.
An' Annancy give Peafowl gold all over his body an' six.
quarts of corn. From that Peafowl cover all over with
gold
NOTES.
WliA yon wi' aay, what will you say?
swwt him to, pleased him so modi.
86 Jamaican Song and Story.
XXVIII. ANNANCY AND CANDLEFLY.
One day Annancy go to Brother Candlefly yard fe fire.
When him go Candlefly give him fire an' tell him to
wait an' he will go give him a few eggs.
When Annancy get the eggs he go home with the fire.
The next day he go back fe fire an' Candlefly give him
more eggs.
Annancy go till him get halfway, out the fire an' turn
back.
When him come him say : — a Bro'er Candlefly, the fire
out ; give me some more."
When Candlefly give him the fire, him wait an' wait to
see if him can get more eggs. Candlefly never give him
one.
Annancy say : — u Bro'er Candlefly, the fire a burn me,
please give me one egg make me wet me han', fe make it
better."
Candlefly give him one an' tell him to come an' he will
carry him where any amount of egg da, " But you must
not come till close a night"
- Annancy don't wait till night, go about midday. When
him go him get a long bag ready. Every minute him
come out of the house an' look on sun. Annancy couldn'
tarry but only praying to see if night can come.
When night come Candlefly get ready an' tell Annancy
to stay aback. Them travel till at last them get (An-
nancy going to play out Candlefly.)
Every gash Candlefly gash an' see a egg going to pick
it up, Annancy say : — " A me first see ahm."
Candlefly gash again : Annancy take away every one
till him bag full. Candlefly don't get one. So as Annancy
Annancy and Candle fly. 87
such a strong man Candlefly compel was to lef without
say a word.
But Annancy going to feel the blow.
After Candlefly gone with the light Annancy couldn' find
nowhere to put his foot.
Annancy say : — w Poor me boy, I mus* try see if I can
fin* the way."
Annancy start
Him travel till him go an' buck on a house. The way
the night was so dark he never see the house, he just buck
on it
He don't know whose house it was but him call
m Godfather ! "
The person answer : — " Who is that calling ? "
Him say: — tm Annancy, you godson, bring some eggs fe
you."
During this time Annancy never know that it was Tiger
who him hate so much.
When the door open there come Brother Tiger.
Annancy say : — " Marnin', Godfather Tiger."
Tiger say : — M Come in."
Same time Tiger send his wife to go an' put on the copper
on the fire.
So them boil the whole barrel-bag of eggs.
When the eggs boil Tiger ask Annancy if him want any.
The frighten in him, him say " No."
So Tiger eat the whole bag of eggs, he an' his wife an'
children.
To find out if Annancy want any of the eggs Tiger tell
him wife fe lef two of the good shelL So Tiger get a lobters
an' put with the egg shell
When Annancy go in to sleep, Annancy see these two
eggs, don't know that it was shell Tiger know how the
fellah love eggs.
When lamp out Annancy 'tretch him hand to catch the
88 Jamaican Song and Story.
Lobters paw give him a good bite. Him jump. Then
Tiger know that it was the egg the fellah want
Tiger ask : — " What the matter Mr. Annancy ? "
" No dog-flea a bit me up so, sir ? Me never see place
have dog-flea like a you yard."
Tiger gone back to sleep.
Five minute more Annancy cry out : — " Lahd I me never
see place have dog-flea like a you yard."
During this time he was trying to get the egg-shelL So
he try an' try the whole night an' never get
When day light Tiger say : — * Me son, me sorry to see
dog-flea bit you so last night You is the first man come
here a me house say dog-flea bit you."
Annancy say : — " Godfather, I don't get a rest from I go
to bed till now."
Tiger wife get tea an' give him, so he get ready.
Tiger say : — " Go a me goat-pen, you see one goat, fetch
him ya fe me before you go."
Annancy go. When him go he see a big he-goat, him
beard was a yard long. Annancy catch the beard, lift him
up t'row him a ground, take a big stick begin to beat him,
give bup! bup! say: — ''You b'ute! a you master nyam
all me egg never give me so so one self."
Him beat him so till the goat form 'tiff dead Now this
was Tiger all the time. Annancy leave him gone to see
if he can get any knife to cut him up.
By Annancy come back him don't see no goat, only a
big old man standing up. Him put after him. Annancy
run back to Tiger yard. The man was after him.
Annancy see a gourdy, run right in it Tiger lost the
fellah.
Well 1 Tiger take his gourdy going fe water.
Annancy, knowing that Tiger mother was sick, as Tiger
get halfway with the gourdy on his head Annancy call out of
the gourdy mouth: — "Bro'er Tiger, you mumma dead a
house from yeshterday."
Annancy and Candlefly. 89
Tiger stop, him listen, him can't hear.
He make a move.
Annancy bawl out again : — " Bro'er Tiger, you mumma
dead a house from yeshterday."
Tiger stop, him listen, him can't hear.
He go on again, he hear the voice again.
He throw down the gourdy.
Annancy get out, said to Tiger: — "You b'ute! if you been
broke me foot you wouldn' min' me wife and picny."
Tiger hear the voice but never see a soul.
Him run gone home to see if his mother dead. When
he go his mother was still alive.
Annancy go home an' go to Candlefly yard tell him
say: — "I never will be cravin' again, ya, Bro'er? you fe carry
me again. An' Candlefly say " Yes."
Every day Annancy come. Candlefly wife say :• — " Him
gone long time."
Annancy never get to go with Candlefly again, an' he
don't know the place.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
Candlefly. Among the smaller fire-flies which twinkle all the year rushes,
in the summer months, the great Candlefly. It makes a roaring sound with
its strong, swift flight, and is a strange and splendid object. It has three lights,
two looking like eyes, and a larger and much more brilliant one underneath the
thorax. When at rest only the eye lights shine, but with the spread of its
wings a shutter is drawn back and discloses the abdominal light The insect,
which is the size of a cockchafer but rather longer, is commonly called Big
Winky or Peeny.
da, is pronounced like Italian.
look on sun, looks at the sun to see if it is sinking.
a hack, behind.
get, get to the place.
gash, flash. Lightning is said to gash. As explained above, this gashing of
the great light of the Candlefly is continuous while it is in flight, but ceases as
soon as it rests.
track on, run against A horse tracks, here, when he stumbles. A man tracks
90 Jamaican Song and Story.
all toe when he knocks his naked foot against a stone, and women fight (men
too for that matter) by bucking with their heads.
ManUn'. Good morning and good evening are used as salutations without
reference to the actual time of day.
barrel-bag, a bag of the capacity of a floor barrel.
the frighten, etc, owing to the fright which was in him he said " No."
re lef, to leave*
looters. This transposition of letters has a ludicrous effect on the word.
paw, pronounced pah very broadly.
Fleas are always called dog-fleas, or rather dahg-fleas.
tea, the morning sugar-water, is the signal that it is time for the guest to be
soon moving on. Generally, however, he is given something to do before
he goes.
ya, here.
so to one self, even one.
form, pretended.
Him put after him. The old man put (ran) after Annancy.
Ton eonldn' mind, eta This piece of pleasantry is common. When two
men are doing anything that requires care to avoid accident, such as moving a
heavy stone, one says to the other : — " No kill me ya, you couldn' min* me
wife an' picny," you can't support my wife and children.
ya, do you hear ? Which is also its meaning in the preceding note. Just
now ya meant * here.'
Parson Puss and Parson Dog. 91
XXIX. PARSON PUSS AND PARSON DOG.
ONE day Toad was courting for a long time to a very
pretty India gal, an' Toad didn' want marry the gal. An'
him didn' want the gal was to leave him but to live
without married.
An* Puss was Toad parson. An' the mother send an'
call Puss, an' when Parson Puss come, the mother lay the
matter before Parson Puss.
An' Parson Puss call Toad one of his lovely member in the
church, an' him didn' want Toad was to leave his church.
An' Parson Puss talk until Toad agree to married the gal.
An' Dog himself was a parson.
So Toad send out a invitation to all his countrywoman
an' countryman, an' invite Tacoma an' his families, an'
likewise invite his friend Mr. Annancy an' his families.
An 1 when him done Toad invite Parson Dog.
An' the day when Toad is to married Parson Puss come
to married Toad.
An' Parson Dog come with his gown was to take away
the business from Parson Puss.
But Toad say : — " Oh no ! he will like to give his Parson
the preference."
An' Dog say: — "Yes, I must have it. If not will be
mossiful fight to-day."
Puss wife, was the organ-player, say : — " What a man fe
swear ! "
An' Parson Puss say to Toad mother-in-law: — "You
don't mustn't listen what that fellah Parson Dog is saying.
He so tief, as soon as they 'tick the hog he will soon
forget all this for he has to go an' lick blood, so when he
gone I will marry my member Toad."
92
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' so Dog did go away.
Until he come back Parson Puss marry off Toad.
An' when they eat cake done, then Parson Puss ask the
young ladies them to let them go an' play in the ring, an'
so they did do.
That time Parson Dog didn' know what was doning,
but soon he hear this sing : —
AlUgretto.
When you see a hog - ly man, When you see a hug- ly man,
When you see a hug - ly man, Ne-ver make him mar-ry you.
An' as him hear him hold up one of him foot an' listen.
An* he come nearer an' hear again : —
Sit
Par-son Dogwon't married me, Par-son Dog won'tmarriedme,
Par-son Dog won't married me, Cut your eye an' pass him.
Then Parson Dog shake him head, run come.
An' as he run come he meet Parson Puss was wheeling
all the gal.
Parson Dog get very vex an* he bear an* bear.
But as he hear plain how the sing go, an' see that some
of the gal Puss was wheeling began to laugh after him,
say : — " No see how him mout' long," Parson Dog get
fairly upstarted till him run in the ring an' palm Puss an
begin to fight him.
An', as Parson Puss feel Parson Dog 'trength more than
fe him, him look for a very tall tree an 9 run right upon it to
save his life.
Parson Puss and Parson Dog. 93
An' from that day that why Dog an' Puss can't 'gree
until now.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
lovely member. A certain amount of blarney is supposed to be admissible
to keep your sheep from straying to a rival's flock.
to married Toad. Though they sometimes say marry (see the first song)
they prefer married. The d before the T of Toad is very awkward to
pronounce, yet the reciter, whose normal speech is of the laziest, like that of
all his kindred, got it out quite plainly.
mosalful, unmerciful. Dog really used a bad word here, which is always
put in his mouth. He uses the same word in " Finger Quashy." So much
does it belong to him that it occurs as a descriptive adjective to the dog in
the tune for the third Quadrille figure, which will be found among the dance
tunes. The word is not really very bad, but it was not considered appropriate
to a book which may find its way into the nursery, so in every case another
one is substituted.
'tick, stick. The pig was killed for the wedding festivities, which were only
just beginning. See note on weddings in " Gaulin."
play In the ring, play Sally Water, see Ring Tunes.
doming, being done.
never make him marry yon, never let him, etc
out your eye, turn your eye aside. Where we use transitive cut they put
intransitive out eye.
wheeling, turning them in the dance.
run come, came running up.
bear an' bear, was patient for a while. A picturesque way of describing
Dog's self-restraint. He bears it and he bears it again.
no lee, etc., don't you see how long his mouth is. This is always the joke
about Dog. About Puss it is : — " You face too (very) short. Cut off half
inch you don't have nose."
upstarted, angry.
palm, touch or hold with the hand.
fehlm, his.
94 Jamaican Song and Story.
XXX. CHICKEN-HAWK.
Once a lady have free daughter. One of the daughter, the
youngest one, born with a gold teet\ The other sisters
h'ard of the teet' an' ask their sister to show them the teet',
but she never would show them.
One day they get Monkey an* Goat to come an' dance to
let the sister laugh. They make all sort of mechanic. She
never laugh all the dance Monkey an' Goat was dancing.
Those other two pay her so much to see the teet'. She
won't show them.
So the second sister tell the big one say : — " Sister, let
we go make bargain with Chicken-hawk to try if we can see
the teet'."
So they did go an' see Chicken-hawk about it an' pay
Chicken-hawk so much.
The day come when they fix up to go to the river.
Chicken-hawk was on a tree.
So they gone to swim for a long time, the big sister them
swimming an' laughing in the water for the little one to
laugh for them to see the teet', but she never laugh.
• During that time Chicken-hawk took up all three of them
clothes an' gone on a high tree where them can see him.
When the sister know that Chicken-hawk took the clothes
they came out of the water all t'ree of them.
All the clothes, was gone.
The first sister commence fe sing : —
Chicken -hahk oh ! Chicken - hahk oh ! give me me
jjl> J r r jjjj J r jsjs|J j r jijU - I I
frock. Chicken -hahk oh 1 Chicken -hahk oh ! Chicken-hahk !
Chicken-Hawk.
95
An' Chicken-hawk bring come.
The next sister do the same an' get her frock.
Here comes the youngest one. She shut up her mouth
an* was calling from her t'roat : —
Hm- -
hm — -
— hm —
hm— — — hm— — — hm —
Chicken-hawk never give her.
When the big sister see that she won't call for them to
see the teet' they leave her, an 1 she become 'fraid an 1 call
out: —
Chicken - hahk oh 1 Chicken - hank oh ! give me me
l j> J rr jj* I J J r jjIJ JT y 7j tr g "1t
frock. Chicken -hahk oh ! Chicken-hahk oh ! Chicken-hahk.
An' the big sister run come an see the golden teet' an 9
was so glad.
They go home an' tell their mother that we have gain
the battle an' have seen the gold teet'.
From that day we see gold teet' until now.
NOTES.
■0 much, a sum of money.
96
Jamaican Sang and Story.
XXXI. PRETTY POLL.
Once a Duke have a sarvant So this sarvant was courting
to a young man for a long time.
So one day another friend come to see the Duke. So he
love the Duke sarvant an 9 the Duke sarvant love him. So
this man ask the Duke for her.
The Duke say : — " No, she is courting already."
So the friend was sorry.
The gal tell the young man say : — " Me love you, an* if
you going to marry me I will lef my lover an' come."
The young man say : — " How you will manage that the
Duke not going to allow it ? "
The gal say : — " You look out"
So one evening, when the gal lover come home, she ask
him to let them go for a walk far away. " I am going to
show you a very pretty place."
During this time the gal know where a well was, so she
is going to shub him into the welL
As they reach to the place they see a pretty flowers in
the well.
So they was looking at the flowers.
As she see that her lover wafe gazing at the flowers she
just shub him right in the well an' said : — " T'ank God !
me going to get that pretty young man."
During this time there was a Parrot on a tree seeing all
that was going on, cry out : —
Allegretto.
Ha ha! Ha ha! I haveanewstotaketotheDukeat
+££W*\ jJN jaJjXjLf, j| j r ||
home; you have your dearest lover an* cast him down to the well.
Pretty Poll.
97
The gal look up an' see the Parrot.
She get frighten, call to Poll : —
AlUgretto.
Come, Pretty Poll, come!
There is a house of
' r j* J' Jl i si*
gold an' sil - ver be -fore you sit 'pon tree.
Poll sing : —
Adagio.
Tree I barn, Treelmustbestaytillmytimecometodie.
An' Poll commence to fly from tree to tree an* she was
following him till they get out to a village. Poll was still
singing an' she was begging.
Poll fly from house to house till he get on the Duke house
an' sing.
The gal was crying.
The Duke hear, send out man an' they listen until them
hear what Poll said, an' them catch the gal an' chop off her
head.
An' Poll get good care.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
This is another version of the " King Daniel " story.
before you alt, instead of your sitting.
Tree I barn, etc. On a tree I was bom, on a tree I must stay.
98
Jamaican Song and Story.
XXXII. ANNANCY AND HOG.
One day Annancy an' him grandmamma go to a ground.
Annancy left him fife.
When him coming home, he an 9 his grandmamma, he
said : — " Gran'mumma you know I leave my fife at
groun'."
Him grandmamma say : — " Me son a know you well.
You is a very bad boy. Go for it but don't play."
When Annancy coming home he play: —
None a we,
none a we corn-man -do
-±
m
Sair - ey gone home
>me com -man -do
o Yah - ka Yah - ky
Jr p' ' p M m ' ~~ ~» • •
S=R
W=F
1
Yak commando, Sack your mother
ommaado.
i
bone coramaa
An* as he play he meet Hog.
Hog say: — "Brother, a you a play da sweet sweet
tune."
Annancy say: — "No, Bro'er."
Hog say: — "Play, make me hear."
Annancy play twee, twee, twee, all wrong note.
Hog say: — "Tche! you can't play."
Hog gone round short pass.
As Hog go round short pass, him buck the boy
was playing the tune.
Annancy and Hog. 99
Hog say: — "Bro'er Annancy I think a you a play,
you beggar, you light fe me dinner, you libber fe me
dog."
An' Hog carry home Annancy an* goin' to do him
up for him dinner.
An' when Hog think him done up Annancy him done
up him own mother.
An' that made Hog nasty feeder up to to-day.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
ground, a provision ground where yams, etc., are grown. They often
pronounce it gran, rhyming to run but even shorter.
a leave, I leave.
This tune has a bobbin, see Digging sings. Nonsense words of course.
commando, pronounced common doe.
jrah, with French a.
paw, path. It no doubt should be gone down short pas*. The paths
circle round the steep mountain sides and short cuts connect the loops.
book, stumbles on, meet.
yon light, eta Your lights for my dinner, your liver for my dog.
IOO
Jamaican Song and Story.
XXXIII. DRY RIVER.
ONCE a man have t'ree daughter. Dem go go pick
wacky.
When dem a come, dem come to a river having no
water.
Dem meet a old man beg dem a wacky.
The two biggest one give the old man two wacky,
one each, an' the little one wouldn' give any.
An' the old man sing: —
Allegro.
i jftr MMJ7IJVJVJVIJ J^i j ^l
You no give me one wacky you can't pass, You no
give me one wacky you can'tpass, You no give me one wacky you
can't pass, Dry River will come an* take you 'way.
Draw me nearer,
fi-g g g r g ig g g * "H
Draw me near, Dry Ri-ver will come an' take you 'way.
An' the little one won't give.
An' the two big sister want to give two more of their
wacky to the old man ; but the old man say : — " No, the
little one must give me one of fe her wacky."
An' she won't give.
So the old man sing the sing again.
Dry River. 101
An' still the little one won't give, until at last the
river come down carry him gone.
From that day people drowning.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
In the heavy rains of October and May the rivers rise suddenly, and an
insignificant stream or dry river-bed becomes a raging torrent. Travellers
are delayed in the Seasons, as these rainy times are called, owing to the fords
becoming impassable. This happens now less frequently than formerly, not
because the rivers do not * come down ' but because many of them are bridged.
wacky (French a with a turn to o, almost " wocky "), guava. This fruit
which makes the well-known jelly is wild. It is the size of a small apple,
and has a delicious scent when ripe and yellow. Raw, however, it is not a
good fruit. The flavour is coarse and the pulp is full of very hard seeds, which
must be swallowed whole.
when d«m a come, when they reach the place where the wackies are they
come to a river.
old mail beg, etc, old man who asks them for a wacky. Much of the
conciseness of negro speech is due to the suppression of relatives and
prepositions.
yon no give, if you do not give.
102 Jamaican Sang and Story.
XXXIV. YELLOW SNAKE.
Once a woman, name Miss Winky, have four children,
three 9on an 9 one daughter. The son them was hunter-
man and the youngest son was old-witch. This sister
never can find her fancy. Everybody come she say:
"Lard, this one hugly, me no like him at all!"
Till one day she an' the mother an' old-witch boy
was at home.
Snake was on a journey, get to a rum-shop. Talking
an' talking they bring up some talk about this .gal, that
everybody go for her she refuse.
Snake say: — "Is she a pretty gal?"
They say: — "Yes, man, she is a beauty to look at"
Snake said : — " I bet anything I get that gal."
Snake change an' fix up himself an' go to the yard.
When he go he said : — " Good day, Miss Winky, I
come to ask you for your daughter."
The gal, was in the room, run out to see if it is a
pretty man.
As she come out she said : — " Mamma, this is my love,
no one else."
So Snake was invite in the house.
The mother said : — " Well, as you get your fancy I
am going to married you."
So the next day they go an' get marry. •
After dinner Snake get ready, an' the gal mother tie
up all her clothes an' they start
They travel the whole night until daylight an' never
could get, till about midday they reach the place. It
was a big stone-hole.
Snake carry her under, put her to sit down.
Yellow Snake.
103
An' after Snake get a good rest he commence to
swallow her.
On the meantime the old-witch boy, name of Cawly,
know all what was going on in the wood, tell his two
elder brother to come "an' let us go hunting for I hear
the voice of my dear beloved sister crying for me in
the wood/'
The two brother said ; — " You always goin' on with
your foolishness."
He said : — " Never mind, come let us go an' see/'
So they start an' they walk like beast, till at last they
nearly reach where they could hear the sister.
They hear a voice : —
Andante.
ijjb |} i, it? TT7-ri r Pr fi r -ipMM j p i
Feme Caw -lyCaw-ly oh 1 - If no
%*rrrttj ;i jJth jjj A&f4*m
hnntennan nocomehere oh I - Yalla Snake will swaUowme.
Snake, fe all him mout' full, get to say: — "Me will
swallow you till you mumma no fin' piece of you bone."
The brother come close to the place, climb upon the
stone.
They hear the voice plainer, come down off the stone
an' see that Snake leave but the head of their sister.
They go down on Snake an' kill him an' split him
an' take out their sister an' cany her home.
From that day she never marry again for she feel
the hand of marry.
So everybody that pick too much will come off the
same way.
Jack Man tor a me no choose none.
104 Jamaican Song and Story.
NOTES.
>, pronounced in two syllables, Se-nake with the exact value of vowels
in the French words ce tfest que, and of course stopping at the k sound of the q*
Tie up aU her olothes, in a bundle which she would carry on her head.
get, get to Snake's home.
beaet. This is the generic name for a beast of burden, horse, mule, or
donkey.
fe all, although.
get to say, managed to say.
fe me, my.
feel the band of many, a biblical expression. She felt the hand of
matrimony, and behold it was heavy.
XXXV. COW AND ANNANCY.
One day Annancy was passing Cow pastur', saw the
whole of them was cleaning their teeth with chewstick.
He was so frighten for Cow, he stay outside the pastur'
on a tree an' call to Cow, telling them howdy.
Cow never answer him, so he get worser frighten.
He said to himself : — " If I give them piece of cane;
fool them say it is my chewstick, they might a come
friend with me."
So Cow them go out in the night to feed.
An' when them gone Annancy go an' get his side-
bag full with cane as quick as he can. An' when him
come Cow them gone away for the whole night, so he
climb the tree an' sleep on the tree until daylight
An' when the sun begin to hot the Cow come under
the tree fe throw up their food fe eat it back. Same
time Cow cleaning him teeth with the chewstick.
Presently the papa Cow see a big piece of something
drop out of the tree.
Cow and Annancy. 105
He look up see Annancy, call to him : — " What you
doing <te ? "
Annancy say : — w Me bring piesh a chewshtick fe you.'*
Cow take up the cane begin to chew. Instead of
cleaning teeth he was swallowing both juice an' trash.
Cow say : — " Him sweet ; you no hab no more d6
now ? "
Annancy say "Yes."
Cow call him down from the tree.
When he come down he give everybody piece of the
cane, tell them that it is fe him chewstick.
During this time he have a big bottle of cane-juice,
ask Cow if him want a taste.
Cow take a taste, he done the whole bottle of it
So they all get in friend with Annancy.
An' Annancy invite Cow to go home with him, an'
he will show him where he get such good chewstick.
Cow say : — " You no have nobody a you yard."
Annancy say "Yes."
Cow say : — " Me shame fe go."
Annancy say : — " Make me go home an' sen' dem
'way."
Annancy go home, tell all his friend them must look
out, him going to fetch Cow, ya.
Them say : — " If you bring Cow you we will never
trust you the longest day we live.
Annancy say : — rt Look out."
He take a rope. When he go back he tell Cow that
him no see nobody a yard, so Cow must come make
dem go.
Cow say, "Yes."
Them 'tart.
Annancy tell Cow that as he is such a coward man
him have a piece of rope, Cow must make him put it
on his neck, afraid a. when him a go the picny them
go see him, go make noise, you go turn back.
io6 Jamaican Song and Story.
Annancy say: "Bro*er Cow, when you go near me
yard, if you yerry them picny a make noise no frighten,
fan you tail with strength."
When them get to where all the friend an 9 children
could see him, him call to them : — " A da come, no
see me frien' a come tell you howdy." He turn to
Cow said : — " Fan you tail, no min' dem people.
At last them reach the yard.
Annancy have a big tree at the front of his house. He
tell Cow : — " Bro'er Cow, stay ya, make me go look after
the house ; me wife no know, say me a bring 'tranger ya,
so we can't carry you in so, so you can fan you tail as
much."
During this time Annancy gone to get all his tool
sharpen to kill Cow. He left his biggest son to watch
Cow but he can't trust the boy. Every minute he come
to look if Cow is there.
The first time he come an' look he say to Cow: —
" Fan you tail."
When the thing them nearly done sharp he come
back, see Cow was fanning his tail.
He said to Cow : — " You Cow, you no yerry me say
4 No fan you tail a me yard ? ' "
Cow fan fe the better.
He come with his bill, said to Cow: — "If you no
'top fan you tail either you kill me or me kill you."
Cow won't stop.
He say to one of the friend: — "Now, now, sir, you
see how that man a frighten me picny a me yard, him
mout 1 so hugly."
Him come up nearer to Cow say : — " If you no 'top
fan you tail somet'ing mus' done."
Cow won't stop, seeing the fly a trouble him.
Annancy set a run with his bill chop at Cow neck.
Cow draw back his head, the bill catch the rope, set
Cow free, so he run for his life.
Cow and Annaney.
107
Annaney say : — * Come back, Bro'er Cow, a fun me
a make wi' you, simple little fun, you run gone home."
But Cow was flying for his home an' never stop.
Annaney take up this song : —
AlUgrv.
?
r -r— i-l r ' g r pfp /'ir 1
Lard!
Lard!
has - ty kill me dead oh !
%
fc
m
££
gp^
Poor me boy oh !
a whe me a go do?
put me pot a
fe boil Cow liver, but has- ty kill me dead.
fire
From that day Annaney never can go where Cow is.
Anywhere Cow see him he reach him down with his
mouth.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
We have had this story already in another form (Annaney and Cow, No. 20).
ohewvtlQk, a common climber. A piece of the stem about the thickness of
a pencil is cut and makes a sort of soapy froth as it is chewed. It has an
agreeable bitter taste and is used to clean the teeth.
howdy, how do you do ?
cane, sugar-cane.
fool them, take them in, delude.
aide-hag. Everybody has his side-bag or namsack (knapsack).
papa, pronunciation something between puppa and poppa, with slight accent
on the first syllable. Cows in Jamaica are of both sexes.
44 there; the e is that of "debt" lengthened. French "est" gives it
exactly. Whe has the same e.
traah, the fibre. Trash is any kind of refuse, such as shells of peas, husks
of maize, the remains of Cassada after the starch is washed out, withered
banana leaves, the outside pulp which encloses the coffee beans, etc., etc
J% sometimes means here % sometimes do you heart
108 Jamaican Song and Story.
rope, pronounced ro-ap. So gate becomes ge*-ut (French 4), goat, go-ut
(Italian o), much as in some provincial districts in England.
a da come, I am coming.
carry, lead.
at much, as much as you like.
a fan mo a make, I was pretending. A man is said to make fun when he is
only pretending to work, what schoolboys call " sugaring."
nasty, haste, i.e. your hurrying away.
hungry kill mo is a common expression meaning "I am very hungry."
Here hasty is substituted for hungry. Your hasting away will leave me with-
out food, and hunger will kill me.
XXXVI. LEAH AND TIGER.
There was a man an' his wife got one daughter, only
the one picny they got. An' many a people come for her
to courten to her, an' she refuse, an' she would stay a
world without marry.
An' the father said to the wife:— "Them people usual
trouble me with my own daughter ; we must do some-
thing to get her out of them sight"
An' the both of them agree to make up a very big
house in the wood to lef the daughter there where
nobody wouldn' see him.
An* the father said to the wife: — "When the house
done you mus' carry him breakfas' every twelve o'clock
an' dinner at four."
An mumma say: — "Yes, me dear, I think so better."
An' they take Leah an' walk with her all night an'
lodge her into the house before daylight
An' at the meantime Leah got a very valuable ring
on on^ of her finger, a very pretty young woman too,
though me never see him.
Mumma tell him that when him going to bed he must
always say him prayers. An' -she tell her that, when
Leah and Tiger.
109
she re'ch the hillside she sing the song, she must know
a him honey a come. An' this the song: —
Allegretto,
h f^-^
Le - ah! Le - ah ! ting- a - ling, You no yer - iy you
i wj'j'ij'j'U'*^icp i r. J s ia
ho-ney, ting -a - ling?
Honey de a door,
rail. ^
ting- a - ling, Su-gar de a door, ting -a - ling.
An 1 this time Tiger was under the house hear all the
bargain.
An* Tiger lie down very 'teady. (Some days to come
he must get meat fe eat a this bush.)
Then mumma go away, next day come back with
him daughter breakfas', an' 'tart the tune from hillside
to the spot of place where the house is. An* the door
was double double double latch. An' the tune 'tarted.
An' the gal open the door an' mumma come in give
her her breakfast, an' make very much of each others,
an' eat done an 1 tell goodbye.
When the mumma gone Tiger creep out of the house
with a great rolling of voice, can't 'tan' him heeL He
go down to see Brother Blacksmit 9 if he would do a
kind favour for him.
An' Brother Blacksmit' say: — "What sort of favour
I can do for you?"
An' Tiger say him see a very nice meat a bush, him
want go eat it then, so me want sweet voice fe sing
like a him mumma.
Then Brother Blacksmit' put the iron a fire, make him
red hot, so tell him open him mout'. Blacksmit' poke
1 10 Jamaican Sang and Story.
ahm down his t'roat, heap of smoke come out a him
'tomach.
When him finish he tell him mus' sing make him hear.
So Tiger sing, an' true him voice sound so good*
Then Blacksmith say: — "Min' mustn' eat no duckanoo
nor guava by the way, else you voice turn rough again."
Tiger gone making his way fe go eat the gal fe
meat. He was very hard on his journey going on. As
he get halfway he see guava an' duckanoo, an 9 being
him so thirsty he say : — " Make me nyam ahm, nothing
goin' to do me voice."
He nyam until he unrestful an' come his voice after
was like groun' t'under.
"Well," he say, "never min'; by the time me re'ch
up me voice will come good."
So he lay down under the floor waiting for twelve
o'clock when the mother usual come.
An' when it nearly come 'pon twelve Tiger creep out
under the floor commence to sing : —
Leah ! Leah 1 Ungating,
You no yerry you honey, tingaling ?
You sugar de a door, tingaling,
You honey de a door, tingaling.
An' Leah say : — * H6 ! H6 ! it is not my mother dat."
An' Tiger shame, gone under the house back, voice too
coarse.
Presently his mother is up, sing with a very sweet
voice : —
Leah ! Leah ! tingaling,
You no yerry you honey, tingaling ?
Honey de a door, tingaling,
Sugar de a door, tingaling.
An' the door open, an' she go in give her daughter him
breakfas'.
Leah and Tiger in
An' her daughter hug her up an 1 kiss her, an' he com-
mence to tell her mother that him hear a great rolling like
groun' shaking while ago outside, an' it make her frighten
to deat'. She tell her mumma she would like to go home
with her back.
The mother refuse from do so, an' lef an gone
home, tell the father what happen with Leah in the
bush.
An' puppa say : — * What make you lef me daughter a
bush? Go back for him to-night."
Mamma say :— •" No danger wi' me daughter, me wf
carry him dinner four o'clock, lef him come back."
Next day Tiger 'tart to Blacksmit' fe run iron down
him t'roat back. Blacksmit' get vex, tell him he going
to lick him down with the iron, for his ears hard.
Tiger said : — " Do Bro'er Blacksmit', me yerry all wh£
you tell me this time."
An' Blacksmit' put the iron two hour a fire an' shub
him down Tiger t'roat Tiger can't take him ground,
iron too hot.
When he done with him he tell him to sing make him
hear, an' beg him anything that him see in the way must
make him yeye pass it
An' Tiger say: — u Yes, so me going do."
Him shut him yeye now, take the whole a road for
himself, say : — " Me boy never would a nyam nothing
more a pass : sweet, sweet meat like a that so a bush me
could a lef ahm so?"
He was very hurry to the house, an' just before twelve
o'clock he commence to sing, an' this time his voice
sound well.
Leah open the door, t'ought it was her mother, an'
Tiger jump right in an' eat the whole of 'Leah, lef one
finger with the ring.
Him eat done, half shut the door an' go back a him
bed under the house.
H2 Jamaican Song and Story.
Leah mumma come fe sing now: —
Leah 1 Leah t tingaling,
Yo no yerry you honey, tingaling ?
You sugar de a door, tingaling, ,
You honey de a door, tingaling.
An' nobody answer her.
She sing two time more: nobody answer.
An 1 she shub the door an' go inside to find only one
finger of her daughter.
An' him put him hand on him head, bahl, then go home
to him husband, tell him husband him daughter dead,
something eat every bit.
Him say: — "Me no min tell you fe bring home me
daughter : you will have fe find ahm gi' me. Then if you
know wh£ good fe you just bring him go," catch up one
big junka 'tick an' lick down the wife.
An' after the wife dead the man take to heart an'
dead.
That make you see woman ears hard up to to-day.
They want mus' man fe carry them anywhere they
told fe go. A him make them something a happen a
this world up to to-day day.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
usual, are wont.
when she re'eh, when she (the mother) reaches the hillside and she sings
the song, she (the girl) will know that his (her) honey has come.
tingaling. Some tellers of this story have it ttnriallnda
"toady, steady, with a peculiar vowel like a dull French eu.
1dm daughter bxeakfa*', came back with her daughter's breakfast and
began to sing when she reached the hillside overlooking the house, and went
on singing till she got to the house.
An' the tone 'tarted. The reciter sings it here.
oat of the house, out from under the house. See note to " Yung-kyum-
pyung."
rolling, roaring.
Leah and Tiger. 113
cant 'tan' him hoe), can't stand on his heel. See, further on, cant take
him ground. Both mean that Tiger cannot stand still.
a bush, in the bush.
ahm, him, it.
true him voice, really his voice sounds very well. Only, tree means what
it says, truly, and does not imply the reservation at which it really hints.
Tiger's voice did sound very well.
duckanoo, a kind of mango.
going to do ; eating the fruit is not going to do my voice any harm.
until he unreatfnl. He ate too much.
groan' t'undor, ground thunder. It is often difficult to distinguish between
distant thunder and an earthquake.
Tiger growls on a low note, and says the words very fast.
H<H H6 ! French i as in wh* and d*.
groun'ahaklng, earthquake.
from do so, refuses to do what she asks.
down Um froat back, down his throat again.
Blacksmith was vexed because Tiger had eaten fruit on the previous
occasion. His ears had been hard, ue. he had acted against orders.
make him yoyo pass it, let his eye run over it without desiring to eat it.
take the whole a road, staggering along, first to one side and then to the
other.
a pass, in the path, on the journey.
put Urn hand on Urn head, an expressive action indicating horror and
bewilderment
bahl, bawl, cry out
mo no mill tall, me no been tell, didn't I tell you ?
yon will have fo find ahm gi' mo 5 when anything is lost, they say : — You
will have to find it and give it to me.
a htm, etc., it is that (their ears being so hard) that makes this sort of thing
happen.
H
114 Jamaican Song and Story.
XXXVII. TIMMOLIMMO.
ONCE there was a Bull live in a pastur\ He make a law
that every young Cow born, if it is a Bull, they must kill
it. So the Cow them hear what the master said. The
Bull name was Timmolimmo.
So one day one of the Cow have baby an' find out that
this child was a boy. She take him an 1 go to a deep
bush an' hide her child in a stone-hole, an' feed him till
him was growing an' begun to talk.
The place where the mother was taking water when
she was at the pastur' was a mile from the hiding hole,
an' she has nowhere to take water but there.
So every day she go an' fetch water to her son.
One day when the boy was six months old she carry
him to the place where she taking water, an' hide till
the master come drink an' gone. Then she give her
son water, and after she take him home back.
An' when another six month come she take him back to
the place an' show him the father footprint, an' commence
to tell the son why him have to hide in the bush is
because the father would kill you if he see you.
The boy said to his mother: — "A so all right, when
me come big man I going to go an' have a fight with
him."
The mumma say: — "No, me son, nobody can't fight
him."
So the mother take the boy home back till another
six months when the boy catch a year an' a half.
Then they go again an' the boy ask if he no can fight.
The mother say : — " Come, make me measure you
foot."
Timmolimmo. 115
When he go put his foot in his father footprint it was
about two inch short
He go home.
After six month more he come back, he alone, measure
his foot in his father one. It want half inch to catch.
Him gone home back for six more month.
So one day him get up, tell his mumma that I am
going to fight me puppa.
The mother say "No," but him rist an' go.
When him go to the place he measure his foot It
was one inch wider.
Him say: — "I am going fe the battle."
Him come back, tell his mumma that him going to
fight puppa. So him go on till him get where his father
can hear him, an* sing out: —
Maestoso,
i jni'i'j' i iiJ'r.i'jiji' J'li i Jyj a
Timmo - limmo, man dere, Timmo - limmo, man
f J M I 'J— Jj' l j y J I.I f II
bat - tie, ma
dere, Come down make we bat - tie, man dere.
One of the Cow call say : — * Master, Master, I hear
some one calling your name."
"No, no, not a man can call my name."
The son give out again : —
"Timmolimmo, man dere,
Timmolimmo, man dere,
Come down, make we battle,
Man dere."
Timmolimmo yeny.
Him make one jump, him jump half mile.
The son make one, him go one mile.
So they meet at a cross-pass.
u6 Jamaican Song and Story.
As the father come him lift the son with his horn,
send him half mile in the air.
The son drop on his four leg.
The son lift the puppa, send him three quarter mile.
As him drop, one foot gone.
The puppa stand on the free foot send the son up
again in the air.
The son drop on four foot
The son send him up again, him come down on two.
Him stand on the two, send the son.
Him come down on four.
The son send him up again, an' him come down
on one
The puppa stand on the one foot an' send the son,
an' the son come down on four.
An' the son send him up, an' him come down on him
side an' broke him neck.
The son go home to his mother an' tell him that he
has gain the battle, so they must come go in the
pastur' an' him reign.
From that two Bull never 'gree in one pastur*.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES,
list, risks it.
dirt, pronounced day-er, the French vowel quite abandoned,
rrnii nm cross-oath.
foot, leg.
Calcutta Monkey and Annancy. 117
XXXVIII. CALCUTTA MONKEY AND
ANNANCY.
One day Calcutta Monkey work a very large field of corn,
an' when the corn commence to ripe Monkey beguns to
miss the corn, an' him couldn' find out who was tiefing the
corn, an' the robbing continually going on.
Till one day Monkey went to Annancy yard an' suspish
upon Annancy. An' Annancy get very short an' ready to
fight Calcutta Monkey.
An' Monkey say to Annancy he won't fight him but he
will soon know who is tiefing the corn.
An' same time Annancy say to Monkey : — " I bet it is
that big-voice Mr. Tiger."
An' Monkey say he won't judge no one again but will
find out
An' him went home back to his yard an' cut his card.
An' when he cut the card he sees no man on the card but
Mr. Annancy, an' Monkey think it very hard to himself
that Annancy wouldn' own it
An' the next day he went to the ground an' he find the
robbing was going on. An' he met Annancy on the road
an' he said to Annancy he well know who tiefing the corn.
An' Monkey send a challis to Annancy an' tell him that
if him cut the card again an' find him in the card he going
to give him a terrible flogging.
An' when Annancy hear about the flogging he get a
little frighten, an' him stop off the robbing for about two
days. The day to make free Annancy couldn' bear no
longer an' he beguns again to tief the corn.
An' Monkey made up a drum an' got a hunting-whip.
An' next day when Monkey go back to the ground an'
Ii8 Jamaican Song and Story.
find the corn tiefing he goes home to his yard, an' take up
his drum an' his hunting-whip an' start looking for
Annancy.
An' when he going he beguns to knock the drum
ribbim-bim-bim, "Annancy no dere," ribbim-bim-bim,
"Annancy no dere."
An' that time Annancy went an' climb a cullabunka
tree.
Annancy hide himself in ' the heart, an' as Monkey get
to the tree he sound the drum say: — ribbim-bim-bim,
"Annancy dere."
An' he put down the drum an' wrap the whip round his
neck an' climb the tree an' give Annancy a good flogging,
an' Annancy run off the tree an' say that he wont do it
again.
Till a few days after Annancy broke in the corn-piece
again, begun to tief the corn like witch.
An' Monkey go into the ground an' see the tiefing. An'
he went home an' look over his card.
He sees no one again but Mr. Annancy, an' he took up
his drum an' his whip to look for Annancy again to flog
him.
An' this time Tiger have a very large banana-walk.
Annancy wented there an' look for one very large bunch
of banana an' go in the heart of the bunch an' hide himself,
An' as Monkey 'tart playing the drum again he get to
the banana-walk. An' as he get to the spot he sound the
drum say: — ribbim-bim-bim, "Annancy here."
But this time Monkey an' Tiger can't agree, an' this
banana is for Tiger.
Monkey has to leave Annancy an' goes home back.
An' Tacoma says to Monkey, if him want to catch Mr*
Annancy he can catch him for him. An' Monkey was
very glad.
An' Tacoma made a dance an' send an' invite Mr.
Annancy.
Calcutta Monkey and Annancy. 119
An' when Annancy come to the gate Annancy mind
tell him that Calcutta Monkey is there, an' he only 'tand
to the gate an' wave his hand to the ladies inside,
say : — " Good evening, ladies all " ; an' he turn right back
an' go in the banana heart an' take it for his own
dwelling.
An' from that day Annancy live in banana bunch up
to now.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES,
rasptili upon, suspect They also use nuplfli alone, a delightful word.
cut tali card. Monkey is clearly an Obeah-man, a dealer in the black art.
xlVbtm-bliii-Um, etc, half sung, with strong even rhythm.
cuXLatranka, a kind of Palm.
tanana-walk, technical name for a banana plantation.
If for Tiger, belongs to Tiger.
120 Jamaican Song and Story.
XXXIX. OPEN SESAME.
One day there was a very hard time, an' Annancy an'
his family was dying for hungry.
An' there was a regiment of soldier find out a silver
mine.
An' when they find it out they made a very large
house.
An' they move the money an' put it in the house, an'
when they are moving it they fought that nobody see
them.
What that smart fellah Mr. Tacoma does.
He hide himself on a tree, seeing them when they
passing with the money.
An' when they reach to the house, the house work
with no key, an' they has a certain word to use when
they want the door to open. They say * Open Sesame."
An' they go in an' t'row in the money, an' when they
coming out of the house they say "Shut Sesame," and
the door lock.
An' Tacoma hear what they say.
An' he go home an' harness up his cart with his mule
an' drive to the house.
An' when he go him use the same word an' the door
open. An' he go in an' load the cart, an, when he load
done he drive home.
When he come home he want to measure the money
an' he couldn' get no quart pot, an' he sent to his
neighbour Mr. Annancy an' borrow his quart pot.
An' continually so he go an' come back, him still
borrowing Annancy quart pot
An* Annancy think it very hard, say : — " Sometfng
Open Sesame. 121
Bro'er Tacoma is measuring." An 9 Annancy want to
know what it is.
A second day when Tacoma sent for the quart pot
again Annancy 'tudy a plan.
When Tacoma come him give it to him, an' as Tacoma
reach his yard don't begin measure yet, Annancy tell
one of his picny that they must go a Bro'er Tacoma
yard an' tell him that him really want the quart pot,
must make haste make haste send it at once.
An' when the picny go he tell him must look an' see
what Bro'er Tacoma measuring. An' he couldn' find
out
An' a third day him sent to the shop an' buy penny
half-penny white flour, an' when him gone home he
make it to paste an' piecen the quart pot bottom inside,
an' said to himself: — "Anyt'ing Bro'er Tacoma measure,
whether fe rice or gungo or flour, or either money, one
must fasten in the flour."
An' when Tacoma come back he sent for the quart
pot
An' when Tacoma measure done he send it back.
An' as he send it a very large two an' sixpence piece
fasten in the flour.
An' Annancy say: — "Tank God I find out what
Bro'er Tacoma doing with my quart pot."
An' same time he goes to Tacoma yard an' begins
to cry upon Tacoma that Bro'er Tacoma must carry
him an' show him where he get the money.
Tacoma didn' agree.
Annancy cry an' cry till him tell him that he must
get a cart an' a mule to-morrow evening, an' when him
passing he will call to him.
An' Annancy couldn' wait, an' him harness up his
cart from morning an' watching out for Brother
Tacoma.
An' he watch an' watch till Tacoma come.
- 1
122
Jamaican Sang and Story.
When Tacoma was coming he lash him whip, an'
as he lash, Annancy lash his own too.
An' they started.
An' when they get to the house Tacoma say "Open
Sesame," an' the door open.
An' they run the cart up to the door mout 1 an 1 load
it, an' they come out an' drive home.
An' by the time Tacoma get home to his yard
Annancy t'row out his money an' turn back again.
An' when he go he use the same very word an' the
door open.
Annancy load his cart an' when him coming home
he meet Tacoma on the road an' through his strongy
yeye an' his ungratefulness he want to shoot Tacoma
cart a gully an' to kill his mule, that him one may be
the master of the bank.
An' Annancy made a sing when he is coming
home ; —
Andante,
TJfrltT^T-
fii^tVpoiigh,ri^tt'roiighderookyroftd^01i*rley lUrl^oaUyo^ Mid
, ftOharlay Karlay oaUyoa. Mid*
JjJIJJ'HFfl
rook, mid a rook, mid* rook, me Char-ley, Oh«-ley liar-ley oallyoa; Oh do
I M . 1 ^1*
haa'-some gal an no fa 70a one; Oh QharlajXar-ley call yon.
NOTES.
Here is another story founded on Ali Baba, which differs considerably
from the previous one of " Blackbird and Woas-woss." The chief peculiarity
of this version is that the entrapping through forgetfiilness of the password
is altogether lost.
Hard time. This refers to the months of June and July when pro-
visions are scarce. The old yams are done and the new ones are not in
Open Sesame. 123
jet Subsistence has to be eked out with a few sweet potatoes and the
mangoes, which are abundant in these months, and go on till the October
rains bring back a season of plenty.
so he go, as he goes.
pttean, a nice word. They use it also in speaking of the patching of
old clothes.
lash him whip, crack his whip as a signal.
strongy yeye, covetousness. To give the pronunciation a y has to be
tacked on to strong.
him one, he alone.
The exact application of the song is doubtful. The end is pretty clear,
meaning:— all the good things are not for you alone, Tacoma. It will
be observed in this and some other stories that Jack Mantora, etc., is
omitted. That is because they have no tragic termination.
XL SEA-MAHMY.
One day, height a hungry time, Blackbird have a
feedin' tree in a sea. An' every day Blackbird go an 9
feed
Annancy say unto Blackbird : — " Please, Bro'er Black-
bird, please carry me over a you feedin* tree."
Blackbird say unto Annancy : — " Bro'er Annancy, you
so cravin' you goin' to eat every bit from me."
He say :— " No, Bro'er Blackbird I won' do it"
Brother Blackbird say unto Annancy: — "A you no
have no wing, how you a go?"
Well! Blackbird take out two of him tail feather,
'tick upon Annancy. He pick out two of him wing
feather, 'tick upon Annancy. He take two feather out
of him back again, 'tick upon Annancy ; two feather out
of him belly feather, 'tick upon Annancy.
Weill Blackbird an' Annancy fly in a the sea upon
the feedin' tree.
124 Jamaican Song and Story.
Every feedin' Blackbird go fe pick, Annancy say that
one a fe him.
Blackbird go upon the next limb, Annancy say a fe
him.
Blackbird go upon the t'ird limb, Annancy say a fe
him.
Till Annancy eat a good tummy-full.
Annancy drop asleep upon the tree.
Well! Blackbird take time, pick out all the feather
back, an' Blackbird fly away.
When Annancy wake out of sleep he say: — "Make
me fly."
He can't fly.
He broke a branch off a the tree, t'row in the sea*
The branch swim.
Annancy say if the branch swim him will swim, an'
he jump off a the tree, drop in the sea an' sink.
An' when he go down a sea bottom he meet Sea-
mahmy.
He said to Sea-mahmy: — "Mumma, mother tell me
me have a cousin down a sea bottom, ya."
Sea-mahmy say : — " I going to see if me and you are
cousin."
Sea-mahmy put a pan of sand in the fire for well
hot. When him get hot he take it off a the fire, give to
Brother Annancy for drink it off.
Brother Annancy say: — u Cousin Sea-mahmy, it don'
hot enough. Put it out a de sun fe make it hot more."
After him put it out a the sun then he say : — " Cousin
Sea-mahmy, I think it hot now."
An* Sea-mahmy say: — "Well you must drink it off
an' make I see if you an' me are c6usin."
An' Annancy do drink it off.
Annancy spend free day down a sea bottom.
Well ! die next day Sea-mahmy said to him : — u Wh6
you going to come out"
Sea-Mahmy. 125
Him said : — " Cousin Sea-mahmy, sen' one of you son
fe carry me out a Ian'."
Sea-mahmy give him one of him son, the name of
that son call Trapong.
Weill Trapong an' Annancy travel, make middle in
a sea.
Sea-mahmy call:—
Adagio.
1JH V iJlJ M ^
Tra-pong, Tra-pong, fetch back 'tranger man, comeback.
An' Trapong say: — "Top, Brother Annancy, I think
I hear my mother calling me back."
Annancy say: — "No, make way! War de 'pon sea!"
An' Trapong sail with Annancy on him back till they
reach shore.
When they go to shore he say: — "Bro'er Trapong,
take dis bag weigh me, see wh£ me weigh."
Trapong lift him up, say: — "Yes, Brother Annancy
you heavy."
So Annancy come back out of the bag.
He say: — "Bro'er Trapong, you come in make I
weigh you see."
Trapong went into the bag.
He tie Trapong, tie tight
Trapong say: — "Brother Annancy you a tie me too
J trong."
He say : — " Me no a tie you fe see if you heavy ? "
Trapong say to Brother Annancy: — "Me heavy?"
Annancy say: — "You heavy oh! You light oh! You
heavy enough fe me wife pot." An' for all the bahl
Trapong a bahl he gone back to him house an' Annancy
eat him.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
126 Jamaican Song and Story.
NOTES.
nalght, in the height of, at the worst of.
Sea-mahniy, Mermaid.
flMdla' tree. It was a duckanoo mango according to some accounts.
Annancy behaves just as he did with Candlefly and the eggs.
The connecting walls of this story, which take the place of the ante
and worn of other narrators are said with a little upward turn of the voice.
Whtf you going. Whe" (what) seems to be doing duty for how here.
Trapong, tarpon, the famous sporting fish of Florida and Santa Cata1ina»
common also in Jamaica.
make middle in a sea, get to the middle of the sea.
No, make way I Annancy shouts this out
The outrageous confidence trick which follows necessitates a Jack Mantonu
XLI. CRAB AND HIS CORN-PIECE.
One day Brother Crab work a lovely field of corn.
An' when the corns beguns to ripe Crab begin to lose
the corn, an' he couldn' find out who was tiefing it
An' he get Annancy to be a watchman for tief.
An 1 this arrangement make between Annancy. Crab
tell him that he will come in the night and see if he is
watching. An' Annancy wasn' agree at first.
Him stand for a good time an' study: an when he
study he tell Crab yes that he can come.
An' when Crab gone he sent an* call his friend Mr.
Tacoma an' tell him that Bro'er Crab leave him here to
watch over the corn, an 1 say that he is going to come
back in the night to see if he is watching. An' as Crab
being 'fraid of Tacoma Annancy tell him that he must
set a watch in the road for Crab an' catch him.
That time Ratta was hearing Annancy bargain which
Crab and his Corn-Piece. 127
he is making with Tacoma. An' he went home an' tell
Crab that he mustn' go to the corn-piece in the night for
Tacoma going to catch him.
An' so Crab did hear Ratta*
An' him send an' discharge Annancy.
An' Annancy was very sorry, an' same time he goes
to Crab an' he ask Crab what he done.
Crab tell him that he mustn' mind, he must leave the
work, he is going to get another man to watch.
An' Annancy did leave, an' Crab give the job to
Ratta.
An', as that wicked man Mr. Annancy know that
Ratta frighten for Puss, he sent an' tell Puss that he
must go in Bro'er Crab corn-piece an 1 keep a good
watch for Ratta an' catch him an' eat him.
An' that time Candlefly was hearing Annancy what he
is telling Puss to do Ratta, an' he went an' tell Ratta
that he must leave the work, an' if he don't leave it he
going to lose his life.
At that time Ratta get very 'fraid an' send an' give
up his discharge to Crab.
When Ratta gone Crab couldn' get no one to watch
the corn again, an' he consider to himself that he knows
two friend very love corn an' the meal likewise.
An' the two friend was Mr. Dog an' Mr. Cock.
An' he sent an' call them an' they did come.
When they come he tell them that he have a piece of
corn an' he can't get none, tief is eating out the whole.
An' he says to Dog that him know he is a very good
watchman, an' same time Cock say to Crab that him
watch as any soldier.
An' Crab was very glad, say: — "You is the two man
that I want."
An' they says to Crab that they won't charge no
money, but when the corn came in Cock is to get his
share of dry corn an' Dog get his share of meal
128
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' Cock ask Crab to give him a gun.
An' Crab didn' have a gun, an' he give Cock a flute
an' give Dog a drum, an' tell them that anyone catch
a tief they must play an' let him hear.
An' Cock tell Crab that he can't sleep on the ground,
an' he wants to know if there is any tree in the corn-
piece, an' Crab say "Yes."
So Cock an' Dog started.
An' when they go Cock fly upon the tree an' Dog
pick up the corn trash which they cut already an' make
a very soft bed an' get into it, an' Dog lie down until
he fall asleep.
An' Cock sing: —
Allegretto.
\ p i J^p r i J * i J^r i J ^ ic f e c i
Brether Dog oh !
BretherDog oh!
Brether Dog a
sleep oh ! Brether Dog c
i ^.mj i
Dog oh! Tief come an' gone oh,
BretherDog oh! Tief come an 1 gone oh, BretherDog oh!
When the tief come Dog didn' know. An' Cock, as
he being a brave soldier, he caught the tief. An' when
he catch the tief he start a tune in his flute : —
■
Andantinc.
lj> gf i J» ^ ^
You Mis - ter Crab
You Mis - ter
^3** raiL
Crab oh! Da me same one catch de tief oh ! Benga - day.
Crab and his Corn-Piece. 129
An' as Dog being love sleep an' don't watch to the
end he lose his reward.
An' Cock by him catch the tief takes the corn,
NOTES.
arrangement between Annancy; no misprint Between may stand for
with, or there may be an ellipsis of the words and Grab.
be mnatn' mind. This is likely to convey a wrong idea. Crab was
not trying to soothe his feelings, but was speaking angrily. What he said
was:— "Never you mind, etc."
XLII. DRY-GRASS AND FIRE.
One day Brother Dry-grass an' Fire get in confusion.
So Fire tell his frien' Annancy (not knowing that
Annancy an* Dry-grass was better friend) : — " Brother
Annancy I going to burn that fellah Dry-grass to-
morrow."
Annancy say: — "When you a go you fe call me a
yard. I goin' to make one shell. When we nearly get
to the place we blow, make the fellah know that man
a come."
During this time Annancy make bargain with Water
that any time he hear the shell blow him must come
down like rain.
So Fire reach up an' as the shell blow he see rain
coming down.
So Fire has to go home.
Water tell him say that Annancy tell him that you
are going to fight Dry-grass, so I must come an' help
to see if we can manage you.
J 3° Jamaican Song and Story.
Fire say : — u A so ! That fellah Annancy I going at
his yard."
So Fire walk at Annancy yard an' tell him : — " Brother
Annancy I going to come an' see you next week."
Annancy say: — "Yes, Bro'er Fire, with all pleasure."
Fire tell him that he must put all his clothes a door
to make him find out the yard for I don't want to lost
the way.
So Fire gone.
Annancy wife said : — " Me husband, send go stop Fire
from come a you place."
Annancy say : — " No, me wife, a me best frien* so him
have free come."
Just before the time Fire was appoint to come,
Annancy go to Brother Tiger, an' as him walk into
the house he saw some clothes.
An* he pick up the clothes an* say: — "See, Bro'er
Tiger, how you clothes damp, you must have fe put
dem a sun."
So Tiger hang out all his clothes on a line before
the door mout\
An' presently Fire was coming like a lion bringing
Breeze with him.
When Fire see all the clothes he say to Breeze: —
"See that fellah Annancy yard."
So Breeze blow harder an' come with a speed. An 9
Fire make a jump till he nearly got to the yard.
Tiger hear the speed Fire was coming, call to him : —
"Turn back, you red-face fellah, me no want you
company."
Fire was coming down more and more.
Tiger bawl fe Fire a stop, but Fire coming for the
better.
So Fire get in the yard an 1 burn all Tiger clothes
an' house, an' turn right home back.
Annancy laugh, an' sing: —
Dry -Grass and Fire.
131
Allegretto.
$
fiHl - [» 1
Mewifesay menofe in-vite Fire, Brether Fire bring
Breeze oh! Fire de 'pan Ian* Fire, Fire de'pon Ian* Fire.
i
b-M
He burn up all Tiger yard, ha ha!
Brether Fire an*
\ §>r ^
S7\
m
Breeze oh ! Fire de 'pon Ian' Fire,
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
ire de 'pon Ian' Fire.
Fire de pon
NOTE.
The shell looks like a very small cowhorn and gives a similar sound
when blown. It is used as a signal for a variety of purposes. It sum-
mons to work and marks the hour of release. When a train of mules is
nearing a sharp turn in the road, the head muleman blows a fanfare to
give warning of his approach. The shell is in fact to the mule-track
what the whistle is to the railroad. Imitation shells are sometimes made of
bamboo. It was perhaps one of these that Annancy made.
l 3 2 Jamaican Song and Story.
XLIII. JOHN CROW.
One day there was a lady who have but only one
daughter, an' Mr. Tacoma hear about the gal an' he
went to court the gal
An 1 when Tacoma go the gal wouldn' receive Tacoma.
An' the mother was really vex.
As the mother being a old lady, when Tacoma going
Tacoma carry a brass mortar to made it a present to
the old lady to beat her fee-fee. An' when the old
lady see the brass mortar he really want the mortar.
But Tacoma said to her if him don't get the gal he
not going to leave the mortar.
An 1 the gal 'treat away himself inside the room an'
hide.
An' Tacoma feel very sorry an' he return home
back.
When he goes home he tell Annancy about the gal,
an' Annancy get a concentina he going to carry down
make a present to the gal.
An' Annancy say if the gal can only take the concentina
from him the gal must be his wife.
An' when Annancy go down Annancy was playing.
The gal wouldn' receive Annancy in.
An' when the mumma hear, the music was so sweet
she commence to dance ; an' said to the daughter, this
is the son-in-law him want, for he can get him own
dance any time him ready.
Not for all Mr. Annancy playing the gal wouldn'
receive Annancy, until Annancy has to go home back.
When that ugly fellah Mr. John Crow hear it he study
between himself an' get a carriage with his pair of
John Crow. 133
horses an' his coachman, an' the carpet in the carriage
was a gold carpet.
An' John Crow said between himself when him put
on him watch an* chain an' his coat an' shoes, if him
don't bring that gal home believe him no Mr. Goldman.
An' John Crow drive away.
An' when him get to a distant to a look-out, the
gal was at his window sitting down, an' as him look,
him see Mr. Goldman was driving coming.
An' him holloa to him mumma : — " Mumma, mumma,
my dear love is coming."
An' as John Crow reach the yard the gal was out
an' sling Mr. Goldman out the carriage an' escort him
right into the house.
An' after John Crow introduce himself to the gal that
his name is Mr. Goldman.
An' when John Crow tell the gal so, the gal have a
old-witch brother an 1 says to his sister that that man
is John Crow.
An' the gal get vex an' say :— " Oh no, don't use
a word like that; it is my dear Mr. Goldman."
An' when the mumma come the gal introduce him to
Mr. Goldman, an' tell him that his dear love just come
now.
An' Mr. Goldman fix a time when to come back
an' get married, and the mother was agree, an' the gal
was very glad too.
An', when they settle that, John Crow drive back to
his yard.
An' when he is coming back the next night he brought
a old-witch boy with him an' hide him half part of the
road near the yard, an' tell him that as he see day
clearing, he must call him that he may got home before
day clear.
An' he reach the yard an' spend the night in a very
joyful dance.
134
Jamaican Song and Story.
So it getting near day an' the boy sing: —
Allegro.
Mis- ter Gold-man oh I Gold-man oh! Day da clean oh!
An' when the boy sing out the people them inside
the house hear.
An* when they hear they say: — "Stop! Stop! Stop I
some one is calling Mr. Goldman."
An' the dance so sweet Mr. Goldman he wouldn' stop
to listen. He only says: — "Oh don't listen to that
foolish boy." An' when him use the word him one in
the ring wheeling all the gal them.
An' that time him hear a sing: —
AlUgro.
IJMI ff ^ I J J* j I J»J» JH Ja ^
i
Poor mir - ry - bim-bim nb - bim-by-bim • bim, Gold
a wheel him gal, Gold - man a wheel dem.
An' when him wheel all the gal him look outside the
door an' see that day catch him; so him cry excuse
an' went up'tairs.
An' when he go up he take a piece of meat an' look
for a broken sash an' 'queeze himself t'rough.
An' as him go t'rough, the sash 'crape off the whole
of him back head, an' from that day every John Crow
born with a peel head.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES,
fee-foe, food.
treat away himself, retreats', retires,
oo n oe nttna , always with this a.
John Crow. 135
nim ready, she is ready for it, wants it
a look-out, a place visible from the house.
filing, hand, with a notion of vigorous action.
an' sayi, who says.
a word, often a sentence of several words.
tan ohm, tell her mother.
sweet, pleased.
when him use the word, as he said this.
excuse, to be excused ; pronounce the s like s.
John Crow is the vulture-like scavenger bird of Jamaica, and has a
peeled (bald) head.
XLIV. TIGER'S DEATH.
One day Mr. Annancy an' Monkey made a bargain to
kill Tiger, an* they didn' know how to make the con-
fusion for Tiger was Monkey godfather.
An' being Monkey have more strength than Annancy,
Annancy try to keep close Monkey an' wouldn' leave
Monkey company at all by he afraid for Tiger.
Until one day Annancy went to river an' catch some
fish, an' send an' call Brother Monkey to come an' help
him enjoy the fish.
An' when the breakfast ready, instead of Mr. Monkey
come, it was that cravin' man Mr. Tiger who Annancy
really hate, an' to every piece of the fish Annancy take
up to put in his mouth, Tiger take away every bit an'
never cease till him finish the whole.
An' when Mr. Annancy friend who he invite come,
there was none of the fish to give him.
An' as Monkey being love fish he began to cuss his
godfather Tiger.
136
Jamaican Sang and Story.
An' that time Puss was passing when the confusion
occurred.
An' they go on an' go on till Puss laugh. An' as
Puss laugh Tiger get worser vex an' begun to cuss Puss,
an' Puss said to Monkey: — "Come, make we beat him
off to deaf."
An' Monkey wasn 1 agree to beat his godfather, but
Annancy an' Puss force him.
An' Tiger get cross begun to lick, an' the first man
him lick was his godson. An' then as him lick him god-
son Puss catch a fire 'tick, an' Annancy catch up a mortar
tick, an' they never cease murder Tiger till they kill him.
An' they 'kin Tiger an' just going to share.
An' there comes a singing from the tree : —
Allegretto.
»*.:
IJM gi* i JVJ'/JVJV
You long-tail Mis-ter Monkey, Give me piece of de
1 j^ J' r * nj&
liv - er,
a no you one tummy fe full.
message me faring fe Tiger say bur-y-in > de" a yard; awhlfe
do,
awhe* fe do oh! Tiger dead al • ready.
An' all the look Monkey an' Annancy look, they never
find the person that was singing.
So they salt Tiger.
Then Peafowl come down in the yard say: — "Good
evening Mr. Annancy an' Mr. Monkey, I am very hungry.
I was on a long journey bring a message to Tiger that
him wife dead, but Tiger dead already."
Tigers Death
137
So the whole of them stop an 1 eat of Tiger.
Peafowl never go back with no answer to report, for
Puss an' Monkey an' Annancy give Peafowl gold not to
talk that they kill Tiger.
So Peafowl never can be a poor man for he keep the
t'ree friend secret.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
ocnfnaloii, quarrel, which was to be made the pretext for killing Tiger.
wilt fo do, what to do ? what is to be done ? To this question the implied
answer is " Nothing." So the phrase means : — " It can't be helped.
XLV. THE OLD LADY AND THE JAR.
A OLD lady have two son, one name Dory Dunn an*
one name Tumpa Toe, an' Tumpa Toe an' Dory Dunn
is a hunterman.
Well, they give them mumma enough things an' say : —
" Mumma, I am going a wood, don' interfere with that
Jar in my room."
When them gone old lady say: — "I wonder what my
son have in that Jar say me no fe touch/'
Old lady go an' shub him hand inside in the Jar.
The Jar hold old lady.
Old Lady say: —
Andcmtino. _
^jfcfflJlp K | f
2Z
=*
1
Tampa Toe, Lord !
Dory Donn oh,
Lord!
i3«
Jamaican Song and Story.
An' the Jar say
Alltgro,
Mum-ma longu - be - lo, turn tul-la-lul-la-lum turn.
An' the Jar lire him from the room to the hall.
An' when him reach to the hall him say: —
Jar say: —
" Tumpa Toe, Lord 1
Dory Dunn oh, Lord ! "
"Mumma longubelo
Turn tullalullalum turn."
An' all this time the Jar holding him by the hand
an' can't let him go.
An' the Jar t'row him outside a door.
When him get out a door old lady say: —
Jar say: —
" Tumpa Toe, Lord 1
Dory Dunn oh, Lord!"
"Mumma longubelo
Turn tullalullalum turn."
Jar hold him 'till.
Jar fire him to seaside now.
An' he got one daughter a seaside.
The daughter say : —
LargJutto.
Do my Jar, Do my Jar, will yon save, will yon save my mother life!
Jar say: —
Maestoso.
Old la-dytouohma, old la-ty touch no, yra norer will ■•• kin ao more.
The Old Lady and the Jar.
139
The daughter say: —
Larghetio.
t ^~rr
3
s=?
is
f
Do my Jar,
Do my Jar I
I will
||
S
^
give you some sil-ver fe save my mother life.
Jar say: —
Andante.
^
a
3i
^
£^
^
No, my gal,
No, my gal,
I got sil-ver al -
read - y ; Yon ne - vex will
The Jar fire him in a sea.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
see him no more.
NOTES.
Tampa, stump. A man who has lost his arm is called a tumpa-hand
man.
enough things, plenty of things to eat.
In these curiously simple tunes, if tunes they can be called, it is most
important to mark the time and to pay great attention to the lengths of
the notes. To hear them sing, 01 rather say, " Lord ! " is the most laugh-
able thing. The first one begins on a note rather below the of Toe, and
slides downwards ending with an expiring grunt on a very low note of
the voice. The second one is done in the same way, but is, all the way
through, a Kttle lower than the first. The point is to let the breath go
with the sliding note instead of holding it as in singing.
longubelo. The first syllable is pronounced as in English, and the rest
of the vowels are Italian, the • being rather more narrowed, but never
quite reaching to the sound of bale.
tun tunalullaltun torn. Strong accent on the tall and clean neatly
cut syllables. Italian vowels.
nrammjL The 11 between Italian n and Italian 0.
140 Jamaican Sang and Story.
Are him, throws her. Yet not quite "throws," for the Jar never lets her
hand go. Fire 'tone is the usual expression for throwing stones. The
Jar fires her first from the bedroom to the living-room (hall), next from
the hall to the yard, then from the yard to the seaside, and all the time
it holds her by the hand.
XLVI. JOHN CROW AND FOWL-HAWK.
One day Fowl-hawk go to John Crow yard an' tell him
that him fe come have a walk with me to a country for
something promise there to me.
" One day I go out an* in my way I pass a river. As
I come to the river I meet Fowl. Him ask me to help
him up, an 1 the baby any time him born I must come
for it Well my dear sir, the baby born ; an' when I go.
Fowl say him never make a promise with me. Look
you, sir, if you see the picny, nice fresh fe we mouth,
an' a no the one, but him hab more. So you will get a
good bag of fresh, but the country danger home."
John Crow say : — " Me yerry dat place hab bad name,
me no want go."
Hawk say : — " You too fool, we a man ! we'll get 'way,
me son, if them want to catch we. When me go 66 the
first time me go slam in a Fowl yard. Me an' him stay
a whole day a quarrel, an' me no dead. Come, me good
friend, make we go."
Them start
Them fly an' fly till them get over the country.
Hawk say : — u Brother John, we get over the place.
Look down yonder, look fresh!"
John Crow say: — "Me no go down dd"
Hawk say: — "A so! you too fool! Come make we
go down little more.'
Them go down till them pitch on a tree.
i
i
John Crow and Fowl-Hawk. 141
Hawk say: — "Brother, you see them better. I da go
sing make them know say me a come."
John Crow say: — "If them yerry you, dem no will
kill we ! "
" No, all time me go down me an' Fowl a good friend,
no mo' the little quarrel we have/'
Hawk call out: — "See me ya me da come, me da
come to the bargain, me da come, come; twillinky
twing ping ya, me da come."
Fowl hear, tell him picny dem fe go hide.
So Dog was a gunner man, an' him an' Fowl a good
friend, for Fowl always give him good treatment
So Fowl go an' tell Dog say : — " Danger ! hawk a come
fe me daughter, so me a beg you fe come a yard an'
shot him fe me when him come."
Dog come, an' him an' Fowl hide.
Hawk said to John Crow : — " Come make we go down."
John Crow say "No."
Hawk say : — * Hungry will burn you back."
John Crow say: — "Me no trust, me wi' wait 'pon God
leisure."
Hawk say: — ''All time you wait 'pon God fe give you
you will never get; no see me a man no wait 'pon no
man? Me go look what me know me want, but me if
I get anyt'ing I never give you little piece self, you
foolish fellow you ! I gone."
Hawk start the singing again going down: — "See me
ya, me da come, twillinky twing ping ya."
By Hawk get down Dog hit him bam.
Hawk dead.
John Crow laugh " Ha ha ! let me pull me rusty bosom
shirt an' put on me gown an' go down to see what do
that fellah."
John Crow go down.
As him get on Fowl-hawk find that him was dead him
say: — "T'ank God, ha, ha!"
142 Jamaican Song and Story.
John Crow dig out the two eye and say : — " A this eye
the fellah take a see/ 1 an 1 put it in his pocket an' turn
on eating.
Dog look, an* say to Fowl: — "You finish with that
one, so, sister, any time them come you send an 1 call me.
I can't stop, I am very vex. I send out my son yesterday
an' Puss meet him on the road an' beat him an' take
'way the money that I give him to give Brother Monkey.
Him tell me son say him have a old grudge fe me an'
him can't get to beat me, so him will beat all me picny.
So, sister, I ha da go home, will be blue fire when I
catch Puss."
When Dog go to Puss yard an' call him, Dog ask Puss
for a drink of water an' a piece of fire.
Puss say: — "Go 'way from me gate, I know wh£ you
come about"
Dog say: — "Ah, me man, will be blue fire!"
Puss gate was lock, for Puss have company the day.
This company was Rabbit
Dog say: — "I want to see you."
Puss say: — "Go 'way I tell you, you mout' long like
a devil fork."
Dog broke the gate an' go in.
Puss lock up his house, an 1 stay inside an' cuss Dog
till Dog has to go home.
An' Monkey say him will get the money from Puss
for them is good friend.
So Dog go home to his yard an' have a hatred for
Puss till death.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES,
help aim up, with his head-load,
frean, fresh meat.
a no the one, etc., he has not only one, he has several.
danger bom*, is very dangerous.
John Crow and Fowl- Hawk. 143
Of«r tlM country, over the place.
M* sm ya, etc, see me here, I am coming.
tvHUngky twin* ping ya, a good imitation of the Hawk's vengeful
shriek. Strong accent on the ya.
bain, French a, English m, imitating the discharge of the gun.
what do that fellah, what has befallen that fellow.
XLVII. FINGER QUASHY.
One day Dog invite four Puss to dinner. They were
good friend. One of the Puss name was Tatafelo, one
name Finger Quashy, one name Jack-no-me-touch. The
last one was Tumpy John because he has no tail.
When them come, all the Puss was in long coat an"
burn-pan hat. Dog was in trousies an' shirt.
An* Dog tell them all howdy very friendly, for he
didn' know what Finger Quashy doing him.
An' Finger Quashy quite glad fe see how Dog look
friendly an* please, an' didn* have no fought that him
was tiefing fe him pear.
So the whole of them sit down, Dog making a com-
plain to them that, so he get a pear an put it to ripe,
by the time he ready for it him don't see none.
An 1 Finger Quashy was doing it
An* Finger Quashy jump up tell Dog: — "Mr, Dog,
me no tell you all time say you want one watchman ? a
da' fellow Ratta a tief you pear. Last night me dream
say me see you put me fe watchman an' me catch the
fellah, so you better put me fe guard you house from
that tiefing Mr. Ratta."
Dog was quite agree.
Dog said: — " After dinner I will tell you better."
Quashy said "Yes."
144 Jamaican Song and Story.
So Dog lef them gone to get dinner.
By Dog gone, Quashy come out of the house, go into
Dog buttery, -see two green pear, take them out go hide
them.
Ratta see him go over the kitchen cry out : — * Why,
why, why ! Quashy take you pear ; you no yerry ?
Quashy take ahm gone."
By Dog get in the house Quashy was in already sit-
ting down look quite meek an' christianable.
Dog lef them go see if his pear was there.
When he go there was none, an' Dog don't like noth-
ing as his pear an' bone, an' he get vex, take all the
dinner t'row it 'way, go in the house take down his 'tick.
By the time Dog fe lick one of the Puss everybody
was on a tree on the far side of Dog yard.
Dog swear all sort of bad word fe the one that take
him green pear.
Everybody say : — " Thank God me no eat green pear."
Finger Quashy said : — " Lard ! what a man fe swear ! "
Dog see that he couldn' manage to catch Puss, leave
and go away.
An' as Dog turn round, his son playing with fire burn
his house an' all his clothes.
From that day Dog hate Puss till now, for it is Puss
cause him to have one suit till him dead.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
Tataxelo, Italian a, the other vowels English.
Pear, *.*. the West Indian pear, a delicious vegetable,
tell you betfear, make the final arrangement.
Why, why, why! squeaked like a rat
by the time Dog fa lick, as Dog was going to strike.
everybody, used also of inanimate objects. They say: — "I going to
water cabbage, tomato, everybody."
Tank God, ate., a favourite form of exculpation, which, however, does
not necessarily imply innocence.
Annancy and his Fish-Pot. 145
XLVIII. ANNANCY AND HIS FISH-POT.
One day Brother Annancy always set him fish-pot
in a river ober a fallin' fe catch jonga. Tacoma usual
to go an' knock it
An' Annancy set watch into a river corner, an* Tacoma
come fe knock it ; he didn' know Brother Annancy hide
there fe watchin' him.
As Tacoma go over de fish-pot Brother Annancy
chuck him down, an' Tacoma catch in de fish-pot.
Annancy go beg Brother Rabbit say : — " Bro'er Yabbit,
me fish-pot catch a big fish, come an' help me knock
it, me one can't manage it, Bro'er Yabbit"
Brother Annancy an' Brother Rabbit went to the river.
Annancy say: — "Bro'er Yabbit, me feel me tummy
hurt me dis marnin', no able fe put me foot in de cold
water, see if you one can manage fe take out de fish-pot"
Brother Rabbit go an' take it out till he nearly make
shore with the fish-pot.
Annancy say: — "Bery well, you kill Brother Tacoma!
Bery well, you kill Brother Tacoma!"
Then Brother Rabbit commence to cry now, an' the
frettenation in a Rabbit he say he kill somebody an' he
know they going to hang him, an' next day Rabbit dead.
Then the case didn' try again.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
fish-pot, made of bamboo strips and looking like a lobster-pot.
Jonga, the smallest of the three kinds of crawfish which abound in the
streams and rivers of Jamaica.
knock, empty.
146 Jamaican Song and Story.
tommy; a less pretty word is really used. Annancy squeaks his words
more than usual here.
Buy w*U,rte., in f rhythm JV* I J JVJV* I JW* andhedaps
his hands to the measure twice in the bar.
frettenation, probably fright, but may have something to do with fretting.
Owing to Rabbit's fright, he says that he has killed a man. Rabbit, through
fright, says that he has killed a man. These elliptical expressions are hard to
understand until one has heard them often.
try again, try after all
XLIX. HOG AND DOG.
One day Hog was going out to look work, an' Hog
name was Cuddy.
An' he got out an' walk all about an' couldn' get no
work.
An' when he come home Ratta employ him to keep
watch for him when Broder Puss is coming.
An' Hog ask Rat how much is his pay.
An' Rat tell him that he will give him free an' six-
pence a week but he must find himself every t'ing to
eat an 1 drink.
An 1 Hog didn' agree. But as the time being so hard
he says he will bear with Ratta till the week out
An* when the week done Ratta pay Hog, an' Ratta
t'ought that Hog was still keeping watch for him.
So Ratta go out, an' when he come back he didn'
fin' Hog.
An' him say : — Wasn' God, Puss would broke in on him.
An' him cuss Hog that Hog would walk an' never get
no work, an' some which worse than Hog will laugh
after him.
An' Hog start one morning to look work.
Hog and Dog.
147
What that fellah Mr. Dog done Hog.
As he, being a market-keeper, he set down at the
market gate an' see Hog was passing, an 1 he ask Hog
where he is going.
Hog tell him that he is going to look a little work.
Same time Dog burst out a laugh. An' as he burst
out a laugh he ask Hog t'ought he was working with
Ratta.
An' Hog feel so shame to himself till he wouldn'
answer Dog.
An' Dog laugh after Hog with this sing: —
Allegro.
i jiHi j.j Jir m i : Jj-j-jij;
Time get so hard Hog an' all a look work, Dog sit down a
jj'mijHyvj iipgp
market gate an* go laugh at a Hog distress; me ra-rabum Cuddy de" da
i jMjjyjij J J ^j.nA^iL^m
door,merarabumCud-dyd^dadoor,merarabumCud-dyd^ da door.
An' Dog sing an' sing an' sing till Hog get vex an'
come home back.
An' from that day that's why Hog must always hate
Dog until now.
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
Onddy, short for Cordelia,
warn' God, if it wasn't for God.
raratram, nonsense word, Italian vowels.
d£ da door, is at door, is out of doors.
148 Jamaican Sang and Story.
, L. DEVIL AND THE PRINCESS.
Once a King has a daughter, an' that gal was a pet to
her father.
So one day a Prince come to ask for her.
The father love the young man, but the gal say: —
" Puppa, me don't like him." So the father promise her
that anybody she see she like he will agree to it.
So one night a good friend of the King made a dance
an' invite the young Princess to the ball.
This man who made the dance invite all classes of
people. So he invite Devil too, but they don't know
that it was Devil.
When all the guests come everybody give their name.
Devil give his name Mr. Winkler. So the ball com-
menced.
Devil see the gal. He went an' ask her if she wish
to dance with him.
The gal was so glad say : — " Yes, sir, for I love you
the most"
When they dance till daylight the gal don't want to
lef Devil.
She say to Devil : — " Come have a walk home with me."
Devil say : — " Yes, I would go, but I am a man have
such a great business, I has to go home very soon to
seek after it."
The gal say: — "Come go home with me you will get
me to marry, for my father is a King."
An' as Devil hear about marry he go home with the
gal.
When she get to the house she call to her father: —
" Puppa, here come my lover, I have found him at last."
Devil and the Princess. 149
So the servant-boy was an old-witch, said : — " Young
mistress, you know that man is Devil?"
The gal get vex, begin to cry.
She go to her father crying, tell him " the servant-lx>y
cuss me most shameful."
The father get upstarted, coipe out to the boy, don't
ask the boy nothing, catch the boy an 1 put him in
prison.
They take Mr Winkler in the palace, an 1 the father
fix up an' they get marry.
After Mr. Winkler get marry he said: — "I am ready
to go."
The King say: — "No, I can't send away my one
daughter. You must stay and I will make you a King
too."
Mr. Winkler say "No."
During this time they don't know that it was Devil, for
when the boy tell them they get vex.
Devil marry ten time an' he eat all his wife, so he
was going to eat this Princess too.
So, as he was so anxious to go, the gal have to go
with him.
When they ready to start the father give them a long
bag full with money. Devil get a boatman an' they
start.
They sail four days before they get to their home.
When the gal get there she go meet a old lady in
the house. This lady was Devil cook.
As he got in he said to the cook: — "I have got a
good fat meat for the party."
So Devil go an' lock up the gal in a bar, an' lef
the old lady to watch if the gal is going to get 'way.
He lef a Cock that any time the old lady say that the
gal get 'way he must call, an' him lef a bag of corn to
feed the Cock that he may keep good watch.
The old lady say * Yes."
i5o
Jamaican Song and Story.
Devil ready to start, order his t'ree-foot horse saddle,
for he is going to invite his friend to come an 1 help
him eat the gal.
He start, deeble-a-bup, deeble-a-bup.
As he get about a mile the old lady go in to the
gal, take her out an' tell her that her husband is Devil
an' he is going to eat you.
The gal begin to cry.
The old lady say: — "Don't cry, I love you an* I
going to let you go, but the Cock is a watchman; he
will see you, an' if he see you he will call for his master,
but never min' I will try."
The old lady get ten quart of the corn an 1 a gallon
of rum, soak the corn in it for about a hour, an' after
give it to the Cock.
An' the Cock eat the whole evening till night, an',
after him finish eat, him drop asleep.
The old lady get a boatman an' pay him an' he take
the gal over the sea.
When day nearly light the Cock wake an' go to look
if he see the gal through a hole. When he look the gal
was gone. Him go to the cook an' ask.
The lady said : — " Him gone, an' I was calling you an'
you never wake."
Then Cock sing out: —
Allegro.
Mister Wink - ler Wink - lcr oh —
coo-coo-n
wake go look a hole
the gal was gone.
Devil and the Princess. 151
Mr. Winkler hear an 1 was coming like lighten with his
t'ree-foot horse, deeble-a-bup, deeble-a-bup.
He call out: — "Me coming", deeble-a-bup, "Me com-
ing", deeble-a-bup.
At last he reach the yard an' see the gal gone. He
get a canoe an 1 start after her, an' by next day light he
see the gal boat was far away.
He call out : — " Sairey d6 'pon sea, Sairey d6 'pon sea,
come back darling, you husband 66 come fe you."
When the gal look he say: — "Shub ahead, boatman,
do, to save me life!"
An' by the time they get a land Devil was near them.
An' the boatman shot off a piece of Devil canoe an'
water get in, so Devil has to go home back.
An' when the gal go home, tell her father what was
her life, the father say : — " Don't marry again to nobody,
not if even the King."
An' the father take her in an' give her servant to look
after her.
Jack Mantora me no choose any.
NOTES.
eui, abuse. It does not imply swearing. To swear is to cuss bad word.
In a bar, a barred-up room.
deeble-a-bup, the sound of the three-legged horse's step. Compare the
itty-itty-hap of "Mr. Bluebeard."
The Cook adopts Annancy's device in (< Annancy and Screech-owl."
oooeoorloo. The Cock's crow is excellent The Negro is very clever
in his imitation of animals.
a hole, at the hole, through the hole.
canoe, pronounced with accent on the first syllable and French a.
152 Jamaican Song ana Story.
LI. WHEELER.
One day Puss was going out on a journey, an' he travel
till he reach to a river mouth. An' as Fuss being afraid
for water he couldn' cross the river.
An' Fuss has to stop for two day an' one night, an"
Puss climb a tree which hang over the water.
An 1 Mr. Annancy was fishening.
An' Annancy fishening till him come where Puss was,
an 1 Puss didn' call to Annancy.
An' same time Annancy meet up a licking 'tump a
river side. Annancy lick, him lick, him lick, him lick
outside till him sen' him han' inside.
An' when Annancy shub him hand him feel something
hold him.
An' Annancy get very frighten an' pull fe get him
hand out, an' him couldn' get 'way.
An' Annancy ask the question : — " Who hold me ? "
An' a voice in a the 'tump said: — "Me, Wheeler."
An' Annancy said to him must wheel him make him see.
An' him wheel Mr. Annancy mile an' distant
An' when Annancy drop he didn' dead, an' he said : —
" T'ank God ! I met with a little accident, but I see it
going to be a living for me an' me family."
An' Mr. Annancy went home an' get some lovely iron
peg, an' when him come he plant them in the river
course to the very spot which him did drop.
That time Puss seeing all what Mr Annancy is doing.
Annancy leave, an' come where Wheeler is, an' keep
himself very quiet, an' presently Peafowl was passing.
An' Annancy call upon him say : — u Bro'er Peafowl, a
living is here for me an' you."
Wheeler. 153
An* Peafowl ask him what is it
An* he take Peafowl an 1 cany him where Wheeler is,
and he says: — "Bro'er Peafowl, you see that hole. As
you hand is so long, don't be afraid, just shub you hand
in there now an' you will find something grand."
An' as Peafowl shub in him hand Wheeler hold him.
An' Annancy tell him that he must pull.
An' when him pull he couldn' get 'way.
An* Mr. Annancy feel very proud an' happy till he
laugh with joy in his heart
An 1 when him done laugh him tell Peafowl to say: —
"Who hold me here? "
An' Wheeler say: — "Me, Wheeler."
Annancy tell him to say: — " Wheel me mile an* distant"
An' him wheel Peafowl an' dash him on the iron peg,
an' Mr. Annancy went an' pick him up an' put him in
his bag.
An' him went back to his old place a bush an' sat quiet.
That time Puss was seeing all this.
Ratta was passing, an' as Annancy see him Annancy
said to him : — " I's all you deeshent man I like to see.
An' Ratta ask him:— "What for?"
An' Annancy say : — " Don't be afraid ; a living is here
for you an' me."
An' he carry Ratta an' show him the 'tump.
An' when him show Ratta, Ratta ask him if this is
the living.
Annancy say: — "No shub you han', man, in the hole,
an' you will fin' a living."
An' as Ratta shub him hand Wheeler hold him.
An' Annancy tell him that he must pull.
Him say he can't get 'way.
Annancy tell him to ask: — "Who hold me?"
" Me, Wheeler."
Annancy tell him must say: — "Wheel me mile an'
distant."
154 Jamaican Song and Story.
An' he wheel Ratta an' dash him on the iron peg
again.
Annancy went an' pick him up an' put him in his
bag, an' go back same place.
After, Puss come down off the tree an' walk through
the bush an' go down the river a little ways an' then
turn up back, coming up very meek an' poorly.
Annancy so glad to see Bro'er Puss him say: —
"Walk up my bold friend Mr. Puss. Come an' see the
living which is here for me an' you."
An' Puss playing as to say that he didn' know noth-
ing at all about it.
An' Mr. Annancy begin to show Puss the 'tump, an'
he tell Puss to shub him hand in the hole.
When Annancy show Puss the hole, Puss say that
him don' see it
Annancy get vex and say: — "Shub you han' you so,
man! Shub you han' you so, man! There, there!
An' Puss put him hand another way, playing to say
he don' see it. An' he go on, go on, till Annancy make
a flourish with him own hand, an' Annancy hand slip in
the hole an' Wheeler catch him.
An' Annancy begin to cry as him know the danger
which is down below.
An' him cry out: — "Do, me good Bro'er Push, jus*
run a river course ; you will see some iron peg, pull them
up for me."
An' Puss begin fe walk in him sinnicky way, an' hide
a bush where Annancy can't see.
When Puss come, him say him pull them.
Annancy wouldn' believe, an' crying still say : — " Bro'er
Push, mus' go an' fetch one come make me see."
Puss go, an' when him come back him come with-
out it.
Annancy ask him where is it
Him tell Annancy that it too heavy, an' him roll it 'way.
Wheeler.
155
An* Annancy, still crying, wouldn' believe. An* he
begin to call Puss Godfather Push, an' beg him hard: —
"Do, me good Godfather Push, just you jump pull
dem."
An' him go on, go on, till him believe Puss, an' him
ask the question: — "Who hold me?"
"Me, Wheeler."
"Wheel me mile an' distant."
An' Annancy fly by the air an' drop slam on his own
trap.
An' Puss walk down an' pick up Annancy, an' put
him in the bag with Peafowl an' Ratta an' carry off all
the living with a jolly song : —
iu^^
Poor me lit • tie Cub-ba boy, barn day no Cub-ba ?
J OlJ'J.r I
Me da go da Vay - lum, barn day no Cub-ba?
Jack Mantora me no choose none.
NOTES.
licking 'tamp, a tree stump with bees in it The honey trickling out
makes a licking-stump of it.
lick, him lick, him lick. These words are run closely together, then a
pause, and then him lick outside. Pause again, after which the sentence
finishes.
wheel, to cause to turn or spin. I have no clue to Mr. Wheeler.
mile an' distant, to the distance of a mile.
!'■ all yon, etc., it's all you decent men.
What fort Ratta was suspicious of Annancy's flattery.
poorly, poor in spirit, meek.
smnloky, sneaky.
Bro'er Push, must go, you must go.
156
Jamaican Sang and Story.
barn day no Onbbaf is not my born-day (birthday) Cubba. Children
used to be named according to the day of the week on which they were
bom.
Day.
Boys.
Girls.
Sunday.
Quashy.
Quashiba.
Monday.
Cudjo.
Jubba.
Tuesday.
Cubbenna.
Cubba.
Wednesday.
Quaco.
Memba.
Thursday.
Qua.
Abba.
Friday.
Cuffy.
Fibba.
Saturday.
Quamin.
Beniba.
According to this list, Cubba is a girl's name, but it is perhaps short for
Cubbenna.
da go da Vaylum, I am going to Vaylum.
PART II. DIGGING-SINGS.
The Negroes when they get together never stop
chattering and laughing. They have a keen sense of
the ludicrous, and give a funny turn to their stories as
they relate the common incidents of daily life. The
doings of their neighbours form the chief topic of con-
versation here as in most places, and any local event
of special importance is told over and over. Presently,
after repeated telling, the story, or part of it, is set to
one of their dance tunes, and tune and words henceforth
belong to one another. This is the origin of the songs
which follow. With the explanatory notes attached
to them it is hoped that they will afford some insight
into the peasant life of Jamaica.
The tunes fall into two main divisions, " dancing-tunes "
and " digging-sings/' and besides the formal dances, whose
steps are thoroughly known, there is an informal kind
called "playing in de ring." It may be described as
dancing mixed with horse-play. It was in this kind of
romping that Parson Puss took part in the Annancy
story (No. XXIX.), and perhaps it was hardly the thing
for the cloth ! Ring tunes begin anywhere and anyhow,
and do not necessarily conform to the eight-bar rhythm
of the more regular dance tunes.
To the other class of songs belong the " digging-sings "
used, together with rum, as an accompaniment to field
labour. In March it is time to think of getting the land
158 Jamaican Song and Story.
ready for planting. So, having rented a piece of hillside
from a neighbour, if he has none of his own, the Jamaican
begins to clear the ground. The biggest of the trees fall
to the axe, and the brushwood, or bush, as it is called, is
chopped down with the cutlass, a few rod-like saplings
being left here and there to serve as supports for the
yams, which will by and by climb them like hops. After
a few days' exposure to the sun, he burns all the top
and lop that lies on the ground, which is then ready for
digging. He now calls in some of his friends to help
him dig yam-hills — so the phrase runs. What they dig
is, of course, holes, to begin with. The loose soil is then
piled up into small mounds in which the yam heads will
be placed. The object of the mound is to enable the
proprietor to see easily at any time how the tuber is
getting on, by just "gravelling" it with his hand. As
the hills are being dug, the rum bottle circulates, and the
digging-sings, which began quietly enough, get more and
more lively. The Negro is cheery at all times, but when
well primed with liquor he is hilarious. Nothing more
joyous can be imagined than a good " digging-sing "
from twenty throats, with the pickers — so they call their
pickaxes — falling in regular beat. The pickers work faster
and faster to the strains of a rousing " Oh, Samwel, oh ! "
or "The one shirt I have ratta cut ahm." One man
starts or "raises" the tune and the others come in with
the "bobbin," the short refrain of one or two words
which does duty for chorus. The chief singer is usually
the wag of the party, and his improvised sallies are
greeted with laughter and an occasional "hi," which
begins on a falsetto note and slides downwards, expres-
sing amusement and delight very plainly.
Digging-Sings.
159
LH.
Here is a specimen :-
Allegro.
Oh Miss Nancy Ray, Oh hur-rah boys ! Oh Miss Nancy Ray,
Oh hur-rah boys I Nancy Banana da broke man heart, Oh hurrah boys I
Nancynanansi9a broke man heart, Oh hurrah boys ! O Miss Nancy Ray,
•fff. F JlJ 1 J j H
Oh hur - rah boys ! Oh Miss Nan-cy Ray, Oh hur - rah boys !
The bobbin is " Oh hurrah boys ! " and a good swinging
one it is. If the bobbin is well taken up each sing lasts
for about five minutes, and the raiser of the tune prides
himself on the number of " turnings " or slight variations
he can give it He also improvises words as he goes
on. Such a sally as changing Miss Rag's name to Banana
would be met with laughter when it was first heard.
("Da broke man heart" means "has broken a man's
heart")
LIII.
The next example is a type of many of the sings.
It turns on a piece of local gossip. The "at last" is
significant and points to Catherine being an old offender.
The proffered sympathy is hardly sincere.
i6o
Jamaican Song and Story.
Allegro.
oh
Cat'rine gone a prison biddy - bye poor — me Cafrine
biddy -bye
y - bye
Cat'rine gone at last bid
Here is the story in plain English, " deep English " as
the Negro calls it, not understanding it well : — " Oh by
the bye I hear a report that Catherine has gone to
prison. My poor Catherine!"
(For " say " read " which says." " Biddybye " is the
bobbin.
LIV.
We come now to one which refers to labouring
life :-
Tell Mis-ter Link-y me wantgo, hmlhm! oh — — —
A
Ben - ji-man ! Bar-ra - rap Bar-ra-rap Bar-ra - rap me Ben - ji -
i |J. f \ r J Jff- r -i II
man
oh — — — Ben - ji - man !
The men are in the field watching the sun which is
getting low. They begin to think the head-man, Mr.
Digging-Sings.
161
Linky, is forgetting how time goes. He should be giving
the signal to "knock off work." So one of the gang,
meaning Mr. Linky to hear, says to his neighbour: —
" Benjamin, tell Mr. Linky I want to go." " Hm, hm I *
with closed lips, means a great deal. It is a sort
of good-natured remonstrance. Always Benjiman for
Benjamin and the Barraraps culminate in a sharp
final staccato rap. This has a longer bobbin "Oh
Benjiman ! "
LV.
The next might easily be mistaken for something of
the same sort: —
Allegro.
Tell Mister Bell me go plant co-co, Tell Mister Bell me go
plant co - co, Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco, tuppence a quart fe
flour ! Flour Flour Flour Flour ! tuppence a quart fe flour !
Mr. Bell is, however, the keeper of a country shop.
"Tell Mr. Bell I am going to plant cocoes. Threepence
a quart for shop flour! No, it's too much expense."
("Too much expense" is a favourite phrase.)
The accent which the music gives to the word coco
is not the right one. It should be on the first
syllable.
"Fuppence" is fivepence, but means threepence. This
is the survival of an* old coinage in which sixpence was
called tenpence. The u in "fuppence" is an Italian u
L
l62
Jamaican Song and Story.
with a turn towards an open o. It sounds more like
fourpence than fippence.
"Plant coco" is the bobbin, but a gang who were
inspired not to leave too much to the raiser of the tune,
would take upon themselves to add "Fuppence a quart
fe flour." ("Fe," sounded "fy," with short y as in
" very.")
LVI.
The next has again a well-defined bobbin in "nyam
an' cry," and hereafter no reference will be made to this
feature, which by now must be thoroughly understood.
Where it appears to be wanting, the whole sing is sung
in chorus.
AlUjrrdto.
HIP
Bad homan oh ! — — bad homan oh ! nyam an' cry, me
i. LI Ji
i- U- J-W
I
co - co no ripe, nyam an' cry, me ha-foo no ripe, nyam an* cry.
The man is " working his provision ground," and his
wife is always saying she has not got enough to eat.
She is a bad woman, who does nothing but "nyam an'
cry," eat and call for more, and my cocoes are not ready
to dig and my Afoo (Italian a, ahfoo) yam is not ready
either. (There are as many different kinds of yams as
there are of potatoes.)
LVII.
Continuing with subjects connected with field-work, we
come now to a sing which must have originated in old
Digging-Sings.
163
slavery days, when ringing a bell was the signal for
beginning and knocking-off work : —
Andante.
Bell oh, Bell oh, Bell a ring a yard oh ! oh— De
> J" «T h
JVJHJ J
a ring a yard on
Bell a ring a yard oh ! Baboon roll de drum oh,
Monkey rub de fid • die, oh — —
Bell a ring a yard oh !
The bell is ringing up at the house, says one of the
slaves to Degay the head-man, and we want our break-
fast; and another, seeing Degay look cross at anybody
presuming to make suggestions to him, tries to make him
laugh with the piece of nonsense that follows. We shall
meet with Degay or Deggy, for there is some doubt
about his name, again. It will be thought that either
the word Baboon is misplaced or the barring is wrong,
but it is not so. The negro is careless of accent, as of
many things. Here he likes to have it on the first
syllable, which he lengthens to " bah." " Rubbing " a fiddle
conveys the exact idea of the way they play it Holding
it not up to the chin but resting on the biceps, they rub
a short bow backwards and forwards across the strings.
If one of these is tuned it is considered quite satisfactory,
and the rest make a sort of mild bagpipe accompaniment.
Time is no object.
(" Bell a ring " may mean either " The bell is ringing "
or "The bell has rung." "A yard," in the yard. The
immediate surroundings of the house are called the yard.
They seldom speak of going to a friend's house. They
say they are going to his yard.)
164
Jamaican Song and Story.
LVIII.
Breakfast is at twelve o'clock, and after a short rest
work goes on again. A shower starts a new train of
thought : — ^
Allegretto.
i
l\ - r P
t
S— sc
The one shirt I have rat - ta cut ahm,
^ f^r J ^ l
S=K
£==:
Same place him patch rat - ta cat ahm,
Rain, rain oh !
l#rfT
E=£
Rain, rain oh !
^
^i
Rain, rain oh fell down an' wet me up.
"The rats have cut my only shirt with their teeth. I
put in a patch and they bit it through again in the
same place, so when the rain came down it made me
very wet."
(The broad "ahm" (for him, it), is more used now by
the Coolies than the Negroes. " Ratta " is both singular
and plural. When I first heard the word I thought it
referred to a terrier. "Same place him patch" — in the
same place where it was patched, just where it was
patched.)
LIX.
The kindly sun comes out, the shirts are dry, and an
amorous youth, with that absence of self-consciousness
which is characteristic of the race, begins : —
Allegro.
p a j j^^jj
Jes - sie cut him yoke suit me,
Jes-sie cut him
Digging-Sings.
165
yoke suit me,
So-so wahk him wahk suit me,
iH
m
ts=K
im
i
Jes-sie cut him yoke suit me,
oh
*
3C
^
me,
oh — — suit me,
i
suit
^m
oh —
j^JV U. J S I J ^
— suit me,
Jes - sie cut him yoke suit me
Broadly this means : — " all that Jessie does is right
in my eyes. She dresses perfectly, but it is enough for
me to see her walk to adore her. Jessie cuts her yoke "
— technical term of modistes and tailors I am told — "to
suit my taste."
("So-so walk him walk," is literally: — "the mere walk
that she walks with suits me" They are fond of this
repetition of a word, first as noun and then as verb.
Thus they will say : — Me like the play him play : — It
sweet me to see the dance him dance : — The talk him talk
was foolishness : — The ride him ride, him boast about it.)
LX.
" Three acres of Coffee " which follows, is more interest-
ing musically.
Andante.
Tree a - ere of Cahffee, Four a - ere of bare Ian',
J'J 'J'j> | j j7^
Tree a - ere of Cahffee, Why you no come come ask fe me ? Mum-
1 66
Jamaican Song and Story.
%
¥
k=l
ma ho me love the man, Mum-ma ho me love the man, Mum-
a^
^ Vj l ^JJ-ll
£^
ma ho me love the man, Why you no come come ask fe me ?
The boy has been telling the girl of his worldly pos-
sessions, but has not made any offer of marriage. She
is thinking it all over. " So you have got three acres
of coffee and four acres of bare land, then why don't
you come and ask for me ? "
" Bare " land is good land which has not yet been taken
into cultivation. The first money a poor boy earns he
spends in boots, which are the outward and visible sign
of being well-to-do. They hurt him, " burn him " as he
says, but no matter. Next he buys a piece of land.
This is probably in bush, covered that is with the rough
growth of grass, bushes and trees that so quickly springs
up in the tropics. He clears and plants it piece by
piece, as opportunity offers and inclination suggests.
LXI.
They are clever at inventing nonsense words to run
easily off the tongue. For instance : —
Andante. Allegretto.
A -way, away oui oui Madame.
never see the sight of Robart,
never see the sight
ightof F'edrick, Ding
dogaraggaway, Ding dogaraggaway, Ding dogaraggaway, Ding dong.
(" Away " is clearly a corruption of oui out.)
Digging-Sings.
167
LXII.
They like to complain of their little ailments, as thus:
Wednesday morning be-fore day, Wednesday morning before
k*=i
jgg
f. N- J' J J' I
day, Wednesday morning be - fore day, me ma'am, me
feel me
i
me head
^=3
a
hurt
me.
If a man happens to hurt himself, he sends or brings
the most exaggerated account of the accident. If it is
a cut on the hand, he " nearly chop him hand off." If
there is a trickle of blood, " the whole place running in
blood." In my early days in Jamaica my boy Robert
came rushing up with gestures expressing the utmost
consternation, and gasped out "Rufus hang!' 1 Rufus
was the pony. "He dead?" I asked. "Tiff dead!" was the
reply. We were doing a piece of important planting
in the garden, and I said " Well ! as he's dead there's
nothing to be done, and we'll go on with this job."
Two or three hours later, to my surprise, I saw Robert
carrying grass towards the stable. " What are you doing
with the grass, Robert ? "
"It for Rufus."
" But Rufus dead."
" No ! he don't dead again," which meant that he was
still alive. When I went to see, I found him rather
exhausted with his struggling — he had fallen on the
/
1 68
Jamaican Song and Story.
hill-side and got entangled in the rope — but not very
bad, and by next day he had quite recovered.
This kind of exaggeration enters into all their talk.
Once, travelling in a tram-car, there was a slight acci-
dent. The car just touched the shaft of a passing carriage
and broke it. One man said to his neighbour, " See dat ?
de buggy 'mash to pieces."
"All gone to snuff," replied the other.
LXIII.
Here are two different versions of the same sing. The
chord of the seventh held on by the voices sounds well.
Allegro.
m
ts
E
3
Z2I
m
JG£
Oh Sam - wel
oh!
i rf'j j j
zx
-(&-
Oh Sam - wel
oh!
T
It
£^
Oh Sam -wel oh ! Oh Sam -wel oh ! Sam wel, the
mm
±-
-&-T
e
lie yon tell 'pon me
^
turn whole house a me door.
i
(They never tell lies about people here, but always
upon people. "Turn whole house a me door," turns the
whole house out of doors, upside down as we should
say.)
Allegro.
*
i
LXIV.
I
M
Oh
22
S
2=^:
-G>-
zzz±
*li - za oh !
Oh
'li - za oh !
Digging-Sings.
169
*
j. i j Mnr^ ^
t==
1
Z±5
adt
Oh 'li-za oh!
Oh 'li-za oh !
li - za
I j VJV jy l Jj
'pread you coat make I lie down d£
under the
T«-
£=3
t
i
sha - tahl.
"Coat" is petticoat. I am told that 'liza could take
off a petticoat and still be quite properly dressed.
"Make I lie down," etc., i.e., let me lie down under
the Butcher's Stall. This is the name of a precipice just
below my house. Horses have several times fallen over
it and been killed. They then become butcher's meat
for the John Crows, the vulture-like birds which are so
useful as scavengers.
LXV.
We do not get many songs of the American planta-
tion type like the following: —
Allegro.
Aunt - y Ma - ry oh I
Aunt - y Ma - ry oh !
*J J V J JU
t~tj /rp^
£=3:
Aunt - y Ma - ry oh !
Aunt - y Ma - ry oh !
Aunt - y Ma - ry oh !
Aunt • y Ma - ry oh !
r»JNr £
Aunt - y Ma - ry Thomas,
O meet me a cross road.
(Cross roads are always a favourite place of meeting,
and a rum shop is generally to be found there.)
170
Jamaican Song and Story.
This is a monotonous form, and I am glad the musical
bent of our people turns in another direction.
LXVI.
See how superior this truly Jamaican form is: —
Allegretto.
8^
^^
£
Zi
£=£
^
Oh ! me yer - ry news, me yer - ry,
Oh ! me yer - ry news, me
EfeEgEjgg S j^jH j ^^J^r
i
t
yerry, Married homan a pull him ring me yerry Him put ahm a wine-
-s»*
^rrlf-JJ^=nCT^rrQ
glass — me yerry
Oh ! me yerry news— me yerry.
Local scandal again. " I hear news ; a married woman
has pulled off her wedding ring and put it in a wine-
glass," the first convenient receptacle she saw.
LXVI I.
It was some time before an explanation was forth-
coming for the next :
Allegretto.
i^
ju J s J 1 * ^
m
3=£
Jes' so me barn,
jes' so me barn,
you can
^r^ ^-f-^r-j-^ — ^- i
•*t— r
i
wear - y long boot,
jes' so me barn.
The words mean : — " I was born just so ; you can wear
long boots, boots that come high up the leg." A girl,
who has not money enough to buy boots, is envious
of a companion who is wearing them. She says : — " I
Digging-Sings.
171
was born, just as you were, poor. Yet you have got
long boots, while I must put up with 'bulldogs/ rope-
soled slippers. Where did you get the money to pay
for your boots? Did you tief it, or what?"
LXVIII.
In the example that follows, a girl has been left to
look after her little brother, and somebody reports that
she has been " ill-treating," i>. beating him. So the
message is sent back: —
Andante.
Tell Mary say, no do Johnny so.
is
Tell Mary say,
no do John-ny so.
"Tell Mary she is not to do Johnny so." "To do a
person something " is to do them an injury. " He so
crahss" (cross), a boy will say of his master, " and I done
him nothing," or " I never do him one def ting," a single
thing. u Def" is emphatic, but is not a " swear- word."
"Say" is often added in places where it is not at all
wanted. It occurs again in : —
LXIX.
Allegro.
Me tell them gal a Port Ian' Gap Min' Dallas man oh !
me amber
he" ! me amber he" ! me amber ho ! tell them say.
172
Jamaican Song and Story.
" I tell the girls at Portland Gap ' Mind Dallas men/ "
Portland Gap is in the Blue Mountains ; Dallas in the
Port Royal Mountains between the Blue Mountains and
the sea.
(The exclamatory " h6 " has the Italian vowel, hard for
some English ears to catch. It is nearly but not quite
" hay.")
The significance of "amber" is lost. This word occurs
again in the pleasant flowing melody which stands next,
and the boy who gave it me explained its meaning quite
correctly, saying it "stood for yellow."
LXX.
Allegro.
m
i=j=iir=j^ m=f7\ r • g e c
Gold oh ! Gold oh ! Gold am-ber gold oh ! Gold d£ a me
yard oh ! Gold am - ber gold oh ! Sell doubloon a joint oh !
Gold am-ber gold oh ! fe me gold a sunlight gold ! Gold am-ber
^=3ftij jlJ-Jl
gold oh ! fe me gold no copper gold ! Gold am -ber gold oh !
"Gold is in my yard," perhaps buried, but also per-
haps in the house, yard often including it. " My gold is
sunlight gold, none of your rascally copper stuff."
The doubloon is a large gold piece worth sixty-four
shillings. It has long been out of use and few people
in Jamaica have seen one.
(" Fe me," for me, often does duty for " my." <c This a
fe me hoe," this is my hoe; "take fe you panicle," take
Digging-Sings.
173
your panicle, the tin mug out of which the morning
sugar-water is drunk.)
LXXI.
No. 71, "Gee oh John Tom" is a brisk and vigorous
sing till it gets to "a me lassie gone" where the little
tinge of sadness is given by simple means, again the
right thing in the right place, good art.
Vivace,
I
Gee oh Mother Mac, Gee oh John Tom ; Gee oh Mother Mac*
Gee oh John Tom ; a me lassie gone, Gee oh John Tom.
LXXII.
Here is something very short: —
Andante.
Oh — — — Oh — — Leah married a Tuesday.
On asking if that was all, Levi, the contributor, said : —
" It no have no more corner," it hasn't any more corners,
or "turnings" as they generally say, what we call varia-
tions. Levi likes to cut everything short and rattle it
through with lightning speed. He it was who gave me
that little gem of an Annancy story about the rats and
their trousers (No. XL), and this is his: —
LXXI 1 1.
Allegro,
I
%
»
m
m
Cheer me oh ! Cheer me oh ! Cheer me oh ! My will fight fe you.
174
Jamaican Song and Story.
LXXIV.
In imitating animals the negro is clever. He moos
like a cow, grunts like a pig, whinnies like a horse,
besides the minor accomplishments of miauling and
barking. Even trammelled by music this cock's crow is
good : —
Allegro.
jj ^^ i
Me cock a crow — coo-coo - ri • co, before day him a
I
fc
t$
faji j jj . h J h flfe^toi
crow — coo -coo-ri-co, him a crow fe me wake — coo-coo - ri-co.
(Sound the * short as in rich.)
LXXV.
Now we come to a tragedy. Selina is drowned, and
they sing smoothly and flowingly : —
Allegretto.
m
j*j **i f *i
t
Oh— Se - li - na !
Oh-
m
1 r 1
Se - li - na !
John Crow de a riv - er side a call fe Se - li - na ! Oh poor Se-
Duppy an' all a call fe Se-li-na ! Oh poor Se-li-na.
Everybody in Jamaica believes in Duppy, and many
women and children will not go out at night for fear
of meeting one.
Digging-Sings. 175
A man, they say, has two spirits, one from God and
the other not from God. The one from God is good,
and the one not from God may be either good or bad.
During sleep, these spirits leave the body and go to
other people's houses in search of food. Being shadows
themselves, they feed on the shadow of food and on the
smell of food. They are seldom far apart, and the
heavenly spirit can always prevent the earthly spirit
from doing harm. At death the God-given spirit flies
up upon a tree, and goes to heaven the third day. The
other spirit remains on earth as Duppy. Its abiding place
is the grave of the dead man, but it wanders about at
night as it did when he was alive. A good Duppy will
watch over and protect the living. A bad Duppy tries
to frighten and harm people, which it is able to do now
that it has lost the restraining influence of its former
companion, the heavenly spirit. It can assume any sort
of shape, appearing sometimes as a man, sometimes as
an animal. If it is a very bad Duppy, it makes the place
where it is unbearably hot The Negro believes that he
can put a bad Duppy upon another person. 1 He proceeds
as follows: — Going to the grave at midnight, he scoops
a small hollow in the ground and puts in some rice,
sprinkling it with sugar-water, a mixture of water and
moist cane-sugar. He then directs Duppy to visit the
person whose name he mentions, and goes away without
looking behind him. The person on whom Duppy is
•
put becomes " tearing mad," and it requires a ten-pound
fee to " take the shadow off." How to do this is the Obeah-
man's secret. A Duppy of one's own family is worse
than a stranger's, and the "baddest" of all is Coolie
Duppy. One of the most dreaded Duppies is "Rolling
(*'.*. roaring) Calf." It goes about making a hideous noise,
and clanking a chain. " If Rolling Calf catch you, give
1 [Cf. Miss Kingsley, The Fetish View of the Human Soul, in Folk-Lore,
vol. viii., p. 138; also R. E. Dennett, Bccvili Notes, Hid., vol. xvi., p. 371.]
\
1
176 Jamaican Song and Story.
you one lick, you dead." Your only chance is to run,
and you must keep on "cutting ten" (making the sign
of the cross), and the pursuing monster has to go round
that place ten times. " Shop-keeper and butcher," so
goes local tradition, "tief too much (rob their customers
very much) and when they dead they turn Rolling Calf."
Those who are born with a caul can see Duppy. So
can those who rub their faces with the rheum from the
eye of a horse or dog, and those who cut their eye-
lashes. Every Duppy walks two feet above the ground,
floating in the air. If a child is not christened before it
is six months old, Duppy will carry it away into the
bush. To avoid this, a Bible and pair of scissors are
laid on the child's pillow. The scissors are a protection,
owing to their cross-like form.
Such are the main beliefs with regard to this remark-
able superstition of Duppy on earth. 1
This, however, is not all. At the day of judgment
the two spirits will be reunited to the body, and in many
cases the God-given spirit will go to hell after all. I
often ask my boys which of these three is themselves?
Is it the body? Is it the heavenly spirit? Is it the
earthly spirit ? But they do not understand the question
and have no sort of reply. When I ask if it is not
hard that the heavenly spirit after its sojourn in heaven
should go to hell, they laugh.
LXXVI.
Leaving the religious, we come now to, what Jamaica
considers more important, the colour question : —
Allegretto.
Sam - bo la • dy ho ! Sam - bo, Sam - bo la - dy
J [See Folk- Lore of the Negroes of Jamaica, in Folk-Lore^ vol. xv., pp. 87,
206, 450, and vol. xvi., p. 68.]
N
Digging- Sings.
177
M
*m
■j-t- w f f rjm
N=*
ho ! Sam - bo, Sam - bo no like black man, Sam - bo,
Sambo want white man, Sambo, Sambo no get white man, Sambo,
mm
Sambo no want man a - gain, Sambo, Sambo la-dy oh ! Sambo.
A Sambo is the child of a brown mother and a black
father, brown being a cross between black and white.
The Sambo lady, very proud of the strain of white in
her blood, turns up her nose at the black man. She
wants a white man for a husband. Failing to find one,
she will not marry at all.
LXXVII.
" Oh John Thomas ! " is a favourite digging-sing at
Goatridge, twenty-two miles from Kingston :—
Allegro.
i^
7,
S
Oh ! John Thomas, Oh !
Jot
J* JV r
n Thomas, Oh ! John Thomas,
iln
jmvjTT;
*** 1 I
John
Oh ! John Thomas, We all a combo
x> - low, John
go da lev - en mile
Thomas, Me see one gal me
p J 1 IJ^r J | J- X ^ *' lf J j
love, John Thomas, Me court her all the way, John
M
1 7 8
Jamaican Song and Story.
IjfrTJ^
3^J^=^
Thomas, Me come a Bangh
Thomas, Me
N M* I
buy one quattie bread
Thomas, Me part it right in
%
t-
two, John
Jrlrr J
Thomas, Me give her the biggest piece, John
i(jjb^jv ^nJ-j^j^ij j ^ ^
Thomas, and a war - ra more yon want, John Thomas ?
" Combolow " is comrade oh !
"Da 'leven mile," to Eleven-miles, the half-way
halting place between Goatridge and Kingston.
When he gets to Bangheson's shop he buys a quattie
(pronounce quotty, penny halfpenny, quarter of sixpence)
loaf, and what more do you want, John Thomas?
The quattie bread weighs eight ounces only. It is
therefore a dear and much esteemed luxury.
• i
LXXVIII.
Sambo, that we had just now, is the shortest
bobbins. Here we have a long one of four bars.
Allegro.
of
^^
WW mum-ma d£ ? Whe mum-ma de" oh ? Come go da
T7
'ta-tion, you see mumma de ; Him take half a day, him a
work se-ven dol-lar, Come go da 'ta-tion you see mumma d£.
Digging-Sings.
179
Mamma has got into trouble, owing to a failing
unhappily too common in Jamaica, inability to distinguish
between what is mine and what is yours. Her pay for
half a day was a " bit " (fourpence halfpenny) and she
has managed to " work " (sarcastic use of the word, for it
means to get by working) seven dollars — twenty-eight
shillings — and has been taken to the police station.
" Wh6 mumma d£," literally, " where mamma is ? " This
has been already noted as the usual form of question.
The vowel in wh£, di, is the French /. We have the
sound in English in the words, debt, west and many
others, but we always make it very short, and when it is
lengthened, as it should be here, it generally changes in
English mouths to the a of date, waste, which is wrong.
The C sharp on the word " 66 " is peculiar and
striking.
The second "d£" stands for "there."
LXXIX.
There is something pleasantly simple and narve about
the planting-sing: —
Toa - dy, Toa - dy, rain' yon - 'self, min' you - 'self make I
corn; plant me corn fe go plant me
plant me peas fe go court me gal, court me gal fe go
show mum-ma, mum-ma de one a go tell me yes, pup-
i8o
Jamaican Song and Story.
pa de one a go tell me no;
Toa-dy, Toa-dy,
min'you - 'self, min' you - 'self make I plant me corn.
"Mind yourself, little Toad, let me plant my corn."
So sings the boy as he brings down his digger with
a forcible thrust. The digger has been described as an
earth-chisel, and a very good description it is. It makes
a long slit in the ground into which the maize grains or
peas are dropped. Maize is always known as "corn."
Peas, which are also called Red Peas, are the "beans"
of America, familiar at home under the name of French
beans. We eat them not only green in the usual way,
but also make excellent soup of the dried ripe beans.
The boy is thinking of the reward of his labour. " I am
planting my corn. Some will be eaten green, some left
to ripen. That will be sold. Then I shall buy peas,
plant them, and when they are ready for market get
sixpence a quart for them, if I am lucky. Then I shall
be rich enough to walk with a girl. I shall pick out a
nice one that mamma will approve of. She will be the
one to say 'yes, me son/ but puppa always crabbed,
and him going to tell me no bodder with it, gal too
much expense."
LXXX.
When known details run dry, the following gives full
play to the inventive faculty: —
Allegretto.
i
w^
m
Me know the man oh ! know the man, Name John Wat - son,
Digging-Sings.
181
knowtheman; him come from Bread Lane,knowtheman;nim rideoi
S3
rideonegreymule,
know the man ; the mule name Vic oh ! know the man ; him have one tumpa toe,
4 l{ i iI7H^^j^ i i »j,-7T^ H
know the man ; him come a Mister Thomson, know the man, fe go
is
jji" 1
sell him grey mule, know the man ; he no make no sale oh !
i?i ji J 1 i j j s j. u j IP
know the man, me know the man, know the man. 1
Other bars of this air have an inclination to £ time
besides those indicated.
It will be observed that repeat marks have only been
put to the first sing. It was not considered necessary
to continue them. The various " turnings " of the tunes
may be put in any order. The negroes themselves
never put them twice in the same sequence.
LXXXI.
Andante.
m
■^ 6 l J ■
Min-nie,
Min-nie,
me los' me boar;
1<( The" always tends to the pronunciation "de," but it has not been
thought advisable to write it so as this might render it liable to confusion
with "de," meaning "is," with its differently sounded vowel. Moreover,
it is not quite a true d, but has a pretty lisping sound intermediate between
M and <£
l82
Jamaican Song and Story.
m
P3*
*i »i
JJ^ J"
Min - nie,
Min - nie,
me los' me boar;
i
^i i j^i j j
^^
jj »j ju >
t
fr3=^
Minnie, Minnie, him a broke-foot boar ; Minnie, Minnie, me
\ § j j j i (jj^j-jj i j ■
los' me boar ; Min-nie, Min-nie, and a blind-eye boar ;
Min-nie, Min-nie, go find you boar, Min-nie, Mm-nie.
" I have lost my boar, Minnie. He's a broken-legged
boar and has got a blind eye," and so on through all
the defects or excellences that a boar might, could,
should or would have.
There could not be a greater contrast to this sombre
"Minnie" than the gay: —
LXXXII.
Vivace.
fc3E
lfM,J;: /-g-^
You want to yer-ry Duppy talk oh ! Come go da riv -er before
i
ft
fee
£
&
day,
an 1 you will yer - ry them laugh oh !
\fiP> f J* *** *&?* =£
Come go da riv - er be - fore day ; You want to yer-ry Duppy
£
fc=t
Be
e J* ft n
^m
talk oh 1 Come go da riv - er be - fore day.
Digging-Sings.
183
"If you want to hear Duppy talk, go to the river
before day."
LXXXIII.
Now the colour question crops up again. The Sambo
lady, it may be remembered, wanted a white man and
nothing but a white man. Sarah can do with a Sambo
man, from which we may infer that Sarah was black.
Allegro.
Oh me know Sa • rah, me know Sa
Sa - rah love white
man, me know Sa - rah ;
Sa-rah want Sambo man, me know Sa-
rfj ' U i
t
m
9i
rah ; Sa - rah no want black man, me know Sa - rah.
LXXXIV.
The pickers fall with slashing strokes to: —
Allegro.
[ff*-v, , HN_l^ =3
Me don-key want wa - ter, rub him down Joe,
g^i
rub him down Joe,
rub him down Joe ; Me
donkey like a peeny, rub him down Joe, rub him down Joe, Joe,
1 84
Jamaican Song and Story.
jv-j j 1 jH^^paJ-j- ij^rt^ ^
nib him down Joe ; Me Jackass gone a pound, bring him come Joe,
JJJ ji; | .r J J'ji^
bring him come Joe, bring him come Joe ; Me donkey full of ca - pers
rub him down Joe, rub him down Joe, Joe, rub him down Joe.
"Peeny" is the Candlefly, which shines like my donkey's
coat. "Bring come" for "bring" is very common, and
in the same way they say "carry go," the "come" and
"go" indicating the direction of motion.
LXXXV.
"Bring dem come" is the title of the next sing. It
is in a curious minor mode, almost F minor, but wanting
the leading note, which is replaced by £ flat.
Allegro,
A So-mer-set me barn,
bring dem come,
bring dem make me bat - ter dem, bring dem come, me would
take me pick - er bat - ter dem, bring dem come.
Wo-burn Lawn me barn,
bring dem come, I will
Digging-Sings.
185
1
like to see dem bat- ter me, bring dem come,
f
^
Goat - ridge me barn,
bring dem come,
<py s g ^
want to see dem jos - tie me, bring dem come.
This is a digging contest The Somerset men challenge
their neighbours. Whoever digs most yam-hills in a
given time is to be the winner. Every man is confident
that he will hold out longer than every other, and boasts
like Goliath. " I was born at Somerset ; bring the
strangers, bring them, let me beat them ; I will take my
pickaxe and beat them — I was born at Woburn Lawn ;
I should like to see them beat me." Honour and glory
is the sole reward, but that counts for a great deal. It
is so gratifying to hear the others say "Lah! that man
dig hill, ya."
("Jostle" has the same meaning as "batter." When
two ponies race, the riders try to jostle and foul each
other.)
LXXXVI.
The next is really a woodcutter's sing, but it is used
also for digging : —
Allegro,
±
^
^^
7£
X
Tim-ber lay down 'pon pit, Tim-ber;
cut 'im
m
£=5:
make we go 'way, Tim-ber ;
me want go 'way ya soon,
1 86
Jamaican Song and Story.
I'-Nj 4 U U J
Tim-ber ; tim-ber lay down 'pon pit, Tim-ber ; tim-ber,
I
tF
I
S3
tim-ber oh ! Tim-ber ;
^gfcas
me wanty go 'way ya soon,
^ J J \ ++*
Timber ;
me want go home back a yard, Timber ;
$
fr*-i— t
ced-ar tim-ber
f
ss
! Tim-ber ;
lash the saw make we
go home, Timber ; tim - ber lay down 'pon pit, Tim-ber.
"Lie down on the pit, timber. Cut it, and let us go
away. I want to go away soon, do you hear? Drive
(lash) the saw hard."
The pit is not really a pit The sawing is done where
the tree falls. A rough scaffolding is made and the log
is rolled up to lie on the top of it The bottom sawyer
stands upon the ground.
The West Indian cedar is not a fir but a deciduous
tree {Cedrela odoratd), which looks like a hickory or
walnut It grows in the hills, and its lightness and
durability make it very useful. Most people know it in
the shape of cigar-boxes.
The rest bars are sort of pauses for breath. It will be
seen that they break the rhythm. Throwing the accent
on "go," in "go 'way," is characteristic. We should put
it on "'way."
Digging-Sings.
187
LXXXVII.
Listen how restless and unfinished this sounds : —
Allegrttto.
JXT^
Me want go home a yard oh ! me want go home a yard oh ! me
ffi^l J 1 J JU ^
want go home a yard oh ! me want go home a yard oh ! a
^^
Gua - va Ridge me barn oh ! me want go home a yard oh I mum
frJ-*j-*4J.
ma me want come home oh ! me want go home a yard oh !
poor me boy me want go home, me want go home a yard oh !
Teach-er Bai - ley crahss 'pon me, me want go home a yard oh !
LXXXVIII.
The last example refers to the rebellion of 1865.
Several whites were murdered, and the survivors are of
opinion that their lives were saved by the prompt action
of Governor Eyre, who proclaimed martial law and
restored order by severe measures: —
Andante,
i
fefefe
£5=^
War down
a Monk-land, war down a Mor- ant Bay,
1 88
Jamaican Song and Story.
war down a Chiggerfoot, the Queen never know. War, war,
f
fei
N-4-
&£\
v
war oh ! War
Nbi oh I heavy war oh ! Soldiers from *
Newcastle
if 'i, ;■ J ;■ J" J i ^
come down a Monkland with gun an 1 sword fe kill sinner oh !
j^V-f
1
j u^
23
V J- V v
! heavy war oh !
War, war, war oh!
War oh
The places mentioned are in the parish (corresponding
to English county), of St. Thomas, except Newcastle,
the hill cantonment of the white troops, which is in the
next parish of St Andrew. "Chiggerfoot" takes its
name from the chigoe, chigger, or jigger, the minute
flea which burrows into the foot. It is interesting to see
that this contemporary comment by the blacks describes
the rebels as sinners. Further on, No. CXXXVII.,
will be found another view, in which they pose as
aggrieved persons. It shows that there was a loyal as
well as a disloyal party.
The reader has now had enough examples of digging-
sings to show their nature and variety. The Negro is
never at a loss for words, and the masters and overseers
of the estate on which he generally labours, Bushas as
he calls them — a word said to be derived from Pasha —
are often satirised. The gangs on private estates are
under a head-man, who is responsible to the Busha. The
Busha is a white or coloured man as a rule — coloured in
Jamaica meaning mixed white and black — and he is
responsible to the master or owner. The workers have
to be carefully looked after, for like other people the
Digging- Sings. 189
Negro will not do more work than he can help. Only
when he is working for himself will he " let out," as he
describes it, the whole of his splendid strength. It is
a mistake to suppose that the black man is either
stupid or lazy. When he has an incentive to work he
is industrious, and will do as much in one day in his
own field as he will in two for an employer who pays
him. In selecting land for planting his sagacity is
remarkable, and he knows just where it will "come,"
as he says, guinea yam or white yam, and where coffee
will succeed and where fail. It is a pleasure to see
their provision-grounds, the miscellaneous crop looks so
thriving. "Provisions" embrace all eatables, such as yam,
sweet potato, coco (colocasia), sugar cane, beans of various
kinds, maize (or simply "corn," as we call it, having no
other), okra (hibiscus esculentus), cassada (rnanihot utilis-
sima), plantain, banana, arrowroot, pindar (arachis hypogoea,
a ground-nut), pumpkin, tomato and cabbage.
PART III. RING TUNES.
That informal kind of dancing, referred to in some of
the Annancy stories, known as "playing in the ring" or
" Sally Water " has its origin in English children's games.
Sometimes it is merely a case of hunting the slipper or
of finding a key passed from hand to hand, but more
often what begins in playing ends in dancing. The
nature of this playing in the ring will be best under-
stood from examples.
LXXXIX.
First, as giving its name to the whole, must stand : —
Andante.
Lit - tie Sal - ly Wa - ter sprinkle in the sau - cer ;
Rise, Sal - ly, rise an* wipe your weep-ing eyes. Sal - ly
i
*;
*3E
fs=K
BE
w
^£
turn to the East, Sal • ly turn to the West, Sal - ly
turn to the ver - y one you like the best.
Ring Tunes.
191
Allegro,
4 ** t e e c_u
On the car -pet you must be hap-py as the grass-bird
$A J' J 1 ^frr ' : g ic p -r j 1
on the tree, Rise an' stand up on your leg an'
$
^fif-rT^ f J* J «n
choose the one that you like the best. Now you mar-ried I
M^J^ J^h M J^M
give you joy, first a gal an* second a boy ; Sev-en year after,
sev - en year to come, give her a kiss an' send her out.
The boys and girls join hands and form a ring.
One — the sex is immaterial — crouches in the middle and
personates Sally Water. At the words "Rise, Sally,
rise," he or she slowly rises to an erect position,
brushing away imaginary tears, turns first one way and
then another, and chooses a partner out of the ring.
Where the tempo changes, they wheel — a rapid turning
dance — and after the wheeling, the partner is left inside
the ring and becomes Sally Water. 1
XC.
Another form of this Ring tune is : —
Andante.
iftu J j* r- M-^
Poor lit - tie Zed - dy they put him in the cor - ner !
1 For a discussion of this game, perhaps the best-known and most widely-
spread of all English singing games, see A. B. Gomme, Traditional Games,
vol. ii., p. 149.
192
Jamaican Sang and Story.
i
H— jv-t
^L'y.r/'U J' j '
Rise, Zed - dy, rise an* wipe your weeping eyes ; Zed - dy,
p J jp | Ji JS -^4J jp | J' ^
turn to the East; Zed-dy, turn to the West; Zed-dy,
turn to the ver - y one you like the best.
XCI.
The negro is a born actor, and to give emphasis to
his words by appropriate gestures comes naturally to
him. The little comedy which follows suits him to
perfection : —
Allegretto.
Wh6 me lov - er d6?
ee - mya, see - mya. Me
See - mya,
in
£cq5
jftphHa
lov- er gone a sea ? See - mya, see - mya. Me no see me lov - er
m
s ±£tt /j'jMj ^
m^?
ya. See -mya, see -mya. Him gone a Col-on bay. See-
mya,
see -mya. Go fin* youlov-er now. See-mya, see-
mya.
No make no 'tu - pid de*. See-mya, see - mya.
fyr***
^m
JE^XpU
Fool dem let dem go. See - mya, see - mya.
Me lov-er
Ring Tunes.
193
iiPi
comeback
IP
. See-mya
m
mya, see-mya.
Go take you lov-er
m
§*§
m
f 5 ^
now. See-mya, see-mya. Wheel him make me see. See-
\ $ 1 -j^u
PP^i
mya, see-mya.
Throw a kiss to him. See-mya, see-
$
ijh 1 _p. i j ^ 1
mya.
Wheel him let him go. See-mya, see-mya. 1
A ring is formed, and a girl is put in the middle.
She asks: — "Where is my lover?" and the ring answers
in chorus : — " See him here." " Has my lover gone to
sea?" and the answer comes again: — "See him here"
The gal goes on : — " I do not see my lover ; has he
gone to Colon bay?" and then, as though speaking to
herself: — "Go, find your lover now. There! don't pre-
tend to be stupid." At this point she takes the hand of
a boy in the ring as if she were going to dance with
him, but immediately pushes him back, and says, still
speaking to herself: — "Fool them, let them go." Then
simulating contrition and breaking the hitherto even
rhythm: — "My lover, come back!" At "Go take your
lover now" she goes again to the same boy, takes him
out of the ring-circle and dances with him. They wheel
at the words "Wheel him make me see," which mean,
" Let me see you wheel him." Finally at "Wheel him
let him go " they part hands.
Frequent references will be found to Colon. Jamaica
labourers used to go there in large numbers to work on
the Panama canal.
'To avoid the tiresomeness of contraction marks, "see him ya" has been
written in one word. It sounds exactly like senior with an m instead of an n.
N
194
Jamaican Song and Story.
XCII.
To the same class belongs: —
Allegro motto.
Bftfe
J J | |. J
1PI
Ring a dia - mond, ring a dia • mond, Why a
T7
m
•i i \ y ru-JJ i
ring a diamond. Get in the ring you'll find one Sam-bo boy.
Why
ring a diamond. Me look me da look me no
r-Mfj^j
$nd one Sambo boy. Why
P33
ring a diamond. Me
find me diamond, me find me dia-mond. Why
t
^s
j j i f j i j 1 1
ring a diamond. Wheel you dia-mond, wheel you dia-mond.
\ §V l j. U i j j U
Why oh ring a dia
^
ring a dia-mond. Let go dia - mond»
U'frf' ji-i j
let go dia-mond. Why
¥
t
Tu-
ring a dia-mond.
This tune has a beautiful swing. In many bars it is
almost impossible to distinguish whether the tune is
triple or duple. Much license may be allowed in the
direction of the latter to a good timist, but the general
Ring Tunes.
195
impression of triple time must be kept The " Sambo
boy" bar must be sung very smoothly. It is neither
quite as it is written the first time nor quite as it occurs
in the second, but just between the two. Three even
crotchets with judicious tempo rubato would give it It
will be understood that these tunes are sung antiphonally.
In this one the leaders, who know the tune and words
well, sing the first four bars and the next four belong
to the chorus, after which the leaders take it up again,
and so on.
There is an opportunity here for a little harmless
"chaff" about colour. The diamond chosen is a black
diamond, the blacker the better. The ring forms round
him joining hands, and one girl is pushed in to look for
the Sambo boy. She says: — "I look, I am looking, I
don't find a Sambo boy" {i.e. a quarter black). At last
she finds her diamond, either the boy inside the ring
or one of those who circle round him, and they dance
together, wheeling and letting go hands at the words
"wheel," "let go."
" Why " is an ejaculation, probably the same as Hi !
XCIII.
Another chorus tune of the same kind is :-
Tempo di Valse.
l*r J |J J J | ppj
The gal ov-er yon - der car-ry ba-na-na,
■1 j ij j
gal oh I gal oh! car-ry ba - na-na. A nine-hand ba-
na-na, car-ry ba - na-na, a Chi-ney ba - na-na,
196
Jamaican Song and Story.
f r u J J 1
car - iy ba - na - na. You find the ba - na - na ? car-ry ba
na-na. You tief the ba - na-na? car-ry ba - na-na.
The girl is supposed to be carrying a bunch of
bananas on her head, and the singers are commenting
upon it and asking the girl questions, as they do here
at a distance of half-a-mile. "Look! It is a nine-hand
banana. No, a China banana. Did you find it? Did
you steal it?"
Banana bunches are reckoned by the number of
hands they contain, the separate bananas being called
fingers. Nine-hand is a convenient market size. The
China banana is a stout low kind which withstands
wind : the fruit is, however, coarse.
The signal for taking a partner is given by the words
"You find the banana?"
XCIV.
In the next there is no dancing. The ring closes up
tight, shoulder to shoulder. Hands behind the back
pass the ball round and round, and the girl inside the
ring tries to find it The person with whom it is found
has to go into the ring and turn seeker.
Allegro.
the ball an* the ball goin
goin'
Mo-ther, ho-ney, oh ! the ball goin' round.
.'" *•» ■
Ring Tunes.
197
3^
Jour - ney, ball, jour - ney, ball, jour - ncy, ball, jour - ney,
fp=
m
m
I
*
w
Mo - ther, ho - ney, oh I the ball can't find.
The conventional "gwine" for "going" hardly represents
it, only the o is pronounced so short that the word
becomes practically one syllable. In the dance tunes we
shall come across the word " dying" shortened in the
same way.
XCV.
A variation of this is obtained by putting a ring on
a cord and sliding it along. The tune is : —
Allegretto.
i j T 7 * r | J - Jl J
c P f. f- r r 1
Me los* me gold ring fin' an' gi' me,
Me
los' me gold ring fin' an' gi' me, Me fas' me gold ring
fin' an' gi' me, A me husband gold ring fin' an' gi' me.
XCVI.
In "Mother Phoebe" again there is no dancing: —
Old moder Phoebe, how happy you be When you sit under the
198
Jamaican Song and Story.
Jin • ni - per tree, oh the Jin - ni - per tree so sweet.
^=m
Take this old hat an' keep your head warm, Three an' four kisses will
do you no harm. It will do a great good fe you.
Here the girl inside the ring takes a hat or cap and
after several feints puts it on somebody's head, and that
person has then to take her place in the ring.
XCVII.
More lively is the joyous : —
Allegro motto.
Do,
^
j'J vc i r JV i
do, do, do, do, Deg-gy, Deg-gy house a go
m
u. ju h-
burn down, do, De Gay. Deg-gy wh6 you would a do de"
i (f) j, j'ij j-ji ^
T
mp
do, De Gay? Deg-gy dood an' doo - dess do, De
|§|
S^
*
Gay. Deg-gy go roan', Deg - gy do De - gay. An* a
^
PPP
cutch-y fe Deg-gy do De-gay, an' a wheel an* let go
do, De Gay. Deg-gy house a burn down do, De Gay.
Ring Tunes.
199
The boy inside the ring "makes all sort of flourish/ 1
dancing and posturing by himself. The word "cutchy"
is accompanied by a deep curtsey, on rising from which he
takes a girl out of the ring and wheels her. Deggy
or Degay, has occurred already in No. LVII. Whether
it is his own house that is burning, or somebody else's, it
is impossible to conjecture. Observe the varying accent
on the name. In taking down this song I first wrote
"doodan doodess," thinking they were nonsense words
suggested by the repetition of do, do, do, but on asking
further about them was told that "dood" is a "risky
beau-man," a smart well-dressed young fellow. So it is
the American "dude" and its female counterpart "dudess"
which here take the place of the usual "gal and boy."
XCVIII.
The latter we find in :
Me go da Galloway road, Gal an' boy them a broke rock
^■W 1 1 ^-I^ P
stone, Broke them one by one gal an' boy, Broke them two by
two gal an' boy, Take up the one that you like gal an' boy, Ah !
this here one me like gal an' boy, broke them t'row them down gal an' boy.
I go to Galloway road (where there is a quarry).
Girls and boys are breaking stones. They break them
one by one. They break them two by two, etc Choosing
stones suggests choosing partners.
200
Jamaican Song and Story.
XCIX.
We come across " dude " again in : —
Allegro.
m, l , rJJ l r l r r Jpggii
Ros-y-bel oh— why oh 1 Ros-y-bel oh — why oh!
Ros-y-bel let go Mister Por-ter son, Ros-y-bel oh — why
oh ! Ros - y - bel cock cock crow da yard, Ros - y - bel
^j-jjjijMKricp^
£=
oh — why oh! Ros-y-bel let go Mister Por-ter son,
u^j^rJu ujiju^'r 'P ^
Ros-y-bel oh — why oh! Ros-y-bel oh — why oh!
§>\i-:i
jj'-i i j juji
Ros- y- bel oh — why oh — Ros-y-bel wheel him doodjes'
iyV"jTT773
jj i jm/j'J i j j i
now, Ros-y-bel oh — why oh! Ros-y-bel cock cock
\ p\\ J^l j HAT J |J I3TF7*4J^H
crow yon no know, Ros-y-bel oh — why oh! Ros-y-bel
wheel him let him go, Ros-y-bel oh — why oh!
Ring Tunes.
20 1
C.
The play in the next is rough, and the holders of
hands in the ring must have strong wrists.
Andante.
$
J J J JJM
E
Me da le le le, me da le le K, Bull a pen
ho I gin- ger • ly ! the bull a broke pen 1 gin-gei - ly I A Mount Siney
i
bull ! ginger-ly ! A Galloway ball I ginger- ly ! bulfa broke pen Igingerly f
Two strong young fellows personate the bulls. One is
inside the ring and the other outside. They paw the
ground and moo at each other but must not fight unless
they can break the ring. When the ring is broken at
last by a determined rush, one of the bulls is sometimes
seized with panic and jumps back into the pen (ring) where
he is safe. The fight, if it does take place, is not a very
serious affair, the cowmen soon coming up with their
ropes (handkerchiefs) which they throw over the bulls'
heads and so draw them apart. 1
(Me da cU would mean Me is there, I am there. L£
is substituted for euphony, being probably suggested by
the last syllable of "gingerly.")
CI.
Another rough game is : —
AlUgro.
^£
P 3 *
p^tt££m
Two man a road, Crom-an-ty boy, Two man a road,
*[Cf. " Boll in the Park," Gomme, Traditional Games, vol. i. p. 5a]
202
Jamaican Song and Story.
fight for you la - dy ! Two man a road, down town picny,
Two man a road, fight for yon la - dy ! Two man a road,
i f t J' Jl 1 ^1 1
N N N
gUpl
Crom-an-ty win oh I Two man a road, Crom-an-ty win.
A line of girls stretches along each side of the road
and in front of them stand the two combatants armed
with sticks. One is a Coromanti (one of the African
tribes) and the other a Kingston or down-town boy.
u Fight for your ladies" cry the respective lines to
their champions. Whoever can disable the other and
snatch one of his girls across the road is the winner. A
mock doctor comes to bind up the wounds.
CII.
"Adina Mona," with its Italian-sounding words, is
noisy, but not so rough: —
Tempo di Vols;
Ho!
A - din - a Mon - a,
A - din - a Mon - a,
cutch-y fe gran'-ma; A -din -a Mon -a, Me tell Nan -a
marnin.
A - din - a Mon - a,
Na - na no want it ;
Ring Tunes.
203
A - din - a Mon- a, Me beg Na - na wahter ;
A -din - a
Mon -a, Him give me dirty wahter, A-din-a Mon-a.
Here they stand face to face in separate couples. At the
beginning of one bar the boys knock their hands upon
their thighs, and at the beginning of the next bar clap
them against those of their partners, as in the first
motion of the game of Clip-clap. As they do this the
boys walk backwards, occasionally wheeling, and making,
as they say, "all manner of flourish."
CHI.
"Palmer" affords an opportunity for individual dis-
play : —
Allegro giocoso.
#*' 1 " i r c
EJiJ J r
Pal-mer, you just from town, Palmer, oh — William Palmer I
Pal - mer,you just from town, Pal-mer, oh — William Pal-mer I
*zm
Show me the figure wh6 you bring, Palmer, oh — William Pal-mer !
Dat de" no style at ahl, Pal-mer, oh — William Pal-mer I
204
Jamaican Song and Story.
$f* r • g ( g p N- «rj 1 1
Pal • mcr,you just firom town, Palmer, oh— William Pal-mer 1
Pat on de style now more, Palmer, oh — William Pal-mer !
Palmer has just come back to his mountain home
from Kingston, and is urged to show the latest step for
a quadrille figure or other dance. His companions affect
surprise. What! is that all? Oh, Palmer, that's not
style!
CIV.
Very popular is the next one : —
Allegro.
p.* j J' i r r- r- p is J Jl i-*
Mo - ther Free - man, a wh6 me Gun -go d£ ?
Not a one can sow me Gun -go ; Fe me Gun-go, da precious 1
go.
Not a one can sow me Gun • go;
All the
aJ.jy.Ej.j'jtj j
gal them a go dead 'way 'pon me,
Not a one can sow me Gun-
f ffiH^ i J- J» 1 J- « N J* j^ J- j I j.
r=^
go.
All the boy a go dead 'way 'pon me,
pi
^m
i
3
Not a one can sow me Gun - go.
r
**mm
■^P
-v
n .iiuj j.
Ring Tunes.
205
Mother Freeman, where is my Gungo (a kind of pea)?
No one will sow my Gungo, or perhaps rather: —
Will no one sow my Gungo ? For my Gungo is precious
Gungo.
As they sing and dance, the boys pretend to faint,
and fall into the arms of the girls. When the words
change, the girls fall into the arms of the boys, who
catch them. "Dead 'way 'pon me," besides meaning to
faint, has a slang interpretation equivalent to: "All the
girls are death upon me."
CV.
The following is perhaps a sly allusion to some dull-
witted boy: —
Allegretto,
^
m
Me have me goosey a me yard, Me no call Bar-ny clever. Go
bring me goosey a me yard, Me no call Bar-ny cle-ver.
Wheel me goosey make me see oh! Me no call Bar-ny cle-ver.
Thick sour milk allowed to stand and curdle is called
"barnyclebber" [Irish word, F.Y.P.].
CVI.
Here we have a reference to the too common practice
of stealing, which is treated more as a joke than a crime: —
Allegretto,
Drill him, Constat), drill him ; Drill him, Constab, drill him ; She
206
Jamaican Song and Story.
ill-ing te go bay Sap • a - dill - a.
tief her mo-ther shill-ing te go bay Sap
; p •» gl
Bay Sap - a - dill - a,
buy Sap - a - dill - a ; You
ill-ing fe co buy Sap -a - dill - a.
go an' tief the shill-ing re go buy Sap
Wheel him, Constat), wheel him ; Wheel him, Con- stab, wheel him ; Him
tief him mo-ther shill-ing te go
go buy Sap - a • dill • a.
A girl is the delinquent and the " Constat) " (constable,
pronounce con as in constant) is inside the ring with her,
lightly beating her with a twig or pocket-handkerchief.
When one has been marched round and wheeled, he
" sends her out " and takes another.
Sapadilla is really a fruit something like a medlar, but
the name is given to all sorts of fruit, notably Granadilla.
CVIL
Another " flogging " tune, but without any dancing, is :-
Allegro.
If you make him come oat I will kill you to
night yo, Why do, me
na, do!
Ring Tunes.
207
A girl is in the ring and a boy is flogging her with a
whip. The boy says to the holders of the ring : — " If you
let her come out I will kill you to-night, do you hear ? '*
The girl is going round, begging to be released, with
the appeal to each one: — "Oh do, my Nana!" that is,
"Do let me out' 1
CVIII.
The most laughable antics, " mechanic " as they call it,
are indulged in in the next : —
Andantino.
T
^
P
*
me Toad oh ! Come a - long, Toad - eye ;
i ftj.'J'ir
! ' ! ;■;' J 1
Oh
me Toad oh ! Come a - long, me Toad - y boy ;
Come a -long, Toad - eye; Come a • long, me Toad-y boy;
me Toad oh! Come a - long, Toad -eye.
Each girl has a " Toad " in front of her to protect her.
The Toads jump about, and the one who can get past
the other and capture his girl, wins. Jamaican toads, or
at least the small kind, hop like the frogs of cooler
countries.
CIX.
The first half of the tune which follows occurs in the
story of Annancy and Screech-owl (No. XIX.) : —
208
Jamaican Sang and Story.
AlUgro.
There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la
jjU J IJJU ^'.N^
la, There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la
la, There's a black boy in a ring, tra la la la
t-^l±±M=
*=£
Ut,
He like su-gar an' I like plum.
Wheel an' take you paid • ner, jump aha - ma - dor !
^^
^
E
Wheel an' take you pard - ner, jump sha - ma - dor !
Wheel an' take you pard - ner, jump sha-ma-dorl For
x
J- j j u j
i
3
he like su - gar an'
like plum.
The boy inside the ring chooses his partner, whom he
leaves there after the dance. She obtains release by
choosing another partner, whom she leaves behind. So
there is alternately a boy and a girl in the ring,
" Shamador " is possibly a corruption of " camerado."
Ring Tunes.
209
CX.
The next is an old tune which is going out of fashion.
It is still remembered in my district, but nobody can tell
me how it is danced.
Allegretto.
i
K-f*-f>
John-ny, John-ny, da whar-ra fe din -ner? Three slice a
4 = 3
lil - ly bit a dumpling, Me Johnny come roll the board.
" Da wharra " literally means " is what" What is there
for dinner ? Three slices and a little bit of dumpling. I
tried to find out whether they were slices of dumpling
or slices of something else, but no one could tell me
that The dumplings are plain flour and water, innocent
of suet They are very popular, and are eaten with a
morsel of salt fish or meat Johnny is invited to come
and roll them on the board.
CXI.
We all know the next tune :-
Allegretto,
i
' J-J J' l e c J \ *&m
3
W
Me lov - er gone a Co - Ion Bay, Co - Ion Bay,
Colon Bay, Me lov -er gone a Co -Ion Bay With a handsome concen-
ijm j' f, 1 j' ; ±J" 1 r jjn ^
ti - na. Oh what is your in - ten - tion, in - ten - don, in
O
2IO
Jamaican Song and Story.
your in - ten - tionPMyin - ten-tion is to
mar-ry you. I will married to you, I will married to you, I will
mi
married to you, I will married to you, I will married to you, I will
NJI.T J-J
m
mar-ried to you With a hand-some con - cen • ti - na.
(Levi always sings : — " What is your retention, retention,
retention ? ")
In "I will married to you" the wheeling becomes a
giddy business, at least to the onlooker. The dancers
never seem to feel it, nor do they appear to mind the
heat They simply stream with perspiration and put
their handkerchiefs round their necks to save their white
collars.
CXII.
A little breathing time is given by: —
Andantmo.
Good morn-ing to you, mo-ther; Good mom- ing to you,
daugh-ter; What is your in - ten- tion? I want to be a
A
teach - er. You shan't be a teach - er. I bound to be a
N 1P«.1
1
i?**^ Tunes.
211
ii>"„j j i j j>.^
teach - er. Jump sha-ma - dor, me dar
ling.
What is your in - ten • tion ? I goin' to be a doc - tor. You
A
shan't be a doc - tor. I will be a doc - tor.
Jump Sha - ma - dor, me
dar
ling.
There is no dancing here. The mother walks round
inside the ring, the various members of which she
addresses in turn. "You shan't" is emphasised by an
uplifted arm swept vigorously downwards and a stamp
of the foot The answers go through the various
professions until it is felt that there is a want of some-
thing more exciting, which is supplied by : —
CXIII.
Allegro,
One John-ny Mil-ler he was lir-ingWa-ter Lane an' he
hp'T r ir g-c- i r r ir
wheel right roun' an' the la - dies drop.
212
Jamaican Song and Story.
One on the right an' the o - ther on the left, an 1 he
tf r r i r r - rH
I
P3£
wheel right roan* an' the la - dies drop.
The tune is again familiar. A boy takes two girls
out of the circle, leaves one in the middle and wheels
the other. Having dropped her he wheels the second
one. The wheeling over, she is dropped. These two
then resume their places in the circle, and the boy takes
out two more.
"Water Lane." Kingston lies on ground sloping evenly
to the sea. It is laid out on the American plan in parallel
streets. A broad " Street " alternates with a narrower
" Lane." The lanes pointing to the sea have water running
down them and are called Water Lanes.
CXIV.
The next is used both as a Ring-tune and for the
favourite Fifth Figure of the Quadrilles : —
Allegro.
$
K » h
m
Hg
Me go to Mo -rant Bay, Bah-lim-bo.
Me
see one Coo-lie gal, Bah-lim - bo.
Lard ! me love the
\$>\ J. JMJ M
w=*
gal, Bah • lim - bo.
Me tell her wait fe me, Bah-
w^^mmm
wmmwmm
mm
Ring- Tunes.
213
$
a;
EF
* i-N^Wli. /^
Um - bo.
The gal no wait at all, Bah-lim - bo.
$
a
fr |» r H _fr
J, j'U J I"* iJl
Me ride, me ride, me ride, Bah - lim - bo.
Me
catch her on the way, Bah-lim - bo.
Mebahssher all the
gr " J. j^h
¥=*$
way, Bah - lim - bo.
The mamma say me rude, Bah-
lim - bo.
Bat that no rude at all, Bah • lim - bo.
i
d*
^JVJHJtlJ-J 3
p f > r 1
For wo-man cloth so cheap, Bah - lim - bo.
Two yard fe bit, Bah - lim - bo.
Man cloth so
jjUVu^ E
dear, Bah - lim - bo.
One pound a yard, Bah -lim -bo.
" Bahlimbo " is a nick-name for a cheap sort of cloth, i.e,
fabric of any kind. In Africa calicoes are called limbo.
The " two yards fe bit " kind is calico print. A " bit " is
fourpence halfpenny. "Bahss" means buss, kiss.
White people pronounce Morant as it is spelt, but the
Blacks always put the accent on the first syllable, and
usually call it Morrum.
214
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXV.
As the time for dancing approaches (see note on
weddings in "Gaulin" p. 76) the ring breaks up, and
there is a lively marching tune or two, such as : —
Vivace.
i#»*r r
• e C c l -r
Oh den
w^
Jack - y me knee da go ben' a
§^^
palm palm;
j'j* J I QjjIJ M
oh me knee da go ben' a palm palm.
The couples with the right arm of one partner locked
tightly into the left of the other march about bending
their knees at rhythmical intervals, presenting the most
ridiculous appearance. The tune has an infectious gaiety
about it as its sections are sung over and over and
interchanged. If you repeat them as often as they do,
you will feel stealing over you that kind of intoxication
which the Dancing Dervishes experience.
CXVI.
There is a great deal of laughing over " Jacky," which
suggests 2 —
Vwact.
When me get a Mis-ter Walker gate, Me will laugh, ha, ha, ha,
ha 1 Me will langh he\he\ he\ hi I Me will laugh— ha, ha ! Me will
Ring Tunes.
215
laugh qua, qua, qua, qua! Me will laugh — ha, ha! Me will
laugh till me bus - tie drop! Me will laugb— ha, ha! Me will
J^JV-j'j * -
laugh hi, hi, hi, hi! Me will laugh— ha, ha! Me will
laugh ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Me will laugh ha, ha!
At the marks * a return is made to the first four
bars, always substituting a new name for Walker, and
the tune has many more "turnings" besides the ones
noted.
A sufficient selection of Ring tunes has now been
given to show their character. The number might be
indefinitely increased. Every district has its own, and
while some old favourites remain, new ones are constantly
in process of making. These supply, or more than supply,
the gaps caused by those which drop out
PART IV. DANCING TUNES.
Turning now to the Dancing tunes, the chief
difference to be noted is that they show a more marked
departure from what may be called the Jamaican type
of melody. Sailors bring popular songs to the seaports,
and from there they spread into the country. For a
time some of the original words are kept, but before
long they get changed. The change is partly due to
that corruption of the text which naturally takes place
as the songs pass from mouth to mouth, but mainly to
the fact that the words, referring as they do to English
topics, have no interest here. So we generally find that
the tunes are refitted with a complete set of new words,
describing some incident which has lately happened in
the district, or some detail of daily life. When these
reflect, as they often do, upon the characters of indi-
viduals the names have been changed and all evidence
pointing to the locality destroyed. The same course
has been pursued where it is thought the susceptibilities
of persons or their relations might possibly be offended,
even when there is nothing mentioned to their discredit.
The music consists of three "flutes" (fifes), two
tambourines and a big drum. This is the professional
element, which is reinforced by amateurs. One brings a
cassada-grater, looking like a bread-grater; this, rubbed
with the handle of a s£oon, makes a very efficient
crackling accompaniment. Another produces the jaw-
bone of a horse, the teeth of which rattle when it is
Dancing Tunes.
217
shaken. A third has detached from its leather one of
his stirrup-irons, and is hanging it on a string to do
duty as a triangle. The top of the music is not always
supplied by fifes. Sometimes there will be two fiddles,
sometimes a concertina, or, what is more approved,
because it has "bigger voice," a flutina. On asking to
see this strange instrument I was shown the familiar
accordion.
Their chief dances are the Valse, Polka, Schottische, and
Quadrilles in five figures, of which the fifth figure is the
most popular, or as they would say "sweet them most."
This figure goes either to £ or \ time. The f- figures
of the Quadrilles are often used for Polka, and Polka
and Schottische tunes are always interchangeable, the
only difference being that the Schottische requires a
slower time.
CXVII.
The ball opens with a set of Quadrilles : —
1st Figure.
When I go home I will tell me mum- ma,
js J» £> £ J. 1
K=
* d
*=?V
When I go home I will tell me mum - ma,
When I go home I will tell me mum - ma That the
gals in Jam - ai - ca won't leave me a - lone.
This is the production of a white musician to whom
the black girls were especially attentive.
2l8
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXVIII.
2nd Figure.
Guavaroot
a med-i-cine, Guavaroot a med-i-cinc,
Guavaroot a med -i- cine fe go core all the young gal fe-ver.
A decoction of the root of the Guava is used in cases
of fever.
" Medicine " is pronounced so as to rhyme with Edison.
CXIX.
3rd Figure.
Crahss-lookin' dog up - 'tain, Crahss-lookin' dog up - 'tairs ;
U J^' J J' l
lift up me foot an* I hit him a kick an' him roll up him tail an'
_f | J. t- i
**=*
run.
What you fe do with that?
[pj'.N'J j | J. ii J-
What you fe do with that?
I meet him up-'tairsan' I
hit him a kick an' he roll up him tail an' run.
See note to "Parson Puss and Parson Dog" (p. 93),
also Author's Preface.
Dancing Tunes.
219
CXX.
4*A Figure.
i j*i a ii jj'r. p f^
Goatridge have some set a gal So-so shirt them
can't wash.
Give me back me soap an 1 blue,
Give me back me soap an' blue, Give me back me
J J' * I j- J' J' j - M
m
soap an' 'tarch, So-so shirt them can't wash.
Goatridge is the name of a neighbouring hamlet.
When a boy "gives out his shirts to wash" he also
provides the girl with soap, blue and starch.
So-so means even. It also means only, as : — " I get
so-so potato fe nyam," I only got potatoes to eat.
"Shirt" is pronounced almost "shut"
CXXL
$th Figure.
Me car - ry me a - kee a Lin - stead mar -ket,
fiu. j^jvij ^p
Not a quat-ty worth sell.
what a los - ses !
Not a quat-ty worth sell.
Me car-ry me a -kee a
220
Jamaican Song and Story.
\ fO ^J^^j\riJ.Mij=g^
Lin -stead market. Not a quatty worth sell.
Oh
not a
light, not
a quat - ty worth sell.
The Akee (Cupania edulis\ pronounced acky, is a hand-
some tree producing something which one hardly knows
whether to call a fruit or a vegetable. Besides the edible
part, the beautiful scarlet capsule contains a substance
which is poisonous. Deaths by misadventure through
carelessness in its preparation for table occur every
year.
The time of these Quadrille tunes will be pretty
accurately judged. They would all come under Allegro
except the First, which is slower than the others, and it
might be headed Allegretto or even Andantino. The
Third figure is not much used, and many dancers do
not know the step. Its place is generally supplied by
one of the other figures. The most popular of all is
the Fifth, of which we have many examples to give.
The step is regulated by two beats in the bar of six,
so we find that they dance it also to {■ time, as for
instance : —
CXXII.
5 th Figure.
Since Dor - a Lo - gan a wahk with Gal - la • woss, The
man them a beat them wife with junk-a 'tick. Why, why,
Dancing Tunes.
221
gj j, j J* *=gE
why, A - mil - y J Bring back me dumpling, yah? A - mil - y ! No
dog, no puss, no fowl, A-mil-y. Bring back me dumpling,
No dog, no pass, no fowl, A - mil - y.
» j> J 1 1
Fetch back me dump - ling,
yah? A - mil - y.
This has to go very fast, indeed as fast as the words
of the second bar can be spoken. It will be found then
to correspond to a moderate Allegro in six time counted
in two.
Two stories are mixed up here. One of the girl who
walks with the Gallawoss — a Lizard with a gold eye
and an undeserved reputation for biting — which leads to
an age the reverse of golden, when the men beat their
wives with junka (short) sticks. And the other, of some
incident connected with breakfast in the field, when
Amily ate somebody's dumpling and laid the blame on
the usual scapegoat, the cat.
CXXIII.
The rapid speed necessitated by some forms of {- time
just suits the following: —
5 th Figure.
£:
fr-rm^ *
Fire, Mister Pies-ton, Fire ! Fi - er down the lane ! Then
i"Yah?"aDo yon hear?
222
Jamaican Song and Story.
i jfl ;■ j>f J' f m m
send the bri-gade fe go out the fire, The bri-gade can't oat the
i
¥
£
fire.
Fire, Mb - ter Pres - ton ! Fire, Mis - ter Pres - ton !
m
i
1" - J j> u
Fi • er down the lane!
Fire, Mis - ter Pres - ton !
PPi
m
w^
^
Fire, Mis - ter Pres - ton t Fi - er down the lane !
CXXIV.
Where the beat is in crotchets it sounds unduly
slow : —
5 th Figure.
i jut J
^m
s
+=F
Tief cahf - fee, Tief cahf - fee, Tief cahf -
fee, Be - nig - na Field, fe go buy silk dress, Fe go show them Gordon
boy, fe go show them Gardon boy, fe go show them Gardon
i f J' ^ ^ J' if: j* J' r i
^1
boy, Be - nig - na Field, you tief cahf - fee.
Dancing Tunes.
223
Benigna 1 Field steals some coffee to get money to buy
a silk dress to show off to the Gardon boys. (Gardon
is a place, not a family.)
CXXV.
$tA Figure.
Fan me, sol -dier man, fan me ;
Fan me, sol-dierman,
-$> k (QLJ1.1 1J S J^T^
fan me;
Fan me, sol -dier man, fen me oh I
Gal, you char -ac-ter gone! Sake a ten shilling shahl,
Sake a ten shill-ing shahl,
Sake a ten shill-ing
shahl oh ! Make me char -ac-ter gone.
1 Other unusual girls' names are Ambrogine, Ateline, Irene, Melmorine.
These rhyme with Queen. The same Italian i is found in Elgiva, Seppelita,
Barnita, Justina, aud the English i in Alvira, Marina. The next are all
accented, like the last six, on the penultimate ; Etilda, Iota, Clarista,
Pastora, Barzella, Zedilla, Amanda, Agarta (evidently a variant of Agatha),
Timinetia (like Polynesia), Cherryana, Indiana. Then there is Hettybel,
and one girl has this astonishing combination — Ataria (rhymes with Samaria),
Azadell (? Isabel).
224
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXXVI.
Schottische.
Iffi * j>.H Jl jo j I j *i JJ* ! J* JJ\H j a
Manny Clark a you da man I Manny Clark a you da man !
I
I
it
So so ride you ride a Ginger Piece, All the gal them a dead fe
you. Oh you take 'not-ta boil soup, take salt fish 'tick in it,
Gal, you want fe come kill me ? Oh you take 'nottaa boil soup,
H^'H I
take salt fish 'tick in it, Gal, you want fe come kill me ?
Manny Clark, a popular player of dance tunes, goes to
Ginger Piece and is overwhelmed with attentions by the
girls. He addresses himself as follows : — " Manny Clark,
you are the man! You just ride to Ginger Piece and
all the girls are dying for you." Then, turning to one
of them, he adds : — " Oh, you boil the soup with your
best, taking Anatto and salt fish to stick into it Do
you want to kill me with kindness?"
Anatto gives a rich yellow colour to the soup. Salt
fish (stockfish) is one of the principal articles of diet of
the peasantry.
Dancing Tunes.
225
CXXVII.
Schottische.
Ban - goMoo-lat - ta, Bun -goMoo-lat - ta, Who de* go
i* J'J' I J TTtJ-Jy/ J>j> | J'>J^
married you? You hand full a ring an' you can't do a t'ing,
Who de" go married you ? Me give you me shirt fe wash, You
^F?
Qi
J*^ J* /I
burn up me shirt with i - ron, You hand full a ring an' you
can't do a t'ing, Who d£ go mar • ried you ?
"You Bungo Mulatto, who is going to marry you?
Your ring-bedecked fingers can't do anything. When I
gave you my shirt to wash you burned it with an over-
hot iron."
Bungo (rhymes with Mungo) means a rough un-
civilized African.
A Mulatto is the child of two Brown parents, Brown
being the offspring of Black and White. He has rather
a yellow skin.
CXXVIII.
$tA Figure.
Bahl,
J- J J- r i .i u
Ad « a you must bahI7
P
226
Jamaican Song and Story.
$
&
j' p j ' j
Bahl,
Bahl,
Ad - a yoa must bahl/
^i 1 J" I
Ad • a yoa must bahl.
Ad - a you must
bahl till the cock say coo - coo - coo - coo - ry co.
Ada has been naughty and has been shut up for a
night in the dark. The poor little thing is "bawling/*
crying out in terror of the nameless horrors of the
night
CXXIX.
2nd Figure.
Rise a roof in the morn-ing,
Rise a roof in the
morn-ing; Tell all the nig- ger them to come, come, come,
Rise a roof in the morning. The Monkey and the Baboon them was
sit -ting on the wall, Rise a roof in the morn-ing;
I an' my wife can - not a - gree, Rise a roof in the
Dancing Tunes.
227
morn-ing. She 'pread me bed on the dir - ty floor,
Rise a roof in the morning ; For De - vil made the wo-man an'
God made man, Rise a roof in the morn - ing.
"Rise a roof" seems to mean, as far as I can under-
stand the explanation, "raise the roof"; as we might
say, "row enough to blow the roof off."
"Baboon" always has this accent on the first syllable
and a French a.
The Blacks do not mind calling themselves niggers,
but a White man must not call them so. To say
"black nehgher" is an offence not to be forgiven. The
word is used again quite kindly in the following: —
cxxx.
Oh we went to the riv - er an' we couldn' get a -
cross, We jump on the nig- ger back we think it was a
3
$
3
X
horse. 1
^
Then Ste - phen, Ste • phen, Ste - phen
X
t
2
%
t
i
boy, Ste - phen, Ste • phen, poor Ste - phen !
1 A last reminder to pronounce "acrahss," "harse." The Negro rejects
the sound aw altogether and always changes it to ah.
228
Jamaican Song and Story.
A party get to one of the bends of Four-and-twenty
River, so called because the road crosses and recrosses
it twenty-four times. Stephen carries them all over.
CXXXI.
Polka.
Aun-ty Jane a call Min-nie, Minnie won't go 'peak to
him ; Aun-ty Jane a call Min -nie, Min-nie won't go 'peak to him.
ajjl t-rj^g i f p j^uv ^j^ e
Wrap up in a cro-cus beig In a Sand-y Hill,
*F js J^ J- U^M | J»/jj ^^|
Wrap op in a cro-cus beig In a Sand-y Hill.
Aunty Jane does not want Minnie to keep company
with the boys at Sandy Hill. Of course Minnie wants
to go, and she does go. Aunty Jane sets off to bring
her home. When she reaches Sandy Hill she calls.
Minnie hears, but will not go and speak to her. She
hides in the coffee-store by wrapping herself in a crocus
bag or sack. " Crocus" is a rough cheap material
Coffee ready for market is put in the finer and smaller
canvas bags.
CXXXII.
Valse.
Mar - ty, Mar - ty t me wan-ty go home, Mar - ty
-tn^mm^^mut ^*-v«
Dancing Tunes.
229
Pli
) J I J J'j l
Mar - ty, me wan-ty go home, Mar • ty, Mar - ty, me
iim
I I J r J I J J
f9-
m
t=£
wan-ty go home, Me wan-ty go home back a yard.
XX
Tell me mum -ma say me want-y come home, Me want-y come
\ p j J i J J j i .i
home, Me want • y come home, Tell me mum - ma say me
\ ih j j j u i- j g=j=s
t
1
want - y come home, Me want • y come home back a yard.
Martin has been flogging his wife — not an unusual
condition of things — and she wants to go home to her
mother. He will take her message quite loyally. The
matter will be arranged and they will be good friends
living apart. Before long she will go back to him of
her own accord. They make up their quarrels as
quickly as they fall into them.
CXXXIII.
5 th Figure.
fKFjJ*! J % j, j S' J" I J- jr pg
What make you shave old Hall , Rosie Fowler ? What make you shave old
&
jjjj j i i j-jj j" J, J
Hall?
What make you shave old Hall, Ro - sie Fow - ler ?
/-
230
Jamaican Song and Story.
What make you shave old Hall ?
What make you shave old
hf-J' ." * p J s
Hall, Ro - sie Fow - ler ? What make you shave old Hall ? Mis - ter
Bar-ber have two teeth a him mout',Them sweet likea su - gar - plum.
Rosie Fowler left old Hall for Mr. Barber, and being
remonstrated with, shaved him, i.e. gave him a good
beating.
CXXXIV.
Mazurka.
mm
m
t
s
3
Run, Mos - es, run,
Mis -ter Walk-er da come;
i rf j j j i J ^
Run, Mos -es, run, Mis -ter Walk-er da come.
<j> JVJ J &.N J I J"/
lj r J S J V 1
buck your right foot, buck your left foot, Nev-er try lookback; If you
m
mr^
^
m
buck your right foot, buck your left foot, Nev - er try look back.
To "buck" is to strike, and the word is applied to a
stumbling horse, who is said to buck his foot against a
stone, or simply to buck. It also means to butt with
the head and is most likely a corruption of this word.
Bucking, or charging stag-fashion with the head, is the
favourite way for women to fight Here is an account
of such a contest : —
Dancing Tunes.
231
CXXXV.
. 5 th Figure.
3-
i j * e f c j irrr- 1
WW yon da do? WW you da do? WW you
T~^ —
da do make
I ji j* J* j j TlTc g
&-P-&-
Sa - rah buck you? Wh^ you da do? Wh£ you da do?
I*j g E c J ^"17"^' j- j 1 JJ» JJ J" J 1
WW you da do make Sa - rah buck you ? A-de-la da jump but
4 j- ^ j* j- i j
m 1 J' J" ;■ ;■ 1
Sa - rah buck him, A-de-la da jump but Sa - rah buck him,
A-de-la da jump but Sa - rah buck him. Whe* you da do make
\§ i- i ■ j jic bee jjatjjj 'i
Sa - rah buck you? You A-de-la ho— you ought toshame !
You A-de-la ho — you ought to shame I You A-de-la ho—
c **tt \ ?ijM
you ought to shame ! Wh£ you da do make Sa - rah buck you ?
Fights between women are by no means uncommon.
This was a case of cherchez thomnu. The ladies both
wanted to marry the same man. The "sing" was
evidently composed by one of Sarah's partisans for the
232
Jamaican Song and Story.
words are: — "What did you do to make Sarah buck
you? Adela jumped, but Sarah bucked her. You,
Adela, oh you ought to be ashamed ! " Adela's sideway
jump was not quick enough to save her from Sarah's
head.
"Wh£ you da do?" literally, What you is do? for
What you did do? meaning What did you do? So, if
they were trying to talk " deep English," for " Adela da
jump " they would substitute " Adela is jump " and think
it was quite right
CXXXVI.
$tk Figure.
Mother William hold back Le - ah! Mother William hold back Le
i3z ; TTTp~^ /J^N.ii jH
ah!
Me tell you say hold back Le - ah !
Hold
l^j/jjjli. 1 ;:
'way, Den a Le • ah Le - ah dead 'way,
Let go Jane Ann!
j- j j j^ j ^ ■■ i
Let go Jane Ann ! Hold back Le - ah, let go Jane Ann !
This is sung agitato and pulsates with excitement.
We see the bustling, restless action — Mother Williams
holding Leah, who is frantic to get at Jane Ann, and
who faints with exhaustion as she struggles to escape
Dancing Tunes.
233
from the strong arms thrown round her. "Let go Jane
Ann ! " cry the bystanders, which means : — Make Jane
Ann go away, get her out of Leah's sight.
CXXXVII.
This seems a fitting moment to introduce : —
4/A Figure.
*J JJJM.N
Oh Gen-er-al Jack -son! Oh General Jack -son!
ijN j'jjlj^Jv l jjj.rji i
s
Oh Gen-er - al Jack -son ! Oh yon kill all the Black man them !
Oh what a wrongful judgment ! Oh what a wrongful judgment !
P
^5
^PP
<F=f*
Oh what a wrongful judgment I You kill all the Black man them.
Oh what a aw - ful mourning ! Oh what a aw - ful mourning !
\ § j- j^j, j.ij'T^rtrjJ'J'J'U.P 8
Oh what a aw - ful mourning You bring on St. Thomas peo-ple !
' This is the other side of the question, referred to in
the Digging Sing, No. 88. It is the rebellion of 1865
again, from the point of view of that section of the
Blacks who considered themselves aggrieved at the
measures taken for its suppression.
234
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXXXVIII.
We get a glimpse of the doings of the soldiery in
peaceable times in : —
5 th Figure.
Sol - dier da go 'way, Mar-ried wo - man let go your bull
*-^
dog to-mor-row; Sol -dier da go way to - mor - row, The
ife£=B
^p
last of the ring ding to-mor-row, Sol -dier da go
^^
'way, Mar-ried woman let go your bull - dog to-mor-row;
Sol-dierda go 'way, Mar-ried woman let go your bull-dog.
The soldiers are shifting their quarters. As they are
apt to be rather riotous on the night before departure,
the owner of the bull-dog is advised to unchain him so
that he may guard her property more effectually.
CXXXIX.
There is also a tender side to the parting: —
4tA Figure.
Don't cry too much, Ja - mai -ca gal, First West will soon come
Dancing Tunes.
235
1^ J J j J 1 J* J J ^ l^C^g^fl
back a • gain. Don't cry too much, Ja - mai - ca gal, Se-cond
West is gone to the war.
Don't cry too much, don't
cry too much, First West will come and cheer you up. Don't
cry too much, Ja - mai-ca gal, Se-cond West is gone to the war.
CXL.
A few years ago Jamaica boasted of water as effica-
cious as that of Mecca in the opinion of some people.
It seems to have lost its repute in these sceptical days : —
4/A Figure.
£^EE
Dip them, Mis • ter Bed - ward, dip them,
^ Mj'J JiJiM
Dip them in the heal- ing stream; Some come with jack-ass, some
come with bus, Dip them in the heal - ing stream.
CXLI.
It says much for the expertness of the dancers that
they can fit the same steps to tunes of such varying
accent as the two last examples present Here is another
which differs again: —
236
Jamaican Song and Story.
4th Figtirt.
Ver - y well, ver - y well, Mis - ter Col - lin now, An' him
leave an' join Sab-ba - tar - ian bands, An' him lose the whole of his
P§^^
N fs N
* j J l J ^Tji
mem - bers now, Oh then poor Sab - ba - tar - ian bands !
Mr. Collin was a minister who told his flock that he
had made a mistake in keeping Sunday holy, and that
for the future he would have service on Saturday and
the people were to come to church on that day and
work on Sunday. The "sing" suggests that his con-
gregation was not persuaded by his arguments.
CXLII.
The light-hearted way in which the Negro turns
serious things into fun is well illustrated by: —
4/A Figure.
Oh tri - al! Great tre-ve - la - tion chil-dren hoi
tfr^ /ijj.fj.rij. r ITT^^ g
Tri-al! We're bound to leave this world. Bap-tis', Bap-tis',
Baptis' till I die. I been grown up in the Baptis' side an' die under Baptis'
Dancing Tunes.
237
rule. Oh tri -
^
Oh tri - al ! Great tre - ve - la - tion children ho t
Tri -all We're bound to leave this world. Church-light, Church-light,
Church-light till I die, I been grown up in the Church-light side an'
I S IS
die un - der Church-light rule.
3=5
Oh! tri - al! Great tre-ve -
la - tion children ho! Tri -al! We're bound to leave this world.
And so on through all the sects and persuasions,
Wesleyan, etc., etc., among them Mettetis (Methodist).
There is no doubt about the word being trevelation, a
mixture of Revelation, one of their favourite books in
the Bible, and tribulation, for which it is intended. The
wrong phrasing of two notes to "bound" is as they
give it. We should allow only one.
CXLIII.
Every district has its rival churches and the various
ministers have to humour their congregations, and not
preach too hard things to them, so as to keep them
from deserting to the enemy.
2nd Figure.
Fa-ther, I goin' to join the con - fir - ma - tion. No, me
238
Jamaican Song and Story.
rj£J*t\f J' g
son, you most have a lit -tie pa - tien', Why I
tell you to have a lit - tie pa - tien',
You most go an' read the Rev - e - la - tion.
v J*«*.T J Jl/ /
heard from my old gen - er - a - tion
That they
nev - er go an' join the con - fir - ma - tion, For they
T-l^—l
did - n' have that great oc - ca - sion
leave an' go an' join the con - fir - ma - tion.
It will have been observed that rhyming is the last
thing sought after. Here, however, we have a genius
who has set his mind upon it' with some success.
Patience, as pronounced by the Jamaican without the
final letters, is a good and new rhyme to the rest. In
the old days of slavery, says the father, they did not
have the occasion (is. opportunity) to leave their work
to go and be confirmed.
The Black man is such an accomplished actor that
he can assume any character. In these sings he throws
off the stage trappings and shows his real attitude
w*
Dancing Tunes.
239
towards religion, his indifference and levity. He does
not take it as a serious matter at all, and it has no
effect upon his daily life. To go to church is a mark of
respectability. To obtain that mark is one of his reasons
for going. The other reason is to show his clothes and
his boots. He will talk like a saint for the mere pleasure
of rolling out words, and the ministers have to pretend
to believe something of what he says. They are not,
however, really deceived, and will tell you in private
with a sigh that Christianity makes no progress; it is
profession without practice. Of the Negro's real religion,
which is bound up with Obeah, we get hardly a hint
in the sings. This is what we should expect. Some
things lie too deep for words and a man's religion is
one of them. One general reference I have been able
to find, and one particular one, and that is all. Here
is the first: —
CXLIV.
5 th Figure.
tjjUc c r 1 6'^^
O - bcah down 66 why oh ! O - beah down d£,
O - beah down d£ why oh ! O - beah down dl.
Gib-er - al-tar is a well fine place but O- beah down de",
Gib-er - al-tar is a well fine place bat O-beahdown de\
240
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXLV.
And here the second : —
$th Figure.
The o • ther day me waist-coat cut, The o - ther day me
waist -coat cut, The o - ther day me waist-coat cut
m
^
pain an* grief to me.
I spend me mon-ey but the
IP
beggar don't dead, I spend me money but the beggar don't dead, I
spend me mon-ey but the beggar don't dead, What a pain an' grief to
j*lj <• I J-M'-M' J' I J JJ
me.
All me mon-ey gone like but - ter 'gainst sun,
All me money gone like butter 'gainst sun, All me money gone like
1 & «. » :__<. - Tin .. - T-. -->> ^:.( «.~ ~
but -ter 'gainst sun, What a pain an' grief to me!
Sake of the man me live 'pon tree, Sake of the man me live 'pon tree,
Sake of the man me live 'pon tree, What a pain an' grief to me !
Dancing Tunes. 241
Obeah (pronounced in two syllables, Ob-ya, with
short Italian vowels) is the dark blot upon this fair
island of Jamaica. In every district there is an Obeah-
man, or Bush-doctor, as he is often called, from his
supposed knowledge of herb simples. He is by no
means the innocent person which this latter designation
would seem to imply. He deals in magic and sorcery
of all descriptions, and there is not a Black man who
does not believe in his powers. They consult him on
every conceivable business and he gets heavy fees.
He will secure a man the favour of his master so that
he shall not lose his place, or help him to revenge a
wrong, real or fancied. And herein lies the danger.
The puerilities of inefficacious charms and mysterious
ceremonies with which he deludes his clients are not
all. He keeps poison in his bag, and for sufficient
reward arsenic has been obtained to put in the liqueur,
or ground glass for the coffee. The Government attempts
in vain to stamp out the evil.
The story of the last sing is briefly this. A has a friend
who is an Obeah-man. From him he gets Obeah to
injure an enemy B. The enemy does not suffer. So A
says his waistcoat is torn, a figurative way of expressing
the fact that he is beaten, B's Obeah turning out to be
stronger than A's and able to repel it. Having indis-
creetly talked about what he meant to do to B, B reports
him to the police, and he has to abscond and seek
shelter in the bush till the matter blows over.
CXLVI.
It is a pleasure to be able to leave the hypocrisy of
Negro Christianity, and the lurid atmosphere of Obeah
and to return to every-day amusements.
Q
242
Jamaican Song and Story.
$th Figure.
All them gal a ride merry-go-round, Me no see no gal like a
II J J* J JMJ Q =23
dem ya.
Ride him, ride him, ride him, ride him,
Ride him round the town,
Ride him, ride him,
iyi j ;■ j ;■ £^
s
ride him, ride him, Ride him round the town.
The merry-go-round is popular. "I never saw such
girls/' says an admiring bystander. Literally, "I have
not seen any girls like those (here) girls." A neighbour
of mine used to be made very angry when he first came
to Jamaica because when he asked " Have you seen
so-and-so?" the answer always was "I don't see him."
This is good negro English for " I haven't seen him."
It does not mean, as he thought, " I don't see him now,"
and the poor boy could not understand why his master
got so "crahss."
i
CXLVII.
5 th Figure.
-r
£
B
J.. * • ' J^" * 1 - U-
3
^^
Mer • ry - go-round a go fall down, fell down, fall down,
Mer - ry - go-round a go fall down, Sake a de \
worth-less
Dancing Tunes.
243
ljl>J. J"M | J J'J J- I |! p g J ■§
ri - der.
Ri - der, ri - der, try to sit down good ;
J -N J* I
Ri - der, ri - der, try to sit down good ; Ri - der, ri - der,
try to sit down good, Mer-ry- go-round a go fall down.
Grammar nowhere as usual. It was not the Merry-
go-round that was going to fall down, but the worthless
(i.e. bad) rider who was going to fall off. "Try to sit
down good" is an exhortation to hold on well. This
curious use of " try " is found again in : —
CXLVIII.
Mazurka.
$
t
1 j 1 1 -|g= ^=s
» J J U,rr
s
Try, dear, don't tell a lie, Try, dear, don't tell a lie,
\ § j J j ij^jJ j ij^p f c r^
Try, dear, don't tell a lie, For I will nev - er mar - ry you.
Try an' 'peak the truth me dear, Try an' 'peak the truth me dear,
Try an' 'peak the truth me dear, An' you shall get the ring me dear.
244
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXLIX.
Here are two more references to the colour question : —
1st Figure.
pa
2BE
R
^3
Look how you moat',
•JTPTg
Look how you mout',
B
Look how you mout' fe go kiss moo-lat - ta. Look how you mout',
Look how you mout', Look how you mout' like a pan.
CL.
Valse.
»
S
Breez - y say him no want Brown la - dy,
$*\ r j J |J J J jA^ &,
SE
Breez - y say him no want Brown la - dy,
i
gge
T
Breez - y say him no want Brown la - dy,
IjMf j j U M
=£
^m
Af - ter - ward him go take Brown la - dy.
$
fc
s
^B
e
-«>
Why ! Why 1 Why, Breez - y !
Why ! Why !
Dancing Tunes.
245
l f'V>l JUT
-sM
*s*-i
< g rf
Why, Breez ■ y ! Why ! Why ! Why, Breez - y !
Think you say you no want Brown la - dy.
CLI.
Here are three sings referring to Colon, the port of
disembarkation for labourers on the Panama Canal: —
5 th Figure.
jMillJ J' J.
**=*
I • saacPark gone a Co -Ion,
I - saacPark
gone a Co -Ion,
I - saacPark gone a Co -Ion,
f"i'J N'J'J' I
t J j. J
Co - Ion boat a go kill them boy. Co - Ion bo - low *
§*\ j'j^j'MlJY fy
gone a Co -Ion, Co-Ion bo -low gone , a Co -Ion,
-I
f?F^
P > |v i s 1 =3
Co - Ion bo - low gone a Co - Ion,
I
te
fct
J* J 1 /' J*
Hi
Co - Ion boat a go kill them boy.
It was not the boat from Kingston to Colon that
killed the boys; the deaths took place on the other
1 Bo/ow, comrade.
246
Jamaican Song and Story.
side. Many were due to fever, but more, if the stories
current here are true, to organised assassination. The
wages were very large, and when a Jamaica boy has
money in his pocket he gets "boastify." This annoyed
the low-class mongrels. A Coolie who was there described
to me the proceedings of one night, when the 'panish (by
which is meant any straight-haired people) went out in
a band and murdered every woolly-haired man they met
They began at one end of the camp, a straight line of
barrack huts. Some of the victims were shot through
the windows, others slashed with cutlasses. Where there
were no lights the assassins passed their hands over the
strangers' heads, and if they felt wool, revolver or cutlass
did its work. Straight-haired Coolies, that is to say,
East Indians, were allowed to go unharmed.
CLII.
$tA Figure.
Ma - til - da d£ 'pon dyin' bed, Ma - til - da d£ 'pon dyin' bed,Ma-
i fv :■ J' J' ;■ 1 J £
til - da d£ 'pon dyin' bed, Ma - til - da d£ 'pon dyin' bed, Me
want go Co - la -bra, Me want go Co - la -bra, Me
If'i, J J'TT^T
P^l
want go Co - la - bra, Ma - til - da, d£ 'pon dyin' bed.
When anybody is very ill all the members of the
family, including quite distant relatives, think it incumbent
Dancing Tunes.
247
upon them to go to the sick person's yard. They crowd
into the house and sick-room and pour out a clatter of
talk.
Colabra (Culebra) is a place near Colon. Matilda must
have been an old Jamaica acquaintance who had gone
over to settle there.
CLIIL
5/A Figure.
\§> l V I ;> 1
*
m
i
P^
Mas' Char - ley say want kiss Mat - ty,
I^PEfCB l FuJVjJ' l J.MJ^
Kiss with a will-ing mind, Me ra - ra- bam why 1 Colon money
\ §* v J' < J > 1 J
done. Me ra - ra-bum why! Col -on mon-ey done.
"Me rarabum" is a nonsense phrase equivalent to
"my boy." "My boy, hi! the money I made at Colon
is done!"
CLIV.
Here is the lament of an out-of-work cabdriver: —
$th Figure.
Me bog - gy a sell fe eight an* six -pence
3 .
Whlme a g get fe drive? Me
gy a sell fe
248
Jamaican Song and Story.
Ifry J j. ;■ j'l J J J j> F f U h n
eight an' six-pence, Whl me a 20 set fe drive? Me
bug-gy sell at last, poor me boy ! Wh6 me a go get fe drive ? Me
iSgpp
bug-gy sell at last, poor me boy ! WW me a go get fe drive?
CLV.
The words of the next dance have a certain interest,
but the tune is poor: —
Polka.
Oh 'zet - ta Ford, gal, yon name no worth a cuss !
Tiefbigbig hog, Futahmin a jar. Pic-ca-ny da cry,
ff?^
j^jjU r "
PFF
Sit down whole a day, You tief big big hog, Nyam ahm out a door.
The girl stole the pig, killed it, cut it up and put the
meat into a jar. This was done out in the bush, far
away from her yard, and took the whole day. Meanwhile
her poor little babies were starving at home, having
been left without any one to look after them.
Dancing Tunes.
249
CLVI.
There is an idyllic simplicity about the following: —
$th Figure.
Bir - dy - zee - na, Bir - dy - zee - na, Come make we go da
Champong mar • ket, Come make we go, dear, Come make we go, dear,
^^
W
1
Come make we go da Cham - pong mar - ket.
CLVII.
i
5 th Figure.
Me an 1 Katie no 'gree, Katie wash me shirt in a sea.
Ifyout'inka lie, Ifyout'inka lie, Look in a Ka-tie yeye.
CLVIII.
Water seems formerly to have been scarce in King-
ston, judging by the following: —
5 th Figure.
$
t> '4 fs J> J*
Down town gal no have no wa - ter to wash them head to
250
Jamaican Song and Story.
f
keep them dean. Down towngal no have no wa-ter to wash them head to
J . r-N V
tP
s
ife*
keep them clean. Why ! Why ! Why ! Take them gal in charge.
i
i J; f J' J 1 1 J' ;■ j j u mi
*
Why! Why! Why! po- lice -man, Take them gal in charge.
CLIX.
The policeman is not always on the spot when he is
wanted : —
4tA Figure.
tief Mis - ter Diz - on Brah - ma, You nyam ahm a Yaws-house 1
\§> /■ j' <
^
m
lev - el,
Sal - ly ought to been a - shame.
In this country any plot of ground that is moderately
flat is called a level.
CLX.
4/A Figure.
Good morn-rug, Mis - ter Har-man, How are you this
1 Yaws, see p. 57.
Dancing Tunes.
251
^'J'U'J'Jj' l
morning? I brought a ser - i - ous corn-plain a - bout the old Bar
badian. What a
.-bout the 'badian? Him shirt has no bor-der, Him
FT W ^ Tl
face ikv-our mar - Ian, Come give me me one an' ninepence.
The singer goes to Mr. Harman, who is employing the
Barbadian (whom he accuses of wearing a ragged shirt
and having a face like a marlingspike), to try and get
some money which the latter owes the complainant.
This is an excellent example in short of an inter-
view between two Black men. Of the sixteen bars four
are occupied with salutation, four with complaint, and
four with abuse. Two are given to a question as to
the cause of complaint which receives no answer, and
two to a demand for money owed by another person.
So we have three-quarters of the interview devoted in
equal parts to compliment, complaint, and abuse; one-
eighth to an attempt on the part of the person inter-
viewed to discover what is amiss; and one-eighth to a
demand for money from the wrong man.
CLXI.
The lovers' quarrel which comes next is evidently not
serious : —
$th Figure.
Hul-lo me hon - ey ! Hul-lo me su - gar ! Hul-lo me old time
252
Jamaican Song and Story.
\ %> X J ' J '^ ^^
gal! Oh den, gal, if you love me, Why don't you write me?
Hul-lo me old time gal ! Hul-lo me hon-ey ! Hul-lo me su - gar !
$±^H^Hj
Hul-lo me old time boy ! Oh den, boy, I wouldn' married you,
Not for a far - din', Hul - lo me old time boy !
CLXII.
5 th Figure,
When mumma dare you say you sick, Dis mum-ma gone
yougetbet-ter,
'tan* 'teady till him come 'tan' 'teady,
'tan' 'tead - y till him come 'tan' 'tead - y.
When mamma tells her daughter to take her hoe and
come out into the field she feigns sickness. Her brother
comes in and finds her quite well. " All right," he says,
"just (dis) you stand steady ('teudy, French eu), just
you wait till she comes home and you will get a
flogging."
1
Dancing Tunes.
253
CLXIII.
We never go far without meeting some story about
petty thieving: —
5 th Figure.
Oh Jil-ly oh! how you man-age a jump the win-dow?
Tjffr^
Oh Jil-ly oh! how you man-age a jump the window? Doc-tor
* JH i J ^ J ^ J^I* f ^^
Clark a one an' tan-ner, Ma-jor Black a two an' six, Mis-ter
r^J-jg^Ji
Nel- son three an' six, How you manage a jump the win-dow?
J illy had been "tiefing" money and made her escape
by jumping out of window. "Tanner," for sixpence, is
common in English slang but not here. It seems to
have been derived in this case from the White soldiers
at Newcastle.
CLXIV.
5 th Figure.
:j.;Jjj r. j'iJ'/j E|app
James Brown, you mahmy call you. James firownashakehim shoulder
^wm
Sake • a the young gal but- terdore, James Brown a shake him shoulder.
2 54
Jamaican Song and Story.
To express dissent they do not shake their heads but
wriggle the whole of their bodies. It is a most expres-
sive action.
A butterdore, more properly butter-dough, is a kind
of cake.
CLXV.
The next repeats the idea of No. CXVIIL, but in the
mouth of a girl.
4th Figure.
When I go home I will tell me mum -ma say,
When I go home I will tell me mum-ma say,
When I go home I will tell me mum-ma say That the
boy in the coun - try love me ver - y much.
CLXVI.
The next is the only example of pure fiction that I
have met with: —
5 th Figure.
|fo I ft^f^ f ^^Ff
Feather, feather, feather,
Ba - by da born with
Dancing Tunes.
255
feather. Yon cut off the fowl head an' boil it in a 'tew-pan,
t* frfrh.. I . ^ ^ I » • ^ ^ I J l £
j^jljj* 1 r ^
3^
Ba-by da born with feather. Feather, feather oh!
My; J' J' US
BE
*<-<*■
Ba-by da born with feather.
Feather,
feather oh !
«i -< f»
Ba-by da born with feather.
You cat off the fowl head an*
rmr^
boil it with the feather, So the ba - by go born with feather.
mAJJV^jJU.^
hear the news as I re'ch to Hagley Gap, Say ba-by da born with
<p j*j*lr
feather. Something me nev - er hear, Something me never hear that
i.
t pjJ'J;.j | j .j^
Ba-by can born with feather.
Something me nev - er hear,
a^j i jjn dgi
Something me nev-er hear that Ba- by can born with feather.
All the other sings are chronicles of true events, and
it is an exceptional case to find one purely the offspring
256
Jamaican Song and Story.
of imagination like this one. The compiler of the words
could not get quite free of actuality; he puts in Hagley
Gap, which is the name of a pass through the hills. I
once asked why it was so called and was told because
it was a hugly place. The cooking described savours of
Obeah.
CLXVII.
2nd Figure.
\ VTfJ\
^s
When the rain an' the breeze an' the storm an' the sun I
nev-er see a man like Qua -co
) Sam, He live in the sun as
feE=JJfc=6
well as the rain, I nev-er see a man like Qua • co Sam.
Qua -co Sam was a lit -tie bit a man, I nev-er see a man like a
Qua - co Sam, For he nev-er build a house but he live as an - y man, I
#B i * * JJ J>* I j* J
N *
i
nev - er see a fun • ny man as Qua - co Sam.
Dancing Tunes.
257
CLXVIII.
Anch a bite me a me back gul - ly, gul - ly ;
Anch a bite me a me back gul - ly, gal - ly ; Anch a bite me
[fsjj
X JJ'jJ^ I
a me back gal - ly, gal - ly ; 'cratch me back, me will
S^P
m
make one shirt fe yoo fe you. Anch a bite me, Anch a bite me,
Anch a bite me, Anch a bite me, Anch a bite me a me back gal
y *• ■
j/j-jjo^j i^i
ly, gal - ly ; 'cratch me back me will make one shirt fe you.
Small black ants often swarm on the orange-trees,
and the pickers, who do not use ladders but climb the
branches, get covered with them. We all know that
place in the "gully" or furrow of the back which we
cannot reach ourselves.
CLXIX.
4/A Figure.
m
wp
1
fTJ]
Me know one gal a Cross Road, Name of Lu - cy
R
258
Jamaican Song and Story.
s
K=£
^SE^
Ban - ker, Him boil the long long cab - bage bush, Him go
4 J " J J* J^Jjy l> /3" 1 "
long like a sai - lor nanchor. Fol - low me, fol-low me, You no
j* J s . " 71
see whe the gal a fol - low me, Fol - low me, then
lp
M
H g J * ' J3 ^
fol - low me, You no see wh£ the gal a fol - low me.
The story of the foregoing sing is this : — Lucy asked a
fiddler and his friend to breakfast The cooking was bad.
The boiled bananas, which should have been light brown,
were black, and the cabbage was not done enough, so
that it was ropy or "long," as they aptly describe it.
For these shortcomings the fiddler "put her a sing,"
i.e. put her into a sing.
CLXX.
Schottische.
Moonshine baby, don't you cry, Momma will bring something fe you,
Some fe you, Some fe me, Fe we go boil wi' dir - ty pot.
This is a hit at another careless cook who had dis-
regarded the time-honoured rule, "First wash your pot.
A moonshine baby is a pretty baby.
»»
Dancing Tunes.
259
CLXXI.
2nd Figure.
I have a news to tell you all a - bout the Mowitahl
men, 1 Time is harder ev - 'ry day an* harder yet to
come. They made a dance on Fri - day night an' failed to pay the
I
?S=*
*=
3^
drummer,
F=
*-*
Say that they all was need of money
leed of money to
9* J'J'I J*T13
f.M JJ*1 ^-|
buy up their August pork. Don't let them go free, drummer !
Don't let them go free, drummer ! For your fin-ger cost money to
tick - le the poor goat - lei
poor goat - Tun.
Not if the pork ev - en
purchase self Take it away for your labour, For your finger
m
J J Vj a
cost money
_J_^ J— ^i
^^
to tick-lc the poor goat • 'kin.
The first of August (Ahgust as they call it) is the
anniversary of Emancipation Day, and is a time of
1 Mowitahl = Mowatt Hall.
260
Jamaican Song and Story.
feasting and rejoicing. As in the case of wedding
festivities, they do not limit themselves to one day,
and holiday-making goes on for a week or longer.
The goat-skin drum is pitied for the thumping it gets.
So a man will often stroke his picker (pickaxe) and
say : — " He no a come out if he fought him face
would a jam so a dirty/' he would not have come out
if he had thought his face was going to be thrust so
hard into the ground.
" Self" is a redundant word. It strengthens "even if."
CLXXII.
2nd Figure.
Once I was a
traveller,
trav • 'Her ov - er the
Ip-p c - 1 £ I e-C-£-C-J£ £=I
mountain, I near - ly dead for wa - ter
but a
\ § > g g-g -A ffi ^
F^=*
fPS
young gal show me the fountain. Why, why me pic-ny !
You shall be me wife. Show me you mammy an 1 you daddy, An*
you shall be me wife. I have a - nother sis - ter, she
blind she can - not see, But, if you wish to court her,
Dancing Tunes.
261
B feg-F-F J1J r | >-ijj|j^HJV.rj HJ r]
you can come with me. Why, why me picny ! you shall be me wife.
k h r\
JV'N *• II
Show me you mammy an' you daddy, An' you shall be me wife.
When a Black man says he is nearly dead for water
he only means that he is rather thirsty.
This sing is of an unusual form and suggests a foreign
origin.
CLXXIII.
Here, on the contrary, is something typically
Jamaican : —
5 th Figure.
f I J- -N
Oh ! me wouldn' bawl at all,
Oh! me
wouldn' bawl at all,
Oh ! me wouldn' bawl at all,
I' J' l J' J 1 i H . 1
^1
**
For the po-lice-man come tell a lie 'pon me.
A boy who has been arrested, conscious of his innocence,
does not go through the usual pantomime of shrieks and
tears. The policeman (observe the accent on the word)
told a lie about me, he says.
262
Jamaican Song and Story.
CLXXIV.
Thoroughly Jamaican too, as to its words at least, is : —
t+tfr-.
^
¥w
You take jun - ka 'tick fe go lick mau - gre
dog, You take junka 'tick fe go lick maugre dog ;
E | b ' f r c cfHHr^
P^=K
When maugre dog dead a wh6 you a go do?
ph=t t /l iJ sf \ j^
H
WW you a go do, Bir-die ? WW you a go do ?
This is a remonstrance addressed by a mother to her
daughter who has taken up a short stick to beat her.
" It is true," she says, that I am but a lean dog, but when
the lean dog is dead what are you going to do?"
(Maugre^ French tnaigre, pronounced mahgher.)
CLXXV.
John Canoe dance.
i j frTii j j> p U f ^^r r Jtj tj^
Yellow fe - ver come in, Me can't walk a - gam ; Him
%
^
f^^n
fc*
broke me hand, him broke me foot, Me can't walk a - gain.
The "John Canoe" are masked dancers very agile in
their movements. Yellow fever is now happily rare in
Dancing Tunes.
263
Jamaica. " It has come and caught me," says the patient,
"and broken my arms and legs so that I really can't walk."
" Again " has a curious use here, which is perhaps better
shown by the following illustration. A man was reported
to be dead. Next day came the intelligence : — " He
don't dead again," he is not dead after all, he is not
really dead. Compare No. LXII.
i
it
t=st
f
CLXXVI.
Schottische.
Jim - my Ramp - y a
^
*=B
g * V Hf=
come oh,
m
Sal
i
oh! Jimmy Rampy a come oh, Sal oh 1 Some a
j E3 *? I .P J* 3^
wash him foot, some a comb him hair, Some a put him to bed,
put him to bed oh, Sal oh ! Jimmy Rampy a come
oh ! Sal oh ! Jim-my Rampy a come oh, Sal
Some a wash him foot, some a comb him hair, Some a
put him to bed, put him to bed oh, Sal oh !
" Sal oh ! " is perhaps a corruption of Salut. Tradition
associates a curtsey with the word.
264
Jamaican Song and Story.
CLXXVII.
The next calls to mind the Ring tune (No.
"Rosybel oh, why oh!"
$th Figure.
XC),
Sus - an ve - ry well, why oh ! Sus - an ve - ry
well, why oh ! Sus - an chop bo • low with turn - bier,
§ ^ S 't jU J^
£-6 g j ' J I
^36
Sus - an chop bo - low with turn - bier, Sus - an go chop bo
^Vjy^
r g g j " J I
1
^
*- *
N N
low with turn - bier, Sus - an go chop bo • low with torn - bier.
A case of assault with a broken piece of glass. Here
is something more serious : —
CLXXVII I.
1st Figure.
i ft&iu. , i , HJ i ^-r u-^uju
Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife ; Bahss, Bahss, you
married you wife ; Bahss, Bahss, you married you wife, You married you wife an'
-M. ^ IW V 1 KT" S V ». ! *T W^^ *»-
w* ^ j\*,-j EJ1 JVi-,T=£, ,> Jr s
kill him a - gain. You take up you wife an' carry him to church, You
Dancing Tunes.
265
£
take up you wife an' carry him to church, You take up you wife an*
*=i
>- \ ji?fljUf±m
carry him to church, An 1 af - ter - ward you kill her a-gain. 1
CLXXIX.
The next is a pretty lullaby, which they call a Nursing
sing : —
Andantino.
frV.«j»jJc F |;N - J- I joJcppJ
Blackbird a eat puppa corn, oh ! Blackbird a eat puppa
corn, oh ! Come go da mountain, go drive them, Blackbird a eat puppa
corn, oh ! Blackbird a eat pup • pa corn.
CLXXX.
Schottisctu.
i MU j. jqr=E3 ^E
» — i-t-*A
Me da Coo lie sleep on piaz - za with me
wrap- per round me sooul- der, Me da Coo - lie sleep on
§ »\\ J j- jjt r~v JT * lyym
piaz - za with me wrap per round me shoulder.
1 BaAsSj Boss. " Carry him " is in two syllables, sounding like ca-yim.
266
Jamaican Song and Story.
" Me da," literally, " I is," I am.
The piazza, which is not pronounced in the Italian
way but nearly rhymes with razor, is the long narrow
entrance-room of Jamaican houses. A wrapper is a large
piece of linen which serves all sorts of purposes. It is
used as an article of clothing both by day and night,
and also makes a convenient bag for rice.
Many of the East Indian Coolies, originally brought over
to work on plantations, have now settled in Jamaica.
CLXXXI.
Schottische.
Not • ty Shaw, you bet - ter go home ;
Not-ty
fj f*¥F^
Shaw, you better go home ; Notty, run in the garden an*
pick a bunch of flowers ; Notty Shaw, you bet - ter go
£
»
jfaHJ. jij ag ffrr 1 -^
s
&*=**
home ; Notty Shaw, you mother want you service ; Notty
Shaw, you mother want you service ; Notty, go in the garden you
f^Te J'T^y^JVj^j l j m
see abunch of rose ; Notty Shaw, you better go home.
"Notty" is short for Nathaniel.
"Rose" means any kind of flowers. When they want
to indicate what we call roses they say "sweet-rose."
Dancing Tunes.
267
CLXXXII.
\st Figure.
i
mm
g^
S p^ M =
*l ^
Yon worth-less Bee - ca Wat - son, You worth • less Bee - ca
Watson, You worthless Becca Watson, You ought to been ashame. Them
write you name an' t'row it a pass,Them write you name an' t'row it a pass, Them
write you name an' t'row it a pass, you ought to been a - shame.
A familiar tune, I think a mixture of two.
To write disparaging remarks on paper, which is
then thrown in the "pass" (path, road), for anybody to
pick up and read, is a common trick. The epithet
" worthless " seems to imply that Becca was not altogether
free from blame. They seldom say "bad." It is almost
always "worthless."
CLXXXII I.
5 th Figure,
*
Sf iiJ IjjJim
Since the waggonette come in
Par - ker take to heart
dead, Since the waggonette come in Parker take to heart dead.
268
Jamaican Song and Story.
-{$ Jir.jqi-J^j.| r - ri |
Nev - er mind con-duc-tor,
Par - ker take to heart dead.
M"f^t
^ * r N-^-^^fl
Nev-er mind con-duc-tor,
Par-ker take to heart dead.
The reference is to a local enterprise, the Waggonette
Company. It unfortunately failed, and the death of a
person interested in its success, happening immediately
after, is attributed to the failure. For "come in" we
should say "were taken off."
$
*=
&
CLXXXIV.
Schottische or 4th Figure.
r?*=*f=r= ±i
Them Gar'n Town people them call me follow-line, Them Gar'n Town
| j»J Jl f |!J|£ fc^ P
people them call me follow-line, Them Gar'n Town people them call me
*
i # ppr ipT j pg-r eg J ^i j m j^ j*i
follow-line, Somebody dy - ing here ev-'ry day. A ten pound
If*? J ip f J l J J 1 Jj>;iTT=i^
or - der him kill me pardner, A ten pound or - der him kill me
m
»4 . N^
*=a
S=
pardner, A ten pound order him kill me pardner For somebody
Dancing Tunes.
269
w* 1 e g . |v l
3=P=q
^
dy - ing here ev'ry day. Den number nine tunnel I would not
work d£, Den number nine tunnel I would not work de", Den number
rWt
nine tunnel I would not work d£ For somebody dying here ev'ry day.
An incident, or perhaps it were better to say an
accident, in the making of the road to Newcastle. A
man who undertook a piece of contract work for £>\o
was killed by a falling stone. The so-called tunnels are
cuttings. Number nine had a very bad reputation.
Gordon Town is a hamlet nine miles from Kingston.
The driving road ends there, and access to the mountain
district beyond is obtained only by mule tracks.
Strangers are called w follow-line " because, as they come
down from their homes in the higher hills, they walk in
strings. No Black man or woman ever goes alone if he
can help it He always hitches on to somebody else,
and the string increases in length as it passes along.
This walking in Indian file is necessitated by the narrow-
ness of the track, which is seldom wide enough for two
to walk abreast.
The tune has the character of a march rather than of
a dance, but I am assured it is used for a Schottische,
which has a somewhat slower measure than a Polka, and
for Fourth Figure. Their cleverness in adapting the
same steps to different rhythms has been already com-
mented on.
270
Jamaican Song and Story.
CLXXXV.
The last of our tragedies, a murder this time, is
chronicled in: —
2nd Figure.
Young gal in Ja - mai-ca take warn-ing, Never
•If— z— ^ —^ * h-fr
leave your mother house, a-lone,
For that was the cause why
Al-ice get her death while driving in the May Pen cyar.
" The May Pen cyar " is a tramway which runs to May
Pen, the cemetery of Kingston.
CLXXXVI.
4/A Figure.
Me no min d£ a conceit the night When Martha an' Pom pey catch a
fight. Da Martha da Pompey, Da Martha da Pompey catch a fight.
"Me no min d£," literally, "I not been there," I was
not there. Nobody hearing these words for the first
time would ever suspect that they were English. People
are always said to "catch fight" when they come to blows-
Few of the old classical slave names like Pompey
now survive.
■ "I.
Dancing Tunes.
271
CLXXXVII.
I st Figure.
\§>\ w j j j>j Jip n p- r. r yn ^
Complain complain complain, Complain a - bout me one, Me
f"i.j^rWr^ , | J J-i-H; 1 "!
daddy com plain, me mahmy complain, Complain about me one.
"Me one," i.e. "only me." Everlasting complaints,
always about me! (What child does not suffer in this
way ? ) In Negro speech complain stands for complaint
as well as for the verb.
CLXXXVII I.
2nd Figure.
Elderly readers will recognise a popular song of thirty
years ago in the following: —
I can't walk on the bare road, cyart man, I can't walk at all ;
PPP^i
E
When I re-member, When I remember, When I remember them.
j^r -^
ft
^
£lgg£ E' *'\^ E&
Oh Captain Ba-ker, I never can walk a - gain, For
when I remember the cyart man, cyart man, When I remember them*
272
Jamaican Song and Story,
These words taken as a whole refer to the carts of
the United Fruit Company of which Captain Baker is
the manager. In defiance of rules girls may be seen
perched on top of the bunches of bananas in the laden
carts.
CLXXXIX.
5 /A Figure.
■$*\l J^Jg ^
Come go da mountain, Come go da mountain, Come go da mountain go
pick co - 00 fin - ger, Busha Webb an' all a pick co-co fin - ger,
|g§|§
F"J*CT1
Busha Webb an* all a pick co-co fin - ger ; Pick co-co fin - ger,
3^3T?TO
Pick co-co fin - ger, Come go da mountain go pick co-co fin - ger.
"Come let us go to the mountain and dig cocoes.
Overseer Webb and everybody is digging them." A
plan often adopted is to dig round the root, search for
the tubers, pick them off and then push back the soil.
This may be the picking referred to, only the tubers do
not look like fingers. They are the shape of a peg-top.
Another suggestion is that the fingers are the young
rolled-up leaves which are picked before they expand
for spinach. This variety of interpretation, coupled with
the fact that the word finger \ always applied to bananas,
is never used in speaking of cocoes, points to this being
a yery old sing.
Dancing Tunes.
273
CXC.
Valse.
<ji ^i> it .
1
^n
A - man-da Grant, me yer * ry your name,
i
*:
s
Z2
z£
«
yer-ry your name a bam - boo root.
m
Why!
ijf/i. j j i j j j
a
Why ! me yer-ry your name, Why I Why ! yer-ry your
8
m
n
BE
3
«
-9
-e?
name, Me yer-ry your name a bam - boo root.
Amanda stole some money and hid it at the foot of
a bamboo.
CXCI.
2nd Figure.
Last night I was \y - i
ing on me num - ber, An* a
fool-ish man come wake me out of slum-ber, Say Why oh I
Why oh! I nev-er see a woman dancing with a wooden leg.
Bammerlichy, bammerlichy, bamby, Bammerlichy, bammerlichy,
S
274
Jamaican Song and Story.
I * J J J 1
bam-by,
Bammerlichy, bammerlichy, bam-by, I nev-er
see a wo - man danc-ing with a wooden leg.
The scene is laid in the People's Shelter at Kingston
which has numbered sleeping-berths.
At * Bammerlichy " etc. the dancers imitate the stiff
action of a wooden leg.
CXCII.
5 th Figure.
4
Ij'lj I jJ-jsJH
m
i
Me las • sie me dun - dooze,
^
^
me dun-dooze come kiss
me,
The kiss that you give me it rest on me mind till it
i y f Jl ^ j' i
give me the ay - go.
J J ~J""
When we mar - ried an*
set-tied down we have no cause to say, For as soon as the par-son
j' J' J' j> u * m
pass up the sen • tence noth • ing to part as.
" Dundooze " (or dundoze, for it is rather hard to catch
the vowel) is a term of endearment. Others are, honey,
lover, sugar, sweety, marvel, bolow, bahzoon.
"Aygo" is ague; "say," perhaps, sunder.
Dancing Tunes.
*75
CXCIIL
The next conveys an appreciative reference to a pro-
prietor who is a large employer of labour.
Polka.
Mis - ter Dav - is bring some • f ing fe we all,
Mis - ter Dav - is bring some - t'ing fe we all. Oh him
bring black gal, An' him bring brown gal, An* him bring yaller gal an* all.
CXCIV.
$th Figure.
§ ' inl
/* *N
F=F
cc r ir
ups
A wh^the use yon da hang da me neck-back,
f^
^m
Married man me no want you.
Turn back, married man,
turn back, you brute, Turn back married man, married man a dog.
276
Jamaican Song and Story.
CXCV.
4iA Figure.
I ffi 4 ^E E ^
Quattywort'ofthig! Quattywort' of that ! till him come up to a
? J I j J' Ji j
shil - ling oht Why Brown man! Why Brown man! you
\ §t 1 J' J
i
3^
have a
nas
way,
Rob • son.
The boy has run up a score at the shop and professes
astonishment at the items and' the total. Black trusts
White more than Brown.
CXCVI.
We end with the pretty flowing melody: —
Schottische.
\ §ii fff.l J N' l j •MNJ MJJ ^
Mahngoosea come, Dory, Mahngoose a come. All them gal are
deadfe Do-ry, Mahngoosea come. Come back me dear Do-ry,
Come back me dear. All them gal are deadfe Dory, Mahngoose a come.
The mongoose was introduced into Jamaica to kill
the rats. Unfortunately rats sleep in the day and the
Dancing Tunes.
mongoose sleeps at night so they never met How
mongoose took instead to killing chickens has been o:
told. Dory is having a private interview with a girl i
has another admirer. This man has announced his intent
of chastising Dory. " Mongoose has come " is a prec
certed formula which means, "the other man has co
Dory, look out I " When a gang of labourers is work
and one of them catches sight of his master in
distance, he will sing this song and the others underst;
that they must pretend to be busy.
NOTR.— {Accidentally omiittd on pagt ^ : Cf. Nos. 56, 67, 13a, 133),
Marriage is, unhappily, often a failure. The woman, in marrying,
attained tbe goal of her ambition. Now that she is Mr. Smith she "
down " and refuses to help her husband, provision -ground food is not g
enough for her, and she is always calling out for a new frock. In a
years the couple separate and the home is broken up, with disasti
consequences to tbe children. In the old day* the custom was to d<
the ceremony (as Constantine deferred his baptism) to a very late peri
This plan worked very well. The couple did not marry till they ki
for certain that they suited each other, and often their well-brought
children and grandchildren danced at the wedding.
APPENDIX.
A. Tracks of African Melody in Jamaica.
I have been asked to read through this book in proof, with
the object of ascertaining whether the Jamaican songs bear any
traces of an African origin.
Unfortunately, it must be confessed at the outset that our
knowledge of African music is scantier than that of almost any
other kind of primitive music In other regions of the globe
the phonograph has been effectively utilised in acquiring accurate
records of songs and dances. These records have been brought
back to Europe, where they have been studied at leisure and
their peculiarities of interval and rhythm have been precisely
determined.
But in the case of African music (apart from a few imper-
fectly studied records in my own possession) we have to rely
entirely on the versions which travellers have taken down for
us in the field. We have to assume, in the first place, the
correctness of their ' musical ear/ and in the second place, the
possibility of expressing in European notation those delicate
shades of pitch and time in which the characteristics of primitive
music so essentially consist And both these are unwarrantable
assumptions.
However, from our study of comparative music elsewhere, we
may make one statement with certainty, namely, that an African
music does not exist There must be almost as many styles
of native music in Africa as in Europe — varieties differing not
only broadly in general form and structure, but also more
minutely in the intervals and rhythms which are employed.
I have been informed by travellers in West Africa that sur-
prising differences occur in the degree of development of musical
Appendix.
279
art even in closely neighbouring regions. In one district hardly
any music is to be heard at all; in another the music is most
uncouth ; in a third it is highly agreeable to the European ear ;
while some parts of West Africa have advanced to the stage
of part-singing.
The most erroneous notions have been expressed as to the
nature of African music. I have seen it stated that African
songs consist in a gradual descent from a higher to a lower
pitched note. That this is far from being usually the case is
shown in the following specimens, which I have gathered from
various narratives of African travel.
I.
Boat Song. Congo District.
tptdrr j i r cfrr fjccrir J J i Efe|a
11.
Boat Song. Congo District.
III.
Song of Bawili Women.
W
1
IV.
Funeral Song. Angola.
IMM.J I J J | J J N_M' I ^
i y >''" 1 m j j 1 M
jjUJI
280
Jamaican Song and Story.
V.
Song. Angola.
form* r i rr ai
rnrr i rr i fri
VI.
Song. M. Balunda.
h^ t-r- c J H- J J =trc-i I f I I
VII.
Dance-Song. M. Balunda.
VIII.
Boat Song. Guinea Coast.
§H
m33
IX.
Song. I. of Bimbia.
Songs I. and II. from La route du Tchad. Jean DybowskL Paris. 1893.
pp. 198-9.
Songs III. -VII. from Aus West-Afrika. Hermann Soyaux. Leipzig. 1879.
Song VIII. from Einige Notiun iiber Bonny. Gottingen. 1848.
Song IX. from A Narrative of the Expedition . . . to the River Niger.
London. 1848.
Appendix.
281
A great deal might be said about the general character of
these songs, e.g. the simplicity and brevity of the phrases, and the
fondness for triple measure.
But I pass on to consider three very interesting examples of
Jamaican music which, thanks to my friend Mr. N. W. Thomas,
I have found recorded in 1688 in Sir Hans Sloane's Voyage to
Jamaica. " Upon one of the Festivals where a great many of
the Negro Musicians were gathered together/' he writes, "I
desired Mr. Baptiste, the best musician there, to take the words
they sung and set them to Musick which follows/ 1
X.
Angola Song.
Hobaognion
Hobaognion
e ^te
i lffii " ' i cefCrCfJj ' i ccrtM
Ho-ba
Ho - ba - ognion
ogmoiL
XL
Papa Song.
ijjr, J*pr JpHB ^E
XII.
Koromanti Songs.
rrj^WT
282
Jamaican Song and Story.
Loud.
E J, *-
I jf > J- J I IH
rr.u,f.j j
I
Men Bonbo mich langa
men
wa* langa.
Appendix.
283
From A Voyage to . . . Jamaica ... by Hans Sloane, M.D. London.
1707. Vol. i. pp. 1, li.
The words of these songs are Hobaognion, ognion and Meri
Bonbo mich langa meri wd langa. Sir Hans Sloane observes
that the Jamaican negroes of that time had their native instru-
ments : (i) gourds with necks and strung with horsehair, (ii) a
"hollow'd Timber covered with Parchment," having a bow for
its neck, the strings tied longer or shorter.
These songs, however inaccurately recorded, are of the greatest
value for the hint they give us of Jamaican music as it existed
over two centuries ago. It will be observed that the songs are
named 'Angola' and 'Koromanti,' according to their African
provenance. In the present collection of modern songs, reference
is made in Song CI. to Koromanti (' Cromanty '). So, too, the
word 'Bungo' in Song CXXVI. no doubt refers to the large
Bongo district of Africa (cf. 'Bungo talk,' p. 12, *.).
We can hardly expect to find considerable traces of this
aboriginal African music alter two centuries of missionary and
of trade influence. African travellers have repeatedly told us
how prone the negro is to introduce fresh tunes from other
villages and to adapt them to his own purposes. Indeed, the
contaminating influence which the Arabs and Portuguese have
exercised upon primitive African music makes the study of the
latter especially difficult.
But a community does not adopt exotic music without at the
same time exercising selection. Those melodies have the greatest
chance of success which, to some degree at least, follow the
current canons of public taste. Revolutionary innovations are
284 Jamaican Song and Story.
rare. The gradual changes in taste which take place are the
result of such selective adoption of foreign music as we have
indicated.
There is one feature in the above-quoted ' Angola ' song
which is also shared by the modern songs of this collection,
namely, the presence of * bobbins' or short refrains.
The simplicity in structure of the songs is still a feature of
Jamaican music. I may be allowed to call attention to the
repetition of single phrases in Song XVIII. and to the building
up of simple phrases in Songs LXXVII. and LXXIX.
I had hoped that some light might be thrown on the antiquity
of certain songs by the presence of nonsense words ; but in this
I was disappointed.
I quite agree with Miss Broadwood (see next page) that
the majority of the songs are of European origin. The negroes
have learnt them from hearing sailors' chanties or they have
adopted hymn tunes.
But adoption always involves adaptation. A song is modified
to suit the current canons of taste. In Song L. I observe
'Home, Sweet Home' and (in the latter half) a hymn tune
which I frequently heard in the Torres Straits. Song CXXXIX.
is doubtless 'The British Grenadiers.' But it, again, has not
been adopted without modification.
Needless to say, a detailed study of these modifications would
throw light on the characteristics of modern Jamaican music
In Song XXXI. a typical non-European modification is the
insertion of an extra (the fifth) bar, so that the phrase consists
of nine bars. The five time in Song XI., the change of accent
at the close of Song XXIV. and in Song XLL, are no doubt
the expression of African delight in the complexities of rhythm.
In the already-quoted * Koromanti song,' we may observe the
curious temporary change of rhythm in the second air, and
the characteristic measure which prevails throughout the third
air with its syncopation and almost baffling changes. Such
features are precisely what we should expect to meet with
among a primitive people who more than two centuries ago
doubtless possessed in a still higher degree that delight in
complication of rhythm which according to Mr. Jekyll (p. 6)
Appendix. 285
persists among their descendants of to-day. For a more detailed
study of this aspect of the subject I may perhaps refer enquirers
to my " Study of Rhythm in Primitive People " {British Journal
of Psychology, vol. i. pp. 397-406).
The present taste and preferences of the Jamaican negroes
may perhaps be gauged by the similarities and differences in
the first bars of Songs LXIIL, LXIV., and LXXVIIL, by the
similarity of Songs I. and VIII., XV. and XXVII., and of the
bobbins in LIV. and LXVIII.
But it is not my intention to make a detailed analysis of
the songs of the present volume. My object has been rather
to emphasize our present ignorance of African music, and to
indicate the lines along which a more intimate acquaintance
with African and Jamaican songs may be expected to lead to
conclusions as to their relation to one another.
C. S. Myers.
B. English Airs and Motifs in Jamaica.
By far the greater part of these Jamaican tunes and song-
words seem to be reminiscences, or imitations, of European
sailors' "chanties" of the modern class; or of trivial British
nursery-jingles adapted, as all such jingles become adapted.
Except in the cases specified below, I have not found one
Jamaican tune which is entirely like any one English or
European tune that I happen to know. But unrecorded folk-
times are essentially fluid, and pass through endless trans-
formations. In all countries any one traditional ballad may
be sung to dozens of distinct traditional tunes, each of these
again having variants. It is therefore quite possible that
versions of some of the older-sounding Jamaican airs are
being sung unrecorded at this moment in the British Islands
or elsewhere.
I note below such instances of modal tunes as occur in
this collection. I should perhaps explain that by " Modes " are
meant those ancient scales (other than our major and minor
scales) which amongst European composers fell into disuse at
the beginning of the 17 th century, but which survive still
286 Jamaican Sang and Story.
in the ancient Church Music (popularly called "Gregorian"),,
and in the Folk Music of most European countries, and
notably that of the British Isles.
III. King Daniel, p. 14.
Cf. the old ballads "May Colvin" and "Young Hunting."*
In the latter the parrot reveals a murder. In both ballads the
lady makes the same promises to the bird (see Child's English
and Scottish Popular Ballads).
VII. The Three Sisters, p. 26.
Although the story of the monster outwitted by the maiden
he tries to carry off is an almost world-wide motif, and is
found in Africa among other countries, this particular version
has evidently been in contact with European (English or Scottish)*
sources. This is shown not only by the fact that the suitor
proves to be the Devil, but by the question and answer (mis-
placed by the story-teller):
"What is roguer than a womankind?"
"The Devil is roguer than a womankind."
This riddle appears in three versions of the ballad of "The
Three Sisters," otherwise " The Elfin Knight," or " Riddles wisely
Expounded " (Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, voL
i. pp. 1-6), as:
" O what is greener than the grass ?
Or what is 'worse than e'er woman was?"
"O poison's greener than the grass,
And the Devil's worse than e'er woman was. . . ."
"As soon as she the fiend did name,
He flew away in a blazing flame,"
says one version, but in the rest there is no disenchantment,
and the youngest sister wins the visitor as her husband by her
ready wit in replying, which Professor Child {Additions and
Corrections, vol. v. p. 283), thinks a modernization of the
original story. He quotes a manuscript version taken from
a book of Henry VI. 's time, wherein the "Elfin Knight" is
the foul fiend himself undisguised.
For similar survivals of Riddle Songs and Tales see "There
was a Lady in the West" and "Scarborough Fair" in English
Appendix. 287
County Songs, and Kidson's Traditional Tunes, and "The
Lover's Task " in Songs of the West, etc.
The tune is evidently an old ballad air. It is in the Aeolian
Mode.
XVII. Man Grow, p. 54.
The tune is the same as that sung in Worcestershire by
children to "A finger and thumb keep moving."
XVIII. Saylan, p. 59.
This is a version of "The Maid freed from the Gallows,"
"The Golden Ball/' or "The Prickly Bush." For the latter
see English County Songs. Child gives very exhaustive notes
on the story and its variants; also a tune, noted in North
Carolina, " The Prickly Bush " has a tune quite unlike Child's,
and the Jamaican air is quite distinct from both.
XXI. Tacoma and the Old Witch Girl, p. 65.
C£ " The Keys of Heaven M in English County Songs, " Blue
Muslin " in Songs of the West, and " Madam I will gi'e you,"
etc., in fournal of the Folk-Song Society, No. 7. All these airs
are distinct from each other, and from the Jamaican tune.
XXIX. Parson Puss and Parson Dog, p. 91.
This tune is the first half of the old French air " Ah, vous
dirai-je, Maman?" used so often by English children in their
games. See note in Moffat and Kidson's Children's Songs and
Games of Long Ago, p. 42. Other adaptations of the same tune
are CXVI. (p. 215), CLXXVII. (p. 264), and CLXXXIX. (p. 272).
XXXI. Pretty Poll, p. 96.
Cf. " King Daniel" This is again the story of " May Colvin »
or " The Outlandish Knight." The tune " Come, pretty Poll w
here given is rather reminiscent of one traditional air to the
ballad sung still in different parts of England (where numerous
tunes to the favourite story have been noted). See "The
Outlandish Knight" in Songs of Northern England (Stokoe
and Reay) for the type of tune referred to, but plentiful
variants from Hertfordshire, the West of England, Yorkshire,
etc., exist in MS.
XXXVI. Leah and Tiger, p. 108.
The tune is in the Aeolian Mode.
a88 Jamaican Song and Story.
LXIII. Oh, Sunoel, oh, p. .68.
This tune is in the Mixolydian Mode.
LXXXVIII. War down a Homeland, p. 187.
The tune is in the Dorian Mode. By far the most interest-
ing tone in this collection. It is a fine Dorian air, I should
think an old traditional tune imported by English or Irish.
There ate slight modal influences in other tunes, viz. : " Bad
homan oh," " Bell oh," " A Somerset me bam," " Whe me
loon dey "Me da If," and "Since Dora Logan a wahk with
Gallawoss" (Nos. 56, 57, 85, 91, 100, 123).
CXI., p. 209.
This tune is a variant of the well-known children's game-song,
"Here come three Dukes a-riding."
CXIX., p. ai8.
The tune is a variant of one commonly sung in the North
of England and in various parts of Scotland, to a children's
game, " Hullaballoo bailie," in which reference is made to
lilting the right foot and the left foot.
CXXVII., p. 225.
This air is the first part of the tune of " O dem Golden
Slippers," the negro revival song of some twenty years ago.
CXXX-, p. 227.
This is a reminiscence of the Scotch dance-tune usually sung
to the words " There's nae luck aboot the hoose."
CLXXVUL, p. 26+
This is a well-known old English dance-tune, known also in
Scotland.
CLXXXIL, p. 267.
The second part of this tune is merely a reminiscence of
" We won't go home till morning."
CLXXXVII., p. 271.
This tune is the first part of a very commonplace modern
Italian popular composition called " La Mandolinata," played
on every conceivable instrument, and sung also, about the year
1876 and for some years afterwards.
L. E. Broadwood.
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