Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/364

 32 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

And all that season the people going along the big road, they hear her spinning-wheel going all night long, and see a bright light in her cabin, look like her house on fire.

So Mammy Carline she spin every night along night after night by the light the Angel make, twell the Angel tell her the cord long enough. Then the Angel take the cord up to the little boy, and he tie it to the gate-post, and slide down to his mammy.

Emma M. Backus.

Editor's Note. — With regard to these tales, inquiries suggested themselves, which have been answered substantially as follows: In regard to titles, these have been supplied by the recorder ; few of the reciters would be able to give such, and further inquiry will be needed to show if the pieces are commonly distinguished by titles. As to manner of recitation, the grown people are usually so diffident that they tell the adventures with little more expression than is shown by the printed text. When, however, a narrator is found who is willing to present the tales in their proper delivery, the presentation is extremely amusing. A man will seldom forget his bashfulness, but a woman will sometimes do so. " I don't know how they do it, but they will say ' lipity clipity, lipity clipity,' so you can almost hear a rabbit coming through the woods. They talk animatedly, espe- cially in the dialogues, and change the voice to represent the different animals, but not in a chanting tone. Before me they do not use many gestures ; but when a woman tells a story in this way, she becomes so animated as to be somehow ' going all over.' " It is an especially important point, as to whether tales are ever made up for the benefit of a collector. In the majority of cases, the charac- ter of the narratives is sufficient to settle the genuineness and popularity of the story. " One little girl of about twelve years old came to ' tell a tale,' but it was only a rabble of words. I said, 'AVho told you this? ' She replied, 'Nobody; I just thunk it up.' " Usually, however, after they have declared their ignorance of more stories, no amount of coaxing will induce the reciters to continue, even though they may be willing. It is seldom that more than four or five tales can be obtained from one narrator.

In some cases the tales have been obtained in a number of different versions, varied in every conceivable way. The divergence lies in the detail, and in the expansion of the narrative, the actions being identical. In reply to the question "Who told you this?" they always answer, usually saying: "My father," or " My grandfather." The collector is of opinion that the men tell the tales to one another much more than do the women.

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