* Hurston’s list of 122 sources originally appeared at the front of her manuscript. Joe L. Wiley is not included on this list but is credited with many tales published here (and elsewhere) by Hurston.
Appendix 3
Stories Kossula Told Me*
Free men ain’t got [illegible]
Four men who betrayed dey friend
The Monkey and the Camel
The Lion and the Rabbit
The Orphan Boy and Girl and the Witches
The Six Fools
The Man, the Woman and the Ready-to-Tame
The Devil and the Rabbit
Why the Bear Has No Tail Long Poem
Have you heard about the wreck?
I seen a man so black
I seen a man so ugly
I seen a man so ugly he didn’t die
I saw a man so ugly till at night
I seen a railroad so crooked
I saw a country so hilly
I saw a country so hilly till they shoot the corn
I saw a man shoot another with a gun
I saw a man so ugly
Once there was a rabbit and uh bear
A man and his wife had a colt
A man had a wife and she was so small
A man went hunting
The First Man
In slavery time there was a man by the name of Tom
There wuz a man in slavery time always meddling
Once there was an old man, woman and boy
Once there was a man and the preacher came to his house
Man who stole hogs
The mule had sprouted little jackasses
Man who didn’t know what corn was
“Son step on the zillerator!”
Saving for Mr. Hard Time
Old man, wife and hogs
Burning creek and trout
Man who bradded mosquito bills
I seen a man so ugly
′ ′ ′
I seen a horse so poor
I seen a horse so poor
I seen a mule so poor
I saw a horse so poor
Once I was an engineer on train
Rockefeller and Ford was woofing
There was a man so stingy
I knowed a man and he was formen and he was so stingy
Man so smart he had the 7 year itch
Once there was a man had a daughter
Sellin’ roasting ears in heaven
Barrel swell up and burst wid rain
Once there wuz a boiler across de river
De Lawd is Comin’ By
Mississippi River and de punkin tree
On hobo trip in Texas
Hard Wind
Juice of watermelon caused de rain flood
Moon toting a light for de sun
Fish came swimming up the road
Once I wuz out batching
De little black gnat
Paul and de ½ pint shinny
Ole colored man and de gold watch
Ant Dinah on de Coolin Board
De man who heard Gabriel and cussed
De men who beat dere shadders
Catfish who drowned in sweat
John, Bill, and de ole Master
Snail crossing the road
Story of de Jonah
How Disa Abraham, Fadda de Faithful
“Got 1000 tongues”
Rev. Full Bosom and the mourners
It taken 9 partridges to holler Bob White
2 revival preachers and “the doleful sound”
Man who wanted to catchup with his wife
Little boy who raised hell in basket
“I am snake bit”
The butt head cow’s horns
I have seen it so cold
“I tole you to notice hogs—”
“Your breath smells mighty dam bad”
In Miss. a black horse run away with white lady
Steam from locomotive wuz milkin’ cows”—
Train in N. Orleans
Ala. River running so fast
“I done set de world on fire” (fox)
Five men want six orders
Car, mosquito, and flea
“Can’t you tell a white man from a Negro”
“Shoot the gas to her son, I got the steering gear”
Ole Master and John and God dam
Colored man and billy goat
John and Ole Massa and lightnin
The boy and the cow
3 girls, judge, and rabbit
The meanest man
Fishing on Sunday
Why Negroes are black
“God ain’t worth a dam when a bear”—
Man who stole oil from heaven’s lamps
Preacher and de lamp eel
Why Americans are not in war
Hen who gave rooster the blues
“Oh hell, I’ll steal Thou”
Dady so small, bedbug pitcher
“Baa, ba”
Why all lady people got devil in them
“Boots or no boots”
Once there was a man so lazy
Took 1 match sit the river on fire
“I wanted you to work on my wife’s teeth”
Lady and bad polly
The Tall Man
When he want it to rain
“God grant it”—“God dam it”
De witch who stole boy’s money
John and Massa and whut’s under de wash pot
John, Massa and swimming bluff
Rabbit, elephant, fox frolic
“Stay on board lil childen”
The Shortest Man
The Biggest Cabbage
The Hanted House
An dey all got different daddies
Ole Massa and nigger deer-hunting
Niggers is so skeered uh white folks
Uncle and heavenly blackboard
The seed-tick
Why Negroes Have Nothing
Mosquito bills
Tin suits tuh keep de skeeters off
De White Man’s Prayer
What is the biggest chickens you ever saw
Uh sweet potato so big
“If Thou be God…Youse cholkin me tuh death”
Boll Weevil
5 gallon demijohn—uh goody, goody, goody
The little boy and his grandma
Why de Gator Got No Tongue
Why de Gator is Black
Two men out huntin de little dog an de rabbit
Man and girl and picked chickens
Ole massa and nigger visitin’ girl
Tarrypin an’ fox run race for girl
The Boy from Hell
Why God Made Adam Last
Ole Massa and John an’ de bear
Goat an’ tobacco truck
If dat my child, where…gold teeth
Man went huntin’ wid one uh dese muzzle-loaders
Cat an’ de liver an’ de gizzard
“I lends an’ borries, too”
De Reason de Woodpecker Got Uh Red Head
De sworn hunter buddies an’ de deer liver
“Yuh got tuh gum it lak hell”
De men dat melted in Miami
De devil don’t do everything they say
De Hongry Bear
De Preacher an de Sheep’s Tails
De bullet from de 44–40 an’ de echo
Skeeter an’ de Hominy Pot
De tallest man
“Stick uh needle up in de ground”—
There wuz uh man so ugly
[not legible in the original manuscript]
De Flyin’ Negro
Why a parrot drops dead
Big Talk
The man who forgot God’s name
“If you take up time…you won’t be nothin.”
I’d go some here and keep books for somebody
4 niggers and de blacksmith shop
“Papa’s head so lousy”
3 bluebirds
Why they use raw hide on mules
Monkey and dog
[not legible in the original manuscript]
“Raccoon”
Jesus Christ and de $98
“Don’t send dat boy Jesus”
[not legible in the original manuscript]
Free slave and de panter
So dey had de picnic and not de wimming match
The Bull and God
Everytime ma cook eggs, pa cuts de Damn fool
“You kin have it I don’t need it”
“Hold ’im Ned”
“6 months for yo’ skillet”
“Squealin’ Jenny”
2 boys and de biggest lie
Cryin’ for stale biscuit
Two mens and de bear
Why we Squinch (Screech) Owls
Ole Marster, corn field, and bear
John an’ Massa’s ridin’ horse
Brer Rabbit and Brer Dog and Convention
′ ′ ′ ′ ′
Ole woman (Scat you rascal!)
Monkey: My people, my people”
“Tongue brought me here”—
From Pine to Pine
De brothers an’ de persimmons
“Long as dere’s limb, dere’s ropes”
It wuz so hot once a cake of ice…”
It wuz de moon changin’
De Gopher in Court
When de weather gits hot de gopher—
Poor Land
Rich Land
De peas grunting trying to git out de ground—
A Hunter
A lady so cross-eyed
A woman so black
He’d shoot and den put up a target—
De honey sweetened de river
“Found dead in de woods—bit by a r. Snake”
Hog in de Cradle
I seen a man so black
I seen a man so tough
How come de gator hate de dog
Cat and dog race
Why we have Thanksgiving
The long horse and pig that died from old age
Lady with donkey, cat, rooster
Grandmother with large family
Beans and the Girl
[not legible in the original manuscript]
Cheap groceries in hell
Girl and mother and man who stole food
Little country boy and blessing
Why the ole man liked the camel best
Ole man and snake: “Oh, it is so hot”
Blind man, naked man, armless man on rock
Red bug had lost his eye and wrecked train
Lazy boy, smart boy, and bear
He saw sadness and joy
I’ve seen the wind blow so hard
Why we have kings and queens
Man and devil’s daughter
Hairy man, little boy and little girl
Runaway slave and snake
Poor varmints don’t rest on Monday
Devil, lil girl, lil boy, and her mother
Alligator and rabbit’s squabble
Mosquito and monkey wrench
Lazy husband and woman and cake
Bear, woman and her baby
Woman and daughter and Devil
I seen it rain so hard
“My belly ake,” etc.
Two preacher brothers
I seed de coachwhip behind de race runner, etc.
2 blocks of ice gatherin’ li’dard knots—
“I don’t lak dat red-eyed ’gator”
Why the Donkey has long ears
“Lordy, make my bottom wider”
Baptist and Methodist deacons in sinking boat
Methodist and Baptist preacher
Good Time Willie
Long, long boy
3 dogs, Thunder, Lightning, and Jack
Wolf at rabbit’s funeral.
Difference in de climate—cucumber 4 ft. long
Fine Foot, Big Head, Big Gut, and apple tree
Sweet Papa Black
Wedding night
I’m the biggest liar you ever met
Buzzard and Hawk
“Job ain’t never had a pair of britches”—
Preacher and woman making date
Brer Rabbit and Brer Frog
Johnny and the 7-headed lady
Brer Rabbit and de pea patch
Cleanest white woman in U.S.A.
Massa and Jack and fortune telling (variant)
Isaac and Daphne and grocery order for Lord
Dat dog dat eat out dat pan up in Canada
Negro, devil, bet of $1,000
De longest bullet and de deer
3 sons: naked, blind, armless
Muskeeter and railroad track
Massa Martin and Ike and watermelon patch
Stingy man in heaven
White man and nigger shooting crap in heaven
Christopher spreading his mess
[not legible in the original manuscript]
Nigger and son and 200 lashes
’Tater house
Bale of hay and a jack
“You mustn’t say hide you must say skin”
Ole John and Massa’s hogs
John in the Smoke-House
Jack and Massa’s wife
Jack and de devil
John and de Horse
Ole Massa and John and groceries in sycamore tree
Bear in de cane-patch
Sheep in de cradle
Man with three coughs
2 Boys, a Sweet Potato and God
Sam
Ole Massa’s Gun
Sambo
“Didn’t dat nigger fly”
The Running Death
Too many folks is preachin’ dese days
Why women folks always poke in de fire
The Blacksmith
The Carpenter
My father made a boiler so big
I seen uh man so stingy
“He ain’t worth uh damn in uh bear fight”
Spell: (clucking tongue & teeth sound used to urge mules)
Brother wuz de head fireman
Nigger and Pres. Harding at Heaven
“God, don’t stand no jokin’ dese days”
Dis punkin wuz raised offa mosquito dust
Buzzard in Charleston
Tell Aunt Jane to tell Uncle Tom to tell de cow
I seed uh man running so fast
I seen a man so stingy
I seen a man so stingy
I know a man who wouldn’t walk—
I know a man so stingy
I know a man so big
Man and 7 sons and daughter and eagle
Mosquito and engineer
De poorest horse
I seen a man so low
De train ran so fass
I’m uh walkin on de water, oh be baptized
Cruel Wife
I seen it so cold
Have you ever called a train
De workinest pill
The poorest ground I ever did see
De darkest night
Run so hard we lost our feets in de mud wash
Jordan Car
Whammer G. Martin’s dogs, sparro, bon bon Pree
I seen ground so rich
Once it wuz so cold
“Chris’mus gift”
Father, John, Frank, and $5,000
Who had de right to meet de girl?
“A gander can pick it just close as a goose”
What is the hardest wind you ever seen
Best trained mule
Man so dangerous
Lady, husband, and hoodoo
“Clunk…think I’m goin’ pay you”
Massa and John and ketchin’ de devil
“Dat’s too d. much pepper”
De crane, eel
Lil cussin’ boy and de coffin
Let the Holy Ghost ride—walk
Cross-eyed gnat
“Done make me open my mouf wide”
One day the wind
blowed so hard
Another time it blowed so hard
Another time it blowed so hard
A punkin so big
School boy and “Mo” on ’lasses
De biggest apple
Platform under de calf
Gun shoot so far
Fastest colt
Why there ain’t no women in the army
De brother in black is lak de monkey
Why geese holler “Ketch him”
Red bug, rail, trash in tick’s eyes
John and de Devil and de Girl
Why possum ain’t got no hair on his tail
Rabbit and Fox and same girl
Ole man, ole woman, and bear in loft
I know man so hungry
Down in Ga. ain’t no brooms
Man with gold penis
Jack and Mary and father in tree
Preacher and boys and dirty under hat
Brother Rabbit and Brother Fox and piece of ham
“The fun is all over now”
I was a flying fool
Lil boy travelling, old man and woman and lil girl and Peas
Want to be buried in rubber coffin
I saw a man so ugly
Man falling on white woman
Country man and oxen
Man who fished alligator and took him home
My brother was so swift
Sugar cane so large
Bow-legged biscuits (I saw a man so hongry)
De biggest cabbage
Huntin’ rabbit (fast bullet)
Man and hardheaded son ghost
Man, son, 2 dogs on coon hunt
Newlyweds and corn and rooster
Grandmother, lil boy on train
Old man and woman and girl and pillow
How cold have you known it
3 boys going with same girl and dynamite
Lil boy and preacher and bear
Sawing down the big tree
“What angel need with ladder?”
Preacher had his congregation
“Naw, I ain’t whistlin’—I’m pizen—”
Woman describing the fiddle
Woman and ginny-blue calico dress
Devil, man and gun
Why wimmen ain’t had no whiskers
Why woman’s vagina was moved
“Whut did he die wid Elder,”—
White man, son and nigger
How the gopher was created
Why churches are split today
Uh hard wind
Two hoboes and pigeons
Hawg Under de House
Uncle Ike in de Judgement
Uncle Jeff and the Church
Pig in de Poke
Gabriel’s trumpet
The Monticello Legend
Moufy Emma
De Animal Congress
Every Friday…mocking birds
De Rabbit Wants Uh Tail
Why de buzzard has no home
Dirt dauber and bee
Massa and Jack and rooster
Prayin’ woman an de banjo man
God an de devil in de cemetery
Scissors
Why de nigger been working hard
The devil and the daughter