Jamaican Song and Story Part 6

[Music:

Play up the music.]

=all the better=, all the harder.

=ma.s.soo himself=, lifts herself up. "Ma.s.soo" is an African word. The hall seems to have a sort of gallery.

=t'row down, etc.=, throws herself down and breaks her neck. They always say =to broke=.

=Dat time de 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 p.r.o.nunciation.

=let them sing=, makes them sing.

=Sometime him 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.

=tief=, thieve.

Spiders' webs of any kind are called =Annancy ropes=.

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 marry 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:--"T'ank G.o.d! n.o.body see me."

Now a Parrot sat up on a tree, an' jes' as Miss Lumpy say "T'ank G.o.d!

n.o.body 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' a golden cage."

And the Parrot sing:--

[Music:

No, No, I don't want it, for the same you serve another one you 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:--

[Music:

I brought, I brought a news to the young King Daniel; Miss Lumpy 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' 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 see 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.[39]

[Footnote 39: The well-known and lately-current ballad of _May Colvin_, 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.)]

=I brought=; brought for bring, as we had =broke= for break.

=loss.= It is doubtful what this word represents. It may be loss or lost. Observe =be=count.

=I would like 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?"

=find her not.= The =not= has a heavy accent.

=gully=, precipice.

=pom-galong= imitates the sound of the barrel as it goes b.u.mping 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 t'reepence to give the gal when him goin' to the market to buy a t'reepence of youricky-yourk. An' the gal take the t'reepence. An' as she walk along the pa.s.s 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?"