And Horns on the Toads Page: Front Inside
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$4.50
WHEN THE DEVIL "decided he'd start up a Hell
of his own," according to the famous poem "Hell
in Texas," he furbished the God-forsaken area on
the Rio Grande deeded to him by the Deity with
a set of truly Satanic touches. As a starter
He scattered tarantulas over the roads,
Put thorns on the cactus and horns on the Loads...
Ever since then the harmless little creature with
the fierce aspect has been a Typically Texan
animule, cherished by the state's youngsters and
a source of wonder to outlanders. Now John Q.
Anderson has collected the lore surrounding the
horned toad in a survey which gives a name to
the richly varied assortment of materials making
up AND HORNS ON THE TOADS, a baker's-score
of essays presenting folkish findings all the way
from Old Fort Clark in Texas to the Flamenco-
filled Gypsy caves of Andalusia.
Some of the supposedly tall tales about the
horned toad do have elements of truth, Mr. Ander-
son points out. Similarly, strains of validity may
sometimes be discovered in the operations of the
region's folk healers or curanderos, as well as the
"seers" who may, for all anybody knows, be relying
on a primitive form of extrasensory perception.
The South Texas practitioners whose work is
described by Brownie McNeil and the remarkable
Miss Annie Buchanan of Corsicana visited by Wil-
liam A. Owens are themselves genuine "folk
characters," a vague phrase, true, but a vigorous
one: as witness the stories hilariously lofted by
John Henry Faulk's South Austin friend Joe
Whilden or the outrageous antics perpetrated by
William Henry Hardin's Grandpa Brown.
Folk healers use all sorts of devices, herbs and
whatnot, in attempting their cures. One curative,
a specific for the "incurable wound," rabies, is now
passing into legend: the madstone. No legend, but
chronological fact, is the record by Michael J.
Ahearn of the Noell Madstone's uses over several
decades in Texas before and just after the turn
of the century.
Those frontier days yield quite another sort of
recollections to G. A. Reynolds, who describes a
stark brand of vigilante "justice," to Ruth Dodson,
who recounts family ghost stories, and to Kenneth
Porter, who recalls uncanny occurrences in military
life at Fort Clark and San Antonio. Buried treasure,
so often the motivation for ghostly activities, finds
a more contemporary, realistic, and indeed humor-
(Continued on back flap)
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And Horns on the Toads (Book)
Volume of folk stories and tall tales about the horned toad and other Texas folklore. The index begins on page 235.
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Boatright, Mody Coggin. And Horns on the Toads, book, 1959; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38856/m1/2/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.