Singers and Storytellers Page: 15
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STORYTELLERS I HAVE KNOWN
be no doubt that he had been keeping company with a bottle.
His smiling face shone with joy. Every now and then his feet
were flashing cuts of the Pigeon Wing, or maybe it was the
Double Shuffle. Then he would let out a very low and not at
all peace-disturbing shout of joy.
I stopped, fascinated. Other pedestrians paused, then
passed. I moved toward the corner, and the joyful one capered
my way. A young Negro passed him, turned his head slightly
and without coming to a halt gave him a warning. The
celebrator raised his voice, his spirits rising with it. "He's back
from France, and thinks he'll tell us folks how to act."
He came to me talking. "Yes, I've danced in high places.
Boss Man said he wanted me to dance. I said I'd dance if he
paid me top money. Boss Man said he'd pay me top money if
I could tell a bigger lie than anybody in Europe. This is what
I told him:
"One time there was a planter had 2,800 acres black
bottom land, and he planted it all in corn, every acre of it. The
rains came right, and the crop turned out fine. He gathered it
and next year planted another crop, and it was fine. He went
on that way for eight years, and gathered all that corn off them
2,800 acres, and he never sold a sack of it. just kept it. He was
laying it all up.
"He built what we call a crib. It was two miles and eight
square feet this way and two miles and eight square feet that
way, then two miles and eight square feet over yonder way,
and two miles and eight square feet the other way. It had a
cement floor so weevils couldn't come up. It had a concrete
wall all around 100 feet high, and it had a roof all over it. And
when this planter got all that corn for eight years off his 2,800
acres in the crib, it was chock full. He locked it up and said
he didn't need no more corn.
"There was just one hole in that wall, and it was a little
hole to let air in. And then along came the seven-year locusts.
One of them spied the hole and he flew in. Locusts like corn,15
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Singers and Storytellers (Book)
Collection of popular folklore of Texas, including personal anecdotes about storytellers and singers, as well as folk songs, myths, and ghost stories. The index begins on page 295.
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Boatright, Mody C. Singers and Storytellers, book, 1961; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67655/m1/21/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.