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Jamaica - Anansi and Mr. Able
Thomas White, Maroon Town.
Able have two daughter an' dey was pretty young women. Anansi hear about dese two women, did want dem for wife, didn't know what way he was to get dem. Able is a man couldn't bear to hear no one call him name; for jus' as he hear him name call, him get disturb all to kill himself. So Anansi get two ripe plantain an' give de young women de two ripe plantain, an' dey tek de two ripe plantain from Anansi an' dey eat de two ripe plantain. Das de only way Anansi can get dese two young women.
An' Able nebber know 'bout it until one day Mr. Able deh at him house an' him hear de voice of a singin',--
"Brar Able o, me ruin' o[1]
Me plant gone!"
Brar A-ble, oh, me ruin, oh, Brar A-ble,
oh, me ruin, oh, Brar A-ble, oh, me ruin,
oh, Brar A-ble, oh, me plan-tain gone,
Brar Able say, "Well, from since I born I never know man speak my name in such way!" So he couldn't stay in de house, an' come out an' went to plant sucker-root. Anansi go out,--
"Brar Able o, me ruin o,
Me plant gone."
[1. Pronounced "roon".]
Mr. Able went out from de sucker-root an' he climb breadfruit tree. Anansi go just under de breadfruit tree, sing, "Brar Able o, me ruin o, Me plant gone."
Mr. Able went up in a cotton-tree, Anansi went up to de cotton-tree root, give out--
Brar Able o, me ruin o,
Me plant gone."
An' Mr. Able tek up himself off de cotton-tree an' break him neck an' Mr. Anansi tek charge Mr. Able house an' two daughters.
Jack man dory, choose one!
NOTE:
These two numbers are closely related to number 69. The plot turns upon tricks to discover a hidden name. The only difference between them is that in one story it is possession of one or more girls' names, in the next, that of a person whose name the girls alone know, upon which the plot depends. All the variants play upon the idea of concealing a listener to surprise the keeper of the secret (invariably girls) into betraying each other. See Jekyll, 11-13, where the king and queen kill themselves, as in number 93, when they hear the girls' names sung.
Compare Barker, 45-49; Dayrell, 79-80; Dennet, 35-38; Parsons, Andros Island, 117.
In Dayrell, Tortoise gets the wives to call out the husband's name in fright, and he is so ashamed when he hears it that he takes to the water.
In Barker, Anansi drops down bananas sweetened with honey to the girls and they call to each other in surprise.
Jamaica Anansi Stories ,Martha Warren Beckwith, New York, Published By The American Folk-Lore Society, G. E. Stechert & Co., Agents. [1924] and is now in the public domain.
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