Jamaican Song and Story

One day Annancy an' Bro'er Tiger go a river fe wash'kin. Annancy said to Bro'er Tiger:-"Bro'er Tiger, as you are such a big man, if you go in a de blue hole with your fat you a go drownded, so you fe take out your fat so lef' it here."

Tiger said to Bro'er Annancy:-"You must take out fe you too."

Annancy say:-"You take out first, an' me me take out after."

Tiger first take out.

Annancy say:-"Go in a hole, Bro'er Tiger, an' make me see how you swim light."

Bro'er Annancy never go in.

As Tiger was paying attention to the swimming, Annancy take up his fat an' eat it.

Then Annancy was so frightened for Tiger, he leaves the river side an' go to Big Monkey town.

Him say:-"Bro'er Monkey, I hear them shing a shing a river side say:-

[Listen] [XML]

"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat,

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat."

The Big Monkey drive him away, say they don't want to hear no song.

So him leave and go to Little Monkey town, an' when him go him said:-

"Bro'er Monkey, I hear one shweet song a river side say:-

"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat."

Then Monkey say:-"You must sing the song, make we hear."

Then Annancy commence to sing.

Monkey love the song so much that they made a ball a night an' have the same song playing.

So when Annancy hear the song was playing, he was glad to go back to Bro'er Tiger.

When him go to the river, he saw Tiger was looking for his fat.

Tiger said:-"Bro'er Annancy, I can't find me fat at all."

Annancy say:-"Ha ha! Biddybye I hear them shing a Little Monkey town say:-

"Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.

"Bro'er Tiger, if you think I lie, come make we go a Little Monkey town."

So he and Tiger wented.

When them get to the place, Annancy tell Tiger they must hide in a bush.

Then the Monkey was dancing an' playing the same tune.

Tiger hear.

Then Annancy say:-"Bro'er Tiger wha' me tell you? You no yerry me tell you say them a call you name up ya?"

An' the Monkey never cease with the tune:-

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.

Yeshterday this time me a nyam Tiger fat.

Then Tiger go in the ball an' ask Monkey them for his fat.

The Monkey say they don't know nothing name so, 'tis Mr. Annancy l'arn them the song.

So Tiger could manage the Little Monkey them, an' he want fe fight them.

So the Little Monkey send away a bearer to Big Monkey town, an' bring down a lots of soldiers, an' flog Bro'er Tiger an' Annancy.

So Bro'er Tiger have fe take bush an' Annancy run up a house-top.

From that, Tiger live in the wood until now, an' Annancy in the house-top.

Jack Mantora me no choose any.

NOTES.

Go a river fe wash 'kin, go to the river to wash their skins. Pronounce fe like fit without the t.

in a de, into the.

A go drownded, will be drowned.

fe take, short for must have fe take, must take.

so lef', and leave.

fe you, for you, yours.

me me, I will. Annancy is fond of these reduplications.

in a hole, in the hole.

make me see, let me see. Make and let are always confused.

frighten, frightened. Past participles are seldom used.

take, eat, leave, go, takes, eats, leaves, goes. This shortening is always adopted. If a final s is used, it is generally in the wrong place.

shing a shing, sing a song. Annancy's lisp will not always be printed, but in reading, it should be put in even when not indicated.

a river side, at the river's side. The v is pronounced more like a b, and the i in river has the sound of French u.

me a nyam, I was eating, I ate. Nyam is one of the few African words which survive in Jamaica.

make we hear, and let us hear it.

have the same song playing; the past participle again avoided, and its place supplied by the present participle. Song and tune are interchangeable terms, and, even when there is no singing, the fiddle speaks words to those who are privileged to hear; see "Doba" and other stories.

Biddybye, by the bye.

a Little Monkey town, in Little Monkey town. So already in this story we have had a standing for to, in, the, at, will, besides being interjected, as in me a nyam and elsewhere.

make we go, let us go.

in a bush, in the bush, in the jungle.

dancing an' playing. No mention of singing, observe.

a wha' me tell you, etc. What did I tell you? Did you not hear me tell you they were talking about you up here? A good phrase to illustrate the use of the interjected say.

Call you name, mention your name.

Monkey them; another common addition.

nothing name so, nothing called so.

a bearer. Bearers are important people in the Jamaica hills where post-offices are few. They often bear nothing but a letter, though some carry loads too.

Jack Mantora, etc. All Annancy stories end with these or similar words. The Jack is a member of the company to whom the story is told, perhaps its principal member; and the narrator addresses him, and says: "I do not pick you out, Jack, or any of your companions, to be flogged as Tiger and Annancy were by the monkeys." Among the African tribes stories we know are often told with an object. The Negro is quick to seize a parable, and the point of a cunningly constructed story directed at an individual obnoxious to the reciter would not miss. So when the stories were merely told for diversion, it may have been thought good manners to say: "This story of mine is not aimed at any one."

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A King had t'ree daughter, but nobody in the world know their name. All the learned man from all part of the eart' come to guess them name, an' no one could'n guess them.

Brother Annancy hear of it an' say:-"Me me I mus' have fe fin' them ya-ya gal name. Not a man can do it abbly no me."

So one day the King t'ree gal gone out to bathe, an' Brother Annancy make a pretty basket, an' put it in a the house where he knew they was going to come fe eat them vittle.

He leave it there, an' go under the house fe hear the name.

When them come, them see the basket, an' it was the prettiest something they ever see in their life.

Then the biggest one cry out:-

Yung-kyum-pyung! What a pretty basket!

Marg'ret-Powell-Alone! What a pretty basket!

And the next one say:-

Margaret-Powell-Alone! What a pretty basket!

Eggie-Law! What a pretty basket!

And the youngest bahl:-

Eggie-Law! What a pretty basket, eh?

Yung-kyum-pyung! What a pretty basket, eh?

Brother Annancy hear it all good, an' he glad so till him fly out a the house an' gone.

Him go an' make up a band of music with fiddle an' drum, an' give the musicians them a tune to sing the names to.

An' after a week him come back.

When him get where the King could yerry, him give out:-"Play up the music, play up the music."

So they play an' sing:-

[Listen] [XML]

Yung-kyum-pyung

Eggie-Law

Marg'ret-Powell-Alone.

After six times sing the Queen yerry.

She say:-"Who is that calling my daughter name?"

Annancy tell them fe play all the better.

Then the Queen massoo himself from up'tairs, an' t'row down broke him neck.

Dat time de King no yerry, so Annancy harder to play de music still.

At last the King yerry, an' him say:-"Who is dat, calling me daughter name?"

Annancy let them sing the tune over and over:-

[Listen] [XML]

Yung-kyum-pyung

Eggie-Law

Marg'ret-Powell-Alone.

An' the King t'row himself off a him t'rone an' lie there 'tiff dead.

Then Annancy go up an' take the t'rone, an' marry the youngest daughter an' a reign.

Annancy is the wickedest King ever reign. Sometime him dere, sometime him gone run 'pon him rope an tief cow fe him wife.

Jack Mantora me no choose none.

NOTES.

Me, me I mus' have, etc., I will find out those girls' names. Anybody else would have said:-"Me mus' have fe find them ya (those here) gal name," but Annancy likes to add a few more syllables. His speech is Bungo talk. The Jamaican looks down on the Bungo (rhymes with Mungo) who "no 'peak good English."

abbly no me, except me.

go under the house. It is no absurdity to the narrator's mind to picture the King's house on the pattern of his own. This is a two-roomed hut, consisting of the hall or dining-room and a bedroom. It is floored with inch-thick cedar boards roughly cut and planed, so that they never lie very close. An air space is left underneath, and anybody who creeps under the hut can hear all that goes on above.

bahl, bawl.

hear it all good, hears everything perfectly.

Play up the music. He almost sings, like this:-

[Listen] [XML]

Play up the music.

all the better, all the harder.

massoo himself, lifts herself up. "Massoo" 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 pronunciation.

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.

* * *

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 God! nobody see me."

Now a Parrot sat up on a tree, an' jes' as Miss Lumpy say "T'ank God! nobody 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:-

[Listen] [XML]

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:-

[Listen] [XML]

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]

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 becount.

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 bumping down. The o's have the Italian sound.

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