South from Hell-Fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Literature in English, North America English Language and Literature 1988 South from Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales Leonard W. Roberts Morehead State University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Roberts, Leonard W., "South from Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky Mountain Folk Tales" (1988). Literature in English, North America. 43. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/43 South from Hell-fer-Sartin South from Hell-fer-Sartin KENTUCKY MOUNTAIN FOLK TALES Leonard W. Roberts THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright ® 1955 by The University of Kentucky Press Copyright ® renewed 1988 by Edith R. Roberts Reprinted 1988 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0336 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roberts, Leonard W. South from Hell-fer-Sartin: Kentucky mountain folk tales / Leonard W. Roberts, p. cm. Reprint. Originally published: Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1955. ISBN 0-8131-1637-6. ISBN 0-8131-0175-1 (pbk.) 1. Tales—Kentucky—Leslie County. 2. Tales—Kentucky—Perry County. I. Title. GR110.K4R6 1987 398.2'09769'152—dcl9 87-30039 CIP This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. @ To Edith and our four young listeners Sue, Margaret, Rita, and Lynneda INTRODUCTION 1 ANIMAL TALES 13 The Animals and the Robbers 14 ORDINARY TALES 16 Dirtybeard 17, Alice and Ben 19, Jack and His Dogs 21, Jack Outwits the Giants 23, Reptensil 25, The Little Blue Ball 27, The Bloody House 28, The Golden Ball 30, Jack and the Giant's Tasks 33, The Boy That Never Seen a Fraid 35, Johnny That Never Seen a Fraid 38, The Hainted House 40, The Boy That Couldn't Shiver and Shake 41, Merrywise 42, The Little Girl and the Giant 45, Nippy 46, The Old Woman Who Loved Mush 49, The Golden Arm 51, Big Black Toe 52, Rawhead and Bloodybones 54, Sleeping Beauty 59, Bully Bornes 60, The Enchanted Cat 63, The Gold in the Chimley 65, John and the Wicked Princess 69, The Princess in the Donkey Skin 70, The Three Sisters 72, Jack and the Bull's Horns 74, Jack and the Bull Stripe 78, Big-Foot Town 81, Soldier of the Blue Light 82, The Magic Bag 84, Jack and the Miller's Daughter 86, The Rather Unusual Frog 88, The Skillful Brothers 90, The Silver Tree 91, The Dumb Supper 93, Jack and the Hid- den Valley 94, The Little Ripen Pear 96, Dirty Jack 97, Rich Tom of Ireland 100, The Man and His Three Sons 103, Jack and His Master 105, The Witch Store Robber 106, Witch Magic 108, The Two Witches 109, The Witch Plot 111, Rid- ing the Witch 112, Taking the Turkey 113, Taking the Big Possum 113, Bobtail and the Devil 114 JOKES AND ANECDOTES 116 Irishmen Squirrel Hunting 117, Irishmen Looking for Gold 117, Irishmen and the Red Pepper 118, Irishmen Deer Hunting 119, Irishman Eating Dungbeetles 120, Irishmen and the Hor- nets' Nest 120, The Irishman and the Pumpkin 121, The Irish- man and the Watch 122, Irishman and the Watch 123, The Battle of the Boards 123, Irishman and the Turtle 124, Irish- man Hunting for an American Man 124, Irishman and the Fiddler 125, Irishman Who Bought a Mule 126, The Lazy Irishman 127, The Irishman and His Shaved Mule 128, Dick and Dock 129, The Three Sillies 131, The Two Woodcutters 134, Big Fraid and Little Fraid 136, The Graveyard Wager 136, The Tailor and the Giants 137, The Gaping Woman 140 Casting Sheep's Eyes 141, The Soap Boy 142, The Devil and the Angel 143, Gabriel's Horn 144, Robert and the Peachtree 144, The Split Dog 145, Tall Hunting Tale 145, Jack on a Hunting Trip 148, Bears in a Holler Tree 149, Bragging Eng- lishman 150, The Big 152, The Swollen Hoe Handle 153 The Swollen Tree 153, My Pet Charlie 154, The Cats That Clawed to Heaven 154, The Bad Bear 155, Greedy Fat Man 157, Coon Skin Huntin 158, Ground Sow Huntin 160 MYTHS AND LOCAL LEGENDS 161 Origin of Man 162, The Giant and the Chipmunk 162, King Richard of England 163, The Prince and the Monister 165, Indians Out of Fire 167, Tommy the Indians 168, Yansoo Po Shinie! 170, Lovers' Leap 171, Everlasting Water 172, The Three Lost Boys 173, The Last Chase 175, Bear and the Baby 176, The Untold Secret 111, Rail-Splitting Sally 179, The Haunted Hotel Room 180, The Mystery of the ed Road 183, The Headless Ghost 185, The Falling Bars 187, The Returning Wife 188, The Jealous Wife 189, Spirit of the Wreck 190, Poor Man and His Witch Wife 190, Devil George 191, The Bewitched Cow 192, Travelers Dream 194, Watch- 195, Old Buttermilk John 196, Skeletons in the Basement 198, Guest Robbery 199, The Disguised Robber 200, The Fireproof Safe Business 200 CONCLUSION 202 NOTES 207 S 274 TYPE NUMBERS 277 F NUMBERS 279 SOUTH FROM HELL-FEH-SARTIN Creek lies one of the most iso- lated sections in the Kentucky hills. There I found and record- ed the stories in this collection. The first seventy-five or eighty of them—and perhaps several others—have come from the far corners of the world, passed down orally through many genera- tions. These stories would seem to lack both home and func- tion if I did not describe the land where they were found and its people. What I saw and heard on one collecting trip will show some ways of the hill people. Bill McDaniel was a student in the Berea Foundation School when I was a teacher and story collector there. From time to time he told me tales he had heard from his grandmother and his great-grandmother, the latter recently dead. It was not long before his stories prompted me to plan a visit to his home, far back on a branch of Big Leatherwood Creek in Perry County. A twenty-year-old senior, Bill still was pleased to get home to see his folk. Many a student, younger or older than Bill, has run away from the school, overcome by gnawing homesickness. From Berea we motored into the upland region. Here in eastern Kentucky half a million people build their houses along the tops of the eroded ridges and descend into the ravines to till the land, pasture their cattle, or work in the mines. Where the hills rise higher and higher and sharpen at their peaks, and the valleys get narrower, the houses come down from the crests and perch on the slopes or occupy the small level patches along the valley floors. Just a few old log houses are left. Now there are sawed lumber or frame, weatherboarded structures with not a few simple boxed cabins. Occasionally some man has remembered the comfort and protection of the old log dwelling and has built himself a new and better one, with good window light and even perhaps furnace or gas heat. Bill talks and points out more and more familiar objects. He tells me that often the very road we are on has been scat- tered with kegs of tacks; all the trucks have had flats and the traffic has ground to a halt. The cause? Well, organizers have been sent in, or small groups of local miners have got together and tried to form a union. But there are too many small opera- tors and too many men who own all or a part of the mines where they work. Occasionally their trucks are fired upon, or a barricade thrown across the road, or a bridge blown out. But they do not want a union and have never been organized. Through this hilly country we hear odd place names, odd until one thinks of them and realizes how they reflect the light imagination and the humor of the early settlers. Out of Man- chester we drive along Goose Creek and by the mouth of Bull Creek. Over the way from Hyden is Thousandsticks Creek, and we see the modest weekly newssheet in Hyden is called Thousandsticks. Ten miles down from the county seat is the mouth of Hell-for-Certain ("Hell-fer-Sartin") Creek, and a few miles farther the mouth of Cutshin Creek. Kingdom Come is over in Letcher County and Troublesome Creek in Perry County. We are soon picking our way through the one-way, vehicle- clogged streets of the crowded town of Hazard, the seat of Perry County. It is made up of strings of buildings extending along the river and up the ravines and coves. The old court- house here was once taken over by one feuding faction and barricaded in defense against the other faction stationed be- hind trees and houses and in ditches. For a few weeks a com- pany of state militia camped on the courthouse square to re- store order.