HOW DOLLARS TURNED INTO BUMBLE BEES AND OTHER LEGENDS
By J. Frank Dobie
This group of legends came to me from an old darkey named Pete Staples. In them may be seen the blended elements of negro, [[53]]Mexican, and pioneer Texan lore. Pete was brought to Texas from Mississippi before the Civil War. He was raised in the border country among the Mexicans and drove cattle up the trail to Kansas. He married a Mexican woman and lived for some time in Mexico. When he told me these stories in 1922 he was cooking for a Mexican cow camp in Live Oak County. The other hands had “unrolled their blankets” early, and Pete’s tones were confidential as we talked by the burnt-out campfire.