oh, my! why should I die’.”
“There is a boat, and in the boat, is a goat, and has
a long coat, catch him under the throat.”
142. Anansi makes a Dance. [[Story]]
The songs of this medley at first follow the story of Goat’s escape from the dance, number [40], combined with the parallel story of Rat’s escape from Puss’s dance. The song is taken from a popular game in which one player represents the cat, another the rat; all the others form a line with clasped hands, and Puss tries to catch Rat through the line, while all sing the song. The bull’s song belongs to number [88] or [89]. Anansi’s fifing is possibly taken from [139].
143. Red Yam. [[Story]]
Old Mary Roden was bed-ridden and lived in a one-roomed hut, the floor of which was falling in. The little grandchild, when prompted to “make a figure,” danced quite spontaneously to the rhythm of the grandmother’s quavering song. The same is true of the next two numbers. Songs sung to be danced to in this fashion have rather the monotonous rhythm of a drum-beat than any melody in our sense of the word. For the story, see number [23]. [[288]]