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OLD STORIES, CHIEFLY OF SORCERY.
63. The Pea that made a Fortune. [[Note]]
Etheline Samuels, Claremont, St. Ann.
One day an old lady was travelling on the road and she picked up a green pea and she planted it. And after it grew, her goat ate it off. She cried upon the goat and told it that she wanted the peas. The goat said that he didn’t have anything to give her, but she could take one of his horns. She took the horn and went to the river-side to wash it. The river took it away from her. She cried upon the river, and the river said it didn’t have anything to give her but a fish. She went further. She met a man who was very hungry. She gave the man the fish. After the man ate it, she cried upon the man. The man gave her a moreen. She went a little further and saw a cow-boy. She gave him the moreen. After he had worn it out, she cried upon him for it. He said he didn’t have anything to give her but his whip. She went a little further and saw a man driving cows. She gave the whip to the man. After the man had lashed it out, she cried upon him, so he gave her a cow; and from the cow she made her riches.
64. Settling the Father’s Debt. [[Note]]
Simeon Falconer, Santa Cruz Mountains.
A man owe another one five pounds, and the other called in and asked the son who was at home, “Where is your father?”—“Me father gone to break a new fence to mend a rotten one.”—“Where is your mother?”—“Me mother gone to the market to sell sweet to buy sweet.”—“Where is your older brother?”—“Gone to sea to catch what in catching will kill and what him don’ catch will carry home alive.”—“Where is your sister?”—“Me sister in the house weeping over what she was rejoicing about last year.”—“What are you doing?”—“Taking hot bricks out [[70]]of oven.”—“Now, me good boy, you give me some hard puzzle. If you tell me the meaning I’ll give you five pounds.”—“When I tell you me father gone to break a new fence to mend an old one, mean to say me father owe you five pound and gone to borrow five pound to pay you. When I tell you me mother gone to the market to sell sweet to buy sweet, gone to sell honey to buy sugar. When I said me brother gone to the sea to catch what in catching he kill and what him don’ catch him bring home alive, I mean to say he goes to bed and he will catch the lice from his head and kill them; what he don’ catch he mus’ carry back in the head. When I said me sister was in the house weeping over what she was rejoicing over last year, she was rejoicing last year in getting her baby; she is weeping over it now because it is dying. When I tell you I’m taking hot bricks out of oven, I am pulling chiggers out of me feet.”—“Now all your puzzles are put through, you are worthy of the five pounds.”—“Please settle me father’s debt, then.” So he make a receipt and give his father five pounds.