EVOLUTION IN FOLKLORE. 93 



EVOLUTION IN FOLKLORE. 



SOME WEST AFRICAN PROTOTYPES OF THE "UNCLE 



REMUS" STORIES. 



By the latb Colonel A. B. ELLIS. 



IN tlie process of collecting the folklore of West Africa, but 

 cliiefiy that of the Gold Coast, I have found several tales 

 which are evidently the West African variants of some of the 

 stories collected in the Southern States by Mr. Joel Chandler 

 Harris, and published under the title of " Uncle Remus," and a 

 comparison of the two sets may be of some interest to American 

 readers, besides affording an example of the extent to which folk- 

 lore is affected by change of environment. 



The role of Brer Rabbit is filled on the Gold Coast by the 

 Spider {^Anansi), and on the Slave Coast by the Tortoise {Aivon), 

 who is doubtless the prototype of the Terrapin in " Uncle Remus." 

 In both districts the Hare figures in the tales, and possibly Brer 

 Rabbit is the Hare amid new surroundings, but in West Africa 

 " Long Ears " rather takes the place of Brer Fox, as he is usually 

 outwitted by the Spider and the Tortoise. 



So large a number of the folklore tales of the Gold Coast have 

 the Spider for their hero that the title Anansi' sem, "Spider 

 stories," is now the generic native name for all folklore tales 

 whatever, no matter what the subject may be; and this designa- 

 tion survives in the British West Indies in the name " Nancy 

 stories," which is there applied by the negro to his local folk- 

 lore. The supply of slaves for the British West Indies was drawn 

 almost exclusively from the Gold Coast, so that al], or almost all, 

 of the existing folklore of those islands is derived direct from 

 the Spider stories, and can be readily traced ; but in the Southern 

 States the connection is not always so apparent, for although up 

 to the beginning of the present century Gold Coast negroes 

 formed the bulk of the imported slaves, yet, after about 1810, 

 when the African kingdom of Yoruba broke up, large numbers 

 of Slave Coast negroes were introduced, with the result that the 

 local tales present features peculiar to both districts of West 

 Africa. 



The second tale in Mr. Harris's " Uncle Remus " series is en- 

 titled The Wonderful Tar-baby, and, briefly, is as follows : Brer 

 Fox makes an e^gj of tar, mixed with turpentine, and sets it up 

 by the roadside. Brer Rabbit, coming along the road, sees the 

 tar-baby and bids it " Good morning." The tar-baby makes no 

 reply, upon which Brer Rabbit grows angry and strikes it, with 

 the result that his hand sticks to the effigy. Then he strikes with 



