FABLE AND FOLKLORE 167 



Mister Devil, so's to let him 'n* his wife, ole Aunty Squatty, 

 have good kindlin' wood all de time. . . . But some folks tell 

 de tale mother way. Dey say he make dat trip ever' Friday 

 ter tote down des a grit er dirt. He make de trip sho'. 

 Ever'body knows dat. But for what he goes folks tells diffunt 

 tales. You sho'ly can't see a jay bird in dis worl' on Friday 

 fum twelve o'clock twel three — hit takes 'em des dat long ter 

 make de trip. . . . Some folks say Bre'r Jay and all his fambly, 

 his folks, his cousins, and his kin, does go dat way and d'rection, 

 ev'y one totin' dey grain o' sand in der bill an' drappin' hit in — 

 des one teeny weeny grit — wid de good hopes er fillin' up dat 

 awful place." 2 



Lousiana negroes are of the opinion that the jay is 

 condemned to this weekly trip as a punishment for mis- 

 behavior at Christ's crucifixion, but what dreadful deed 

 he did has been forgotten. Every reader of "Uncle 

 Remus," or of the stories of Mrs. Ruth McEnery Stuart, 

 Mr. Harry Stillwell Edwards, and other Southern 

 writers, knows how largely the "jaybird" figures in the 

 plantation-tales of the negroes, especially of the coastal 

 districts, where the blue jay is one of the most conspicuous 

 and interesting of resident birds. 



The coming of Christianity, as has been said, swept 

 away the images of Odin and of his Pagan familiars 

 Hugin and Munin out of both Teutonic and Keltic 

 Europe, but it did not sweep away the birds themselves, 

 nor discolor their sable wings, nor silence the baleful 

 croak; and the impression left by the old tales lingered 

 long in the minds of the people. To the horror of the 

 raven and his kind among the natives of Britain, as a 

 symbol of the northern marauders from whom they had 

 so long suffered, was now added the anathema of pious 

 missionaries who condemned everything pagan as 

 diabolic, and all things black — except their own robes — - 

 as typifying the powers of darkness. Truly, remarked 



