The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com.
This is the first of a two part recording in which Judith Alison Black interviews members of her family; the audio in this part is distorted and difficult to understand. It starts with Alistair Black recounting some of their family history. Specifically, his Uncle John, who lived in Glasgow, and was hurt in an industrial accident; because of insufficient healthcare, he had to wear a brace the rest of his life. At 4:27 minutes Black tells a funny story about Uncle John playing golf after his accident at the Milford Course (possibly in Wales). The course was very beautiful and difficult, and despite his brace, Uncle John hit the ball onto the green in one shot. At 09:59, Black tells another funny story about a woman mistaking a neighbor for her husband when he was under the husbands car to fix it. The audio becomes very garbled at about 12 minutes, when Dorothy Black starts telling funny stories about her family. At about 14 minutes, she shares a fairy tale (which is repeated more clearly in part two). Then she talks about her Uncle Kenneth Jones, who escaped from the French Foreign Legions in Algeria after serving for 20 years. She reminisces about when he came home after not seeing him for decades. In addition, she explains that her father encouraged the family to debate their opinions.
Dorothy Dolly Macdonald Black (1900-1986) was born in Renfrew, Scotland, to John (1873-?) and Wilhelmina MacDonland (1874-1974). She married John Bruce Black (1897-1971) from Glasgow, Scotland, after they met in Calcutta, India. They had two sons, the first of which, Alistair Macdonald (1926-2004), was born in India. Shortly after his birth, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she worked as medical secretary, and they had a second son, Ian Carmichael (1929-2009). The family moved to Lithonia, Georgia, then later to Murphy, North Carolina. After John Black died, Dorothy Black returned to Atlanta to study at Georgia State University. Ian Black married Dorothy Ann Hoffman (1928-1993), and they had four children, including Kathleen. Alistair McDonald graduated from Boys High for High school, completed undergraduate studies at Duke University and Georgia Institute of Technology, and earned a masters degree in Regional Planning from University of Pennsylvania. During World War II, he served in the Navy, after which he worked as an architect at several firms, including Tomerlin, Sheetz; Dougherty Association; Robert and Co.; and McDonald Associates. In 1952, McDonalnd married Julia Morris Cramer Schnebly (1925-2019), and they had five children, including Judith Black. They built a house on the Black family land in North Carolina. Julia Schnebly was born to Jessie Hammersia (1882-1976) and Walter Jeremiah Schebly (1884-1943), in Hagerstown, Maryland. Jessie Hammersia was also born in Hagerstown, to William (1850-1929) and Katherine (1850-1926); she was descended from Robert Morris, a member of Second Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She and Walter Schnebly married in 1914. They had two children in addition to Julia, and moved to Atlanta in 1948.
Judith Alison Black Profc-ssor 1.John -::::~urrison stateffieni: of Purpo e 1 3 Biographical -~ackground 4 Schnebly ~;t:.01 ies Jrhe ConsecJuencss of Lying 7 :3lc1ck: sto.r i e-.s 2-3 1 s in the Caviar Old l-lcLaren I s J.?unera.l Le2ning on the Fog {J:ncle }ingu.s I l7'a:nous ,_Joli: Sliot lJncle Kenneth Joins and i~~scapes from the French 9 10 13 J.7 20 21 Foreign Legion 22 The .Fairy Ca.uldron 23 Con cl us ion 26 i .Fan'1ilics 1 particulax]_y closely-J-(nit fa'.1ilies, always see to carry around their o~,n special bundles of folktales .. l\n c.nalysis of these tales sho;,.rs the bac>:::3round o:f:' the fa,:niLY to be reflected in the stories its members choose to tell .. This ~ollection project, concentrating on two branches of one fa'.nily, is a.n atte;_npt to correlate ba.ckg-round to present-day oral tradition .. 2 (_2:,; <:c \'-.j p~ ~ 2- ) iIi' I' I ,I,r --1_ ~-Iorc1c of John and Dorothy J~,lach: 4 ~he art of rhetoric always been highly cultivated in (.ny fa:nily .. A 1ceen wit and clever tongue were a ~atter of survival.. l''ly 9:randfather B1a.c1\. us:,sd to pur1:::iosely argue 1.,Jit.h his sons c.1 t:"12 l(to,st ridiculous subjE,cts (he \'l0.1..1ld deliberately SU.f)port political questions which he really was against) just to i!aprove his son I s coordination of thou.g.bt s and v;iords .. On the Schnebly side of the fa.r:1ily there was a custo'.tt2.ry front-porch conversation, v:-hen the fa:nily gathered in the evening afte.r chores were done .. rhe two families come from very different backgrounds~ <Jrandrnot"l":ter Schnebly can trace her family bacl<:: to r:,oDert 1'.'ilorris (of Revolutionary \-'Ja_r :Earns) and. a Dr .. Schnebly who e::12.gra.ted from Switzerland to 11roerica. around 1 760 .. Tl1e 3lacks can trace their ancestors back only three or four generations, the earlier generations geinr~f lost 11in the mists of time~ 11 .Records V?ere not 1<:ept in the uncivilized highlands of that dayo l'.:1y paternal granC.LT1otl'-1er, Dorothy l"'lo.cdonc:.ld Black, was 1:.::or-n ancl g:cew up in .Fi..enfrew, scotlancJ ... John 2ruce ala cl~, :ny g-ra.nd- They ~et in Glasgow, and were married in india, after L11y rJrandfather got an eng:ineerin9 job in the coloJ:-. iy father 1 P,lastair Ftacdonald _Jlac}::, was born while they were still in Indiao When he was still a baby, they second son, lan Car[ ichael, was borno They rnoved to a S(\ia.ll far:8 in Lithonia, Georgia, when the boys were in their early teens, and lived there 5 During the ti"Tte that tne :-3lacl<. family lived in town, IT!Y grandfathe~ worlced as one of the supervising engineers for the construction ot the Dox a ville ,:Jen er al .L01otors plant: my grandmotberfound a job as a me6ical secretary0 i/Jhen they rnov ed. to the cour1tr~{ in the lat,: 19 30 1 ,s I Papa .John .started his own business, 0e:<alb L,.ieta_l E'abrica.tions .. er ~-1is retire-a1ent around 1965, he sold part of the land so that he and :Nana :Golly could do some trav,2lling" Gana Dolly, who received an excellent education in Scotland, went back to school after Pa.pa \John I s death, cLnd is presently enrolled at Georgia State Universityo On the- other side of thG fan1ily is the Schneblys., i'.ily sranClrnother, Jessie darcvnersla Schnebly, V)as born in Hagerstown, 1-,'..aryland, in 1882.. She E1et a.nd ma.rried a l-lagerstowT1 boy, 'i,Jc.lter 1.Jere~nicd.1, ,3cl1nebly, at the be9innin9 o:C 'v\lorld War l.. rheir first child, David, died of diabetes in his ~iddle twentieso Fiarthc\, the second child, is a doctor of occupational therapy in Detroito the mother and two sisters Uncle l)avi(1 haviny died !;)a.rents met, and started builcJ.ing- their own house on a. part of the mother is presently a professor of ~usic at 3eorsia University, and ~y fat~cr is an architect/re0ional planner~ Jran&na~a Schnebly often declares tl1at she got a ~uch more rigourous education than the students of today 9eto She st u.d i(:;-d, ;:;-;ituation,3" 6 '~he following stories were told in a nunber of different Occas1onally, stories l1ad to be told twice, due to .recording problems, a::'1c1 this unfortur1at2ly increased. the selfconE> cious :Ceelinr~J,. In the introd.u.ctj_on to e:ach story, the sit:.uation nu.tibers, i:C any, are i ncluc:Led a_t th.e- enc~. of the story,, 7 l spent a.n afternoon conversin.9 with ..":;-rancJ.rna;:na e,c;:inebly, .Ch.i.s , ., ,- i. ,\'-~.I-. ex.pression ot= the fc.ce in spite of yourself .. You l<:.not,J they say th2:t - uh - the blod (.ln,~_c: sornsthins or the nerve.s :Elitch o:c something of that lcinC, that there 1 s some -- so~e sign if you are, ut, ~-1ell, of courss, it 1 s being proven now with the lie detsctors, that you go up -- well, of course, we didn 1 t have anythins:1 liJr,:e that but t1e story V)a.s as -- and 1 re-Iie:11ber t.l1at this child had done so:uetning wrong, stolen soTiething or did r can rs~e~~er the story, un, like a ladd0r, not lilce a ladder, but, unn, a building up so l1igh (shows wi~h s)~ Tf1at isn't \";hat I want, but \\Te,11, v1e 111 say, but. no, forget it .. ~ut it was up high, and the question was aslced, and i~mediately _J J:1.is tihole form cho_nged 1)ecause 1e had told this av .- J::ul lie .. 2is wl1ols expression and, seemed to ~e, so~ething out fro: his !':iody all liqht,.:::d up to sho~,1 that he was guilty .. to ij1J;:.12:ess u.s tl"1at a.;,;ful things ,,.;ould happen to you if you. 1 c~l tell o. 1 ie or if ~;ou 1 c] pie];;: uo so:-c1ething didn't t)elonss to you .. lhe type of this tale was not listed in the tale type index; the c"notif <J263 - Lyin10 .Punished, does not specifically wention chan9e of G)'.:J;:iression or visible aura .. 9 Grandmamc\ Schnebly recounted this Civil War story during the afternoon recording session. Her mother had told it to her . V-/ben, ah, Lee's army ca~ne into -- crossed the Potomacs, eh, into Maryland, they travelled the -- what is called the NilliamsportPike from Williamsport to Gettys to Greencastle on the way to Gettysburg. 2\nd my mother's home was on the Ge-Williamsport Pike between Williamsport and Gettysburg. They had woril that the army was coming and their fatre r and the children gethered up everything that they felt was of value that the soldiers could have used, was carried to tl1e end of their farm where they had a -- an empty well and everything was put in, er, dropped in to this place. And, uh, my mother had a young horse that she was very fond of and she took it back to the end of the lot. Unfortunately, the army going by, the horse must have heard the tramps a.nd the tramping of the feet, whatever, and uh, they got, they took her horse, but they never found the other things .. Although this story o:E putting valuables in a well to hide them from soldiers has probably passed down through thousands of Southern :Ea:nilies, it is not :nentioned in the tale type index,. No motifs were listed .. 10 B-B rs in the Caviar 1I1his story was told by my father, who was laying bricks for a planter during this particular recording se,ssion. I had asked him for a joke or story that so'neone had told hir;1, and this one was the first to pop into his mind. Well, I was a city boy just come to the country a few rnonths before, and it. was my first summer in the country, my first late summer in the country and an old farmer was teaching me~ how to pick cotton, with a great deal of condescention in his manner, because he felt that at my ripe old age I ought to be already skilled in picking cotton. And the fact that I l<new nothing at all about picl<ing cotton reminded him of other stories about how, eh, city people put on airs although they really weren't very knowledgeable, and he we.nt on to tell me the story about the rich woman who moved to a new country estate and wanted to impress her neighbors. So she invited all the ladies of the neighborhood over to her house and hired a ,:,utler for the occasion and laid in a good supply of various exotic foods including caviar. The ladies of the neighborhood, being more earthy types, had not met caviar before, but they loved it and they attac}-:e-d it \1ith great determination and vast quantities of caviar, along with vast quantities of champagne Not the least imbiber was the hostess herself, who really began to get a little flighty as the afternoon wore on. Ihe butler approached her late in the afternoon with the sad information that the caviar wets runnin(; outD 'l'l1is, of course, distressed our hostess, because running out was something that rich people like 11 her simply didn't allow to happen. so she quickly scrambled aro1s.1nd ths house loo}~in9 for so-mething to substitute when at a fortuitous moment, she happened to stumble on a new stock of }3-B I s that her son had just bought., .So she surreptitiously loaded the 8-3 's into the caviar dish, hoping that no one would notice.': And apparently they didn't. Finally all the ladies left and the hostess retired, feeling that she had indeed introduced herself successfully. sut the next ::iorning, when the hangover was hammering on -- at her poor head, she was overcome with a tremendous remorse at having visited this falsehood on her new neighbors, and after a great deal of soul-searching, she decided that the only decent thing to do was to call them all up and warn them, that she had substituted 3-B's for the caviar. So the very first lady she called answered the phone, and when our ne,; ;1ostess identified herself, the old citizen said, "Goodness, I was just going to call you and tell you what a :narvelouspa:rty that was yesterday afternoon.. I just can 1t rerne:uber 't-rhen I enjoyed myself more thoroughly and I just enjoyed the caviar, I-I just didn't 1-::now hotpJ' g-ood caviar was, and I 1 111 afraid I-I rnade a terrible pig of myself .. 11 And the lady said, the lady of the -- the new lady in the neighborhood sait:l, uwell, I-I just I called you to -to say that I have a terrible ronfession to make and I - I just don t know how to tell you. " 'I1he old resident interrupted, saying, 11Uh, well, before you say anything- I've got a confession I have to make er you -to yoa.. I-I-1 just, 1 've been thinJ<::ing all morning how to tell you and there's nothing to do but just simply say it straight out .. 11 Intrigued, the ne1"1 hostess asked v1hat the trou.ble might have been. i1er neighbor explained, that, well, "As -- just as I was leaving- your house, I--I dropped my pocketbook and -- and when I bent over to pick it up, I -- I'm just -- I'm afraid I shot your cat .. fl 'fhis jo};:e is not included in the tale type indexr it is similar to the motif w1s1.2.2 -Greedy guests impoverish host, but really is not the same in its intent .. l'ly cousin Kathleen Black has an unfortunate habit of jumbling the pLmch line of a joke so that the humor disappears completely. Naturally, her favourite kind of story is the Sha<3gy Dog variety, in which word order and letter order are very important. She told cne the followin9 joke while we were sitting at the table after lunch and everyone was feeling pretty expansive. Kathleen can't remember exactly where she heard the story, but seems to recall having heard it one day at school, trying to tell her family that night and forgetting the punch line, and having to suspend her telling of it until the next evening after she'd had a chance to hear it a9ain at school . Once upon a ti~ie there were these two kingdoms, and the king O";= one kingdom, -- they'd been feuding for a long time the king of one }c.ingdom had gotten himself a secret weapon and this made the other king awful mad, 'cause he wanted to know what it was, so he sent his best knight out to find out \--:rhat this v>J"eapon was and how they could destroy it,. And the kni,Jht had gotten a good ways out from his castle- and was heading towards the_other castle, and this huge yellow hand came out Of the sky (bang's hand on table); qot I i:J ! He was dead. X:~nd the king was quite upset at this, and sent out his second-best kni9ht, said, ncotta com2 throu;rh for us, we s;rotta find out what this secret weapon is, how we can destroy sa:ne thing :ha.ppen .. it. Second knight started out and doggone ya1lov] hand came out of the sky (bangs hand on table); he was (3,ead.. ~tJell this h:;1.ppencd to all the iC...' ne 14 rest of the Icing I s k.nights, and there were none left, and they just didn 1 "l: }~11.ow what they were going to 6.o: they knew they were going to be demolished by the other l,ing. find a page stepped forward, just a lo\'Jly page, and the king says, 11Aw, gwan, yotl can 1 t do anythinrJ for us .. 11 Says, 0 0h, please, your majesty, let me try. I -- I can do it, I know I can." Well, the king had 'Jiven up all hope and therefore decided that .he wouldjust let the page go ahead; if the page wanted to get Jdlled it was alright. l:!e was at the end of his rope. So the page started out, and a big yellow hand came out of the sky and (bangs on table); but the page walked right on through the fingers. And you know what the moral of this story is, let your pages do their -- do your walking through the yellow fingers . 'I'his is a Shaggy Dog jal<e. i\lthough it is not listed in the tale type index, two of its motifs are in the motif index: H991 - Hero last to try task; and L140 - Unpromising hero surpasses the promising . 15 cousin Kathleen had mentioned that Uncle Ian Jcnew a good ghost story, so I asked him abou.t it one afternoon when he was stretched out under a tree taking a break from bush-hcpgging. 'This story had been told to him by some neighbors (Dottie anc! Eldred Mallory), in whose house the event had occurred. Eldred and Dottie i'lallory apparently live in a house, or I should say they live in a house which is apparently haunted. 'They didn't lrnow this when they bought it but they subsequently heard some stories about it and about I think two months ago they left and went up to New York to see some relatives or something, I don't know, but tney left a boy by the name of Doyle - the only name Il(now - in charge of the house and grounds and farm and what-have-you and Doyle seemed to me to be a fairly level-headed fellow, but he apparently has a deep-seated fear of ghosts because he heard that the house was haunted from one of the neighbors who came up and told a group of them who were at the house at the time about the ghost, the fellow that they had seen wandering about the place. And one night Doyle was awakened rather abruptly by a :,cir of fencing foils and the foils fell down, as Doyle tells it, and woke him up .. rhey didn I t fall on him, they just fell down and clattered, woke him tlp, and he--he w-oke up to see the form of a very large man standing at the foot of the bed, and it just scared Doyle spitless.. T1he form disappeared, as all good 9hosts do, leaving- Doyle just shaking, quivering, as he tells it .. z~nd after this there 1:,qere noises and bumps and bang-,s and grinds around the .Place, and Doyle became thoroughly convinced that not only was there a ghost, but it was a malignant ghost and it v-,J'as after Doyle.. 1l1he next time the: neighbor who had so l<:ind.ly imparted the infor:"t1ation about the ghost came over, Doyle asked him about it again, t!plci him about the manifs,stations, etcetera, and the neighbor told him, 0 No, uh, no, Doyle, the ghost is 11ot after you, the ghost is after his son, the gb,ost 1 s son .. 11 Ah, the story apparently runs like uh, the old man was very ill, and had to have medicine, and he couldn't live without the medicine and the son withheld medicine some crucial point and the old man died .. Son I s name was 3ruce, I believe .. So when the old man died, he reappeared and, uh, as a ghost, a spirit and uh, proceeded to, to haunt Bruce thoroughly. But Bruce ~40.s no longer there; he didn't live anywhere close and Doyle asked where Bruce was, and the neighbor told him he was -- he'd moved to California .. so :CO:lle went to all the trouble of getting the -- 9et.t:ing all the particulars, and made L1p a. sign which he posted in ths house, I don't ]c;.noi.r tJ"here, over his bed or somewJ-1ere-.. And the sign said, ';Ghost~ sruce does not live here anyrnore. He lives at 1212 sycamore Avenue, Sacramento, California, and his telephone number is (much laughter) -- is such and such and such."and I do not know whether the ghost -- whether the ghost, uh, heeded the infor- mation and left or not, but Doyle didn't have any more stories about his ghost after that .. OLD lY1cLA.REN I S FUNERAL My father gave credit to Paw Black (his paternal grandfather) for this story. He recorded it while finishing his supper, and tool< a long time telling it because he was always stopping to eat. It was the custom in Scotland fbr the pallbearers to carry a dead man, in his coffin, back to his birthplace for burial. happened. Paw ,:Hack swore this really Well, Old McLaren finally died. He was an oldish man, but weel-foond - (well-found) - and he weighed about eighteen stone. (Nearly three hundred pounds). Weel, they put him in his coffin and it was a large and handsome coffin that JvicLaren had bought before he died. He'd chosen it himself for sturdiness. (Interruption) It was well made of oak, with brass fittings and brass hinges and brass handles, four on each side. So, Paw Black and seven of his friends were elected by the widow to carry the coffin and old JvlcLaren in it back to the wee toon where he was born for the funeral; the widow going in state on the train. But McLaren had insisted on the old ways and they were to carry him, on their shoulders, the whole way . 'rhey set oot about eight o' clocl< o' the morn in I and it was a bright summer's day. There they were in their best black suits. They hoisted McLaren onto their eight shoulders - four on each side - and off they went, doon the road. Well, they went about four mile when they began to a9ree among themselves that this was very dry worl<. so at the next tavern they took 18 McLaren down, propped hica up against the wa.11 of the tavern, and went in to slal~e their thirst. :.':lalf an hour later they came out, hoisted McLaren up on their shoulders, and away they went doon the road. Well, it hadn't got any cooler and the /ul:Jn was biling down on their heads and there they were in their best black suitJ and the sweat rooning doon their faces, so at the next tavern they set ,ilcLaren down again, and in they went for a wee bit of something cool. Half an hour later out they came again, up with HcLaren, doon the road. And of course it came on to rain -- it always comes on to rain -- and there they were walking along in the rain with the rain teeming down on them washin' away the dust but getting their new black suits very wet. So when they came to the next tavern, down they put i0lcLaren and into the tavern for a wee bit rest, and to dry off before the fire. Well, it was a long time getting off and finally they the rain shower it did slack a bit and out they came down the road, and the sun came oot again. They're all marching down the road, with the steamy road under their feet, and the sun biling doon on their heads again. So at the next tavern, in they went for a wee bit of something cool. Half an hour later, oot they came and doon the road again. At the next tavern, they stopped for another wee rest. Half an hour later, out they came and doon the road, and they're marching along, shoulder to shoulder, with one hand up (demonstrates how they looked) and the other on their hip, side by side, down the road, when a man stops them and says, "Where are ye off to?" wi/Jell, we 1re just 9oing to the wee toon where 1v1cLaren was born .. " 11Wh0 IS i"icLaren? 11 11He 1 s the chap in the coffin; we're tak:in' him to his funeral." "vvhat coffin?" the man said. (Laughter) 19 And they all looked up to discover that they'd all marched doon the road from one of the taverns without the coffin, and they had to march right back again, and it was three taverns back before they found McLaren (much laughter), who was waiting quietly for them, and they were very late for the funeral, but NcLaren ) didna complain. This is a personal legend, as my father, who told,it, believed that it had happened. rt is nat listed in the ta.le type index, and has no indexed motifs .. 20 :Nana Dolly told this story one evening when a few of us were sitting on the porch after supper .. It seems that Paw 3lack had a vast repertoire of stories, particularly tall ta,les, \ but the only ones anyone ca.n remffnber are this story and iVlcLaren' s Funeral, Nana heard this one from Paw Blacl<:. himself. Your r;srandfather, Paw Blacl<, was a great natural raconteur. Interviewer: Is this my grandfather or my great-grandfather: It's your great-grandfather. It was your grandfather's father .. And, uh, any time he got together with any friends, I would hear them say, 11 Sandy, gie us a few baurs .. lt By that they meant, 1LI1ell u.s a fev1 stories .. 11 He made these stories up as he went alonsr. One of them that I remember was about the ti'J:1e when he was a boy, a messenger boy, travelling between the shore and the ships in the roads of the Firth of Forth. One rnorning, when he had a message to deliver, and it was very foggy, and they were trying their best to see their way and feel their wah through the fog. suddenly the fog lifted and he found himself in the river ae had been leaning on the fog, and when the fog lifted he fell in. This story is not listed in the tale type index, but is part o:E the g-enera.l category of mot:Lf Xl651 - Lies about fo9 .. ) 21 1rhe next two stories were not recorded on tape, due to a :-ne-chanical problem in the tape recorder. !.>Tana Dolly dictatea them to me while I typed; because of this, they do not have the. same spontaneous conversational quality of ta_ped stories,. UNCLE ANGUS I FAl""'lOGS GOLF SHOI 1I 1his incident was supposed to have happened on a very difficult short hole. He, uh, teed up and drove off, and the ball soared sure where it landed, but everybody else drove off, \>Jhen we got to the green, past the guarding bunke,rs, there was angus' ball on the very lip of the hole. A quarter turn of the ball would have put it in the hole .. 1IDgu.s loo}.:.:ed at it ,.,.Jith slig11t dissrust and said, 0 1 l<new I hacln I t hit that ball hard enough .. u This is a family legend; Uncle Angus' golfing ability is well-known within the family .. Unfortunately, it is not at all known in either the tale type index or motif index .. 22 Uncle Kenneth VJas the black sheep of the family about tv1O generations back .. He told Nana Dolly about -:1is remar}c::able escape frorn the F'orei-g-n Legion after bein9 9one for twenty years., in trouble,, :[our tTncle Kenneth grew up the ha:cd vJay., :'.Jut he was a li}::eable, decent fellow., He was always h:Ls enJinecrin9 ap.prenticeship, he joined the B.oyal :2:ngineers for a two-year tour of duty .. He ca:ne home then and took a 900d job, but the drink. had him and presently after, uh, a particu.larly bad bout:, he left home, and we found that 13onc0 to join the ?rench .Foreign Legion .. E:2 sent us a. postcard telling us about it .. And we heard no more about him for some yearso :Phen one day his mother was just leaving the house w1en ~1 \l'lhole bunch of reportors arrived on the doox:step and ~sI~cd all kinds of quest:Lons like, 0 Is it your son 1.~Jb.o has just: c,scaped from ths ~French Foreign Legion? 11 z~.nd she }::n:;.~N nothing" about it" We found out later that he had been stationed in Algeria, and bzcomint; tired of the inhu:nan disclipine, he escaped frorn the F'orei9n Legion" He travelled for untold miles through the desert, assist:.ad here and there by the no:nadic natives, Bedoin, until he came to a city -- a coastal city -- where there was a .British consul. J~nd the .aritish consul brou;-.ht him ho,-ue to London. This is another of the family legend variety .. It is not listed in either index .. THE FAIR:{ CAULDRON Although Nana Dolly got this story out of a book, I am including it, with a comparison of the written version, as an example of how a story changes from its frozen 4:orm when j:;old from memory. Nana Dolly says she heard many like it on the Isle of Sl<ye when she was quite young, but unfortunately cannot remember any. 'l'his was recorded in between classes at Georgia State University .. rnere was once a rnan and his wife that lived in the Highlands. And every day the wife used to leave bones in the cauldron so that a fairy wife could come and get it. But one day she sa.id to her husband, "It's I that must go to Castletown today, and I have to cross the ferry and I'll be gone all day. So I want you to be sure that you leave the bones in the cauldron for the fairy wife when she comes." And her husband said nothing, because he had fear of the fairy wife. But away she went to castletown and he went. to mending the thatch of the house. And while he was mending the thatch, he saw in the distance the fairy wife coming and there was a shining about her feet, and he took great fear and left and ran into the house and locked the door. So when the fairy wife carne, she couldn 1t get in. So she wentup on the top of t.he roof, a.nd she called to the cauldron.. And the cauldron made one leap, and a. second leap, and on the third leap it carne right through the chimney hole. away with it. And she took the cauldron and So when the man's wife came back that night she said, J/\Vhere's the cauldron?n And he said, 110h, I took fear ah-and-and it jumped the -- the smoke hole and the fairy wife's away with it. 11 And she said, 11Fool ! I have to have my cauldron. " so, she took her foot in her hand and away she went to find the fairy hill. itnd. she came to it, and there was a door in the hill an(:1 into that she went. 2'<..nd inside there were two old men with long beards sleeping. And she went very softly in and there she saw her cauldron. And she picked it up and was going out with it, when she banged it against the door, and the two old men woke up. Z\nd they went to let the dogs after her. And they let slip the fierce, let loose the black. And they ran after her . And she threw bones down when she was running .. She threw a. bond, and each dog would stop. And then she I d ru.n some more, and the dogs would be after her again .. .And at last she came just when the last bone was 'Jone, she carae to the stream before her house and the dogs, the fairy dogs, could net follow her across the stream. So at last she got home safe with the cauldron. And she and her husband were so glad to be home and to have the caul6ron again that they danced the twenty-four turns of the Reel of Tulloch on the floor of their house . 1rhis spo}cen version differed noticeably from the written version in a nu.rnber of its cnotifs .. In the written version, when the fairy wife cumes to get the caul3:con every day, the wife says this verse: u--, Cmit11. is entitled. to coals, In order colci. iron to heat; A cauldron's entitled to bones, i1nd to be sent ho:ne whole .. 11 In the spoken, this verse was not mentioned. Also, in the written version, the cauldron was returned from the fairies every da)' with bones and meat in it, rather than the v,1ife leaving- scraps for the fairies as in the oral versiona ANothe-r :Lrnporta.nt difference comes at the chase scene .. In the or::.1.l version, t'he wife crosses running w-a_ter and the fairies' dog"S cannot follow her a.cross it., In the written version, however, the dog-s of the farm f.:cighten the fairy dog-s away by their barking .. Perhaps this is an example of a folk belief slipping in to give a better explanation for the wife's escape. Certainly crossing run- ning water gives this scene the excitement of the supernatural which mere barking dogs do not provide . ( In summary, it would seem that the Blacl<s go in for fantasy and exagg-eration, dosed liberally with humor, while the Schneblys lean more toward realism and moral worth. This would fit in with the story-telling patterns of the past, Papa ,John would set up ntaJ<.e-believe argument situations, li'v'hile Grandmama would discuss the events of the day. But these were not fixed situations; some of each style is present in the other.. Also this collection is a selective sampling .. A definite conclusion could be more fairly reached by an objective analyst with each fa,:11:Lly~,s entire repertoire before him ..
A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access.
Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions.
As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.