A Story Well Told

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From the course by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art

246 оценки

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art

246 оценки

From small farms to urban neighborhoods, from the region itself to the more distant worlds of the southern diaspora, we discover the stories, music, and art of the American South.

From the lesson

Oral Tradition

Considering the content and form of the stories, toasts, dozens, auctions and religious sermons and what they reveal about Southern Culture.

A Story Well Told3:43

Poppa Jazz talks Heaven and Hell6:44

Toasts and Dozens4:03

The Auctioneer5:26

Of the Book and of the Spirit3:14

The Key to Southern Culture8:14

Meet the Instructors

Dr. William Ferris
Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History; Senior Associate Director of CSAS; Adjunct Professor in the Curriculum in Folklore
Department of History

The lady was going to be baptized.

And the preacher, he was a old timer.

The preacher, they got together and all of them went down to the creek.

You know, they used to baptize in the creek,

now they baptize in the Church, have a pool.

But at that time they were all baptized in the creeks and rivers, you know, and.

So they had them baptized two or three, and this lady,

she saw a alligator out behind the preacher, and

the preacher said, come on sister to the water and be baptized.

Said, no, I don't like that thing behind you.

Said, don't let the devil fool you.

Come on and be baptized.

It's your only time to be saved.

I don't like that thing behind you.

So the preacher said, don't let the devil fool you, he said,

come down to the water and be baptized.

I just don't like that thing behind you.

So she finally come down to the water, then she looked and saw him again.

And she said I just don't like that thing behind you, and so

the preacher looked back, he said no, by God, I don't either.

[LAUGH]

[MUSIC]

That was James Thomas telling us a story,

a folk tale about a preacher and a lady who was about to be baptised.

What does the story tell us?

Well, first off all it sets the scene in a familiar place.

In rural black worlds, the baptism in a pond or a lake.

And it also makes fun of the preacher, who urges the lady to come into the water.

And she says, I don't like that thing behind you.

And he thinks she's just insecure about being baptized.

But when she continues to say that, he finally looks over his shoulder and

he sees an alligator swimming toward them, and he says, I don't like it either.

So they both run out of the water.

So it's a tale that is funny, it's interesting, but

it also is a lesson about skepticism and

questioning religion when you have a practical sense of what is going on.

It's an interesting tale, a story well told by James Thomas.

Who, as we will see, is also an equally gifted blues singer and guitar player.

He is one of those living libraries that we talked about in the African proverb,

that says when an old woman or man dies, a library burns to the ground.

And within speakers like James Thomas we have libraries of stories and

music that are part of oral tradition, the world of Southern folklore.

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