The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-12
Negro Folklore.
The Nature of Uncle Remus's Stories and
the Reasons for Preserving Them.
ATLANTA (Ga.) Constitution. !

ATLANTA (Ga.) constitutional
In response to numerous inquiries we would
state that the series of plantation legends
which Mr.. ]. G. Harris has been contributing
to the Constitution is not yet complete, and
that the stories, together with other matter
illustrating the characteristics of the negro as
he existed in the old times before the war, will
be issued by Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. of
New York. 1t may be we'll to state here, for
the benefit of a few who do not seem to have
caught the drift and purpose of the legends ap-
pearing in the Constitution under the title of
"Uncle Remus's Folklore" that the publica-
ton OF these stories is the result of desire to
preserve in permanent shape those curious
mementoes of period that will no doubt be
sadly misrepresented by the historian of the
future. Not the slightest attempt has been
made to give them form or color different
from that impaired by those with whom they
had their origin. OF each of these legends
there are various versions, the result of oral
transmission and repetition, but in every in
stance only that version has been given which
seemed to be the most characteristic. Thus
the stories may be said to be literal transcript
tons, and not one has been or will be given
that is not verified by the memory of those
who were familiar with the negroes whose
peculiarities invest the memories of the old
plantation with flavor of poetry and romance
AS the legends exist so they have been given,
and every temptation to elaborate, improve or
modify has been conscientiously resisted.
With the attempt to preserve the stories
there was also desire to preserve the dialect
through the medium of which they became a
part of the domestic history of the Southern
people, and this, it is safe to say, has been an
exceedingly difficult undertaking. If the Ian
guage in which the legends have been framed
in the Constitution has given vivid hints of the
really poetic imagination of the negro; if it
has embodied the quaint and rugged humor
which was his most prominent characteristic;
II 1t has made clear certain picturesque sem
sitiveness-a curious exaltation of mind and
temperament not to be defined by words-if
this has been done, then the attempt to repro
duce the plantation dialect has been measure
bly, successful.
All peoples in all ages have had their folk
lore, their mythology or their fables, but, SO
far as our knowledge extends, the folklore of
the Southern negroes will be something unique
in literature. The story of the wonderful ad-
ventures OF Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox pro-
crosses to well-ordered conclusion. In the
myth-legends of other races, the fox has fig
ured as the embodiment of cunning and the
wolf Tor wehr-wolO has represented the spirit
Of evil, but it remained for the imagination of
the negro to invest the rabbit with the attri-
butes of cunning and to make him the master
OF the situation under almost every conceiva-
BILE circumstance. In the folklore of the plan
tation negro the rabbit is the imp of mischief
the embodiment of comical perverseness.
Whatever scientific interest these plantation
myths possess we most gladly leave to the de-
auctions OF the scientists themselves, but they
have attracted the attention of Major j. w
Powell Of Washington, who is in charge of the
bureau of ethnology of the Smithsonian Insti-
tute, and who is engaged in investigating the
mythology of the North American Indians.
Major POWELL writing to Mr.. Harris in regard
to the plantation myth stories, says that the
negroes of Africa have vast body of similar
mythology in which the actors are animals,
but which behave in many respects like human
beings. In like manner the Indians of North
America have rich store of mythology in
which the principal actors are wonderful ami
mails. Thus, Major Powell says, zootheism, or
animal worship, prevails alike among the me-
gro tribes of Africa and the Indian tribes of
North America, being a characteristic mythol-
ogy OF that particular stage of culture which
scientific anthropologists denominate as savag-
cry. Major Powell says the legends which
have appeared in the Constitution are doubt
less In part relic and in part a revival of the
zootheism OF savagery. They are, however,
nc longer mythology proper, but a folklore.
When lower theism is superseded by a high
er-as in the case of the negroes of this coun-
try, who accepted theism of a higher grade
which was enforced upon them-it is uniyer-
sally the case that relics Of their original
mythology remain, and such relics or reyivals
are properly denominated folklore.