~ 73. Anansi's Corn Song ~


Someone was stealing Tacoomah's corn during the night.
Tacoomah blamed Anansi. "You're stealing my corn!" he said.
"I'm no thief!" said Anansi. "I'll prove it to you by staying here all night fiddling."
Then Anansi told his gang. "When you hear me fiddling tonight, go steal the corn."
Here's the song Anansi played, "Corn corn, harvest corn! Go along, get corn, go along!"
Anansi sang and fiddled all night while Tacoomah danced.
Then Tacoomah went to his field.
The corn was gone!
"You can't blame me!" shouted Anansi. "You know I'm innocent."
Tacoomah got so angry he fell down dead.


Inspired byJamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith
Notes: This is story 20 in the book. Beckwith heard this story from Adolphus Iron; additional information in Beckwith's notes. Here are the words of the song in the Iron's version; in Jamaican English, the verb "broke" is used for harvesting crops:
Two two grain, broke dem go 'long,
Eb'rybody broke, broke dem go 'long,
Green an' dry, broke dem go 'long.


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