Riddle: Shooting the Birds

“De New Nigger an Eh Mossa” in Negro Myths from the Georgia Coast by Charles Colcock Jones, 1888. Internet Archive link. Gullah glossary in back of the book.

Charles Colcock Jones's Gullah stories are one of our oldest sources for "John and the Master" stories. Jones published his book in 1888, and it contains four "John and the Master" stories. I really like this one, which is based on a riddle. The "JM" genre of stories is very flexible: it can absorb all kinds of traditional folklore forms, like this riddle, and turn it into a "JM" story. More about Jones.

To make this riddle into a "JM" story, the master just needs to be able to fail to solve the riddle posed by John. The situation is heightened by the fact that the master brags about how he can work with his head, unlike slaves, who must work with their bodies. Another important detail is the way that John is a "new" slave on this plantation; it is often the case that the John-character in these stories is someone new to the plantation, and sometimes designated even more specifically as being "African."

In the overall arc of the story, the slave challenges the master and, when he wins the challenge, the master laughs and forgives him. The slave doesn't get money, he doesn't get freedom, but he does get forgiveness for "neglecting his work."

Even better: this theme of the birds and their reaction to the gunshot surely has some resonance to the slaves' situation, right? The violence done to one bird drives them all away, just as the violence done to one slave is bound to lead to other slaves running away, or at least making the attempt. The spectacle of violence, such that the violence done to one slave is meant to be a message to all the slaves, recurs again and again in the JM stories.

Here's the story:

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Er New Nigger notus say eh Mossa heap er time duh seddown wid eh foot cross, yent duh say nuttne an yent duh do nuttne, wen him haffer wuk all de time. 

One day eh ax eh Mossa huccum dat. De Buckra man answer: "Wen you see me duh seddown, an you tink me duh lazy, same time me duh wuk long me head, an duh mek plan, an study pon ting."

Soon arter dat de Buckra man come pon topper de New Nigger een de fiel. De sun hot. Eh bin drap eh hoe, an bin er seddown on de cotton bed duh res ehself. De Buckra man git bex case de Nigger bin er glec eh wuk, an eh say ter um: "Huccum you stop de wuk wuh me bin gen you fuh do? Wuh mek you duh lazy disher fashion?" 

Den de New Nigger, him mek answer: "Mossa, me duh wuk long me head."

Wen de Buckra man quire wuh kind er head wuk him duh do, de New Nigger say: "Mossa, ef you see tree pigeon duh set on dat tree limb, an you shoot an kill one er dem, how many gwine leff?"

Eh Mossa reply: "Any fool kin tell dat. Ob scource two gwine leff." 

De New Nigger, him mek answer: "No, Mossa, you miss. Ef you shoot an kill one er dem pigeon, de edder two boun fuh fly way, an none gwine leff."

De Buckra man bleege fuh laugh, an eh yent do nuttne ter de New Nigger case eh glec eh wuk.