Day 19: Taily-Po

Today I transcribed/edited one of my all-time favorite stories in the Harris collection: Taily-Po. I would give anything to ask Harris if he really did find this version with Brer Rabbit in it... my strong suspicion is that he did not, but he so deftly wove Rabbit into this story so that it is Rabbit going to Mammy-Bammy Big Money that leads to the summoning of the Taily-Po beast that brings about a fiery end to Mr. Man. Here's the story: Taily-Po. Notice that the artist has drawn Mammy-Bammy Big-Money as a human witch, although I always imagine her instead as a rabbit witch:

Anyway, whether Harris really did find a version of Taily-Po featuring Brer Rabbit or not, I am delighted to have this. Since my goals are not scholarly, I don't have to worry so much about the source of the story. Brer Rabbit is undeniably a folklore figure and so is the Taily-Po beast (Wikipedia). That means the resulting mixture is a folklore product. Maybe it was created by an African American storyteller in slave times, or maybe it was something Harris dreamed up. Either way, it is a most excellent story, and will give me a chance to include the Taily-Po tradition as part of whatever Brer Rabbit book I finally come up with!

I also decided to double my story goal in Diigo to 10,000. I don't know if I can make it... but it's a fun goal to have. We'll see how things look come June!