Backwoods to Border Page: 32
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32 BACK WOODS TO BORDER
player, the whole scene is set in motion. The squatter leaps
up, throws out his arms, and begins a dance; the dog wags
his tail; the children cut capers; and the "old woman" comes
out, twisting her hard face into a smile.
"Walk in, stranger," rings the squatter's voice. "Tie up
your horse 'side of ol' Ball. Give him ten ears of corn.
Pull out the demi-john and drink it all. Stay as long as you
please. If it rains, sleep on the dry spot."1x
TYPE E, VERSION 1
John Harrington Cox includes in his Folk-Songs of
the South a more vigorous, if less "refined," account of
the story, which he says was contributed to him by Mr.
A. C. Payne, Barclay, McDowell County, West Virginia,
in August, 1918:
The performance consisted of the Fiddler's playing a few
bars of the tune and then stopping and carrying on an
imaginary conversation with the Traveller.
Traveller (riding up to the house). Hello, stranger!
Fiddler. Hello yourself If you want to go to hell, go by
yourself.
T. Why don't you play the other part of that tune?
F. Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know no other part
to that tune; don't think there is another part to that tune.
T. Let me stay all night, and I'll learn you the other part
to that tune; it'll be worth fifty dollars to you.
F. (The reply could not be remembered.)
T. Stranger, why don't you cover the other side of your
house?
F. It's rainin' too hard.
T. Why don't you cover it when it ain't rainin'?
F. Why, it's just as dry a house as yours or as any other
man's house when it ain't rainin'.
T. What makes your corn look yeller and bad?
F. Why, fool, I planted yeller corn.
T. How does your taters turn out?
F. Turn out the devil! They don't turn out at all. I dug
a part, and the old sow rooted out the rest.
1xH. C. Mercer, "On the Track of 'The Arkansas Traveler,'" The Cen-
tury Magazine, LI (March, 1896), 707-708.
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Backwoods to Border (Book)
Book about folklore in Texas, including folk songs, ghost stories, Mexican animal tales, anecdotes about lawyers, folklore about Texas plants, riddles and miscellaneous legends. The index begins on page 225.
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Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank), 1888-1964. Backwoods to Border, book, 1943; Dallas, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38306/m1/46/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.