Backwoods to Border Page: 49
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THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER 49
house, and do what was necessary to it, provided the farmer
caused the house to be roofed. The abbot caused the house
to be repaired, and the farmer let the house stand two full
years without a roof. The abbot asked him why he let the
house stand two years roofless. He answered, "When it
rains here, no workman will roof it for me; and when the
weather is good, I need no roof. Therefore it stands there
thus."1 6
Professor Thompson refers also to the following item
in Aesop:
A dog, who in winter lay curled and huddled up against
the cold, intended to build a house. But in summer, lying
stretched out and sleeping, he felt quite at ease, and con-
cluded that it was neither a necessary nor a slight task to
concern himself with such a house.17
It may be significant that the most constantly recur-
rent themes in the versions of "The Arkansas Traveler"
which I have collected are also, apparently, the oldest.
III THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY
Which came first, the dialogue or the tune of "The
Arkansas Traveler," or whence either of them came,
nobody seems to know definitely. Several theories are
prevalent as to the origin of the story as we know it
today, but definite authorship has not been established.
People in the state of Arkansas for more than a hun-
dred years have accepted as fact the theory that Colonel
Sanford (sometimes spelled Sandford) C. Faulkner origi-
nated and popularized both dialogue and tune. During
the political campaign of 1840, according to a widely
accepted account, Colonel "Sandy" Faulkner, with Colo-
nel A. H. Sevier, Chester Ashley, William S. Fulton, and
Archibald Yell, was traveling through the state. Lost in
leHermann Usterley, ed., Schimpf und Ernst Von Johannes Pauli, in
Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, LXXXV (1866), 334.
17Karl Halm, ed., Fabulae Aesopicae Collectae, Leipzig, 1901, p. 109.
The translation of the Greek text has been generously made for me by
Professor Harry J. Leon of the University of Texas.
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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/m1/63/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.