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NEGRO FOLK RHYMES |
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tr'angle, dey come in, en den Br'er Rabbit pursue on wid de call—
" 'Some kill sheep, en some kill shote, But Br'er Fox kill King Deer goat,'
en den Br'er Fox, he jine in wid de answer, 'I did, I did, en I'm glad dat I did.' "
The writer would add that the story ends with a statement that King Deer came out with his walking cane, and heat the fox, and then invited the rabbit in to eat chicken pie.
From the foregoing one will recognize the naming, by the Negroes themselves, of the parts of their rhymed song, as "call," and "answer." Now just a word concerning the term "answer," instead of "sponse," as used by the writer. You will notice that Mr. Harris records, incidentally, of Br'er Rabbit "dat he sing de call, lak de Captain er de co'n pile." This has reference to the singing of the Negroes at corn huskings where the leader sings a kind of solo part, and the others by way of response, sing a kind of chorus. At corn huskings, at plays, and elsewhere, when Negroes sang secular songs, some one was chosen to lead. As a little boy, I witnessed secular singing in all these places. V\rhen a leader was chosen, the invariable words of his com-
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