Beckwith notes that her source for this story was "Moses Hendricks of Mandeville," and she comments that the ending about just why goats smell so bad is probably something he added to the story himself: "The conclusion is no doubt a turn of Hendrick's own, as he was fond of explanatory endings and got one in whenever he could."
[Notes by LKG]
This story is part of the Jamaican Stories unit. Story source: Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith (1924). I have removed the eye-dialect.
Long-Shirt
They travel on till they get to a country where all the people were naked — no clothing except the head-man, who wore a long shirt; he had a wooden leg. So they invite up all these people to come to the dance. Mr. Ram-goat was in the lot.
(goat)
So they start playing and the people start dancing, dance until they get so tired everybody fell asleep. And Anansi stole the head-man's shirt — good shirt! — and put his own old one upon him while he was sleeping.
The man got awake, miss his shirt. Now this shirt could talk. The man call out, "Long-shirt, where you there?"
Longshirt answer, "Brer Anansi have me on-o!"
They start up now. Anansi got so frightened!
He met Brer Ram-goat. He said, "Brer Ram-goat, I swap me shirt, give you one new one for you old one!"
Ram-goat readily make the exchange.
The head-man call out, "Long-shirt, where you there?"
Long-shirt call out, "Brer Ram-goat have me on now-o!"
Ram-goat run until he was exhausted, couldn't go any further. He dug a hole and bury himself into the hole leaving one horn outside and didn't know that horn was projecting outside.
The man with the wooden leg couldn't go as fast as the rest. All the rest ran past Ram-goat; the head-man came along, buck the wooden leg upon the horn and he fell down. When he got up, he thought it was a stump, so he got out his knife to cut off that stump to prevent it throwing him down again. He cut and cut and cut till he saw blood. He call out to the rest, "Look! Come now-o, the tree have blood!"
All the rest come around say, "Dig him out! Dig him out! Dig him out!"
After they dug him out, they took off head-man long shirt, put on his own old one, and they wet him with all the dirty slops — they drench poor Ramgoat.
They thought he was dead and they leave him and go away. After they was gone, Ram-goat got up. He wring the dirty clothes, he wring with all the slop they throw on him; he never remember to wring his beard.
Jack man dora! That's the reason the goat have such an offensive smell until this day: he didn't remember to wring his beard!
(400 words)
