Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

This section of the appendix describes a two-player memory game. A kernel of corn is placed within each of three circles drawn on the ground separated by lines. One player turns their back and both players go through, saying the name of each circle and establishing that there is corn in each of them. As they repeat this recitation, the second player removes one piece of corn at a time from a random circle and tells the first player. The first player’s job is to remember—without seeing—which circles have corn and which don’t. This continues until the first player makes a mistake or all the circles are empty.

The section very briefly describes another game, similar to billiards and bowling, in which a player must use seven balls to knock down three other balls that are racked up.

This section of the appendix resumes Hurston’s narrative voice. Hurston is at Kossola’s house on a cold day in December. At first, Kossola has trouble remembering any stories from Africa, but eventually he remembers. In the story, three men find a cow in the woods and kill it. As they divide the meat, they encounter a conundrum: All three of them want a hind leg. Just as the three begin to fight, an officer of the king passes by and asks about the conflict. Still being good and loyal friends, the three men agree not to say anything to the officer. When the officer reports the incident to the king, the king summons them, but they give him the same non-response. Recognizing the strength of their friendship, the king sends them off with gifts in an equal amount. The men then divide the cow equally.

Kossola tells Hurston another story on a different day. He says that he first told this story as a parable to Old Charlie. He explains that God gave man two arms, two feet, and two eyes to be active. Without feet, he could still defend himself with his hands. Without hands or feet, he could still move when he sees danger. However, without his hands, feet, or eyes, he’s doomed. For Kossola, his sons were his feet, his daughters his hands, and his wife his eyes.

Another day, Hurston returns to hear more stories. Kossola describes a young man and his six best friends. The young man’s father doubts that they’re all trustworthy, so he tests them. The day after his son gets married, the father kills a ram, dresses it up like his son’s new wife, and has his son tell his friends that his wife died and must be buried. All six of the friends show up to help dig the grave, but only two stay to finish, while the others spread the news. Hearing the news, the king calls upon the father, who explains that the girl is still alive and that he was testing his son’s friends. The king considers this wise; he pays the two friends who stayed to help dig, and he kills the four that betrayed their friend.

The Monkey and the Camel: One day, a weasel climbs a melon tree to get some fruit. A camel comes along and asks for the weasel to throw down some fruit; the weasel obliges. Wanting more melons, the camel waits until a monkey climbs the melon tree next, and makes the same request. However, he asks for too many, and the monkey gets tired and calls him lazy. Offended, the camel calls the monkey ugly. Offended in turn, the monkey calls the camel a “creature with no hindquarters” (137). The camel angrily carries the monkey off. When the two come upon the rhinoceros, he asks what happened. The monkey explains what happened, and the rhino judges him wrong for insulting the camel. Later, they come upon the leopard, who also asks what happened. The monkey tells it again. The leopard says the same as the rhino. The two continued on until they get to the home of the weasel, who asks what happened. The weasel sympathizes with the monkey. He decides to be their judge and sits the monkey on his right and the camel on his left. The weasel then tells the monkey to leap into a nearby tree while the weasel runs back into his hole, leaving the camel there.

Story of de Jonah: In his own style, Kossola tells the biblical story of the prophet Jonah. God instructs Jonah to go to Ninevah and tell the people to turn back to God. Jonah refuses and tries to flee on a ship to Joppa, but—as Kossola reminds Hurston—God is everywhere. Seeing Jonah on the ship, God sends a storm to the north, south, east, and west to stop the ship. Meanwhile, the captain sends the sailors to wake Jonah and ask God to stop the storm before they all die. Jonah tells them to throw him overboard. They’re reluctant, but they do so, and Jonah is then swallowed by a whale. The whale carries him to Ninevah. Jonah is still reluctant, but he carries God’s message to the Ninevites that they’ll be destroyed in 40 days if they don’t repent. The king of Ninevah takes this warning seriously and institutes a fast throughout the land. When Jonah goes up a hill to watch their destruction, he’s upset to see that God is merciful and spares them. However, God explains that there are thousands of people living there, and they simply didn’t know right from wrong.

Now Disa Abraham Fadda de Faitful: Kossola tells the biblical story of Abraham and the two ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham and Lot have many servants and livestock. One day, the servants are quarreling, so Abraham decides to relocate to Caanan, and Lot decides to relocate to Sodom and Gomorrah. Because so much sin exists in Sodom and Gomorrah, God sends two angels there to burn the cities down. On their way, the angels stop to tell Abraham their mission. Before the angels destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, they warn Lot and tell him to flee and not look back. People in the town see the angels at Lot’s house and come asking about them. However, the angels blind the people and tell Lot to hurry away. As they run, Lot’s wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt. At the end of the story, Kossola affirms that he won’t look back but press forward.

The Lion Woman: In this story, one man says that his future son will ride an elephant. The second says that his son will ride a zebra. The third says that his son will ride a lion. The others respond that he can’t catch the lion to ride because the lion will catch him first. Years later, the third man has a son. The man catches two lions, skinning one and tying the other to the garden fence. In her plot for revenge, the mother lion transforms into a beautiful woman. All the men want to marry her, and she says that she’ll marry the man who can throw something into her purse. None of the men succeed. The man who killed her cubs isn’t interested, but she begs him to try, and he succeeds. She goes home with him. At night when he’s asleep, she turns back into a lion. She tries to kill him, but his dogs are onto her scheme and get in her way. In the morning, she’s a woman again and leads him toward the woods. When she turns into a lion and attacks him, he turns into a bird and flies up into a tree. She sends men to cut the tree down, but he whistles for his dogs and they come to kill the lion and the men. Afterward, the dogs help him carry all the meat back home. There’s so much meat that the man’s wife questions him about what happened. Although he’s not supposed to tell her, she’s so persistent that he does. Because he told her, he has to die, so he dies. However, the man’s father comes, rubs medicine on his eyes, and he revives.