SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

Dis nigger dropped in his tracks lack ho wuz dead* De panther came up
to him and sine lied ob him, but de nigger held his breath, and de panther
thought he wuz dead* De panther covered him wid leaves an 1 went about
one hundred yards into de woods to call his friends to de feast* No
sooner had he left when de nigger jumped up and climbed a tree, first
rutting an old chunk of wood in de place where he wuz buried* De nigger
could hear de panther out in de woods as he called for his friends, and
pretty soon, here dey come,, about five of f em* Slowly circling aroun*
de place where de nigger had been, all of a sudden dey all jumped* Findin 1
nothin 1 but de old chunk of wood, ctem panthers got real mad* Wid angry
p-rowls, dey jumped on de one whut had called dem, and ate him up* n
This old negro reserves all of the heroic roles for others* Asked
if he had had any experience with the n varmints w , as he termed them he
said; "Yas, suh* De worst scared I ever got wuz frum a wolf* Walkin 1
down a trail one day, I spied a wolf not more than ten feet away* Man,
I wuz so scared dat I seemed to freeze* in my tracks, and couldn f t move*
I tried to holler but all I could do wuz croak* Den I tried to whistle
but de only sound I could make wuz a hiss* After standing for *whut seemed
hours, wid his ears sticking straight up, de wolf finally turned around
and trotted away* 11
The conversation drifted to other topics, and finally to ghosts and
soirits* The old negro said he had never seen a ghost, and didn f t be-
lieve in those things* No sooner had he said this when his wife, who
had been listening in on the conversation from the inside of the door,
exclaimed: M I does* Seein 1 is believin r aint it? Well suh, about two
years ago de negro dat lived next door died* A few weeks after he died
I wuz settin 1 out on de porch when I see dis negro come out of de house,
and walk slowly to cie corner of mah yard where he vanished into de air*
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