Cultural
Background
Storyteller's Cabin
Written by Lester Thomas
When the king died, his son buried him under the shade of the click-bok tree, so that even in death, the mighty king could protect his family. Whenever the son needed a spear, he would use wood from the click-bok tree, and he would be protected from the lion and the tiger. Whenever the son went to battle, he would always trick his enemies back to the click-bok tree where her low branches would tangle them, so he could win his battles. With the help of the click-bok tree, the son became a mighty king himself.
One day, strange looking men came with powerful magic - sticks that made lightning. The new king tried to lure the men back to the click-bok, but they wouldn't come. Instead, they captured his wife and sons. The king attacked the men with the fierceness of the tiger, but the lightning sticks were too powerful. Just before his oldest son was taken away, the king gave him a nut from the click-bok tree and told him "plant this where you plant yourself." The mighty king then died.
The strange looking men took the king's oldest son to America in chains, as their slave. And they made him work on a large plantation in south Alabama. The son did as his father told him, and planted a click-bok tree on the day his own son, Zebedee, was born. Zebedee's father prayed and believed the tree would protect his family, and she did.
When his father died, Zebedee asked the Taskmaster if he could bury his daddy in the red Alabama clay dirt under the shade of the click-bok tree. The Taskmaster was a mean ol' hateful so-n-so, and told Zebedee, "No!" But when he did, a heavy branch from the click-bok tree fell on him and broke his leg, crippling him for life.
After that, things got hard for ol' Zebedee. Every night, the Taskmaster would find a reason to beat Zebedee until he bled. If, for some reason, he couldn't beat Zebedee, he'd beat Zebedee's wife. Zebedee had made up his mind to just up and run away, when his wife said she was heavy with his son, Young'un. Poor Zebedee had to stay now, 'cause being on the run was no place for a gal that was heavy with his Young'un.
When the Young'un was born, that mean ol' Taskmaster made Zebedee's wife work the fields the very same day. So she strapped her Young'un on herself and went to work the fields that cloudy October day. When the Taskmaster saw her Young'un, he said to her, "The fields ain't no place for no baby! And you done had enough time off having him, so you can't take him back! Put that baby in this ol' empty horse trough under that tree y'all love so much. That way he can't crawl off!"
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