Cultural
Background Storyteller's Cabin
Well, Cephus had been sitting around the house for about a month before, one night, the best fiddler in town built up enough nerve to go by and visit the widow Jones. After all, she hadn't had any company since Cephus came back.
The fiddler came in and sat on one side of the fire and Cephus, in his favorite rocking chair, sat on the other - cracking, creaking and still trying to warm his cold hands and feet. They exchanged glances and made small talk - as small as a human and a corpse could make. But after a few minutes of this, it was very obvious that the two men were rather uncomfortable.
By and by, Cephus blurted out, "All this sittin' around is boring. Let's the three of us do something fun. How 'bout some music, Brother Fiddler? Let's dance an' limber up our joints a bit!"
Still trying to get used to the fact that he was sitting and talking with a corpse, the fiddler got out his fiddle and started to play. When Cephus heard that music, he jumped up, shook himself about, and he started buck dancing around the room. "Now that's more like it!" he hollered as he skipped and pranced about, his old rotten bones creaking and cracking even louder than before. For a dead man, he sure could dance!
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In fact, he danced so hard that a piece of his arm flew loose and fell on the floor. Not believing his eyes, the fiddler stopped playing and said, "Good golly, look at that!"
The widow Jones grinned at the sight, an idea coming to her head. "Play faster!" she demanded.
The fiddler played faster, and Cephus danced faster. He danced so fast that pieces of bone went flying everywhere!
Now, by this time, the po' fiddler was so scared he didn't know what to do. "W...w...what should I do now?" he pleaded to the widow. The widow kept hollerin', "Faster! Faster! Keep playing faster!" The fiddler, too frightened to do other than what he was told, played faster. Cephus danced faster, and the fiddler played faster still. Cephus danced faster, bones droppin' all the time, until all at once Cephus crumbled to the floor in a big heap of bones.
There lay the bones of Cephus, still as they could be - except for his big ol' bald head! Why, it kept dancin' all by itself, just-a-grinnin' up at the fiddler! That head was bouncing all over the floor just-a-dancin' and a-grinnin'!
The widow hollered, "Play faster, Fiddler! Play faster!"
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