 |
Storyteller's Cabin |
Written by Veronica Byrd and Bert Tanner
Once upon a time, the waters of the bayou were black - as black as ink. Now, even though these waters were black, they were still filled with lots and lots of fishes, shrimp and crab. And all of the fishermen would wake up early in the morning, long before the sun had even come above the horizon, and they would cast their nets down into the deep, black water. And what a wonderful sight it was at the end of the day to watch those fishermen pulling in their nets overflowing with all kinds of fishes, shrimp and crab.
Now all the fishermen fished early in the morning, with the exception of one fisherman - or should I say fisherwoman. Her name was Mama Coon Coon. You see, that is the name the local village children gave her because she had deep, dark circles around both eyes just like a raccoon.
Now Mama Coon Coon was a very strange woman indeed. No one really knows where she came from or how she got to our village. It's as if one day she just appeared out of the clear blue sky - POOF! And come to think of it, that little shack she lives in at the edge of town seemed to pop up out of nowhere also. Like I said, she was a very strange woman indeed. Mama Coon Coon was always seen wearing a big blue dress and a white, clean bandanna tied around her head. Why that bandanna was so white it seemed to glow in the dark.
Now even though she was a little on the weird side, she was known for miles around for making the best seafood gumbo. Her gumbo was so good it would make you lick your lips more than once or twice. She would make her delicious gumbo every Friday night. Now even though she was known for miles and miles around for making seafood gumbo, she was not at all known for her singing. If you ever hear Mama Coon Coon sing, it would best to put both hands over your ears and run the other way!
Well, it happened one day that Mama Coon Coon had everything for her gumbo except crab, and she HAD to have crabs in her seafood gumbo. Now Mama Coon Coon didn't fish like all the other fishermen. She fished late at night after everyone else had gone to bed. And she didn't use fishing poles, fishing nets or crab baskets. "Those contraptions are a little too cumbersome for me," she'd say. All she used to catch her crabs was her big blue dress. What she would do was open up her refrigerator and take out what ever she had left - like an old piece of fried chicken, grits, eggs, sausage from breakfast, old pieces of pizza, and even some items which were just indistinguishable.
You see, Mama Coon Coon said that the crabs just loved her leftovers. She would tie all of those leftovers to her big blue dress and she would go down to the water's edge. When she'd get to the water, she'd walk right out into that water until it was about waist high. That dress with all the leftover bait on it would just float on top of the water; and she'd stand there and wait for those crabs to bite.
Well, it happened one night that Mama Coon Coon had been standing in the water for hours and hours and hours, and not one crab had bitten the bait. So Mama Coon Coon looked into the black water and said, "Well, I guess it's too dark tonight. I guess the crabs don't even know I'm standing here. Maybe I need to do something to attract them." It was then that Mama Coon Coon began to sing. She sang, "Little crabbies, little crabbies, come and climb upon my dress. Little crabbies, little crabbies, if you don't it's gonna be a big mess!!" Well, Mama Coon Coon looked down and not one crab had bitten the bait. So she tried one more time. She sang, "Little crabbies, little crabbies, come and climb upon my skirt. Little crabbies, little crabbies, if you don't you gon' get hurt!"
Return to top
