DOG TALES

Notes: MAIL DOG was collected from Coreen Brewer of Jackson County, Kentucky in 1979. Coreen learned this from her mother, Eulalia Foutch in about 1960 who learned it from her father, William Keith of Burning Springs, Clay County, Kentucky in about 1925. She said the dog’s name was Bounce.

Notes: THE FASTEST DOG IN THE WORLD was collected from Bert Killian of Cherokee County, North Carolina in 1969. I swapped some dog stories with Bert while at a shape note singing at the home of Donald Ledford. Bert told this tale and NO TRESPASSING. I have not heard them from any other sources. 

Notes: THE DEER HOUND was collected from Jimmy Elrod, Berea College student from Washington County, Virginia in 1969. Jimmy says of this tale, “I met such a diverse number of characters while I was growing up that I cannot pin this tale to one of them.”

Notes: CITY SLICKER AND BIRD DOG was collected from Judy Hamilton in 1979. Judy, a student in my Folk Arts Class at Berea College, heard this tale from Willie Baxter of Casey County, Kentucky. I have heard the same tale from Anita Waldridge, a 1989 Folk Arts student who got it from Lisa Keoku about 1971. Both girls gave this ending, “I’m going to throw him up one more time and if he don’t fly, I’m going to kill him.” I felt that “I want a refund” made a better ending and decided to tell the story from the dog’s point of view.

Notes: A FRESH TURNED TRAIL see Botkin, Treasury of Western Folklore, p 512, rev.ed., New York, Crown Publishers, 1975, “The Smart Coon Dog,” ed. By B. A. From Idaho, A Guide in Word and Picture,WPA Federal Writers’ Project, 1937.

Notes: RING AND PEPPER was collected from Coreen Brewer of McKee, Kentucky in 1979. Coreen learned it from her husband, Eugene Green, also of Jackson County, Kentucky, somewhere about 1960.

Notes: A TALE FROM EGON MOUNTAIN was collected from Etta (Bolton) Gulley of Clairfield, Tennessee in 1979. Etta heard this story from George Mallicot of Egon, Tennessee about 1960.

Notes: OLD COLD NOSE was collected from Genevee Marlow of White Oak, Tennessee in 1979. Mrs. Marlow learned this from Lou Mallicoat of Duff, Tennessee in the 1970’s. The motif is widely known in differing variants (see Snake Bit)

Notes: SNAKE BIT was taken from Bob Terrell, columnist for the Asheville Citizen, daily newspaper of Asheville, North Carolina. This particular telling was by Loyal Jones, Director of Appalachian Center at Berea College in Kentucky.

Notes: ROVER IN THE NANTAHALA GORGE was collected from Karen Solesbee Boll of Franklin, North Carolina in 1977. Karen composed the tale as an assignment for the Folk Arts class at Berea College. It demonstrated how ‘creative’ works draw from a base of cultural substratum. He grandparents are from Nantahala.