FOLK-LORE SCRAP-BOOK.
Two Negro Tales concerning the Jay.—From the "Southern Workman," Hampton, Va., January, 1898, we copy the following contribution to the department of "Folk-lore and Ethnology," included in this Journal:—
We are indebted to Miss Susan Showers, who has spent several years at Calhoun, for the folk-lore that we publish this month. Miss Showers has made quite an extensive collection of stories and signs, brought in by the children and transcribed in their own language. We have mentioned the superstition, common throughout the South, that the "jay-bird" is never to be found on Friday, for the reason that he visits hell on that day. It seems that his purpose in making these weekly visits is to carry a grain of sand, for, as one of the Calhoun children explains, "the wicked will always burn in torment as long as there is any sand there." We have never, in our Hampton society, struck anything more in the way of a story about the blue jay than this superstition, but the two jay stories that we give this month from Miss Showers's collection remind us a little of Mary Alicia Owen's bird stories in her volume of Voudoo Tales.
How the Jays saved their Souls.—On every Friday, it is said, the blue jay goes to hell to carry sand to burn other people's souls with. One day, as he got ready to start on his journey, he thought how much he loved to see souls jump and burn. One day, as the jay went down to hell, the Devil said to him, "You and I must make an agreement in some way, so that you will get pay for your work." "All right," said the jay, and the Devil told him that if he would bring sand to burn the people with, he would not bother the jay's family if ever they had a chance to come to hell.
The jay thought he could act sharp with the Devil, so he came back home, and told every other jay to carry water, so they could put out the fire when the Devil got one of them. So then every Friday the jays started to hell with water and sand, but it was not very long before the Devil caught up with the jays.
The next Friday they went, and before they reached hell they met the Devil's two sons. The two boys went back with them, and carried them all into the house, and asked them what they were bringing the water for. The old jays said, "For us to drink while we sit and see the souls burn." The Devil fastened the door and caught them all, and cut off their wings. They all cried, "Jay! jay! jay! jay!" but the Devil said, "The next souls on hand to burn are the jays."
When the Devil had finished cutting their wings, he told them to come on and go out and see souls burn. They were all weeping and shaking hands with each other, and the old jay told them that when the Devil tried to catch them, they must all fly up and scratch him in the face. They tried it, and put the Devil's eyes out, and then started back home. They said, "We never want to go to hell again, for the Devil is just as delighted to burn jays' souls as those of any other birds." Now, on every Friday the jays go off and have a picnic, and do not go to hell.
