Every Tongue Got to Confess by Zora Neale Hurston Page A

after him uh pig. John said, “Whut you doin’ down there after Massa’s pigs?” So de panter took after John.
    John run round and round de crib, and de door were open and John run under de crib, and de panter thought he went in, so he darted in after. John shut de do’ on ’im.
    John run tuh de house, called his master up. He ast, “Whut is it, John?”
    “I caught dat thing been stealin’ yo’ hogs.”
    “Whut wuz it, John?”
    “It was a panter.”
    “Whut you do with ’im?”
    “I put ’im in de barn.”
    “O, gwan, John, you ain’t caught no panter.”
    “I be damn if I didn’t caught ’im.”
    His wife said tuh ’im, “Git up and go an’ see. John wouldn’t cuss befo’ me dat way ef it wuzn’t something.” So he went and looked. Sho nuff, dere wuz de panter. So he went round nex’ day and told all his neighbors about it, whut his nigger, John, did. So dey didn’t bleve it, so, “I will show you dat John will go in an’ ketch ’im an’ bring ’im out.”
    So dey betted so many thousand on John. His master betted his plantation and all his niggers. Then he tole John: “Now, John, you go in and git ’im and bring ’im out and I’ll set you free.”
    John keep uh standin’ round de crib dere and Ole Massa kept uh urgin’ ’im to gwan in. Say, “Massa, wait till I git fixed.” * (He went in.) As John opened de do’, de panter made a leap at John and struck his head ginst de do’ facin’ an’ broke his neck. John seen dat and grabbed ’im an’ wrasseled wid ’im. “Oh, I got yo! You varmint. I’m bringin’ ’im out, Massa. Oh, I done break his neck.”
    “John, I didn’t mean for you tuh kill ’im.”
    “Well, Massa, you ortu been fuh tell me.”
    Well, Massa won de bet. One man says, “I will bet yo’ a million I knows where’s a wile man John can’t handle.”
    “I’ll betcher two million John kin whip ’im.”
    John knowed where de fightin’ groun’ wuz gointer be. He goes down an’ cut de roots uh de oak trees. So dat nex’ day de fightwuz to come off. (John wuz tuh ride his master’s horse down. So he tuk an’ cut de bridle reins, so when he pulled on it, it would break.) So nex’ day dey went down at de fightin’ groun’. It wuz late when John come. De man said dat betted against John: “Look lak John ain’t comin’.”
    “Yes, John be here in a few minutes.” Tureckly * , here come John just whut he could come on de horse. He rared back on de bridle-reins and dey broke. Dat wild man looked. John jumped down. John looked round and said: “Looka here, Massa, is dis de fightin’ groun’?”
    His master tole him, “Why yes, John, what’s de matter wid it?”
    “Whuss de matter wid it? Can’t yo’ see ’tain’t ’nough room for uh man tuh move roun’ in? We better clear it off uh little.”
    John begin tuh grab up de trees by de roots an’ toss ’em roun’. De wile man looked on, got skeered (gesture with hands as of a quick departure.) John winned agin for his master so he give ’im a thousand dollars and set ’im free.”
    —D ELLA L EWIS.
John in the Smoke-House †
    Some one continued tuh steal Mister George’s meat out of the smoke-house. The rogues had cut uh hole in de wall for their convenience. Mister George keep er missin’ his meat, so he sided he’d watch and ketch de nigger dat is stealin’ his meat. He tole his wife tuh give him his gun and his sharpest hatchet. (His wife gave him the gun and hatchet.) Away Mister George went for the smoke-house. Mister George got dere and waited for one, two and three hours. After while he heard de rogues comin’. De rogues come nearer and nearer till dey got to de smoke-house, and den dey laid downright by dat hole. Dese rogues wuz a white man an’ a nigger named John.
    Mister George heard de white man say, “John, you put your hand through and git a ham, and den I’ll put mine through and git a ham.”
    John put his hand through and jerked it out quickly, placing it