Miss Notty- Jobe (St. Vincent) 1966 Abrahams A
[My title. From: Child Ballads in the West Indies: Familiar Fabulations, Creole Performances by Roger D. Abrahams; Journal of Folklore Research, Vol. 24, No. 2 (May - Aug., 1987), pp. 107-134.
This is a cante fable- story with song- based on Child 81. In the St. Vincent versions the parrot replaces the foot-page. In this version the names are confused. Miss Notty is Lady Barnard, master is Lord Barnard and Garoleen is Little Musgrave. In other St. Vincent versions, Matty Glow is Lady Barnard and Garoleen is Little Musgrave.
For a recording listen to Blinky (Sylvester McIntosh of St. Croix) and the Roadmasters' "Matty Gru" (on VIBlinky01).
R. Matteson 2015]
[Miss Notty]- Collected from Sephus Jobe, Greggs, St. Vincent, May 11, 1966.
If any man, if any man
In another nex' man' home,
It is time, it is time
For to rise and go home.
If any man, if any man
In another nex' man' home,
It is time, it is time
For to rise and go home.
(repeated twice more)
This is a parrot now. This is a master have a parrot. Well he see now he cannot make a living in this [part of the] island. He go away and he leave the parrot with the mistress and he have gone wander for work. Well [helived in the mountains around Richland Park, where this story was being told] Well now, soon as e turn [his] back, an' e have his wife, that's Miss Notty now take [another] husband, because the man must have some woman. Just as the man turn e back [to] them, no waitin' for no ... wha' happenin' for now is some news coming 'pon me, [for that's the way it always goes] now you done gone then [your husband or wife is going to] pick somebody else. And when time come for you send for them now, for you [start to] make a good living for you [to] get along [on] now, she done have somebody [else]. So that how they going till today, right around here. Well now, well when he reach by Leeward and all, the parrot have come; the parrot there . . . watching the men [who were working there] with all they're doing. [He flew back home] Well, Miss Notty [back home] going to cook [for Garoleen] now, feed the man. And they eat and they go up and they lay down. And they going to play, just as [if] he rule the home. Well the parrot sing out now:
If any man, if any man
In another nex' man' home,
It is time, it is time
For to rise and go home.
E na try to bar a the parrot, man, becau' e a living [there]. He t'ink the parrot like [him] the man, you know, with the parrot there living and becau' he relax eself all the time. Oh good, the man he going back and tell he friends he done the horning. He tell [everybody that] already he done something. Well, he did you know. Well, the parrot get vex, now, he pick [i.e., flew] up Leeward, [to] Chateaubelaire an' e ax now, where they are doing the building up at Chateaubelaire, now, for true, he ax for his master there. But they tell him "No" [he isn't working there anymore]. Here he come a sing:
Oh, master there, oh, master there?
They tell him no master in there. Well, they say e go up [away from the shore to a town, Rose Bank, which is higher up on the mountain, on the Leeward side of the island]. They said, "Go now, go a Rose Bank to meet your master there by now." Well, he reach there now. Well now when e ax the master there again, now, they say "No he reaching to Troumaka [another town on the Leeward shore]. Well, on Troumaka, they say "No, [he has] gone along, reach Barouallie [another town in that area of the coast]. Ax there again, say "No, a come [here, but he left and went to] reach Loman's Hill. [When] e ax if his master there, say, "No, [your] master there; he been [here] but he gone again." Well, he [flew all over the island and finally found him all the way over at the top of the Windward shore] going to catch e master down by Georgetown. Well, after e meet him by Georgetown, you know, e say:
Oh, master there, oh, master there?
And the master come out, an' e watch now, an' e see parrot, an' parrot say:
I am telling you no lie.
Miss Notty go, Miss Notty go
On your bed with Garoleen.
The master there say:
Oh, pretty Polly, oh, pretty Polly.
Don't you tell me no lie.
E parrot say:
Oh, master dear, oh, master dear,
I don't tell you no lie.
Miss Notty dey, Miss Notty dey
On your bed with Garoleen.
Well, my friends, well e come out an' e get vex now, because he no know is dat lady he going to work for, and he got that kind of picky jam in e pocket [at] home. He coming back again, is parrot come back again, now. E say:
If any man, if any man ...
E a tell him fo' go all the time, for master come:
In another nex' man' home.
It is time, it is time
For to rise and go home.
Well e ain't bother [wouldn't listen] with him at all. He there, eyes like this [shut]. He not watchin'. All the time the master reach up, box the door: BLAM! Bedroom, pick'em up and he a go. When e come, e [Garoleen] has Miss Notty, lay down 'pon he 'oman, punch, punch e belly. An' meet them good an' dippin' on another man that he be on. And he fired one bullet an' killed both of them. Is that so you see now, 'oman cause man' death, still today.
[Sings:] Yes, father, that is true.