The stories La tells....

One day Little Daughter was pickin' some flowers. There was a fence around the house she lived in with her papa. Papa didn’t want Little Daughter to run in the forest, where there were wolves. He told Little Daughter never to go out the gate alone.
“Oh, I won’t, Papa,” said Little Daughter.

One morning her papa had to go away for somethin'. And Little Daughter thought she’d go huntin' for flowers. She just thought it wouldn’t harm anything to peep through the gate. And that’s what she did. She saw a wild yellow flower so near the gate that she stepped outside and picked it.

Little Daughter was outside the fence now. She saw another pretty flower. She skipped over and got it, held it in her hand. It smelled sweet. She saw another and she got it, too. Put it with the others. She was makin' a pretty bunch to put in her vase for the table. and so Little daughter got farther and farther away from the cabin. She picked flowers, and the whole time she sang a sweet song.

All at once Little Daughter heard a noise. She looked up and saw a great big wolf. The wolf said to her, in a low, gruff voice, said, “Sing that sweetest, goodest song again.”

So the little child sang it, sang:
“Tray-bla, tray-bla, cum qua, kimo.”

And, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, Little Daughter tiptoed toward the gate. She’s goin back home.
But she hears big and heavy, PIT-APAT, PIT-A-PAT, comin behind her. And there’s the wolf.
He says, “Did you move?” in a gruff voice.

Little Daughter says, “Oh, no, dear wolf, what occasion have I to move?”
“Well, sing that sweetest, goodest song again,” says the wolf.

“Tray-bla, tray-bla, cum qua, kimo.”

A the wolf is gone again.

The child goes back some more, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, softly on tippy-toes toward the gate.
But she soon hears very loud, PIT-A-PAT, PIT-A-PAT, comin behind her.

And there is the great big wolf, and he says to her, says, “I think you moved.”

“Oh, no, dear wolf,” Little Daughter tells him, “what occasion have I to move?”
So he says, “Sing that sweetest, goodest song again.”

Little Daughter begins:
“Tray-bla, tray-bla, tray-bla, cum qua, kimo.”

The wolf is gone.

But, PIT-A-PAT, PIT-A-PAT, PIT-A-PAT, comin on behind her.
There’s the wolf. He says to her, says, “You moved.”

She says, “Oh, no, dear wolf, what occasion do I have to move?”

“Sing that sweetest, goodest song again,” says the big, bad wolf.

She sang:
“Tray-bla, tray-bla,tray-bla, cum qua, kimo.”

The wolf is gone again.

And she, Little Daughter, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-patin away home. She is so close to the gate now.

And this time she hears PIT-A-PAT, PIT-A-PAT, PIT-A-PAT comin on quick behind her.

Little Daughter slips inside the gate. She shuts it – CRACK! PLICK! – right in that big, bad wolf’s face.

She sweetest, goodest, safe!

(this version of Little Daughter was written by Virginia Hamilton )


check out my list of African-American Folktales for Black History Month...more than just Anansi