Tennessen





 Ingoui, ingoua, gomboul6 zombis
 Bambous-l1-bois, bambous-14-zombis
 Ingoui, ingoua, bam si boin, tambingoui
 Tambingoua;
 Timb si moin pret6 pou renne.

 Ingoui, ingoua, gomboul4 zombi
 Bam on 16 ga, gomboule zombi
 Ingoui, ingoua, bam si gouin, timb,
 Min goui; tamb min goua
 Bann si moin pr@td pou renne (Herne 1977: 32).

 In another tale the brother of Totoye persuades his
sister to put a basket over his head instead of sending
him away. This ruse, of course, enables him to hear the
secret song she sings to summon her beloved Blue Fish.
And in the well-known story of Y6. Ti Fonte, the crafty,
sly son of Y6, hides in his father's pocket. When the
two get to Morne Lacroix, Ti Fonte sticks just the very
tips of his ears out of the pocket in order to catch the
words of Bon-Did, the magic words that will rid the
family of Diabe-la: "Tam ni pou tam ni b6!" Language
remains of primary importance even when the words spoken
are not magical, as illustrated by the story of "Nanie
Rosette." In this tale the Devil has his tongue flattened
so his speech will be as sweet and clear as that of
Nanie's mother. The rest is easy: Nanie opens the door
and the Devil gobbles her up.

 In French/Creole societies controlling power lies
in inherited position and, to a lesser extent, in skin
color. One way to counter such authority is through
magic or trickery. The Creole tale is effective precisely
because it is able, most often by means of a transforming
set of words, to readjust social positions and boundaries.
Creole stories (and jokes) upset people's expectations
of how an interaction should go and, in so doing,
reverse stable meanings and practices--suddenly
certain contrasts and divisions which in everyday life
refer to certain social relationships are subverted in
a not-so-playful manner. This is linguistic gamesman-
ship, to be sure, but as we have seen, it is clearly
no trivial pursuit.