Chase063. Baer (p. 79). A Ghost Story

This is Chase063.

Types
Motifs E0236.5 return from dead to demand money stolen from corpse
Notes

Baer includes a long quote from the intro to Nights with Harris's comments about the authenticity of the story, and a comparison with Mark Twain's "Woman with the Golden Arm." Baughman classifies Twain's story as ATU0366 Man from the Gallows.

Baer then concludes: "If the Uncle Remus tale is indeed a variant of ATU-366, Harris is mistaken in supposing it may have been based upon a Negro tale."

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MY COMMENTS:

Again, the question of origins is beside the point here. The way that the story is told is totally within the black milieu of the time, and is felt as a real legend, especially in the context of the other ghost stories that occupy this part of the book. (This story, like the previous one, is omitted from the edition of the Nights published by Chatto with Shepherd's illustrations... presumably too scary for children?)