C002. Baer (p. 29). The Wonderful Tar Baby Story

This is Chase002.

Types
ATU0175. The Tar-Baby and the Rabbit.

Motifs
K741. Capture by Tar-Baby.

Notes
Gerber mentions link connecting this story to the jataka of the demon with the matted hair, but does not endorse. In versions from Mauritius and South Africa, tortoise puts sticky stuff on back to catch animal stealing water from well. William Owens in Folklore of the Southern Negroes includes version of this story which is closer to the African stories: tar is to catch thief of well-water.
There are lots of possible variants:
Gold Coast Spider and Farmer  / Sea Islands Rabbit, Wolf, and Tar-Baby
Angola story has leopard using gummy dolls, and Week suggests it is a fetish called Nkondi "by its own magical powers could hold tightly its victim"
Many of the West Indian versions include ATU1737 Parson in the Sack to Heaven.
Scholars are divided on the significance of the jataka / Indian origin.
Mooney considered the Cherokee and other Native American versions to be borrowings from African-American story.
Espinosa bases his claim to Hispanic origin on the lack of female tar-baby, which he claims is characteristic of African versions (although Baer says this is not the case). Uncle Remus does refer to the tar-baby as she, and Baer remarks: "Espinosa never noticed. Instead, he based his conclusions on his own faulty translation." (Use Espinosa with caution, Baer advises.)


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MY NOTES

See notes collected at Diigo: Chase 002

The jataka is Pañcāvudha-Jātaka.

Additional notes from ATU reference:

In the ATU listing for 175, it says compare 159: Captured wild animals ransom themselves. An old couple spread pitch on a straw calf. One after another, a bear, a wolf, a fox, and a hare touch the calf and stick to it. In return for not being slaughtered, they promise to bring cows, horses, geese, and cabbage. Thus, the animals random themselves and the old people get rich.