William J. Faulkner. The Days When the Animals Talked. Follett, 1977.

The Days When the Animals Talked should be a welcome addition to any library or program looking for writing about the African American experience. The author was a black minister and teacher born around the turn of the twentieth century. A neighbor in his South Carolina hometown was a former slave who used to tell him stories.

Most of the stories were humorous folk tales, but he also told stories of what it was like to be a slave. The Days When the Animals Talked tells both types of stories. There is a sense of injustice in both kinds. Simon Brown tells what it was like being a slave. By Southern standards, his owner was fairly kind. When Simon wanted to marry a slave owned by a neighbor and the neighbor threatened Simon, Simon’s master bought the slave girl so Simon could marry her and live together on his plantation.

Still, Simon was aware of much injustice around him. He tells of how he learned to sneak out without being detected and different ways he eluded patrollers (“pater-rollers”). Like Mary Chesnut in her diary or Uncle Tom’s Cabin, he explains how many slave owners had black concubines. Still, they would treat their own children, “their blood,” no different from other slaves and even sell them. So much for family life.

One story Simon told was how another slave managed to escape. Simon was a slave in Virginia and one neighboring slave named Big Tom managed to escape even bloodhounds in the depths of the Big Swamp (Great Dismal Swamp?). We hear his story.

We also learn of the faith of many of the slaves. One slave saw her master sitting on a porch drinking juleps while they were working in the sun. She noted that such a person could not have the same kind of personal relationship she had with God. Simon tells a little of his own conversion to Christianity. It sounds like the Lord sustained them.

Another thing that perhaps psychologically sustained the slaves were some of the folk tales that were passed on. The stories here are similar to the Uncle Remus stories. In his introduction, however, Faulkner explains them for us. Slaves identified with the rabbit. He can see all around, is quick, weak, and surrounded by enemies. He had to survive by his wits. The predatory foxes, bears, and wolves represent the white people.

Readers might be familiar with some of the tales because they are like the ones that Joel Chandler Harris collected. Since they are orally transmitted, the stories may have some variations from the Harris versions. Also Faulkner tells us in his introduction that he purposely told the stories in standard English rather than any kind of dialect. “I would not want this book to encourage such language patterns.” (7) He was on the faculty of Fisk College and valued education.

Having said that, the animal stories do use some regional vocabulary to give us a flavor of the way the stories were told. Pinders are peanuts, cooters are turtles. “The Tortoise and the Hare” becomes “Brer Rabbit and Brer Cooter Race.” And the story is not exactly the way Aesop told it, but just as entertaining. Brer Rabbit does not come out on top in this story because of his pride. Humble turtles outsmart him the way he outsmarts the proud predators.

About a third of the book are true stories or reminiscences about what it was like to be a slave. A little more than half are the talking animal stories. There is an interesting transition. The last of the slave stories is a story about a slave named Jim who managed to get his freedom by telling his master a riddle he could not answer. The story of the clever slave segues nicely into the stories of the wily rabbit.

One tale, “Brer Rabbit’s Protest Meeting” illustrates the lot of the slave. Brer Rabbit and some other animals with small or no tails organize a protest meeting. They do not have the means to swat away insects as the animals with longer tails do. However, before the day of the meeting, the long-tailed animals led by Brer Lion have taken over the protest and the meeting. It seems even the law is stacked against the rabbit and his friends.

Some other stories are probably familiar. There is a version of the Tar Baby tale with the famous lines “Don’t throw me into the briar patch!” The fox and wolf both get outsmarted through Brer Rabbit’s agricultural knowledge in several stories, whether it is planting peanuts and other crops or finding honey.

“How the Cow Went Underground” begins with a recollection by Simon Brown that if slaves were not clever they could starve over the winter. He then tells a story of how a very selfish Brer Bear who owned many cows still stole Brer Rabbit’s one milk cow. He wanted to make some leather but did not want to kill one of his own cows. How Brer Rabbit got his revenge on Brer Bear and a new cow is a very funny story, but also very pointed when considering the context of chattel slavery.

The Days When the Animals Talked is entertaining. Clever folk tales are fun. But these are also eye-opening as well. They are as much a contribution to history as to literature.