53. The Dead Dog

An introduction to DOG TALES.  Following the PREFACE there are 57 more episodes.  Each episode contains one tale.

Notes: ALL IN ONE BREATH was collected from Bill Hartsock, a Berea College student who got it from his girlfriend’s grandmother, Margy Riddell of Flat Gap, Virginia in 1982. Mrs. Riddell, born Bolling, was about age ninety when this verbal test was presented to her granddaughter. THAT IS THE LAST TALE! You can listen to the tales told by the author himself on podcast platforms. Look for DOG TALES on your podcast platform. https://anchor.fm/john-martin-ramsay5  Or for a copy of the book from  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dog-tales/id1257929153?mt=11

Notes: TAILIPO was collected from my wife, Risse Faye Layne Ramsay who heard it from her mother, Rilda Chandler Layne. Rilda was raised in Broadhead, Kentucky back in the late 1930’s. The Chandlers had moved to Kentucky from Madison County, North Carolina.

Notes: THE FEUDING DOGS was collected from Kris Slank, a Berea College student who got the tale from his grandfather, K. G. McDaniel. The story has come down in the family.

Notes: RUNAWAY HORSES was collected from A. D. Harrell of Tipton Hill, North Carolina. A. D. told me this tale in 1956 when I was spending an evening after testing his cows’ butterfat percentage. He corroborated the tale in August 1986 and identified Edward Whitson as the lad who tried to rein in the horses.

Notes: THE DEAD DOG was collected from Joan Randall, a Berea College student who got the tale from Don Sauders of North Carolina who remembered it from about 1930.

Notes: THE DOG TAX —by permission. See Humor of a Country Lawyer, by Sam J. Erwin, Jr. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1983, p 132.

Notes: THE DOG LICENSE was collected from Loyal Jones of Berea College in 1982. The event took place in 1960 or 1961 and was by telephone. (see also RIFLE TOTING MONKEY and WALKING ON WATER)

Notes: BANJO DOG was collected from David Morris of West Virginia. David shared this tale during the “World’s Fair,” i.e. Expo-84 at the Stokely Van Camp Folklife Center in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1984 where he was performing during a week featuring Berea College’s interest in Appalachian folk arts.

Notes: A BRITISH TRAIN RIDE was collected from Henry Besuden, Vinewood Farm, Winchester, Kentucky in June 1975. March 2019, Alan Branson sent me this, “It was sent to me by my good friend, Don in Pompano Beach, Florida.”