The Rodney O. Lain Archive

Appendix A

The Signifying Monkey*

The Monkey and the Lion

Got to talking one day.

Monkey looked down and said, Lion,

"I hear you's king in every way.

But you know somebody

Who do not think that is true -

He told me he could whip

The living daylights out of you."

Lion said, "Who?"

Monkey said, "Lion,

He talked about your mama

And talked about your grandma, too,

And I'm too polite to tell you

What he said about you."

Lion said, "Who said what? Who?"

Monkey in the tree,

Lion on the ground.

Monkey kept on signifying

But he didn't come down.

Monkey said, "His name is Elephant -

He stone sure is not your friend."

Lion said, "He don't need to be

Because today will be his end."

Lion took off through the jungle

Lickity-split,

Meaning to grab Elephant

And tear him bit to bit.

He come across Elephant copping a righteous nod

Under a cool shady tree.

Lion said, "You big old no-good so-and-so,

It's either you or me."

Lion let out a solid roar

And bopped Elephant with his paw.

Elephant just took his trunk

And busted Lion's jaw.

Lion let another roar,

Reared up six feet tall.

Elephant just kicked him in the belly

And laughed to see him drop and fall.

Lion rolled over,

Copped Elephant by the throat.

Elephant just shook him loose

And butted him like a goat.

Then he tromped him and he stomped him

Till the Lion yelled, "Oh, no!"

And it was near-nigh sunset

When Elephant let Lion go.

The signifying Monkey

Was still setting in his tree

When he looked down and saw the Lion.

Said, "Why, Lion, who can that there be?"

Lion said, "It's me."

Monkey rapped, "Why, Lion,

You look more dead than alive!"

Lion said, "Monkey, I don't want

To hear your jive-end jive."

Monkey just kept signifying,

"Lion, you for sure caught hell -

Mister Elephant's done whipped you

To a fare-thee-well!

Why, Lion, you look like to me

You been in the precinct station

And had the third-degree,

Else you look like

You been high on gage

And done got caught

In a monkey cage!

You ain't no king to me.

Facts, I don't think that you

Can even as much as roar -

And if you try I'm liable

To come down out of this tree and

Whip your tail some more."

The Monkey started laughing

And jumping up and down.

But he jumped so hard the limb broke

And he landed - bam! - on the ground.

When he went to run, his foot slipped

And he fell flat down.

Grr-rrr-rr-r! Lion was on him

With his front feet and his hind.

Monkey hollered, "Ow!"

Lion said, "You little flea-bag you!

Why, I'll eat you up alive.

I wouldn't a-been in this fix a-tall

Wasn't for your signifying jive."

"Please," said Monkey, "Mister Lion,

If you'll just let me go,

I got something to tell you, please,

I think you ought to know."

Lion let the Monkey loose

To see what his tale could be -

And Monkey jumped right back on up

Into his tree.

"What I was gonna tell you," said Monkey,

"Is you square old so-and-so,

If you fool with me I'll get

Elephant to whip your head some more."

"Monkey," said the Lion,

Beat to his unbooted knees,

"You and all your signifying children

Better stay up in them trees."

Which is why today

Monkey does his signifying

A-way-up out of the way.

*Source: "The Signifying Monkey." Crossing the Danger Water: 300 Years of African Writing. Ed. Deidre Mullane. New York: Anchor Books, 1993. 261-263.

Also recorded as:

"The Signifying Monkey." The Book of Negro Folklore. Eds. Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1983. 363-366.

Unexpurgated versions can be found in:

Abrahams, Roger D. Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the Streets of Philadelphia. Hatboro, Pennsylvania.: Folklore Associates, 1964. 147-157.

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