Coon in the Box"

Among the most popular of all African-American folktales is the story folklorists know as "The Coon in the Box," itself a derivative of the extremely old and widespread narrative usually identified, after Brothers Grimm, as "Doctor Know-All" (Doktor Allwissend) (AaTh 1641). Not coincidentally, this item has served as a centerpiece in the debate over the sources of New World black folktales. A detailed analysis of "The Coon in the Box, " its life history and cultural context thus reveals a great deal not only of the nature of African-American oral narratives in and of themselves, but also of the challenges confronting scholars in investigating the origins, diffusion, and development of these traditions.