While we’ve not been putting out many podcasts lately, what with being unable to meet in the podcast studio because of the virus-that-shall-not-be-named, we still have stories to tell.
This one comes from the Journal of American Folk-Lore from 1917, a story that comes out of Western Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Once upon a time there were two friends out fishing in the river. They fished and fished and managed to make a pretty big haul of fish to split up by the time the day was done.
One of the men asked his friend:
“Where will we go to count the fish?”
To which his friend said that they’d find a place.
As they started one of the fishermen accidentally dropped two of the fish in the road. When they realized what had happened the two decided to go on ahead to find somewhere to split the catch, and return afterwards for the two they dropped.
Well, the two looked and looked and managed to find a place out of the way for them to divvy up the catch. The problem was that the place they chose happened to be a graveyard. But that didn’t bother them, so they sat down and commenced to count.
“One for me and one for you. And one for me and one for you.”
On and on this went for quite a while. While they were counting along came a friend of the preacher, who heard the two men and became convinced that what he was hearing was the Devil and God dividing up souls in that graveyard!
So that fellow left and practically ran to the preacher’s house to report that he had heard the Lord and Satan in the graveyard, dividing up souls for the hereafter. The preacher was a bit skeptical and he told his parishioner that he didn’t believe him, so the man told him:
“Well, grab your hat and come and see!”
This he did and the two went back to the graveyard just as the two fishermen had finished splitting what they had. That’s when the preacher and his companion heard them say:
“Let’s go after the other two!”
And with that, the preacher and his friend lit out for home as fast as their legs would carry them!