[Note]

40. Goat's Escape.

The story of Goat's Escape is a favorite in Jamaica. See Milne-Home, 58-60; 65-66. It falls into two parts. (1) Goat and Dog are pursued and Dog escapes over a river which Goat cannot

{p. 258}

cross. (2) Goat transforms himself into a stone, which the pursuer himself throws across the river. The introduction to the flight varies but (2) remains constant.

Compare: Jacottet, note page 262; Parsons, Andros Island, 103 and note; Jones, 121-123; 133 -136.

Version (a). Compare Jones, and Milne-Home, 58-60.

Version (b). In Jekyll, 46-47, Puss gives the rats a ball and only those members of the family escape who attend to little Rat's warning, for he has heard the cat's song. Compare Chatelain, 189-191, and see note to number 86, where the little brother or sister discovers by the words of a song a treacherous intention.