It's Good to Tell You: French Folk Tales from Missouri

The stories presented in this charming volume are representative of the French heritage in the area of southeast Missouri surrounding the village of Old Mines. Settled in the 1700s by immigrants from France and by French colonists fleeing Illinois after the French and Indian war, this isolated area remained French speaking until well into the twentieth century. Storytelling was a primary source of entertainment. The stories that were told around Old Mines derive from traditional French tales and resemble other New World variants of French motifs, but they are also quaintly Missourian, populated by kings who while away their time sitting on the front porch and prin- cesses who retire to log cabins in the woods. The stories highlight features of rural Missouri life such as wheelbarrows, shotguns, and general stores.

Collected in the local dialect in the 1930s, they are published here for the first time in English, along with the orig- inal dialectal transcriptions. The stories are accompanied by original black-and- white drawings by Ronald W. Thomas, whose humorous, tapestry-like style — a sophisticated rendition of the primitive complements the stories uniquely. A history of Old Mines, including the role of the tales there and their evolution over time, makes this a valuable contribution to the scholarship of folk literature as well as a regional book to delight readers of all ages.