How It Snowed Fur and Rained Fry Cakes in Western Virginia
from The Remarkable History of Tony Beaver— West Virginian by Mary
E. Gober
This story is a special kind of American folk tale called a tall tale.
Tall tales are a lot of fun because they are full of whopping lies that
are told in what seems to be a truthful way—as you will find out when
you read this tale about Tony Beaver.
One day Tony heard that a school had been started over in the next
valley. Never having been in a school, Tony was anxious to see what one
looked like. Early one morning he set out to walk the twenty miles to
take a look.
Tony found he liked school right well. He found that by stretching his
legs a little more than usual, he could soon take some mighty big steps.
Before he was through, he could take a step of almost a quarter of a
mile. Along with finding a few short cuts, Tony was able to get to
school in jig time.
One day when he was moseying to school, he saw two big mountain
lions—he called them painters—one on each side of the path. “They’ll
be looking for trouble and I don’t want to be it,” Tony thought. Then he
had an idea. “Sic ’em! Sic ’em!” he cried.
Immediately the two big cats flew at each other. As they tussled they
kept jumping higher and higher. Soon they were jumping as high as Tony’s
head.
“Sic ’em! Sic ’em!” Tony yelled again.
This time the two painters jumped as high as the trees and fought harder
than ever.
After school Tony used the same path, keeping a sharp eye out for the
painters. They were not to be seen but as he drew near the place where
he had seen them last, bits of fur began to float down from the sky.
“That’s strange,” thought Tony. “Where can this be coming from?”
Tony looked all around and then saw a fleecy cloud from which the fur
seemed to be coming. “Why, those painters have jumped so high that they
landed in the clouds,” he cried.
And that’s exactly what happened. And that\’s the time it snowed fur
in western Virginia.
Tony found that his trips to school resulted in many interesting
experiences. One day his granny, who was visiting them for a spell, made
some fry cakes, or doughnuts as you would probably call them. She made
so many that even the hearty-eating Beavers couldn’t finish them all.
Tony took along a sack to school for the teacher.
Now on the way Tony met Brer Rabbit who had come to pay his Virginia
cousins a visit. Tony was munching a doughnut and this made Brer Rabbit
very hungry; so he decided to get all of the fry cakes for himself.
“Hi, Big Boy,” greeted Brer Rabbit. “What you got there?”
“Fry cakes,” Tony answered politely. “Have one?”
“Well, don’t mind if I do. Say, I know some magic words that will make
these fry cakes multiply and then there will be lots for both of us.”
“What are the words?” Tony asked.
“First, you must put the fry cakes on that tree stump, and then close
your eyes. After that I’ll tell you the magic words.”
Tony did as directed, only he didn’t close his eyes tight. When he saw
Brer Rabbit reach for the cakes, Tony’s toe reached for Brer Rabbit and
he kicked him sky high into the air. And that’s the time it rained fry
cakes for three days over all of western Virginia.
You see, even as a young’un, Tony Beaver was hard to beat.
Tony Beaver is only one of many heroes in a host of American tall tales.
Others are Paul Bunyan, Captain Stormalong, Mike Fink, and Pecos Bill.
You can read about them in such books as Yankee Doodle\’s Cousins by
Anne Malcolmson and Heroes in American Folklore by Irwin Shapiro.
