in this here legendary tale may be fer real, the events an' characters contained within are a work ah fiction, the product ah the author's vivid 'magination. Any similarities betwixt these here events an' characters bearin' tah real events er other folks, either livin' now, er passed tah the Great Beyond, may be knee slappin' hilarious, but don’t git'cher shorts in a bind, cuz they's jes' purely coincidental, nonetheless."
Am I going to reveal anything else about The Legend of Juggin Joe? Not a thing that could spoil the many surprises awaiting you. What I can do, though, is honour Joseph's Yakel's wonderful accomplishment with a few comments given in the country dialect I learned as a child:
I ain't heard nor read ah backwoods story such as this'un since I was ah knee-biter sittin' on ah stump in muh Gramp's wood shop. One 'o muh uncles had dug ah bottle o' whiskey out from unner the ole school bell thet was plum in the middle of ah shavin's pile. Ever'body knowed the preacher wouldn't be havin' none. Me neither (legal whiskey, white lightnin' an' other wonnerful surprises thet show up in real whiskey jugs were still some ways down the road for me). Anyway, Gramp's took us on ah trip thru the Great Depression with ah voice thet made us shiver an' laugh an' cry. Then, as the whiskey run low and Gramp's spirit rose high, he finished up by recitin' ah perfect stream o' poems like The Cremation o' Sam McGee an' The Shootin' o' Dan Magrew an' My Madonna.
The great leveler come fer Gramp's ah few years back, but muh heart still about busts when I think o' the stories what rolled off his tongue like cold spring water after ah day in the fields. Gramp's taught me to play the mouth organ an carve the wood an' tell stories an' be a man.
Joseph Yakel reminds me o' Gramp's. He writes like a down-homer, an' his form o' mountain speakin' pulled me into his world faster'n any team o' horses or tractors I ever rode coulda got down to the first curve o' Gramp's driveway. An' as I spent hours feeling as if'n I was back in muh own childhood, this story teller done reached me deep.
Be ya highlander, flatlander, or city dweller what's caught between, ya gotta get yerself ah copy o' this book thet God-instilled talent or somethin' more drinkable musta inspired.
I done taken my hat off to ya Mr. Yakel
Clayton Bye,
gottawritenetwork.com reviewer
December 19, 2006
copyright © 2006 Clayton Clifford Bye
