Pomeroon Chips: He dead once, twice, t'ree times

Guyana might be the land of many waters but it is more obviously to me the land of a million and more stories. Everyone here is a natural storyteller. Last night a lady was telling me a story about a man "who dead not once, not twice, buh t'ree times." His young stepson fed up with years of abuse found a "nice nice piece a' wood" and "BLAX! Hit he ova duh head 'til he dead". Not content with he "dead once", he stab he "in duh heart". Not content with he "dead twice", "he find he self a nice nice cutlass and lash off he head". I can now see how Guyana's pioneering author Edgar Mittelholzer came to write Creole Chips (1937) - short (oral) humorous skits are the most common and most Guyanese form of storytelling.