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 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.