This story has some elements in common with number 90. It falls into
two parts. (1) A huge beast comes daily to the house and is finally
shot. (2) A boy who must discover the name of the beast learns it by
chance from an old woman and wins the reward.
(1) Compare Backus, JAFL 13: 27, where the animal is a bear.
(2) The connection between the first and the last part of this story,
which seems to belong to the fatal name series, is lost. For the old
woman as informant, compare references to number 69. For the audience,
the point of the story evidently lay in the comic way in which Brown
held up the imaginary monster’s skin between thumb and fore-finger and
said, “No (is it not?) Assonah ’kin?” Assonah is generally supposed to
be an elephant.