The assembling of the legends of my own state has been with me no light
matter, though it has been a joyful business. Might I as editor spend
as much of the next three years as I have spent of the last three in
talking with people, in riding on horseback into remote places, in
writing letters, in searching through Texas material, the result would
no doubt be more satisfactory. The satisfaction, however, would not lie
in an increased number of legends, nor in an added variety or worth,
for all the widely known legends of Texas are, I think, here presented,
and the swelling size of this volume has already ruled out many legends
as representative and as interesting as some of those included. The
increased satisfaction resulting from further research would lie in the
establishment of relationships, in the tracing out of origins, and,
most of all, in the fullness of the bibliography. Files of Texas
newspapers would come first as a printed source for additional
legendary material. These I have but dipped into, my removal to a place
in which they are altogether inaccessible having cut short the
investigation of them that I had planned. Considerable new material
might be gained from original Spanish and Mexican documents. Texas
magazines and Texas books of fiction, history, biography, and travel
have been fairly well examined. The chief source of legend in a virgin
field of folk-lore like that of Texas is the folk themselves; that
field is not likely to be exhausted soon.
No attempt has been made at comparing the legends of Texas with those
of other lands. An attempt has been made to relate the legends to each
other and to the life and history of the state. In the grouping of
them, logic has been plainly violated. The groups overlap. They would
overlap in any other manner of arrangement, even a geographical one.
With few exceptions, and those important for their relationships, all
legends not residing among Texans of white skin and English speech have
been excluded. Thus certain negro tales, certain Mexican legends
unassimilated by English speaking Texans, certain Indian legends have
been ruled out. Of course, a vast majority of the legends transmitted
by white settlers in Texas are derived from folk of other races.
Various factors have combined to determine just what legends should be
included. A few legends have been printed on account of their
geographic interest. The legends of buried treasure and lost mines are
arranged according to place. The geographic center of such legends in
Texas is the Llano and San Saba country. Hence the legends of that
region have been put first; then come in order those to the south as
far as Brownsville, those of the west clear to the Guadalupe Mountains,
those of the north against Red River, those of the eastern part of the
state, and finally those of the south-central and east. My own intimacy
with the southwestern part of Texas has probably led to the inclusion
of an undue proportion of treasure legends from that section; I can
only plead that I have excluded almost as many as are included. A
considerable number of excellent legends of Texas are available in
recent books and newspapers and have, therefore, not been reprinted.
The legends of the Alamo and other missions of San Antonio are first in
importance among legends of the state. They are not included in this
volume because happily they have been preserved in at least three local
histories. [1]
If the ballads of a nation are as important as its laws, its legends
are almost as important as its ballads. Here I must confess a great
hope that some man or woman who understands will seize upon these
legends and use them as Irving used the legends of the Hudson and the
Catskills, as Whittier used the legends of New England. People of Texas
soil still have a vast body of folk-lore, and whoever will write of
them with fidelity must recognize that lore as surely as Shakespeare
recognized the lore of his folk, as surely as Mr. Thomas Hardy has
recognized the lore of Wessex.
The names of nearly two score contributors to this volume testify to
the eagerness with which people from every quarter of the state have
joined in the enterprise of gathering together their legends. Many
whose names are unsigned have contributed with equal sympathy and
intelligence. As editor, I desire to express gratitude to all who have
helped. First I must record the eager sympathy and aid of many former
students of mine at the University of Texas. I owe much to the
encouragement and counsel of Dr. L. W. Payne, Jr., Professor of English
at the University of Texas. Mrs. Adele B. Looscan of Houston has time
after time contributed invaluable information. Mr. E. G. Littlejohn of
Galveston has for years kept clippings of legends that appeared in
Texas newspapers, and he has put his collection at the disposal of the
editor. Miss Elizabeth H. West of the Texas State Library and Mrs.
Mattie Austin Hatcher, Mr. E. W. Winkler, and Miss Annie Campbell Hill,
all of the Library of the University of Texas, have given generously of
their time and information. Since my removal from Austin seven months
ago, Mr. W. P. Webb, Adjunct Professor of History at the University of
Texas, and Miss Louise von Blittersdorf and Mr. Hartman Dignowity,
students, have often verified certain references or run down certain
information not procurable elsewhere than in the libraries of Texas
material at Austin. My wife, Bertha McKee Dobie, has “o’er look’d each
line” of manuscript and proof, and the debt to her cannot be set down.
Mr. A. C. Wright, Manager of the University of Texas Press, has done
far more than a mere business obligation required. The list grows too
long. It is impossible to extend it to include the names of all those
who have assisted.