Seven tales collected in northern Haiti during a 1937 field trip arrive with an account of how such stories were actually performed. Simpson describes tellers who mime animals, neighbours and prominent Haitians, improvise props from brooms, knives and pebbles, and are rewarded with the best food, drink and tobacco at wakes, weddings and vodun ceremonies. Repertoire varies with the teller: men favour salacious material and stories of war, the loa, loups garous and zombies; women favour markets, illness, quarrels and love; children favour Bouqui and Ti Malice. Listeners take the supernatural stories as literally true and bristle when asked otherwise. Simpson also records the practice fading, with families no longer gathering at night and the countryside silent. The tales follow, each credited to a named informant: a tar-baby trap set for a thieving cat, a magic ring recovered by dog, cat and rat, a condemned man saved because his name is Cricket, and a long transformation quest.