A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

In White’s telling, Lydia’s stepmother forces her to fetch a jar too heavy to raise alone. Timbo Limbo hears her crying and agrees to help if she will be his wife. He responds to her song on subsequent visits. A younger child follows her, discovers the fish helper and reports to the household. Lydia is sent to Montego Bay while her father uses the child’s imitation of her call to draw the fish out and shoot it.

As the father scales the fish, a scale flies to Lydia two miles away. Recognizing it, she returns to the river and calls repeatedly. The water remains still and finally turns bloody; unable to summon Timbo Limbo, she drowns herself. This is the story’s tragic ending, not a rescue or resurrection.

Beckwith prints two other fish-lover accounts under the same number. Florence Thomlinson of Lacovia tells of a girl whose song restores a cooked fish to life, while Richard Pottinger of Claremont names Dear Old Juna and ends with the girl’s sudden death after discovering she has eaten the fish. The names and endings remain tied to their individual tellers; neither replaces White’s Timbo Limbo sequence.

Fish responds to a girl’s songHelps raise an impossible water burdenFlying scale signals its death in White’s version
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Origins & earliest records

Martha Warren Beckwith published this account in Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924), explicitly credited to Thomas White, Maroon Town; separately compared tellers. Her preface dates the collection visits to summer1919 and winter1921; a particular interview date is not supplied here. The published witness does not establish the first oral telling.

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Records & interpretation

All three complete variants of story78 were read. The jack-fish designation is retained as narrative wording without a modern species assignment. A resurrected fish occurs in Thomlinson’s version only, not in White’s or Pottinger’s.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Jamaica Anansi Stories

    Martha Warren Beckwith; music recorded by Helen H. Roberts · 1924

    Story78a–c, The Fish Lover: Timbo Limbo; Fish fish fish; Dear Old Juna, printed pp.89–91. Complete selected narrative read, with teller heading and preface.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textBeckwith1924: Story78a–c, The Fish Lover: Timbo Limbo; Fish fish fish; Dear Old Juna, printed pp.89–91.Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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