"Tall Betsy and Dunce Baby" captures in print the oral heritage of Mariella Hartsfield's native southwest Georgia, a heritage that is slowly fading away, the casual victim of mechanization and mass media. The tales in this collection range from the supernatural to the romantic, the sacred to the secular, and are populated by ghosts and witches, numskulls and "noodles," thieves, preachers, and widows. A celebration of American imagination, tradition, and manners, this collection of folktales not only records the values, customs, and lifestyles of the region's past but also reveals the spirit of people who responded to the demands of rural living with grace, good humor, and endurance.