Epaminondas (children's story)

Epaminondas is a children's story that was originally transmitted orally in the Black community of the Southern States of the United States. A little boy named Epaminondas makes a series of amusing mistakes which are caused when he does the right thing at the wrong time, or takes metaphorical language literally. The humor derives from the problem of miscommunication between adults and children. The story was first published in 1907 among a collection of other short stories, followed by an illustrated standalone publication in 1911 that quickly became popular. The 1911 book has been widely criticized for racial stereotyping, and later versions of it have attempted to rectify this.