1963; nicely signed by Octavia Jordan Perry on half-title page (pic); John F. Blair publisher; hardbound; very good condition of book; paper dust jacket very good with minor edge wear and tear.
 
from dust jacket -
Wilburn Waters was born in the mountain region of North Carolina and spent his early life in Wilkes and Ashe counties.  From the time he was three and one-half years old until he was seventeen, he was a bound servant.  When he took his freedom he turned to hunting, a calling for which he showed exceptional aptitude.  So great was his skill that it inspired exaggeration in the telling of it.
 
Today, in the area of Southwest Virginia around White Top Mountain, the stories told about Burnie Waters have taken on the sheen of legend, and one listens partly to a true account, partly to folk hero worship.  The two become more intermingled year by year.  Waters himself started the custom; he could tell a story with as much skill as he could trap a wolf or shoot a bear.  Often he set the stories to music and like a medieval minstrel, san ght eballads to his listeners...