John the Conqueror second cousin/That little Johnny Conqueroo", and in "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" it is called "John De Conquer Blue". John the Conqueror was an African prince who was sold as a slave in the Americas. Despite his enslavement, his spirit was never broken and he survived in folklore as a sort of a trickster figure, because of the tricks he played to evade his masters. Joel Chandler Harris's Br'er Rabbit of the "Uncle Remus" stories is said to be patterned after High John the Conqueror. Zora Neale Hurston wrote of his adventures ("High John de Conquer") in her collection of
The Life and Adventures of Remus a young queen and a ruined castle. On the threshold of maturity, he assumes that he will marry his loving and beloved Marta and spend a happy life working in the pustkowie. However, he is summoned to the deathbed of the pustkowie's master, old Pan Jozef Zoblocczi. Pan Jozef informs Remus that his own time as defender of Kashubian culture is over, and that he, Remus, must take up the task. Remus pleads his inability and unworthiness, but when Pan Jozef invokes the young queen and the ruined castle, Remus must accept. In Chapter 15, turning his back on the