The Conjure Woman Charles W. Chesnutt (best fiction novels .TXT) š
- Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
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āāāWell, suh,ā sez Aunā Peggy, āIās beān doinā all I knows how, but deyās a root Iās bleedzd ter hab, en it doan grow nowhar but down in Robeson County. En I got ter go down dere en gether it on a Friday night in de full er de moon. En I wonāt be back yer fer a week or ten days.ā
āMars Donalā wuz mosā outān his minā wid waitinā en losinā money. āBut sāposen dem niggers dies on my hanās wāiles you er gone,ā sezee, āwāat is I gwine ter do?ā
āAunā Peggy studied en studied, en den she up en sez, sez she:
āāāWell, ef dey dies I reckon youāll hatter bury āem. Dey is one thing you mought try, en I sāpecās itās ābout de only thing wāatāll keep yoā niggers alibe ātel I gits back. You mought see ef dey wonā eat chickān.ā
āWell, Mars Donalā wanted ter sabe his niggers. Dey wuz all so poā en so skinny en so feeble dat he couldnā sell āem ter nobody, en dey wouldnā eat nuffinā eāse, so he des had ter feed āem on chickān. Wāen he had useā up all de chickāns on his place, he went rounā ter his nabers ter buy chickāns en dey say dey wuz sorry, but deyād solā all dey chickāns ter a man in town. Mars Donalā went ter dis yer man, en he say dem chickāns doan bālong ter him but ter ernudder man wāat wuz gethāinā chickāns fer ter ship ter Wimālāton, er de Noāf, er someāers. Mars Donalā say he des bleedzd ter hab chickāns, en fer dat man to see de yuther genteāman en ax āim wāat heād take fer dem chickāns. De nexā day de man say Mars Donalā could hab de chickāns fer so much, wāich wuz ābout twicet ez much ez chickāns had beān fetchinā in de mahket befoā. It mosā broke Mars Donalās heaāt, but he ālowed dem chickāns would lasā ātel Aunā Peggy come back en tuk de goopher offān de niggers.
āBut wāen de eenā er de week wuz retchā, ole Aunā Peggy hadnā come back, en Mars Donalā had ter hab moā chickāns, fer chickān-meat des barely āpeared ter keep de niggers alibe; en so he went out in de country fer ter hunt fer chickāns. En evāywhar heād go, dis yuther man had beān befoā āim en had bought up all de chickāns, er contracted fer āem all, en Mars Donalā had ter go back ter dis man in town en pay two prices ter git chickāns ter feed his niggers.
āDe nexā week it wuz de same way, en Mars Donalā āmenceā ter git despārit. He sont way off in two er thāee counties, fer ter hunt chickāns, but high er low, no matter whar, dis yuther man had beān befoā, ātel it āpeared lak he had bought up all de chickāns in Noāf Caālina.
āBut wāat wuz dribinā Mars Donalā mosā crazy wuz de money he had ter spenā fer dese chickāns. It had mosā broke his heaāt fer ter kill all his hawgs, en he had felt wuss wāen he hatter kill all his cows. But wāen dis yer chickān business begun, it come mighty nigh ruininā āim. Fusā, he spenā all de money he had saved feedinā de niggers. Den he spent all de money he had in de bank, er stoāed away. Den he borried all de money he could on his notes, en he des ābout retchā de pint whar heād hatter mawgidge his plantation fer ter raise moā money ter buy chickāns fer his niggers, wāen one day Aunā Peggy come back fum Robeson County en tolā Mars Donalā she had founā de root she āuz lookinā fer, en gun āim a mixtry fer ter take de goopher offān de niggers.
āāāDis yer mixtry;ā sez she, āāāll fetch yoā niggers apātites back en make āem eat dey rashuns en git dey strenk back agāin. But you is useā dat yuther mixtry so strong, en put dat goopher on so haād, dat I āmagine its got in dey blood, en Iās feared dey ainā nobody ner nuffin kin eber take it all offān āem. So I āspecās youāll hatter gib yoā niggers chickān at leasā oncet a week ez long ez dey libs, ef you wanter git de wuk outān āem dat you oughter.
āDey wuz so many niggers on ole Mars Donalās plantation,ā continued Julius, āen dey got scattered rounā so befoā de wah en sence, dat dey ainā haādly no culluād folks in Noāf Caālina but wāatās has got some er de blood er dem goophered niggers in dey vames. En so eber sence den, all de niggers in Noāf Caālina has ter hab chickān at leasā oncet er week fer ter keep dey healtā en strenk. En datās wāy culluā folks laks chickān moādān wāite folks.ā
āWhat became of Tom and his sweetheart?ā asked my wife.
āYasāmā said Julius, āI wuz a-cominā ter dat. De nexā week atter de goopher wuz tuk offān de niggers, Mars Tom come down ter Aunā Peggy, en paid her back de money he borried. En he tolā Aunā Peggy he had made moā money buyinā chickāns en sellinā āem ter his Uncle Donalā dan his daddy had lefā āim wāen he died, en he say he wuz gwine ter marry Miss āLiza en buy a big plantation en a lot er niggers en holā up his head āmongsā de big wāite folks des lak he oughter. En he tolā Aunā Peggy he wuz much bleedzd ter her, en ef she got tiāed cunjāinā en wanter resā en lib easy, she could hab a cabin on his plantation en a stool by his kitchen fiah, en all de chickān en wheat-bread she wanter eat, en all de terbacker she wanter smoke ez long ez she mought stay in dis worlā er sin en sorrer.ā
I had occasion
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