The Conjure Woman Charles W. Chesnutt (best fiction novels .TXT) đ
- Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
Book online «The Conjure Woman Charles W. Chesnutt (best fiction novels .TXT) đ». Author Charles W. Chesnutt
âTell us about Tobe, Julius,â I asked. I could think of no more appropriate time for one of the old manâs stories. His views of life were so entirely foreign to our own, that for a time after we got acquainted with him his conversations were a never-failing source of novelty and interest. He had seen life from what was to us a new point of viewâ âfrom the bottom, as it were; and there clung to his mind, like barnacles to the submerged portion of a ship, all sorts of extravagant beliefs. The simplest phenomena of life were to him fraught with hidden meaningâ âsome prophesy of good, some presage of evil. The source of these notions I never traced, though they doubtless could be easily accounted for. Some perhaps were dim reflections of ancestral fetishism; more were the superstitions, filtered through the negro intellect, of the Scotch settlers who had founded their homes on Cape Fear at a time when a kelpie haunted every Highland glen, and witches, like bats, darkened the air as they flew by in their nocturnal wanderings. But from his own imagination, I take itâ âfor I never heard quite the same stories from anyone elseâ âhe gave to the raw material of folklore and superstition a fancifulness of touch that truly made of it, to borrow a homely phrase, a silk purse out of a sowâs ear. And if perhaps, at times, his stories might turn out to have a purpose apart from any esthetic or didatic end, he probably reasoned, with a philosophy for which there is high warrant, that the laborer was worthy of his hire.
âââBout foâty years ago,â began Julius, âole Mars Dugal McAdooâ âmy ole marsterâ âuseter own a man nameâ Tobe. Dis yer Tobe wuz a slow kind er nigger, en wâiles heâd alluz git his tasâ done, heâd hafter wuk harder ân any yuther nigger on de place ter do it. One time he had a monstâus nice âoman fer a wife, but she got bit by a rattlesnake one summer en died, en dat lefâ Tobe kind er lonesome. En moâ dân dat, Tobeâs wife had beân cook at de big house, en eveây night sheâd fetch sumpân down ter her cabin fer Tobe; en he founâ it mighty haâd ter go back ter bacon and coân-bread atter libbinâ offân de fat er de lanâ all dese yeahs.
âDes âbout a montâ er so atter Tobeâs wife died, dey wuz a nigger run âway fum ole Mars Marrabo McSwayneâsâ âde nexâ plantationâ âen in spite er all de wâite folks could do, dis yer nigger got clean off ter a free state in de Norf, en bimeby he writ a sassy letter back ter Mars Marrabo, en sont âim a bill fer de wuk he done fer âim fer twenty yeahs er moâ, at a dollah en a half a dayâ âwâat he say he wuz gittinâ at de Norf. One er de gals wâat wukked rounâ de big house heared de wâite folks gwine on âbout it, en she say Mars Marrabo cusst en swoâ des tarrable, en ole missis âmosâ wepâ fer ter think how ongrateful dat nigger wuz, not onây ter run âway, but to write back sich wickâniss ter wâite folks wâat had alluz treated âim good, fed âim en clothed âim, en nussed âim wen he wuz sick, en nebber let âim suffer fer nuffin all his life.
âBut Tobe heared âbout dis yer nigger, en he tuk a notion heâd lak ter run âway en go ter de Norf en be free en git a dollah en a half a day too. But de moâ he studied âbout it, de haâder it âpeared ter be. In de fusâ place, de Norf wuz a monstâus long ways off, en de dawgs mought track âim, er de patteroles mought ketch âim, er he mought staâve ter def caâse he couldnâ git nuffin ter eat on de way; en ef he wuz cotchâ he wuz lakly ter be solâ so fur souf dat heâd nebber hab no chance ter git free er eber see his ole frienâs nuther.
âBut Tobe kepâ on studyinâ âbout runnin âway âtel finâlly he âlowed heâd go en see ole Aunâ Peggy, de cunjuh âoman down by de Wimâlâton Road, en ax her wâat wuz de besâ way fer him ter staât. So he tuk a paâr er pullets down ter Aunâ Peggy one night en tolâ her all âbout his hankâinâs en his longinâs, en axâ her wâat heâd hafter do fer ter run âway en git free.
âââWâat you wanter be free fer?â sez Aunâ Peggy. âDoan you git ernuff ter eat?â
âââYas, I gits ernuff ter eat, but Iâll hab better vittles wen Iâs free.â
âââDoan you git ernuff sleep?â
âââYas, but Iâll sleep moâ wâen Iâs free.â
âââDoes you wuk too had?â
âââNo, I doan wuk too had fer a slabe nigger, but ef I wuz free I wouldnâ wuk a-tall âlessân I felt lak it.â
âAunâ Peggy shuck her head. âI dunno, nigger,â sez she, âwhuther you gwine ter finâ wâat you er huntinâ fer er no. But wâat is it you wants me ter do fer you?â
âââI wants you ter tell me de besâ en easiesâ way fer ter git ter de Norf en be free.â
âââWell,â sez Aunâ Peggy, âIâs feared dey ainâ no easy way. De besâ way fer you ter do is ter fix yoâ eye on de Norf Stah en staât. You kin put some tar on yoâ feet ter thâow de hounâs offân de scent, en ef you come ter a crick you mought wade âlong fer a mile er so. I shâd say you bettah staât on Sadâday night, fer den mosâ lakly you wonâ be missâ âtel Monday mawninâ, en you kin git a good staât on yoâ jouâney. En den maybe in a montâ er so youâll retch de Norf en youâll be free, en whar you kin eat all you want, ef you
Comments (0)