The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chesnutt (7 ebook reader .TXT) 📕
Description
The Conjure Woman is a collection of fantastical stories narrated by Julius, a former slave, about life on the nearby plantations prior to the Civil War. Each involves an element of magic, be it a vine that dooms those who eat from it or a man transformed into a tree to avoid being separated from his wife. Julius’s audience, a married couple who have just moved to the South to cultivate grapes, listen on with mixed sympathy and disbelief. They disagree on whether Julius is telling the truth and whether there is some deeper significance to the tales. At turns humorous and unsettling, these stories provide a surprising lens into the realities of slavery.
The text is notable for spelling out Julius’s spoken accent. Although Julius has some stereotypical features of a simple-minded old slave, he is often regarded as a more clever and complicated figure. He seems to tell his tales not only to entertain his listeners, but to trick them to his advantage.
Many of these stories first appeared in national magazines, where they received popular acclaim, before being assembled as their own volume in 1899. Charles W. Chesnutt’s race was not mentioned by the publisher, nor could many guess his African heritage based on his appearance. However, Chesnutt embraced his African-American identity and was a prominent activist for black rights. The Conjure Woman, his first book, is considered an important early work of African-American fiction.
This edition includes four additional Julius tales that appeared in magazines but were not collected during Chesnutt’s lifetime.
Read free book «The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chesnutt (7 ebook reader .TXT) 📕» - read online or download for free at americanlibrarybooks.com
- Author: Charles W. Chesnutt
Read book online «The Conjure Woman by Charles W. Chesnutt (7 ebook reader .TXT) 📕». Author - Charles W. Chesnutt
“ ‘But w’at is I gwine ter eat dyo’in’ er dis yer mont’ I’s trabblin’?’ ax’ Tobe. ‘It makes me sick ef I doan git my reg’lar meals.’
“ ‘Doan ax me,’ sez Aun’ Peggy. ‘I ain’ nebber seed de nigger yit w’at can’t fin’ sump’n ter eat.’
“Tobe scratch’ his head. ‘En whar is I gwine to sleep dyo’in’ er dat mont’? I’ll hafter hab my reg’lar res’.’
“ ‘Doan ax me,’ sez Aun’ Peggy. ‘You kin sleep in de woods in de daytime, en do yo’ trabblin’ at night.’
“ ‘But s’pose’n a snake bites me?’
“ ‘I kin gib you a cha’m fer ter kyo snake-bite.’
“ ‘But s’pose’n’ de patteroles ketch me?’
“ ‘Look a heah, nigger,’ sez Aun’ Peggy, ‘I’s ti’ed er yo’ s’pose’n’, en I’s was’e all de time on you I’s gwine ter fer two chick’ns. I’s feared you wants ter git free too easy. I s’pose you des wants ter lay down at night, do yo’ trabblin’ in yo’ sleep, en wake free in de mawn’in. You wants ter git a thousan’ dollah nigger fer nuffin’ en dat’s mo’ d’n anybody but de sma’test w’ite folks kin do. Go ’long back ter yo’ wuk, man, en doan come back ter me ’less’n you kin fetch me sump’n mo’.’
“Now, Tobe knowed well ernuff dat ole Aun’ Peggy’d des be’n talkin’ ter heah herse’f talk, en so two er th’ee nights later he tuk a side er bacon en kyared it down ter her cabin.
“ ‘Uh huh,’ sez Aun’ Peggy, ‘dat is sump’n lak it. I s’pose you still ’lows you’d lak ter be free, so you kin eat w’at you mineter, en sleep all you wanter, en res’ w’eneber you feels dat erway?’
“ ‘Yas’m, I wants ter be free, en I wants you ter fix things so I kin be sho’ ter git ter de Norf widout much trouble; fer I sho’ly does hate en ’spise trouble.’
“Aun’ Peggy studied fer a w’ile, en den she tuk down a go’d off’n de she’f, en sez she:—
“ ‘I’s got a goopher mixtry heah w’at’ll tu’n you ter a b’ar. You know dey use’ter be b’ars roun’ heah in dem ole days.’
“Den she tuk down ernudder go’d. ‘En,’ she went on, ‘ef I puts some er dis yuther mixtry wid it, you’ll tu’n back ag’in in des a week er mont’ er two mont’s, ’cordin’ ter how much I puts in. Now, ef I tu’ns you ter a b’ar fer, say a mont’, en you is keerful en keeps ’way fum de hunters, you kin feed yo’se’f ez you goes ’long, en by de een’ er de mont’ you’ll be ter de Norf; en wen you tu’ns back you’ll tu’n back ter a free nigger, whar you kin do w’at you wanter, en go whar you mineter, en sleep ez long ez you please.’
“So Tobe say all right, en Aun’ Peggy mix’ de goopher, en put it on Tobe en turn’t ’im ter a big black b’ar.
“Tobe sta’ted out to’ds de Norf, en went fifteen er twenty miles widout stoppin’. Des befo’ day in de mawnin’ he come ter a ’tater patch, en bein’ ez he wuz feelin’ sorter hongry, he stop’ fer a hour er so ’tel he got all de ’taters he could hol’. Den he sta’ted out ag’in, en bimeby he run ’cross a bee-tree en eat all de honey he could. ’Long to’ds ebenin’ he come ter a holler tree, en bein’ ez he felt kinder sleepy lak, he ’lowed he’d crawl in en take a nap. So he crawled in en went ter sleep.
“Meanw’ile, Monday mawn’in’ w’en de niggers went out in de fiel’ ter wuk, Tobe wuz missin’. All de niggers ’nied seein’ ’im, en ole Mars Dugal sont up ter town en hi’ed some dawgs, en gun ’em de scent, en dey follered it ter ole Aun’ Peggy’s cabin. Aun’ Peggy ’lowed yas, a nigger had be’n ter her cabin Sad’day night, en she had gun ’im a cha’m fer ter keep off de rheumatiz, en he had sta’ted off down to’ds de ribber, sayin’ he wuz ti’ed wukkin’ en wuz gwine fishin’ fer a mont’ er so. De w’ite folks hunted en hunted, but co’se dey didn’ fin’ Tobe.
“Bout a mont’ atter Tobe had run ’way, en wen Aun’ Peggy had mos’ fergot ’bout im, she wuz sett’n’ in her cabin one night, wukkin’ her roots, wen somebody knock’ at her do’.
“ ‘Who dere?’ sez she.
“ ‘It’s me, Tobe; open de do’, Aun’ Peggy.’
“Sho’ ’nuff, w’en Aun’ Peggy tuk down de do’-bar, who sh’d be stan’in’ dere but Tobe.
“ ‘Whar is you come fum, nigger?’ ax’ Aun’ Peggy, ‘I ’lowed you mus’ be ter de Norf by dis time, en free, en libbin’ off’n de fat er de lan’.’
“ ‘You must ’a s’pected me ter trabbel monst’us fas’ den,’ sez Tobe, ‘fer I des sta’ted fum heah yistiddy mawnin’, en heah I is turnt back ter a nigger ag’in befo’ I’d ha’dly got useter walkin’ on all-fours. Dey’s sump’n de matter wid dat goopher er yo’n, fer yo’ cunj’in’ ain’ wuk right dis time. I crawled in a holler tree ’bout six o’clock en went ter sleep, en wen I woke up in de mawnin’ I wuz tu’nt back ag’in, en bein’ ez I hadn’ got no fu’ther ’n Rockfish Crick, I des ’lowed I’d come back en git dat goopher w’at I paid fer fix’ right.’
“Aun’ Peggy scratched her head en studied a minute, en den sez she:—
“ ‘Uh huh! I sees des w’at de trouble is. I is tu’nt you ter a b’ar heah in de fall, en wen you come ter a holler tree you crawls in en goes ter sleep fer de winter, des lak any yuther b’ar’d do; en ef I hadn’ mix’ dat yuther goopher in fer ter tu’n you back in a mont’, you’d a slep’ all th’oo de winter. I had des plum’ fergot ’bout dat,
Comments (0)