African Americans -- Fiction; Devil -- Fiction; Short stories, American
“De hoodoo he see what were er-ailin’ Shadrach, an’ he mighty sorry fur
him; but he cain’t go ter Shadrach; Shadrach gotter kim ter him ter git
he soul back, an’ hit hatter be er mighty good hoodoo ter do hit den,
so de hoodoo he sot an’ wait.
“Bimeby Shadrach des couldn’ stan’ hit no longer, an’ he des kim
er-rinnin’ ter de hoodoo, all doubled up, wid de long white beard des
er-draggin’ on de groun’, an’ he fingers in he years—dem big years dat
des er-settin’ up on bofe sides he head.
“‘Pear lack Shadrach sho gwine plum crazy ’twixt de mizry an’ de
noises, an’ de hoodoo git ter work quick, fur ter pull de debil outen
Shadrach, so’s Shadrach mought git he soul back.
[Illustration: “IN DE SHAPE UV ER BIG JACK-RABBIT”]
“Shadrach lay on de flo’ er de cabin, des er-rollin’ an’ er-groanin’.
Dey done pour hot lard an’ er whole bottle er laud’num in he years
widout doin’ any good, an’ de hoodoo try ter fling de debil out in de
name er de jackass, de el’phunt, de owl—ever’thing dat he kin think uv
dat got big years; but de debil hain’t come outen him yit.
“Den de hoodoo taken him inter de woods an’ call de name uv er
long-yeared houn’ dat passin’ by, but hit hain’t dat.
“De hoodoo workin’ mighty hard, an’ he stop an’ steddy erwhile, an’ den
he lead Shadrach, wid de thorns des er-t’arin’ uv he beard an’ he knees
an’ he han’s, ober inter er thicket er blackberry-bushes, ter gib de
debil er good chance ter kim out, ’case he sho arter him.
“He make de passes wid he han’s, an’ say de charm, an’ wait erwhile. De
debil he see he chances done plum gone, an’ he hatter gib up de soul,
’case de hoodoo got him in er corner, an’ when he see dat, he des kim
er-lopin’ outen Shadrach inter de blackberry-bushes, in de shape uv er
big jack-rabbit wid great long years.
“Dey say dat ole Shadrach lib ter be er hundud an’ fifty year ol’er ’n
he were, stone-blin’ an’ ’mos’ stone-deef; but he go ’bout powerful
happy twel he die, an’ hain’t nebber git cuissome ’bout hearin’ things
no mo’, ’case he done heared ernough ter las’ him.”
THE TAMING OF JEZRUL
It was a nine days’ wonder that Jezrul had ever taken a fancy to
Lemuel’s Crecy, for Jezrul was Colonel Greene’s butler, as pompous, if
not so rotund, as the Colonel himself, and Lemuel’s Crecy, as every one
knew, had never done anything but pick cotton in her life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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