A Negro Witch Story

— His quite impossible to determine whether the sleeping negro dreams the remarkable things which he sometimes, with great reluctance, relates, or whether his actual experiences are, by the assistance of an erratic memory, a vivid imagination, and a superstitious trend of thought, translated into fantasies and invested with supernatural accessories. There is reason to believe that the latter is the true solution, for it is certain that the negro regards his superstitions with profound respect and religious veneration.

The following story is simply a specimen of the tales which the negroes habitually relate to one another, and, at rare intervals, to a particularly favored white auditor. No liberties have been taken with it except those of transforming it into English which would be unintelligible to the original narrator, and perhaps of treating his experiences with a lightness which would certainly be repugnant to his tastes and horrifying to his superstitious notions.

About four o’clock, one afternoon, Levin Williams, the hero of this series of adventures, concluded to visit a friend who lived at the distance of ten miles, and, in default of means of more rapid progression, he walked. During the first mile of the journey he noticed the ominous fact that the trees by the roadside were full of jay birds. Only those intimately acquainted with the fancies of the negroes will recognize the full significance of this manifestation. These bewildered people firmly believe that the jay is a bird of evil omen and possessed of Satanic power. The tradition upon which this superstition is based is that, each Friday night, every jay bird in the world visits the beach of the ocean nine successive times, and on each journey brings away one grain of sand, which is carried directly to the abode of his Satanic Majesty. The birds have been doing this since the creation, and will continue in the performance of the task until the end of the world, which event will be determined by the disappearance of the last grain of sand. In return for this service the devil has conferred on the jay bird extraordinary privileges in the line of tormenting humanity, and has empowered witches, wizards, and ghosts to transform themselves into jay birds whenever necessary to further their malicious purposes. It will be understood, then, why the sight of these birds filled the traveler with dismay, and thronged his soul with forebodings of evil; but he bravely determined to pursue his journey in face of the threatening powers that were gathering to the attack.

About six miles from home, his road lying through the forest, Levin became conscious that he had lost his way, and for three or four hours he wandered about in the pine woods in a fruitless effort to regain the devious path. It was nearly midnight when he arrived at a cabin, the appearance of which was unfamiliar, though he was intimately acquainted with the location of every hut and house in the whole countryside. Approaching the rickety door, he knocked, and a shrill voice bade him enter. Within he found two ancient and weazened black women crouching over a dying fire, and muttering to each other in a language he could not understand. He explained his bewilderment, and one of the old women pointed to a blanket in the corner of the cabin. Accepting this as an invitation to remain until morning, he lay down to repose. But something mysterious in the aspect or conduct of the women aroused his suspicions, and sleep refused to visit his eyelids ; yet, with the cunning of his race, he pretended slumber, and his snores loudly testified to the depth of his unconsciousness. The crones continued to mumble their unintelligible jargon, and now and then a sharp eye was directed to the corner where our hero was simulating slumber. It being determined at last that he was really asleep, one of the old women arose, and, from a hiding-place beneath the low eaves, produced a small, round box, which she placed on the floor, between herself and her companion. Unrestrained by the waking presence of the intruder, they now, for the first time, addressed each other in words he could understand.

“ Are you ready ? ” asked the one.

“I am,” replied the other.

“ Then rub ! ”

Each of the witches — for by this time their character was patent to the observer — dipped the first finger of each hand into the box, and began to rub, first the palms of her hands, then her elbows, and finally her shoulders; and during the process they muttered to themselves an incantation which sounded like, “Grow feathers ! Grow wings ! Grow feathers ! Grow wings ! ”

Presently the first witch asked, “ Are you ready ? ”

“I am.”

“Then follow me.”

Approaching the open fireplace, the first said, “ Out I go.” And out she went, directly up the chimney. A moment later, the second witch hobbled to the fireplace, and said, “I follow.” And follow she did, to the excessive amazement and consternation of the solitary witness of these uncanny proceedings.

Springing from his couch, Levin ran to the fireplace, but his entertainers had completely disappeared. Glancing at the floor, however, he noticed that they had forgotten the little box and left it behind, in their flight. Picking it up, he examined it with careful scrutiny, and saw that it was half full of a dark compound, which he afterward described as resembling axle grease. As he meditatively held it in his hand, he became unmindful of the warning of the jay birds, and allowed the characteristic curiosity of his race to overcome him. Dipping his fingers in the box, as he had seen the witches do, he rubbed the palms of his hands, his elbows, and his shoulders with the mysterious and potent contents ; all the while, in imitation of the witches, repeating the words, “ Grow feathers ! Grow wings ! Grow feathers ! Grow wings ! ”

The incantation had not lost its virtue, for as he uttered it he became conscious that wings were really growing from his shoulders, though these pinions were invisible to the sense of sight. Frightened, but not daunted, he stepped to the fireplace, and said, “ Out I go ! ”

The next, moment he found himself soaring among the treetops that embowered the cabin, but, by the aid of his newly acquired wings, he descended and perched safely upon the chimney-top. When he had recovered his breath after this aerial excursion, he observed that the two witches were seated snugly upon the comb of the roof, — for all the world, as he expressed it, like two old turkey buzzards. Realizing his audacity, they grew terribly excited, and one of them repeated some words which he did not understand, but which made the cabin tremble in every beam and rafter. Much chattering and grumbling ensued, but at last, after a whispered consultation, they agreed not to injure him, provided he would promise implicitly to obey their directions, — a condition to which he gladly assented, in the unconsciousness that they were simply giving him a respite in order to prepare for him a more certain and dreadful doom.

“ Say what I say ! ” was the first direction, delivered in a voice like the croak of a crow when he is driven out of a cornfield.

“ Away I go ! ” said the first witch.

“Away I go ! ” repeated the other.

“ Away I go ! ” quavered Levin.

The words launched them upon a flight which lasted two hours, and carried them over miles of territory. At last, when directly above a small town, the houses and streets of which were enshrouded in darkness, the commander of the expedition cried, “ I pitch ! ”

“ I pitch ! ” croaked the second.

“ I pitch ! ” said Levin.

This was the signal for immediate descent, and, on reaching the ground, they found themselves in a narrow street fronted on either side by stores. Before the door of the largest of these the trio halted, and the witch who took the precedence said, “ Through I go ! ”

Her attendants repeated the words, and the little company, without further ado, passed through the keyhole into the interior of the shop, which proved to be a grocery. The witches, with great freedom, began to appropriate the goods temptingly displayed on shelves and counters ; but not until one of them had conducted Levin to the rear of the store, and there indicated to him a certain barrel, from which a seductive odor seemed to proceed.

When the negro, shaking off the influence of the liquor which the barrel was found to contain, struggled back to consciousness, it was broad daylight, the witches had disappeared, the store was full of men, and an officer appeared who hurried him off to jail.

Now the malicious design of the witches was developed. When, after an interval of several days, Levin was taken to the courtroom, the indictment laid against him was, not for burglary, but for murder. A man had beenn done to death on the highway, and several witnesses appeared who identified Levin as a strange negro who had been lurking about that particular locality. Bloodstains were found on his clothes, and other incriminating evidence was not lacking. It was in vain that he protested his innocence. The story of his midnight adventure only served to deepen the suspicions of his judges, and in the slow process of law he was finally found guilty and condemned to death.

He lingered in jail for several months, but the fatal morning at last arrived, and, in solemn procession, he was taken to the place of execution. Then, just as the sheriff was advancing to adjust the noose about his neck, an old woman scrambled upon the scaffold and begged the privilege of a word with the prisoner. The request was granted, and the woman, who was no less a personage than the first witch, whispered something in the negro’s ear. It was, “ Do what I do ! Say what I say ! ”

Stepping to the edge of the platform, she said aloud, “ Up I go ! ” And up she went, to the intense astonishment of the officers and spectators. The rope dropped from the sheriff’s hand, and, taking advantage of the opportunity, Levin took a step forward, and cried, “ Up I go ! ” And up he went. The witch-wings were still on his shoulders, though until this moment it had never occurred to him that they might be made available as means of escape. Now, imitating his rescuer, he sailed in three great circles above the heads of the gaping crowd below, and then, having taken their bearings, witch and negro left the ill-omened town and ghastly scaffold behind them at a speed which rendered pursuit impracticable, and the flight terminated only at the door of the negro’s own cabin.

At the time when, with many digressions and repetitions, Levin narrated to us this story, his faith in jay birds was profound, and he emphatically declared that those invisible and impalpable wings were even then attached to his shoulders.