Tales from the Caribbean Page 9
But on this particular morning, Annie didn’t get up bright and early. She had been dancing the night before and had gone to bed long after midnight. She was very tired and had slept long past her usual time. When Annie finally awoke, she couldn’t believe what time it was. She had so much to do – so many cakes to bake and so little time to bake them in!
Annie jumped out of bed and started baking as quickly as she could. When she had finally loaded the last of her cakes into her basket, she set off.
The market was in town and most people walking alone would walk the road around the forest to get there. So would Annie on her usual daily trip. However, on this day, Annie knew that if she were to take the long road around the forest she would never get to the market on time. Annie decided she would take the short cut through the forest itself to get to town.
Well, everyone knew that anyone walking alone through the forest should take great caution. It was known that Papa Bwa, the protector of the forest and everything in it, did not like too many people wandering around and disturbing his peace. Annie knew this, but she hoped that taking the short cut would not disturb Papa Bwa. After all, her plan was to dash through as quickly as possible. She hoped very much that Papa Bwa wouldn’t even notice she was there.
And in any case, Annie told herself, if by chance she were to disturb Papa Bwa’s peace, she would let him know immediately that she was not a hunter. You see, Annie knew that Papa Bwa hated hunters and woodcutters and anyone or anything that threatened to hurt the forest and the creatures in it. Annie was sure that once she told Papa Bwa that she was not a hunter he would let her go on her way.
So Annie made her way through the dense forest. It was very dark. Annie had never been in the forest alone before, and the big trees and all the strange sounds and hoots coming from the forest creatures frightened her. She could hear them all, even at the forest entrance. Still, she was determined to get to the market on time, so she bravely marched through as quickly as she could.
As she walked Annie could hear the snapping of twigs and branches. At first she thought that it was coming from her own feet but, strangely, when she stopped walking she could still hear it. In fact, it was coming towards her! Afraid, Annie crouched behind a large tree.
As she peered out from her hiding place, Annie could see two hooves walking the forest floor. The creature’s legs were hairy, as was its whole body, chest, shoulders and arms. But the head was that of an old man with two small horns. He had long white hair and a beard of leaves. He was tall like a giant and his arms and legs were muscular. Though Annie had never seen him before, she knew straight away that it was Papa Bwa.
‘Papa Bwa …’ Annie said to herself, her heart pounding. Although she didn’t move an inch, she could see the creature sniffing the air and coming towards her. He could smell her cakes! What was she to do?
Remembering her plan, Annie stood up boldly and shouted, ‘I am not a hunter!’
But Papa Bwa didn’t appear to listen. He just kept on advancing towards her, looking so fierce and angry that Annie turned and ran away as quickly as her legs could carry her. The branches scratched her arms and cut her skin but still she ran. But Papa Bwa was not slowing down!
Annie ran and ran. She was afraid of what Papa Bwa might do to her if he caught her.
‘I am not a hunter! I’m not a hunter!’ she screamed as she ran.
A monkey was walking by (as this was a time before monkeys swung through trees) and, hearing all the commotion, looked to see what was going on. He saw Annie running for her life.
‘Trouble is with me!’ Annie shouted.
Monkey was curious as to what this ‘trouble’ was that the girl had, for he could see that Papa Bwa wanted it very badly.
‘Trouble is with me!’ Annie shouted again and again. She threw the basket of cakes to the ground so she could run faster.
Still Papa Bwa carried on after her, never letting up. Annie ran and ran, with Papa Bwa hot on her tail. Eventually she saw the opening which led to the town, and she ran out of the forest to safety.
When Annie got to the market she had no cakes to sell. To everyone who came to buy from her she told the story of how she had foolishly walked through the forest alone and how Papa Bwa had chased her out. Annie vowed she would never walk through the forest alone again.
Meanwhile, Monkey was busy looking at the basket that the girl had left behind. It smelt good. He didn’t know what the word trouble meant and he thought that when the girl was shouting, ‘Trouble is with me!’ she must have been talking about what she was carrying in the basket. He couldn’t wait to see what was inside!
Monkey looked inside and found Annie’s cakes. First he tried the coconut cakes. They tasted delicious and he ate them all up. ‘Trouble is delicious!’ he said to himself. Then he tried the lemon cakes. They tasted amazing and he ate them all up. ‘Trouble is amazing!’ he exclaimed. Then he tried the ginger cakes. They tasted very good and he ate them all up. ‘Trouble is very good!’ he cried out. Then he tried the chocolate cakes. They tasted superb and he ate them all up. ‘Trouble is superb!’ he declared. Then he got to the banana cakes and he had never tasted anything so incredibly delightful. ‘Trouble is delightful!’ he proclaimed. When Monkey had eaten the last of the cakes and he realized that there were none left he said, ‘Hmmmmmmm, trouble tastes good. I want more trouble!’
Now, Monkey didn’t know where to get more trouble from, so he decided to explore the direction from which Annie had come. He walked quickly through the forest and made his way to the very same opening in the forest that Annie had come through. Arriving on the road, Monkey saw a small shop. He went inside.
‘I am looking for trouble!’ he said to the shopkeeper.
Now, the shopkeeper thought that was a strange thing to ask for. No one had ever come to his shop looking for trouble before. He had known Monkey a long time and he didn’t like Monkey much; he thought he was a bit foolish. The shopkeeper decided to have some fun with Monkey and trick him.
‘You’re looking for trouble, you say? I have plenty of it in my backyard. I will put it in a bag for you! How much do you want?’
‘A lot,’ said Monkey greedily. ‘Give me all you have!’
‘It will cost you plenty of money,’ said the mischievous shopkeeper.
‘No problem,’ said Monkey. ‘Trouble tastes so good, it is worth every penny.’
‘Wait here,’ said the shopkeeper and he went out through the back door.
Sleeping in the shopkeeper’s backyard was the most ferocious wild dog you ever did see. The shopkeeper, careful not to wake it, put the dog in a big sack. He dragged the sack to the front of the shop and handed it to Monkey.
‘Here you are,’ the shopkeeper said, ‘there’s plenty of trouble for you inside that bag! The bag is heavy; be sure to drag it carefully so that the trouble doesn’t get damaged.’
The greedy Monkey couldn’t believe his luck. ‘That sure is a big bag of trouble,’ he said happily. He paid the shopkeeper all the money he had and carefully dragged the heavy bag out of the shop. He couldn’t wait to get back to the forest and enjoy his feast of trouble.
Monkey dragged the bag on to the road and back the way he had come until he reached the forest. As he dragged the bag on the bumpy forest ground he heard a howl. Thinking it must have come from one of the forest creatures and reluctant to share his bag of trouble with anyone, he moved more quickly through the forest. The more he dragged the bag over the bumpy forest ground, the more the wild dog howled. And the more howls Monkey heard, the faster he moved through the forest. And so it continued until the wild dog inside the bag was howling so loudly that Papa Bwa himself came out to see what all the commotion was about.
Now Papa Bwa, the protector of the forest and all that lived there, was very concerned indeed. ‘Which of my forest creatures is howling in pain?’ he shouted, running towards Monkey. Before Monkey could answer, Papa Bwa ripped open the bag and set free the howling wild dog. The dog gnashed its teet
h and growled, and Monkey was sure he was going to be eaten up! Where were those delicious cakes he had expected to find?
The wild dog jumped towards Monkey. Monkey ran up a tree. ‘I was looking for trouble! I didn’t know the wild dog was in the bag!’
Luckily, the wild dog could not climb the tree and so it stayed below, barking up at Monkey fiercely.
‘Well, if you look for trouble you will find it!’ Papa Bwa said triumphantly.
From that day to this, Monkey lives in trees, high up and away from the gnashing teeth of the wild dog! And all thanks to Annie and her delicious cakes.
The Singing Pepper Bush
This story is based on a folk tale from St Vincent
There were once a king and queen who loved each other very much. They lived in a beautiful palace and they were very, very rich. The king and queen had a son and a daughter, Prince Wilmot and Princess Louisa.
The queen was a lovely woman, always laughing and singing. She made everyone around her smile and no one had a bad word to say about her. Every day the queen would cook her husband the most delicious dishes, callaloo soup and roast breadfruit and saltfish and curried goat. She would always season the king’s food with his favourite spice, the pepper grown on the pepper bush at the bottom of the palace gardens. If she had so wished, the queen could have employed a royal chef to cook all the meals, but this was not her wish. She took pleasure in watching her family enjoy the food she made.
One day the queen became very sick. Despite trying their very hardest, the doctors could not find a way to cure her.
Sadly, the queen died. The king was distraught, as were his children. The king was so sad that he lost his appetite and wouldn’t eat. He stayed in bed every day. The newly appointed royal chef tried all sorts of recipes, but the king would not eat. He missed his wife dearly. The poor king got sadder and sadder, and very thin and weak.
Princess Louisa wanted to make her father smile again so, having watched her mother prepare her father’s meals daily, she decided that she would pick some peppers from the pepper bush and cook him something. She took her time in the palace kitchen and seasoned the food just as she had seen her mother do. She brought the food to her father’s bedroom on a tray.
When the king smelt the food that his daughter had brought to him, he sat up in his bed immediately. Tears welled in his eyes. The meal set before him smelt and looked as if it had been cooked by his wife and he couldn’t wait to taste it. And he wasn’t disappointed. The meal was delicious and tasted exactly like the food his wife used to cook.
‘It is as if you have brought your mother back to me,’ he said gratefully to his daughter. Princess Louisa was pleased with herself for having made her father smile again, and every day after that she cooked her father something special, seasoned with the pepper picked from the pepper bush. Soon the king was out of bed and putting on weight and feeling well again. Though he still missed his wife, the king was able to enjoy spending time with his children.
One day an evil witch by the name of Melissa heard about the rich king who had lost his wife, and she tried to think of a way for her to get her hands on all his wealth. She decided she would trick the king into marrying her so that she could be queen and have all his riches.
The evil witch had powers that could make her look beautiful, so she transformed her set frown into an attractive smile and her cold, calculating eyes into warm, caring eyes, and made her way to the palace gates.
When the king saw Melissa, her smile reminded him of his wife as did her eyes, and he could not take his gaze off her. Caught under her spell, he asked her to marry him straight away. It was announced that the royal wedding would take place and everyone was glad that at last the king had found happiness once more.
All except Princess Louisa.
Princess Louisa was worried for her father. Who was this strange woman that he had immediately fallen in love with and why did they need to get married so soon after meeting?
‘How can this be?’ she said to her brother, Wilmot. ‘Father can’t be serious about getting married to this woman, can he?’ But Prince Wilmot was happy for his father. He was glad that the king had been able to find happiness again.
‘Father is happy,’ he said, ‘and we should be happy for him.’
And that was that. The wedding plans were set to go ahead.
But try as she might, Princess Louisa could not be happy for her father. She watched how Melissa, his bride-to-be, fussed over her father in public, but noticed that when she thought no one was looking her smile would turn into a scowl. Princess Louisa didn’t know how to tell her father what she saw. She didn’t want to spoil his happiness but she didn’t trust Melissa at all.
Soon the day of the wedding arrived. Princess Louisa could take no more and she asked her father if he was sure about the marriage.
‘I have not felt this happy for a long time!’ said the king. ‘I want to marry Melissa, my dear daughter. Please give me your blessing.’
So Princess Louisa had no choice. She gave her father her blessing and pretended that she was happy. She celebrated the wedding with her brother and all of the other guests for the sake of her father.
After the wedding, Princess Louisa continued to cook special dishes for her father, seasoned with the peppers from the pepper bush. The king loved her meals and praised his daughter for her fine recipes. Each time he ate he would delight in talking about his dead wife and how Princess Louisa’s food made him feel like she had never left.
This did not please Queen Melissa. In fact, Queen Melissa was very jealous of the way the king spoke about Princess Louisa’s mother and she disliked the way the king and his daughter laughed and joked as they remembered the dead queen fondly.
‘From now on, I will cook your meals!’ said Queen Melissa to the king.
‘No!’ said Princess Louisa. ‘I know what my father likes! I will cook for him.’
The king agreed with his daughter. Louisa would continue to cook for him.
This made Queen Melissa very angry. She decided she would think up a plan to get rid of Princess Louisa. She would wait until the king was out of the palace and then she would put her plan into action.
One day the king and Prince Wilmot had to go into town on urgent business. They would be gone all day and all night, leaving Queen Melissa and Princess Louisa alone in the palace. Queen Melissa couldn’t wait for the king and Prince Wilmot to leave. ‘Off you go,’ she said, waving them off. ‘Hurry, hurry, make haste!’
It was the first time Princess Louisa was to be alone with the new queen and she wasn’t looking forward to it. As soon as her father and brother left, Princess Louisa dashed up to her room.
Queen Melissa called her. ‘Louisa, I have a job for you!’ she said. ‘I want you to sweep the yard.’
Princess Louisa wasn’t accustomed to sweeping the yard and she was about to protest. There were palace staff that did that sort of thing so there was no need for the princess to do it. She knew that her stepmother was being spiteful, but she thought about how happy her father had been lately with his new wife and decided she would be an obedient stepdaughter for her father’s sake.
‘Very well,’ Princess Louisa said politely, and she took a broom and began to sweep the yard.
Then Queen Melissa took a bunch of ripe bananas and hung them up in a tree.
‘And one more thing,’ said Queen Melissa as Princess Louisa swept the yard. ‘I am going for a walk. While I am away, I want you to guard these fig bananas and make sure no birds peck at them.’
Now the evil Melissa knew very well that birds love to eat ripe bananas when they are hanging out in the open air like that and she knew Princess Louisa would have a hard job stopping any birds from pecking at them.
‘If you let any birds peck at these fig bananas,’ she said threateningly, ‘I will bury you alive!’ Princess Louisa could tell by the evil look in her stepmother’s eye that she meant every word and she was afraid. Queen Melissa held her head up hi
gh and walked away.
‘I will be coming back to check on the bananas in a little while so you had better make sure they haven’t been pecked at!’ she said. ‘And this yard had better be clean too!’
Princess Louisa didn’t know what to do. How was she supposed to stop birds from pecking at the bananas hanging on the tree? She began to sweep the yard as she had been told to do and hoped that no birds would fly down to peck at the ripe fig bananas.
Alas, before long a blackbird swooped down towards the bunch of ripe fig bananas hanging on the tree. At once Princess Louisa sang out:
‘No, Blackbird, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Blackbird, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Blackbird, no,
Don’t take the fig!
If you do, my stepmother will bury me alive.’
The blackbird heard Princess Louisa’s song and took pity on her. It flew away and left the ripe fig bananas alone. No sooner had the blackbird left then a pigeon swooped down towards the bunch of ripe fig bananas hanging on the tree. At once Princess Louisa sang out:
‘No, Pigeon, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Pigeon, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Pigeon, no,
Don’t take the fig!
If you do, my stepmother will bury me alive.’
The pigeon heard Princess Louisa’s song and took pity on her. It flew away and left the ripe fig bananas alone.
Princess Louisa was grateful that the birds had taken pity on her. She continued to sweep the yard until it was clean and as the sun went down she waited for her stepmother’s return.
Then suddenly an owl swooped down towards the bunch of ripe fig bananas hanging on the tree. At once Princess Louisa sang out:
‘No, Owl, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Owl, no,
Don’t take the fig!
No, Owl, no,
Don’t take the fig!