In her introduction to "Oroonoko," Mrs. Aphra Behn states
that her strange and romantic tale is founded on facts, of
many of which she was an eye-witness. This is true. She was
born at Wye, England, July 10, 1640, the daughter, it is said,
of a barber. As a child, she went out to Dutch Guiana, then an
English colony named after the Surinam River, returning to
England about 1658. After the death of her husband, in 1666,
she was dispatched as a spy to Antwerp by Charles II., and it
was she who first warned that monarch of the Dutch
Government's intention to send a fleet up the Thames. She died
on April 16, 1689, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It was
while in Dutch Guiana that she met Oroonoko, in the
circumstances described in the story. No doubt she has
idealised her hero somewhat, but she does not seem to have
exaggerated the extraordinary adventures of the young African
chief. In the licentious age of the Restoration, when she had
become famous--or, rather, notorious--as a writer of unseemly
plays, she astonished the town, and achieved real fame by
relating the story of Oroonoko's life. There are few plots of
either plays or novels so striking as that of "Oroonoko." It
is the first of those romances of the outlands, which, from
the days of Defoe to the days of Mr. Rudyard Kipling, have
been one of the glories of English literature.
_I.--The Stolen Bride_
I do not pretend to entertain the reader with a feigned hero, whose
adventures I can manage according to my fancy. Of many of the events
here set down, I was an eye-witness, and what I did not see myself, I
learnt from the mouth of Oroonoko. When I made his acquaintance I was
living in that part of our South American colony called Surinam, which
we lately ceded to the Dutch--a great mistake, I think, for the land was
fertile, and the natives were friendly, and many Englishmen had set up
sugar plantations, which they worked by means of negroes. Most of these
slaves came from that part of Africa known as Coromantien. The
Coromantiens, being very warlike, were continually fighting other
nations, and they always had many captives ready to be sold as slaves to
our planters.
The king of Coromantien was a hundred years of age. All his sons had
fallen in battle, and only one of them had left behind him an heir.
Oroonoko, as the young prince was called, was a very intelligent and
handsome negro, and as his grandfather engaged a Frenchman of wit and
learning to teach him, he received an education better than that of many
European princes. This I can speak of from my own knowledge, as I have
often conversed with him. He had a great admiration for the ancient
Romans; and in everything but the colour of his skin he reminded me of
those heroes of antiquity.
His nose was finely curved, and his lips, too, were well shaped, instead
of being thick as those of most Africans are. As the king of
Coromantien, by reason of his great age, was unable to bear arms, he
entrusted his chief headman with the duty of training Oroonoko in the
arts of war. For two years, the young prince was away fighting with a
powerful inland nation; the chief headman was killed in a fierce battle,
and Oroonoko succeeded him in the command of the army. He was then only
seventeen years of age, but he quickly brought the long war to a
successful conclusion, and returned home with a multitude of captives.
The greater part of these he gave to his grandfather, and the rest he
took to Imoinda, the daughter and only child of the chief headman, as
trophies of her father's victories.
Imoinda was a marvellously beautiful girl; her features, like those of
Oroonoko, were regular and noble, and more European than African. It was
a case of love at first sight on both sides, and the young prince
presented the lovely maiden with a hundred and fifty slaves, and
returned home in a fever of passion. It was necessary for him to obtain
his grandfather's consent to his marriage, but for some days he was so
perplexed by the flood of strange, new feelings surging in his young
heart that he remained silent and moody.
His followers, however, were loud in their praises of Imoinda. They
extolled her ravishing charms even in the presence of the old king, so
that nothing else was talked of but Imoinda. Oroonoko's love rapidly
became too strong for him to control, and one night he went secretly to
the house of his beloved, and wooed her with such fervency of soul that
even she was astonished by it. It was the savage custom of his country
for a king to have a hundred wives, as his grandfather had; but Oroonoko
was an enlightened and chivalrous man.
"Never, Imoinda," he cried, "shall you have a rival. You are the only
woman I shall love, the only woman I shall marry. Come, my darling, and
let us try and raise our people up by our example."
Imoinda was naturally overjoyed to become the wife of so noble and
cultivated a prince, and she waited the next morning in a state of
delicious excitement for Oroonoko to return and claim her as his bride.
But, to her dismay and horror, four headmen with their servants came at
daybreak to her house with a royal veil. This is a rudely embroidered
cloth which the king of Coromantien sends to any lady whom he has a mind
to make his wife. After she is covered with it, the maid is secured for
the king's otan, or harem, and it is death to disobey the royal summons.
Trembling and almost fainting, Imoinda was compelled to suffer herself
to be covered and led away to the old king. His imagination had been
excited by the wild way in which the followers of his grandson had
praised the beauty of the maiden, and, carried away by unnatural
jealousy, he had resolved, in a fit of madness, to possess her at all
costs. In spite of all he had heard, he was amazed by her loveliness.
Rising up from his throne, he came towards her with outstretched arms.
"I am already married," she cried, bursting into tears and throwing
herself at his feet. "Do not dishonour me! Let me return to my own
house."
"Who has dared to marry the daughter of my chief headman without my
consent?" said the old king, his eyes rolling in anger. "Whoever he is,
he shall die at once."
Imoinda began to fear for Oroonoko, and tried to undo the effect of her
words.
"He--he is not exactly my husband yet," she stammered. "But, oh, I love
him! I love him! And I have promised to marry him."
"That's nothing," said the king, his eyes now lighting up with pleasure.
"You must be my wife."
In the afternoon, Oroonoko, who had gone in search of Imoinda, returned.
Having heard that she had received the royal veil, he came in so violent
a rage that his men had great trouble to save him from killing himself.
"What can I do?" he cried desperately. "Even if I slew my grandfather, I
could not now make Imoinda my wife."
_II.--A White Man's Treachery_
By the custom of the country, it would have been so great a crime to
marry a woman whom Us grandfather had taken that Oroonoko's people would
probably have risen up against him. But one of his men pointed out that,
as Imoinda was his lawful wife by solemn contract, he was really the
injured man, and might, if he would, take her back--the breach of the
law being on his grandfather's side. Thereupon, the young prince
resolved to recover her, and in the night he entered the otan, or royal
harem, by a secret passage, and made his way to the apartment of
Imoinda. Had he found the old king there, he no doubt would have killed
him; but, happily, the lovely maid was alone, and quietly sleeping in
her bed. He softly awakened her, and she trembled with joy and fear at
his boldness. But they had not been long together when a sudden noise
was heard and a band of armed men with spears burst into the room.
"Back!" shouted the young prince, lifting up his battle-axe. "Back, all
of you! Do you not know Oroonoko?"
"Yes," said one of the men. "The king has sent us to take you, dead or
alive."
But when Oroonoko attacked them, they allowed him to fight his way out
of the otan, but tore the maid from his arms and took her to the king.
The old man was blind with rage, and, seizing a spear, he staggered to
his feet, determined to kill her by his own hand. But Imoinda was in no
mood to die. She knew that her lover had fled to his camp, and intended
to return at the head of a large army and rescue her by main force. If
she could only calm the anger of the old king for a few days, all would
be well. So, with the guile of a woman, she flung herself at the king's
feet, protesting in a flood of tears, that Oroonoko had broken into her
room and taken her by force.
"Very well," said the old king, with a cruel look in his eyes, "I will
forgive you. Having received the royal veil, you cannot marry my
grandson. On the other hand, since he has entered your room, you cannot
remain any longer in the otan. You must be sent out of the country."
And early the next morning some of his servants were commanded to dress
her so that she could not be recognised, and then she was carried down
to the shore and sold to the captain of a slave ship.
The king did not dare to tell his grandson that he had sold Imoinda as a
slave, for the Coromantiens justly reckon slavery as something worse
than death; so he sent a messenger to say that she was dead. At first,
Oroonoko was minded to attack his grandfather, but better feelings
prevailed; and he led his army against a hostile nation, resolved to
perish on the battlefield. So desperate was his courage that he defeated
his far more numerous foes, and took a great multitude of them captives.
Many of these he sold to the captain of a slave-ship, then lying off
Coromantien. When the bargain was concluded, the captain invited the
prince and all his attendants to a banquet on board his ship, and so
plied them with wine that, being unaccustomed to drink of this sort,
they were overcome by it.
When Oroonoko recovered his senses, he found himself chained up in a
dark room, and all his men were groaning in fetters around him. The
cunning slave-dealer had got out of paying for his cargo of slaves, and
increased their number by carrying off the young prince and his
companions. This was how I came to meet Oroonoko. The unscrupulous
slave-dealer brought him to Surinam, and sold him and seventeen of his
followers to our overseer, a young Cornishman named Trefry.
Trefry, a man of great wit and fine learning, was attracted by the noble
bearing of Oroonoko, and treated him more as a friend than as a servant.
And when, to his great astonishment, he found that the young prince was
his equal in scholarship, and could converse with him in English,
French, and Spanish, he asked him how it was he had become a slave.
Oroonoko then related the story of the slave-dealer's treachery, and
Trefry was so moved by it that he promised to find the means to free him
from slavery and enable him to return to Coromantien.
When Oroonoko arrived at our plantation, all our negroes left off work
and came to see him. When they saw that he was really the great prince
of Coromantien, who had conquered them in battle and sold them into
slavery, they cast themselves at his feet, crying out in their own
language: "Live, O king! Long live, O king!" They kissed his feet and
paid him divine homage--for such is the nature of this people, that
instead of bearing him any grudge for selling them into captivity, they
were filled with awe and veneration for him.
Mr. Trefry was glad to find Oroonoko's statement of his royal rank
confirmed by the adoration of all the slaves.
"There's one girl," he said, "who did not come to greet you. I am sure
you will be delighted to find you have so beautiful a subject. If it is
possible for anyone to console you for the loss of Imoinda, she will do
so. To tell the truth, I've been in love with her myself, but I found
that I could not win her."
"I do not want to see her," said Oroonoko. "If I go back to Coromantien,
I will not take any woman with me. I vowed to Imoinda that I would never
have any wife but her, and, though she is dead, I shall keep my vow."
The next morning Trefry took Oroonoko for a walk, and by design brought
him to the house of the beautiful slave.
"Clemene," he said, "did you not hear that one of the princes of your
people arrived in Surinam yesterday? However you may fly from all white
men, you surely ought to pay some respect to him."
Oroonoko started when a girl came out, with her head bowed down as if
she had resolved never to raise her eyes again to the face of a man.
"Imoinda! Imoinda!" Oroonoko cried after a moment's silence. "Imoinda!"
It was she. She looked up at the sound of his voice, and then tottered
and fell down in a swoon, and Oroonoko caught her in his arms. By
degrees she came to herself; and it is needless to tell with what
transport, what ecstasies of joy, the lovers beheld each other. Mr.
Trefry was infinitely pleased by this happy conclusion of the prince's
misadventures; and, leaving the lovers to themselves, he came to Parham
House, and gave me an account of all that had happened. In the
afternoon, to the great joy of all the negroes, Oroonoko and Imoinda
were married. I was invited to the wedding, and I assured Oroonoko that
he and his wife would be set free as soon as the lord-governor of the
colony returned to Surinam.
_III.--The Taint of Slavery_
Unhappily, the lord-governor was delayed for some months in the islands,
and Oroonoko became impatient. After the trick played upon him by the
captain of the slave-ship, he had become exceedingly suspicious of the
honesty and good faith of white men. He was afraid that the overseer
would keep him and his wife until their child was born, and make a slave
of it. At last, he grew so moody and sullen that many persons feared
that he would incite the negroes to a mutiny. In order to soothe the
prince, I invited him and Imoinda to stay at my house, where I
entertained them to the best of my ability.
"Surely," I said to him, "you do not suspect that we will break our word
with you? Only wait patiently, my friend, till the lord-governor
arrives, and you will be permitted to return to your own kingdom."
"You do not understand," Oroonoko replied. "I am angry with myself for
remaining so long a slave. What! Do you white people think that I, the
king of Coromantien, can be treated like the captives that I have taken
in war and sold to you? Had it not been for Imoinda, I would long since
have been free or dead."
Unfortunately, both for me and Oroonoko, my father, who had been
appointed lieutenant-general of the West Indies and Guiana, died at sea
on his way to Surinam, and the new lord-governor was long in arriving.
In the meantime, a child was born to Imoinda, and all the negroes, to
the number of 300, came together to celebrate the event. Oroonoko,
beside himself with anger, because his child had been born into slavery,
made a harangue to the assembled multitude.
"Why should we be slaves to these white men?" he cried. "Have they
conquered us nobly in battle? Are we become their captives by the chance
of war? No! We have been bought and sold, like monkeys or cattle, to a
set of cowards and rogues who have been driven out of their own country
by reason of their villainy! Shall we let vile creatures such as these
flog us and bruise us as they please?"
"No, no!" shouted the negroes. "Be our king, Oroonoko, and make us a
free nation!"
Thereupon he commanded them to seize what arms they could, and tie up
everything they wanted in their hammocks, and sling these over their
shoulders, and march out, with their wives and children. The next
morning, when the overseers went to call their slaves up to work, they
found they had fled. By noon, 600 militiamen set out in search of the
fugitives. The negroes were forced to travel slowly by reason of their
women and children; and at the end of two days the militiamen, led by
the new lord-governor, caught them up and surrounded them. In the battle
that ensued, several Englishmen were killed and a great many wounded;
but as they outnumbered the negroes, and were much better armed, they
defeated them. Even then Oroonoko would not surrender. But the
lord-governor parleyed with him, and promised that he would give him and
his wife and child a free passage to Coromantien in the first ship that
touched on the coast.
On this, Oroonoko surrendered. But, to his horror and surprise, he was
taken back to Surinam, and tied to a stake at the whipping-place, and
lashed until the very flesh was torn from his bones. His captors then
bound him in chains, and cast him into a prison. From this, however, he
was at last rescued by Mr. Trefry. But the shame and the torture had
unhinged his fine mind. He led Imoinda and his child into a forest, and
asked his wife whether she would prefer to remain the slave of the white
devils, or die at once by his hand. Imoinda begged him rather to kill
her, and Oroonoko did so. But, instead of putting an end to himself, the
prince determined to die fighting. He turned back from the forest,
fiercely resolved to search out the lord-governor, and slay him; but,
falling into the hands of the militiamen, he was killed in a very
horrible manner.
I can only say that this negro was the noblest and gentlest man I ever
met. It needs more genius than I possess to praise him as he deserves;
yet I hope the reputation of my pen is considerable enough to make his
name survive to all ages, with that of the beautiful, brave, and
constant Imoinda.
* * * * *