This is the way he told it, by the light of a pine-knot fire that threw
a wavering and an uncertain light over the little room:
“I'm monst'us sorry. Daught ain't here,” he began, “'cause she know'd
the folks thess ez well ez I did; she's been thar at the house an' seed
um. It thess come inter my min' whilst we been a-settin' here talkin'
'bout ghostses an' the like er that. Daught's over yander settin' up wi'
Mis Clemmons, an' I wisht she wuz here. She know'd 'em all.
“Well, sir, it wuz in North Ca'liny, right nex' ter the Ferginny
line, whar we all cum frum. They wuz a fammerly thar by the name er
Chambliss--Tom Chambliss an' his wife--an' they had a boy name John, in
about ez peart a chap ez you ever set your eyes on. Arter awhile, Miss
Chambliss, she took sick an' died. Tom, he moped aroun' right
smartually, but 'twan't long fo' he whirled in an' married agin. He went
away off some'rs for to get his wife, the Lord knows whar, an' she wuz a
honey! She fussed so much an' went on so that Tom, he took ter drink,
an' he went from dram ter dram tell he wern't no manner account. Then
she took arter John, the boy, an' she thess made that child's life
miserbul a-doggin' arter him all day long an' half the night.
“One Sunday she fixed up an' went ter church, arter tellin' Johnny for
to stay at home an' keep the chickens outn' the sallid-patch. She locked
the door of the house before she went off an' took the key wi' 'er. It
wuz right down coolish, but the sun wuz a-shinin' an' Johnny didn't min'
the cold. Ther' wuz a big white oak-tree in the yard, an' he clum' up
that an' crope out on a lim' an' got on top er the house, an' sot up
thar a straddle er the comb. He wuz a feeling mighty lonesome, an' he
didn't know what ter do wi' hisse'f skacely.
“I dunno how long he sot thar, but presently a great big acorn dropped
on the roof--_ker-bang!_ It wuz sech a big one an' it fell so hard that
it made Johnny jump. It fell on the roof 'bout half-way betwixt the comb
an' the eaves, an' when Johnny looked aroun' for to see what made the
fuss he seed the acorn a-rollin' up to'rds whar he wuz a-settin'. Yes,
sir! stedder rollin' down the roof an' failin' off on the groun', the
acorn come a-rollin' up the shingles thess like it wuz down grade.
Johnny grabbed it ez it come. He picked it up an' looked at it good, an'
then turned it roun' an' 'roun' for to see what kinder consarn it wuz
that rolled up hill stedder rollin' down hill. While he wuz a turnin'
the acorn aroun' he spied a worm hole in it, an' he was thess about
ter break it open when he heard somebody callin'. It sounded like his
stepmammy wuz a-callin' 'im from a way off yander, an' he answered
back 'Ma'am!' thess ez loud as ever he could, an' then he sot still an'
listened. Bimeby he heard the callin' again, an' he answered back:
'Who is you, an' whar is you?' It seemed like then that he could hear
somebody laughin' at 'im some'rs. These here sounds sorter put 'im out,
an' he took an' shot the acorn down the roof like it wuz a marvel. Yit,
before it could fall off, it seemed ter kinder ketch itself, an' then it
come a-rollin' back to Johnny.
“This sorter made Johnny feel kinder creepy. He know'd mighty well that
he didn't have no loadstone in his pocket, an' he couldn't make no head
ner tail to sech gwine's on. He picked up the acorn an' looked at it
closeter than ever, an' turned it 'roun' an' 'roun' in his hand, an'
helt it right up to his eye. Whilst he was a-holdin' it up that a-way
he heard a little bit er voice ez fine ez a cambric needle, an' it seem
like it wuz a-singin':
“Ningapie, Ningapie!
Why do you hol' me at your eye?
Ningapie, Ningapee!
Don't you know that you can't see?
Ningapie, Ningapeer!
Why don't you hol' me to your ear?
[Illustration: 0082]
“Johnny didn't know whether to laugh er cry, but he helt the acorn to
his ear, an' he heard sumpin' er other on the inside holler out:
“'Why don't you hold my house so I can talk out'n my window?'
“'I don't see no window,' says Johnny, sorter shakin' a little, bekase
the Watchermacollum talked like it was mad. 'Is thish here worm-hole
your window?'
“'Tooby shore it is,' say the Whatshisname, 'it's my window an' my front
door, an' my peazzer.'
“'Why, it ain't bigger than the pint of a pin,' says Johnny.
“'But ef it wuzn't big enough,' say the--er--Watchermacollum, 'I'd make
it bigger.'
“'What is your name?' says Johnny.
“'Ningapie.'
“'It's a mighty funny name,' says Johnny. 'Where did you come from?'
“'Chuckalucker town.'
“'That's in the song,' says Johnny.
“'Me, too,” says Ningapie. 'It's in the song. Ain't you never heard it?'
“Ningapie! Ningapan!
He up an' killed the Booger Man!
Ningapie, Ningapitch!
'He's the one to kill a witch.'
“Johnny wuz so took up wi' the talkin' an' the singin' of the little
feller in the acorn that he didn't hear his stepmammy when she come,
an' when he did hear her he wuz that skeered that he shook like a
poplar-leaf.
“'Watch out!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Watch out! Be right
still. Don't move. I want to show you sumpin'.'
“'She'll skin me alive,' says Johnny.
“'Thess wait,' says the little chap. 'If she calls you, keep right
still.'
“Mis. Chambliss onlocked the door an' went in the house, an' slammed
things down like she wuz mad. She flung the tongs down on the h'ath,
slung the shovel in a corner, an' sot a cheer back like she wuz tryin'
for to drive it thoo the wall. Then she began to jaw.
“'I'll get 'im! Me a-tellin' 'im to stay an' min' the sallid-patch, an'
he a-runnin' off! Won't I make 'im pay for it?'
“'That's me,' says Johnny, an' he talked like he wuz mighty nigh ready
to cry.
“'Thess wait!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Keep right still!'
“Bimeby Mis. Chambliss come out'n the house an' looked all aroun'. Then
she called Johnny. She had a voice like a dinner-horn, an' you moughter
heard her a mile or more. Johnny he shook an' shivered, but he stayed
still. His stepmammy called an' called, an' looked ever'whar for Johnny
exceptin' in the right place. Then she went back in the house an'
presently she come out. She had a little spade in one hand an' a little
box in t' other.
“'Watch her!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Keep your eye on her!'
“She went down in the gyarden an' walked along tell she come to a Mogul
plum-tree, an' then she knelt down an' begun to dig away at the roots of
it. She dug an' dug, and then she put the box in the hole an' covered it
up.
“'Oho!' says the little chap in the acorn. 'Now you see whar she hides
her money an' your daddy's money. Ever'body thinks your daddy has
been a-throwin' his money away, an' thar's whar it's gone. I've been
a-watchin' her a long time.'
“'I ain't botherin' 'bout the money,' says Johnny. 'I'm a-thinkin' 'bout
the frailin' I'm gwine to git.'
“'Well,' says the little chap in the acorn, 'when she goes to the spring
for to fetch a bucket of water, put me in your pocket an' climb down
from here. Then go up the road a piece, an' there you'll see a red
cow a-grazin'. Walk right up to her, slap her on the back, an' say,
“Ningapie wants you.” Fetch her home an' tell your stepmammy that a
stranger told you that you might have her ef you'd go an' git her.'
“Shore enough, 'twan't long before Mis. Chambliss come out'n the house
an' started to the spring for to git a bucket of water. She had done
took an' pulled off her Sunday-go-to-meetin' duds, an' she looked mighty
scrawny in her calico frock. Time she got out'n sight Johnny put the
acorn in his pocket an' scrambled down to the groun', an' then he split
off up the road ez hard ez ever he could go. He didn't go so mighty fur
before he seed a red cow feedin' by the side of the road, an' she wuz a
fine cow, too, ez fat ez a butter-ball, an' lookin' like she mought be
able for to give four gallons of milk a day an' leave some over for the
calf wharsoever the calf mought be. When she seed Johnny walkin' right
to'rds her, she raised her head an' sorter blowed like cow creeturs will
do, but she stood stock still tell Johnny come up an' patted her on the
back an' says:
“'Ningapie wants you.'
“Then she shook her head an' trotted along at Johnny's heels, an' Johnny
marched down the road a-swellin' up wi' pride tell he like to bust the
buttons off'n his coat. When he got home his stepmammy wuz a-stan'in'
at the gate a-waitin' for him wi' a hickory, but when she seed the cow
a-followin' long behine him, she took an' forgot all about the whippin'
she'd laid up.
“'Why, Johnny!' say she, 'whar in the wide world did you git sech a
be-u-tiful cow?'”
In his effort to mimic a woman's voice, Mr. Wall screwed up his mouth
and twisted it around to such an alarming extent that Joe Maxwell
thought for an instant the old man was going to have a spasm. The lad
laughed so heartily when he found out his mistake that Mr. Wall repeated
his effort at mimicking.
“'Why, Johnny,' say she, 'whar in the wide world did you git sech a
be-u-tiful cow?'
“Johnny, he up an' tol' his stepmammy what Ningapie tol' 'im to say, an'
the ole'oman, she wuz e'en about ez proud ez Johnny wuz. She patted the
cow on the back, an' muched her up might'ly, an' then she took her in
the lot an' got ready fer to milk her. Johnny felt the acorn a-jumpin'
about in his pocket, an' he took it out an' helt it up to his ear.
“'Watch her when she goes to milk,' says Ningapie.
“Johnny clumb the fence an' waited. Thess 'bout the time his stepmammy
begun fer to milk the cow good, a little black dog come a-rushin' 'roun'
the yard a-barkin' fit to kill. Time she heard 'im, the cow give a jump
an' come mighty nigh knockin' ole Mis. Chambliss over. Time everything
got quiet, here come a big pack of dogs a-chargin' 'roun' the
lot-palin's in full cry, an' it look like to Johnny that the cow would
shorely have a fit.
“When night come,” Mr. Wall continued, throwing another pine-knot into
the fire, “Johnny got some milk for his supper, an' then he went to bed.
He helt the acorn to his ear for to tell the little chap good-night.
“'Don't put me on the shelf,' says Ningapie, 'an' don't put me on the
floor.'
“'Why?' says Johnny, in a whisper.
“'Bekaze the rats might git me,' says Ningapie.
“'Well,' says Johnny, 'I'll let you sleep on my piller.'
“Some time in the night Johnny felt sump'n run across the foot of his
bed. He wuz wide awake in a minit, but he kept mighty still, bekaze he
wuz skeer'd. Presently he felt sump'n jump up on his bed an' run across
it. Then it popped in his head about Ningapie, an' he felt for the acorn
tell he found it.
“'Now's your time,' says Ningapie. 'Git up an' put on your clozes quick
an' foller the little black dog.'
“Johnny jumped up, an' was ready in three shakes of a sheep's tail, an'
he could hear the little black dog a-caperin' aroun' on the floor. When
he started, he took the acorn in his han'. The door opened to let him
out, an' shot itse'f when he got out, an' then the little black dog went
trottin' down the big road. It wuz dark, but the stars wuz a-shinin',
an' Johnny could tell by the ell-an'-yard” (the constellation of Orion)
“that it wuz nigh midnight.
“They hadn't gone fur before they come to a big white hoss a-standin' in
the road, chompin' his bit an' pawin' the groun'.
“'Mount the hoss,' says Ningapie.
“Johnny jumped on his back, an' the hoss went canterin' down the road.
'Twan't long 'fore Johnny seed a light shinin' in the road, an' when
he got a little nigher he seed it was right in the middle of the cross
roads. A fire was a-blazin' up thar, an' who should be a-feedin' of it
but his stepmammy? Her hair wuz a-hangin' down, an' she looked like ole
Nick hisse'f. She wuz a-walkin' 'roun' the blaze, a-mumblin' some kinder
talk, an' a-makin' motions wi' her han's, an' thar wuz a great big
black cat a-walkin' 'roun' wi' her, an' a-rubbin' up agin her, and the
creetur's tail wuz swelled up out'n all reason.
“'Watch out, now,' says Ningapie, 'an' hold on to your hoss.'
“He hadn't more'n spoke the words before a pack of dogs broke out of the
woods an' made right for the ole'oman, an' Johnny's hoss a-fol-lerin'
'em. Thar wuz a monst'us scatteration of chunks an' fire-coals, an' then
it looked like 'oman, dogs, an' all riz up in the elements, an' thar wuz
sech another yowlin' an' howlin' an' growlin' ez ain't never been heard
in them parts before nor sence.
“When Johnny got back home he found his pappy a-waitin' for him, an' he
looked like a new man. Then they went down into the gyarden, an'
thar they foun' a pile of gold packed up in little boxes. Ez for
the ole'oman, she never did come back. She wuz a witch, an' Ningapie
unwitched her.”
“And what become of the acorn?” asked Joe Maxwell.
“Ah, Lord!” said Mr. Wall, with a sigh, “you know how boys is. Like ez
not, Johnny took an' cracked it open wi' a hammer for to see what kind
of a creetur Ningapie wuz.”