Long before the Negro John Henry defeated a steam drill in a competition, the fame of another Negro John was spreading around the world.
He was a slave on Southern plantations. Other blacks, also slaves, called him Big John the Liberator.
He was a desperate little guy. But this is not the main thing. Wherever Big John went, no matter what he did, laughter was inseparable from him. Oh, and he loved to joke, and compose songs, and tell all sorts of tall tales. The fun never left him, because he sensed that freedom was coming.
Wait, do you think that Big John was a strong man and a giant like John Henry, with muscles of steel and a powerful back? Nothing of the kind! If you saw him, you would probably even say that he is short. No, it was not for his height, but for his clever tricks that he received the nickname Big John the Liberator.
And yet it was also impossible to call John a scumbag. And why, you will see for yourself. For example, here is a case when his owner’s corn began to disappear from his field. Who did the white owner turn to for help first? To Big John!
He told Big John to catch the thief, and when night fell, Big John went out hunting. He hid in a cornfield and waited.
He waited for a long time, but only around midnight did he seem to feel something. Like a slight crunch, like the crunch of an ear of corn when it is broken off the stalk.
Big John tiptoed through the thick rows of corn to where the crunching sound was coming from. And there he saw... no, not a thief at all, but a huge bear, waddling on his hind legs, holding about three dozen ears of corn in his armful.
The bear didn't like to be disturbed when picking corn, so he attacked Big John and they had a heated fight.
At first, their chances seemed equal. First the bear got the better of John, then John got the better of him. John was nimble and agile, but gradually he began to get tired. He got tired of struggling, and he climbed onto the bear’s back and grabbed the clubfoot by the ears.
Sly John decided to give himself a break so that he could continue the fight with new forces. But the bear re-. I sewed differently. He started running around the cornfield worse
hurricane whirlwind. Big John had to grab him by the scruff of the neck to avoid falling and breaking his neck. He quickly became exhausted with such a jump, and stretched out on the bear’s back, so that the bear could neither bite him, nor hit him, nor press him to his chest.
The bear drove all night, and poor John was ready to give up when his white owner came out onto the field to find out the reason for the commotion. The owner suggested to Big John that he would hold the bear while John ran away and called someone for help.
Big John liked this proposal very much. He swapped places with his owner, and then, running to the side, sat down on the soft grass and leaned his back against a tree.
- Hey, why are you sitting down? - the owner shouted to him. - Run!
But poor John had not yet caught his breath after the night's shaking. He looked at the owner, and suddenly he was attacked by laughter.
“I’ll unleash... a bear on you if you... don’t run... call for help!” - the owner shouted in between bear races.
- I would like to see how you can do it! - Big John shouted, holding his sides...
But to be honest, this bear ride was child's play! And Big John also had fights with the devil himself. Somehow he decided to go around the whole world in search of new songs about freedom. And he accidentally wandered into hell. He settled down well there. He married the devil's daughter and was elected president of hell.
For some reason the old devil didn't like this. And when Big John slightly extinguished his hellish flames so that it would be more convenient to roast a pig on it, he completely lost his temper. No, what is it like to get involved in the devil’s affairs without an invitation! And the devil decided to settle accounts with Big John. But his daughter did not sleep; she revealed her father’s plans to Big John. And so they took two horses from the devil's stable and sped away from the chase faster than the wind.
Needless to say, this Big John was a sly fox.
“He won’t drown in water, he won’t burn in fire,” people said about him.
And when there wasn’t much to do, he performed different acts for fun. One day he decided to pretend to be a soothsayer. In the evening I hid in a large house and overheard what the white owner was talking about.
“Tomorrow it’s time to start harvesting corn,” said the owner.
With this news, Big John went to the neighbors and boasted to everyone that he could predict the future. For example, he may even say what they have to do tomorrow. If they don’t believe it, they’ll see for themselves. And he told everyone:
“You’ll see, tomorrow they’ll force us to collect corn.” Nobody wanted to believe him. And the next morning, in fact, from
The white owner received an order to collect corn.
Is it any wonder that after this some people believed that Big John really was a seer? But others shrugged their shoulders and said:
“It wasn’t so difficult to guess that we would be forced to harvest corn: after all, harvesting time had begun.”
And then John realized that he needed to do something to bolster his reputation as a seer. Day after day he hid in the big house and waited for useful information.
Another time, the white owner boasted worse than John himself, when he was in shock. You see, it wasn’t enough for him to just get rich, but he also wanted to boast about it, so that everyone would know what a rich man he was. And he thought of nothing more, nothing less than to set free his best, dearest Negro. Let everyone see that he doesn’t have a lot of money.
John jumped up with joy at this news and immediately rushed out of the big house.
He acted, I must say, very carelessly. What if they saw him?
Returning to his place, he immediately gathered all his friends and neighbors and announced to them:
- Listen, everyone! I have the most amazing thing for you
message: I predict that next Christmas the white master will set Blue John free.
Everyone burst out laughing. No, listen to what this seer is saying! Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous? Yes, our master would rather let his right hand be cut off than set his slave free!
“Just wait until Christmas, then you’ll see,” Big John insisted.
And everything happened exactly as he predicted. The white owner decided to surprise his guests who had gathered for Christmas and announced to them that he was releasing the most dear of his blacks, Blue John.
You understand, after this Big John became completely proud. He really liked being a soothsayer. He became so fond of it that one day he dared to perform in this role in front of the owner himself. And this is how it all happened.
Big John was walking behind the owner's house when suddenly a bucket of water was thrown out of the window and something shiny was left lying on the ground. Big John looked, and it turned out to be the diamond ring of the white missus, the owner's wife. But as soon as he reached out to grab the ring, whoops! - the turkey swallowed.
However, Big John decided to hold fate by the tail. When the rings were missing, he immediately hurried to the owner and declared that he could tell him where to look for the lady’s ring.
“If you find him,” the owner promised, “I will give you the fattest pig!”
But as soon as Big John mentioned that the ring should be looked for in the turkey’s belly, the owner decided that something was fishy here. And he refused to cut the turkey. He just felt sorry.
“No, I can’t,” he said. - What if the ring is not there? I'll go crazy then!
“It’s a well-known thing, you’ll do,” agreed Big John,
And yet the turkey was slaughtered, and in front of all those gathered, a diamond ring was pulled out of it.
Now the owner himself wanted to show off to
by all that there is a seer among his slaves. He even made a bet with one rich planter that Big John could make predictions. They argued for a long time and raised the stakes higher and higher, until the owner finally suggested:
“I bet my plantation against yours that Big John is a seer.”
They shook hands.
And we decided to check it this way. They knocked over a huge cast-iron cauldron and hid something under it. Big John had to guess what it was. When Big John arrived, the owner said to him:
- Well, can you guess? Oh, if you don’t guess, I’ll go crazy!
“It’s a well-known thing, you’ll do,” agreed Big John.
But he was scratching his soul; he was not at all confident in himself.
He walked around the overturned cauldron once, and twice, and three times. He scratched the back of his head, furrowed his eyebrows, and even began to sweat with excitement.
No, he couldn’t think of anything!
“Well, gotcha, sly fox,” he muttered, meaning, of course, himself.
Everyone gasped. There was a real fox sitting under the cauldron!
Therefore, the old owner won the bet and became twice as rich. He now had two plantations and twice as many slaves. That's how it is! And he told Big John that such an event should be celebrated. He will take old Mrs., his wife, on a trip to show her Philadelphia and New York. They will stay there for a week, another, and maybe even a month.
And as a reward, he leaves Big John in his place as manager of the plantation until he and his wife return.
Big John escorted the white master and lady to the station and wished them a safe journey. He, of course,
I didn’t know that the owner was going to get off at the next station and return quietly back to see how Big John would manage things there. Big John hurried straight home and called all the blacks.
- Let's have a holiday today! - he suggested.
He even sent out invitations to neighboring plantations. Only for slaves, of course.
And he himself dressed up in the ceremonial suit of the white master and prepared to receive guests.
Everyone came, no one refused. Violinists and guitarists were invited so that the guests could dance to the music. Big John chose the dances; he was the host of the ball.
In the midst of the evening, Big John suddenly saw a white man and woman at the door. They were wearing shabby clothes and seemed tired and hungry. Big John showed generosity and sent them to the kitchen to eat leftovers from the festive table - in a word, he behaved exactly like his white master.
After some time, the white guests reappeared in the hall. They managed to clean themselves and change clothes, and Big John immediately recognized them - it turned out to be his master and mistress.
How the owner will attack poor John!
- Killing you is not enough! - he shouted.
“It’s a well-known fact, but not enough,” agreed Big John. - Just fulfill my last request, please. I would like to say goodbye to my best friend before I die.
The white owner did not resist, but ordered them to hurry.
And while Big John was talking to his friend, he had already prepared a rope to hang Big John from a sycamore branch.
“Get some matches quickly,” Big John said to His friend, “and climb up that sycamore tree over there.” I will stand under the tree and pray. And when I mention lightning in my prayers, you are a blast! - Light a match right away.
And Big John went to the sycamore tree and knelt there to say his last prayer.
“Oh, dear Lord,” he said, “if you are going to save me before dawn and strike our white master to death, give a sign, Lord, send lightning on us!”
And then Big John’s friend, sitting in the sycamore branches, struck a match.
“Stop praying,” the white owner got scared.
But Big John did not listen to him and continued his prayer.
“Oh, dear God,” he said, “if you are going to save me before dawn and strike the wife of our white master to death, give a sign, Lord, send lightning on us!”
Bzhik! — the second match struck in the sycamore branches. This time the white owner remained silent, apparently seriously frightened, and Big John continued to pray,
“Oh, fair Lord, if you are going to free all the blacks before dawn and strike to death all our white masters, give a sign, Lord, strike with lightning!”
But Big John's friend, sitting on the sycamore tree, did not have time to strike a match for the third time. The white master got ahead of him and, faster than lightning, released all his slaves, and he quickly ran away so that he would not be seen here again.
This is how Big John brought freedom to the blacks. That's why they called him Big John the Liberator.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru