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In: Children's Literature·Children & Young Adult Reading·Science-Fiction & Fantasy
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #23869.
The story opens on a Georgia plantation where three children, a seven‑year‑old girl named Sweetest Susan, her eight‑year‑old brother Buster John, and their twelve‑year‑old negro nurse, Drusilla, spend their days outdoors, playing with a collection of dolls that range from china to rag. After a night in which Susan is scolded and cries, the household is visited by a tiny, tinkling voice that summons a peculiar old woman from the fireplace. She proceeds to examine each doll, coaxing them to speak and then repairing their injuries with a mix of magical chants and improvised tools. The scene quickly escalates into a chaotic tableau of talking dolls, a giant black cat, and a mischievous spider, all while the children watch from their beds, unsure whether they are dreaming or witnessing a real enchantment.
The narrative is rendered in a richly descriptive, almost theatrical prose that reflects late‑19th‑century Southern storytelling, complete with dialect dialogue and vivid, almost cinematic stage directions. Its whimsical blend of folklore, animal characters, and domestic adventure will appeal to readers who enjoy classic juvenile tales that mix everyday life with fantastical intrusions, especially those who appreciate a lively, dialogue‑driven style reminiscent of Joel Chandler Harris’s earlier works.
The opening · free to read
THE GRANDMOTHER OF THE DOLLS.
Once upon a time there lived on a plantation, in the very middle of Middle Georgia, a little girl and a little boy and their negro nurse. The little girl's name was Sweetest Susan. That was the name her mother gave her when she was a baby, and she was so good-tempered that everybody continued to call her Sweetest Susan when she grew older. She was seven years old. The little boy's name was Buster John. That was the name his father had given him. Buster John was eight. The nurse's name was Drusilla, and she was twelve. Drusilla was called a nurse, but that was just a habit people had. She was more of a child than either Sweetest Susan or Buster John, but she was very much larger. She was their playmate--their companion, and a capital one she made.
Sweetest Susan had black hair and dark eyes like her father, while Buster John had golden hair and brown eyes like his mother. As for Drusilla, she was as black as the old black cat, and always in a good humor, except when she pretended to be angry. Sweetest Susan had wonderful dark eyes that made her face very serious except when she laughed, but she was as full of fun as Buster John, who was always in some sort of mischief that did nobody any harm.
These children were not afraid of anything. They scorned to run from horses, or cows, or dogs. They were born on the big plantation, and they spent the greater part of the day out of doors, save when the weather was very cold or very wet. They had no desire to stay in the house, except when they were compelled to go to bed, and a great many times they fretted a little because they thought bedtime came too soon.
Sweetest Susan had a great many dolls, and she was very fond of them. She had a China Doll, a Jip-jap Doll, a Rag Doll, a Rubber Doll, a White Doll, a Brown Doll, and a Black Doll. Sometimes she and Drusilla would play with the Dolls out in the yard, and sometimes Buster John would join them when he had nothing better to do. But every evening Sweetest Susan and Drusilla would carry the Dolls into the bedroom and place them side by side against the wall. Sweetest Susan wanted them placed there, she said, so she could see her children the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning.
But one night Sweetest Susan went to bed crying, and this was so unusual that Drusilla forgot to put the Dolls in their places. Sweetest Susan's feelings were hurt. She had not been very good, and her mother had called her Naughty Susan instead of Sweetest Susan. Buster John, in the next room, wanted to know what the matter was, but Sweetest Susan wouldn't tell him, and neither would she tell Drusilla. After a while Sweetest Susan's mother came in and kissed her. That helped her some, but she lay awake ever so long sobbing a little and thinking how she must do so as not to be called Naughty Susan.
Drusilla lay on a pallet near Sweetest Susan's bed, but, for a wonder, Drusilla lay awake too. She said nothing, but she was not snoring, and Sweetest Susan could see the whites of her eyes shining. The fire that had been kindled on the hearth so as to give a light (for the weather was not cold) flickered and flared, and little blue flames crept about over the sputtering pine-knot, jumping off into the air and then jumping back. The blue flames flickered and danced and crept about so, and caused such a commotion among the shadows that were running about the room and trying to hide themselves behind the chairs and in the corners, that the big brass andirons seemed to be alive.
While Sweetest Susan was lying there watching the shadows and wondering when Drusilla would go to sleep, she heard a voice call out,--
"Oh, dear! I believe I've got smut all over my frock again!"
It was the queerest little voice that ever was heard. It had a tinkling sound, such as Susan had often made when she tied her mother's gold thimble to a string and struck it with a knitting-needle. Just as she was wondering where it came from, a little old woman stepped from behind one of the andirons and shook the ashes from her dress.
"I think I'd better stay at home," said the little old woman, "if I can't come down the chimney without getting smut all over my frock. I wonder where Mr. Thimblefinger is?"
"Oh, I'm here," exclaimed another tinkling voice from the fireplace, "but I'm not coming in. They are not asleep, and, even if they were, I see the big Black Cat in that chair there."
"Much I care!" cried the little old woman snappishly. "I'll call you when I want you."
Then she went around the room where Sweetest Susan's Dolls were scattered, and looked at each one as it lay asleep. Then she shook her head and sighed.
"They look as if they were tired, poor things!" she said. "And no wonder! I expect they have been pulled and hauled about and dragged around from pillar to post since I was here last."
Then the little old woman touched the Dolls with her cane, one by one. Each Doll called out as it was touched,--
"Is that you, Granny?"
Sweetest Susan was not at all alarmed. She felt as if she had been expecting something of the kind. The Dolls arose and ranged themselves in front of the fireplace--all except the Rag Doll.
"Where's Rag-Tag?" inquired the little old woman anxiously.
"Here I am, Granny!" replied the Rag Doll. "I'm lame in one leg and I can't walk with the other, and my arm's out of joint."
"Tut! tut!" said the little old woman. "How can you be lame in your legs when there's no bone in them? How can your arm be out of joint when there's no joint? Get up!"
Rag-Tag rolled out of the corner and tumbled across the floor, heels over head.
"Now, then," said the little old woman, opening her satchel, "what can I do for you?"
"She's pulled all my hair out!" whispered the China Doll.
"She's mashed my nose flat!" cried the Jip-jap Doll.
"She's put one of my eyes out!" whined the Brown Doll.
"She's put chalk all over me!" blubbered the Black Doll.
"She hasn't hurt me!" exclaimed the Rubber Doll.
"She's made a hole in my back, and the sawdust is all running out!" whined Rag-Tag.
"I'll attend to you first, before you bleed to death," said the little old woman, frowning. Then she rapped on the floor with her cane and cried out:--
"Long-Legged Spinner, Come earn your dinner!"
While Sweetest Susan was wondering what this meant, she saw a big Black Spider swing down from the ceiling and hang, dangling close to the little old woman's face. Its little eyes sparkled like coals of fire, and its hairy mouth worked as if it were chewing something. Sweetest Susan shivered as she looked at it, but she didn't scream.
"A thimbleful of fresh cobwebs, Long-Legged Spinner!" said the little old woman, in a businesslike way.
Then the big Black Spider moved his legs faster than a cat can wink her eyes, and in a few seconds the fresh cobwebs were spun.
"That is very nice," said the little old woman. "Here's a fat Bluebottle for you."
The big Black Spider seized the Fly and ran nimbly to the ceiling again. The Fly buzzed and buzzed in a pitiful way, and Sweetest Susan thought to herself, "Oh, what should I do if that was poor me!"
Then the little old woman hunted in her satchel until she found a piece of mutton suet, and with this and the fresh cobwebs she quickly stopped the hole in Rag-Tag's back. This done, she went around and doctored each one. She glued more hair on the China Doll. She fixed the nose of the Jip-jap Doll. She gave a new blue eye to the Brown Doll.
"There!" she exclaimed when she had finished, "I think you look a little more like yourself now. But you would look a great deal better if you had any clothes fit to wear. Now pay attention! What is the name of this horrible giantess that drags you about and beats you so?"
"It's no giantess, Granny," replied Rag-Tag. "It's a little girl, and sometimes she's very, very good."
"Hush!" cried the little old woman. "Speak when you are spoken to."
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