A dark fairy tale by: NoWhereManOnce upon a time, there was a slave named Abagail. She was twenty-three. She wore a blue plaid dress with a white apron and wore her nice, straight, silky hair in a bun. Her owner was a forty year old, rich, plantation owner named Arthur who wore a blue silk shirt and black silk pants. His hair was really short. Arthur had a sister named Elizabeth who was a thirty-two year old widow who wore a black and blue mixed dress and also had her hair up in a bun, but her hair was nothing like Abigail’s. Her hair was puffy. Elizabeth worked on the plantation by watching the women slaves. They lived in South Carolina on a cotton plantation near the Atlantic Ocean. One day in the fall of the 1740s, Arthur had a craving for a fresh berry salad. He yelled, “Abagail! Elizabeth! Come here!”
When they came in, they looked scared because they didn’t know what he wanted them to do.
“Yes master?” Abagail asked.
Arthur sighed, “I want a fresh berry salad as so as possible.”
“O.K. Arthur, I know why you called for her, but why did you call for me?” Elizabeth asked.
“Because,” Arthur said, “I want the berries from the berries from the Green Forest and I need you to make sure she won’t run away.”
They both gasped at the surprise. The Green Forest was heard to be haunted. No one went in there without either dying or getting badly injured.
“Oh,” Elizabeth started, “then who will watch over the other slaves then?”
“Hannah, will watch over them,” Arthur stated.
Hannah was Elizabeth’s only daughter who was eleven. She wore fancy silk clothes that Uncle Arthur bought her.
“Hannah? But she’s my only daughter! What if she gets hurt? She doesn’t know how to do the job anyway!” exclaimed Elizabeth.
“Well she has to learn someday if she’s going to own this plantation, and you better teach her quick because you leave at sundown,” Arthur said in a scary voice.
“But she’s only eleven!”
“I said go!” and he stood up with rage.
“Yes, Arthur”
As they left, Abigail saw a tear on Elizabeth’s face. She asked, “What’s wrong Elizabeth?”
“Hannah is just not ready for the job I have.”
“I know,” said Abagail as they arrived at Elizabeth’s house, which was forty feet away from Arthur’s house. “I’ll tell you what though; I will help teach Hannah what to do when we’re gone.”
“Thank you. You’re a good friend,” Elizabeth said. “Oh, no it’s almost sundown, and we haven’t even started!”
“Then we better hurry!”
They both hurried into Hannah’s room and explained what had happened and how to watch the female slaves and how to catch them if they started to run off. After they explained everything to Hannah, they got their bags packed with food and clothes. They got everything packed and were out the door at sundown.
Just then Arthur came and said, “I hope you ladies have a safe and happy trip to the Green Forest.”
They walked two miles in the dark to the edge of the Green Forest. That’s were they made camp in the lantern’s light. After they made camp, Elizabeth said, “Go and get some water down by that creek while I get some firewood.” Abigail did what she was told. As Abagail came back with the water, Elizabeth already had the fire going and was cooking a venison steak. After they ate, they put out the fire that made a sizzling sound that scared Elizabeth because she had never heard it. After that they want to bed.
In the morning they got up at sunrise and made corn meal for breakfast. One hand later, they started to pack things up and head out into the creepy Green Forest.
“We need to split up to cover more ground to find those berries,” Elizabeth said. Abagail nodded. They had to walk through the forest trying to find a trail. A half a hand later Abagail screamed, “I FOUND THE BERRIES!” she said with joy.
Elizabeth found a small trail were Abagail was. She came sprinting over to where Abagail was. “Oh my gosh! You found all the best berries: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and gooseberries!”
They picked all the berries they could see. After they picked and packed them, and licked their fingers, they headed out of the forest. A couple minutes later, they heard aloud crack that sounded like thunder, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Just then a large heavy piece of wood fell on Elizabeth and paralyzed her legs.
Instead of running away like any other slave and leaving Elizabeth to die, Abigail took Elizabeth’s pack and put it on. Then she picked Elizabeth up and started to carry her back home. On the way home, they snacked on the delicious berries.
They didn’t get home until five hands later. Abagail went right to Arthur and said, “A tree branch fell on her and she can’t move her legs.”
“Thank you for bringing her home. I’ll let you go and live free for the rest of your life,” he said.
“You’re welcome and thank you,” Abagail started, “but before I go I’m going to make the best berry salad you’ve ever had.”
“Oh, thank you, I completely forgot about that.”
A couple minutes later the salad was ready. Arthur said, “It’s the best berry salad I’ve ever had.”
