The Jumbies

Dozens of other villagers join Corinne and Pierre on their walk to the graveyard; it is All Hallow’s Eve, and it is a tradition to pay respects to the dead on this night. On the way, Corinne skips and sings, unafraid of the jumbies and spirits believed to live on the island. The narrator informs readers that most of the people on Corinne’s island believe in jumbies, which are malevolent spirit creatures who enjoy tricking and harming people. However, as Pierre has taught Corinne not to believe in their existence, she is not afraid of encountering one. As they arrive at the churchyard, Corinne surveys the crowd and spots two other village children, her friends Laurent and Lucia, who are with their families. Pierre and Corinne reach her mother’s grave.

Nicole La Mer died when she was teaching a four-year-old Corinne to plant and grow things. At Nicole’s burial, little Corinne assumed her mama was being planted (not buried) in order to grow back. Nicole did not grow back; instead, a blossoming orange tree shot up beside her grave.

While lighting candles at the grave, Hugo, the village baker, greets Pierre and Corinne. Hugo asks Corinne if she is afraid of All Hallow’s Eve, the night when the dead may contact the living, but she smiles and tells him she is not. The village children make a game of collecting soft, semi-melted candle wax into balls. Corinne joins them, but instead of molding her wax like the other children, she forms it into a sculpture of a woman with long braids like her mother’s.

As the villagers begin to stream out of the graveyard, a strange woman, hidden in the shadows, catches Pierre’s attention and speaks to him. Corinne calls out to him, and he breaks off the conversation. As they walk home, Corinne looks back and realizes the strange woman has disappeared.

In this brief chapter, narrative point of view shifts from Corinne’s perspective to that of a female jumbie who is lurking in the now empty churchyard. Her eyes glow as she sniffs among the graves, looking for her sister. She can still smell Pierre, and she also recognizes something in Corinne’s lingering scent. She notes its similarity to the scent of her lost sister, Nicole La Mer.

The jumbie whispers to Nicole’s grave in a language only understood by plants and animals. She asks whether her sister died because of Corinne, because someone killed her, or because she was separated from her fellow jumbies. Hearing no reply, the jumbie lets out a shriek and begins to cry over Nicole’s grave. Her tears turn to centipedes as they hit the ground.

Determined to reclaim her lost sister, the jumbie leaves the graveyard and makes her way along the island’s outskirts to a swamp. When she reaches an old, rotting shack that belongs to a witch, the jumbie calls out; the witch (a mile away gathering white mushroom magic) hears her but does not respond. The jumbie angrily breaks into the witch’s hut and steals various potions and a length of green fabric, which she wraps around her naked body.

The third-person narrative perspective shifts back to Corinne in this chapter. Today is market day, and Corinne will go to the market to sell her oranges. Before sunrise, she chats with Pierre as he, a fisherman, prepares to leave for work. Before departing, he tells Corinne to watch her purse at the market, and Corinne tells him to make sure the sea does not swallow him up, like it did Grand-père. Pierre assures Corinne that her Grand-père is content in his new home as “king of the fish-folk” (19).

In an aside by the narrator, readers learn that Pierre does not live on the coast like other fishermen. Rather, he and Corinne live on a hill bordering the edge of the mahogany forest. Though most in the community avoid this area, Corinne’s mother chose this spot for their home because of its rich soil. Corinne loves their home and her mother’s bountiful garden, at the center of which sits her prized orange tree. Corinne gets up and dresses in her father’s clothes, hoping to look more grown-up and businesslike for the market. She goes to the garden to gather oranges, fondly recalling planting the tree with her mother, and then sets out for the bustling market.

Corinne begins setting up her wares, but two older women tell her she cannot display her oranges so close to their stand. Luckily, another woman in a yellow sari invites Corinne to place her oranges near her pepper stand. While Corinne is arranging the fruit, a hush falls over the market as a mysterious, beautiful woman in green gracefully floats among the vendors. No one knows her, but everyone stares and whispers as she stops before the witch, an ancient white-haired woman who sits beneath the market’s only tree.

The narrative point of view shifts back to the jumbie from Chapter 3, who arrives at the market disguised as a beautiful woman in green. The witch is the same witch from Chapter 3, who ignored the jumbie’s call and into whose shack the jumbie broke to steal potions. The jumbie’s human disguise is the result of the magic potions she stole from the shack.

In this short chapter, the jumbie approaches the witch at the market, demanding long-lasting magic: She is planning a visit among the humans and needs to remain in disguise for an extended period. At first, the witch ignores her and continues arranging the potions for sale on her blanket. She tells the jumbie that she cannot help her by using magic because it would set things off-balance, giving jumbies an advantage over humans.

The jumbie grows annoyed, arguing that the witch has been helping the humans for years by selling them her magic potions at the market. The witch laughs and reminds the jumbie that her market potions are much less powerful than people on the island think. This angers the jumbie and she demands the witch’s help, but the witch holds firm. As she turns to leave, the jumbie threatens the witch, promising that she will suffer if she does not cooperate.

The narrative perspective returns to Corinne as the woman in green leaves the market. As Corinne returns to arranging her fruit, she notices a girl standing in front of her. The girl’s name is Drupatee Sareena Rootsingh (Dru) and she is the daughter of the woman in the yellow sari, who invited Corinne to display her oranges near her pepper stand. Corinne tells Dru that hers are the sweetest oranges on the island. Dru buys all five of Corinne’s oranges and happily eats one as they chat about the market’s witch, better known as the “white witch” (29) among the villagers.

Dru tells a skeptical Corinne that the white witch’s potions are powerful, and she has been at the market longer than anyone on the island can remember. Corinne is doubtful, believing as Pierre has taught her, that people that live on the island are simply afraid of made-up stories, like those about the mahogany forest near her home. She explains that the orange Dru eats grew to be so sweet because of the rich forest soil on her land. Dru tells Corinne she saw her run into the forest on All Hallow’s Eve; particularly on this day, when the dead can communicate with the living, Corinne was particularly vulnerable to jumbies and lucky she survived.

Corinne remembers the yellow eyes she saw watching her in the forest, but dismisses Dru’s statements as nonsense. She tells Dru she only saw a farmer in the forest that day; no jumbies. Dru challenges this, asking if the farmer might have been a type of jumbie—a lagahoo—who fooled Corinne with a disguise. Corinne laughs off the suggestion, but Dru persists, asking if the farmer had a pretty face or if they were short. These features could show the farmer to be a La Diabless or a douen, two other jumbie varieties. Corinne assures Dru she saw nothing like that. She also tells her new friend that she plans to get revenge on the boys who tied her mother’s necklace to the agouti.

The chapter’s first two paragraphs follow the perspective of a frog that the two boys threw down a dry well. Tired and growing increasingly dehydrated, the frog regrets that its croaking got the boys’ attention; if it does not find water soon, it will die. Something drips on the frog from above, a rope slides into the well, and the light at the top of the well is suddenly blocked. A few moments later, Corinne lands at the bottom of the well, ready to rescue the frog. The third-person narrator takes on her perspective for the rest of the chapter.

Dru waits nervously at the top of the well for Corinne, her tears falling on the frog. Corinne scoops the frog into her pocket and struggles to climb out of well, its stone walls damp and slimy. Finally, Corinne gets a foothold and carefully frees herself and the frog. She releases the frog, who hops toward the forest and looks back once at the girls. Corinne lifts a wriggling sack from the ground and Dru nervously helps her replace the frog with its contents—scorpions—down into the well. Corinne expects the boys to return to the well any minute, so she quickly finds a place for herself and Dru to hide and watch their reaction. However, Dru is too frightened to hide so close to the forest, so she and Corinne crouch among some tall grass across the road. The boys arrive at their usual time and the girls watch them approach the well with their slingshots loaded.

The brothers, Bouki and Malik, arrive at the well in search of their prisoner, Mr. Frog. The younger brother, Malik, notices the rope that Corinne used to climb into the well; the boys deduce that she must have released the frog. As Malik begins to pull the rope out of the well, a few scorpions scurry up and onto Bouki’s tattered shirt. Malik uses his slingshot to shoot a scorpion off his brother as Dru and Corinne appear from their hiding place in the grass.

Corinne confronts the boys about her mother’s necklace; she scolds them for endangering her because they knew she would chase after the agouti. Bouki similarly challenges Corinne’s prank, pointing out that she also knew the boys would return to the well. Now that they are even, Corinne and Bouki introduce themselves and their companions (41). Dru tells the boys she recognizes them as marketplace thieves. Insulted, Bouki mocks her for always staying by her mother’s side. Corinne defends Dru, but Bouki makes fun of her market day outfit. Finally, pointing out the brothers’ tattered clothes, Dru asks the boys if they are being mean because they have no home or family.

Storm clouds roll in and Corinne tries to defuse the situation by asking the brothers what they do when it rains. Bouki tells her they have a shelter that is better than both Dur and Corinne’s houses, and Corinne asks him to show them. Rain begins to fall, and Dru is apprehensive to go home, but joins the group when Bouki calls her a baby. After trekking through a nearby village, they come to a wooded area and take shelter beneath an old tree. Once the rain stops, Bouki offers to show the girls the quietest spot on the island, and the group makes their way to a beautiful river. The day grows hotter as the kids enjoy a swim. The chapter closes as Corinne begins to feel the same skin-tingling sensation she felt in the mahogany forest, suggesting that something is watching them.