Cultural
Background
Storyteller's Cabin
"I said, ignore it!" blurted the Pastor. "Keep reading your Bible!"
The howling wind roared through the house, knocking over lamps, dishes, statues and books. Sarah Sue read her verses louder and louder, while the Pastor wrote furiously. Suddenly, the noises stopped.
Sarah Sue turned and looked at her husband. He smiled back and said, "See? I told you no harm would come to us. The Word of God is like a sword by your side."
No sooner had these words escaped his lips when a heavy object fell down the chimney with a large thump. It rolled into the center of the room between the Pastor and his Wife. They looked at each other for a moment, then the Pastor struck a match and held it down toward the object...
It was a man's bloody head! What was left of its worm-eaten flesh hung in thin strands off its cheek bones. To the Pastor's horror, the head opened its eyes and began to speak:
"Lord Almighty!" it said. "What's it take to get some attention 'round here?"
Sarah Sue shrieked and fainted dead away on the floor. The Preacher stood and clutched the cross around his neck. "Back away, you demon of Hell!" he screamed. "I'm a man of God!"
The head rolled its eyes. "Easy, preacher-man," it said. "You broke into my house, remember? What are you doing here, anyway?"
"My wife and I were caught in a rain storm," the Preacher answered. "We're on our honeymoon. This is the only shelter we could find until the storm cleared."
The Preacher suddenly remembered his Wife, and rushed over to revive her. "Wait," said the Head. "You may want to hear what I have to say before you wake her up."
The Preacher glared at the Head. "I'm not interested in anything you have to say. You're obviously a cursed spirit."
The Head laughed and replied, "Ain't that the truth. And I'll tell you why. A few years ago, I, too, married a beautiful young woman. I wasn't the most handsome man in the world. But I did have a lot of money, as you can see by this nice home you've so conveniently broken into."
"I was so blinded by love that it never occurred to me that this woman might have married me just for my money. But sure enough, a few months into our marriage, she started disappearing on me. Her errands in town took a little longer than usual. There were whispers in town that she had found another man, but I didn't believe them. Oh, no, I said - not my lovely wife!"
"Then one night, I was awakened by my wife coming home at a very late hour. But she wasn't alone; she was with her new lover - a muscular young man who worked down at the mill. They stabbed me to death and cut off my head. Then they buried my headless body out in the woods."
The Head then grinned, its brittle jaw making a gruesome cracking sound. "But I got the last laugh," it said. "You see, what they really wanted was my stash of gold that I kept hidden in the house. They tore the place apart looking for it, but couldn't find it. So they fled the county empty-handed. That gold's still in this house, and I'm the only one who knows where it is."
As the Head said this, the Preacher backed away from his unconscious wife and sat attentively on the floor. The Head sighed wearily and said, "I'm tired, Preacher-man. I can't find no peace until my head is buried with my body. If you'll bury me out in the woods with my body, I'll give you all my gold, plus the house."
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