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Storyteller's Cabin |
After their sudden marriage, Emmet and his bride got along reasonably well for a while. But after a few months, he began to notice that something peculiar was going on with his new wife. On certain nights, when the clock struck midnight, Emmet would sometimes wake up to find that his wife wasn't in bed with him, nor could she be found anywhere in the house. Emmet began to get worried that she might be seeing someone else on the side, and confronted her about it. But she would just laugh and reassure him that she was, indeed, in the house, and that he must be having nightmares.
As his wife began to disappear more often, Emmet decided to confide in one of his best friends who had also just gotten married. After hearing Emmet's story, his friend shook his head and said, "Emmet, I hate to say this, but it sounds to me like you might've married yo'self a boo-hag."
"A boo-hag?" asked Emmet. "What's a boo-hag?"
His friend went on to explain: "Well, a boo-hag is an evil spirit that wakes up at night, sheds her skin like a snake, and flies outside and sucks the blood out of victims from near and far. A boo-hag is an evil spirit that sits on your chest and steals your voice. A boo-hag is an evil spirit that sits on your back and rides you all night like a horse until you drop dead."
Horrified, Emmet said, "Well, I sho' don't want to be married to no boo-hag, if that's what she is. What am I gonna do about it?"
"The only way to get rid of a boo-hag is to make sho' she can't get back in her skin. When she's gone, take a look in the closet. If you see her skin hanging in there, take it offa the hook, fill it with salt and pepper, put it back in the closet, then lie back and watch."
