Cultural
Background Storyteller's Cabin
But her papa's heart was as cold as his golden coins. At last the girl's cries faded to silence, and she knocked no more. The old man was full of curiosity, and so he opened the door. There, lying lifeless on the porch floor, was jolie Therese.
The old man was too stingy to buy a vault for his daughter. Instead, he laid Therese in a crude wooden coffin and buried her in a shallow, swampy grave down by the cypress tree. The neighbors all shook their heads. They warned there would be trouble. How could poor Therese rest in peace in such a grave?
Three weeks went by and a storm began to coil up out over the gulf. The winds churned and rain fell like needles as the hurricane passed over the land. Night found the old man sitting in his room counting his gold coins by flickering candlelight.
Outside, the wind howled and blew sheets of rain against the house. The old man did not know that the river had already spilled over the levee and sent its dark water across the land. He sat in his rocking chair, his lap full of gold, rocking and counting, "Un, deux, trois ..."
Something thumped against his porch with a hollow, wooden clatter. Knock, knock, knock sounded at his door.
"Who's there?" he hollers.
Only a great sigh like the wind answered. "Just a loose shutter bangin'," he thinks, and went on counting his shining gold. "Un, deux, trois ..."
Knock, knock, knock pounded at his door, stronger this time.
"Who's there?"
Only a whining wind answered him. "Just that good- for-nothin' hound dog tryin' to get in," he thinks. Again he returned to his golden coins. "Un, deux, trois ..."
Knock, knock, knock! Three great booming knocks hammered at his door.
"Who's there?"
Only a low, sad moaning. A cold shiver ran down the old man's back. "Storm's gotcha all jumpy," he says to himself. "It's just the wind blowin' that ol' live oak tree, scrapin' its branches against the house."
But the moaning rose and rose above the wailing wind until it became a horrifying scream.
"Papa, c'est moi, Therese! Let me in! It's me, Therese!" Knock, knock, knock! "Papa, let me in!" Knock, knock, knock! "Papa, let me innnnnn!"
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