Written by
J.J. Reneaux

Down in the bayou country there was once a beautiful girl named Marie. She was so pretty, so jolie, that all the people called her Marie Jolie. She was as sweet as sugar cane, but if you did her wrong, look out, for that girl could show a temper as hot as cayenne pepper!



Now Marie Jolie grew to be of a marrying age, but to her maman's disappointment, she wasn't yet of a mind to be married. First, she wanted to have adventures and see the big world, so she found something wrong with every young man who came to court her. This one was too short; that one was too tall; the next one had the ears of an elephant.

After a while her maman got impatient with Marie, for she worried that her daughter would wind up an old maid - a terrible fate in those days. So Maman says, "Marie Jolie, it is time for you to take a husband. You can't pick one to suit you, so me, I'm gonna do it for you. We gonna have us a contest. You see this pumpkin? I'm gonna get M'su Carencro, the buzzard, to put it on the highest little skinniest branch of that big cypress tree out there in the swamp. Chère, the man that can fetch that pumpkin down without fallin' in the water is gonna be your husband!"

"Well, Maman," says Marie, "if it's got to be, I s'pose - that's as good a way as any of choosin' a man."

The contest was held the following week. Men came from parishes far and near, each one more eager than the next to win the hand of Marie Jolie. But one, a tall, dark, handsome man, stood out from the crowd. "Ooh, Maman," says Marie, "I hope he gets the pumpkin! He's a good-lookin' devil for true."

One after the other, the men tried to climb the great cypress, but they all ended up spitting swamp water. At last the good lookin' stranger's turn came. Quick as lightnin', he scaled that tree like a cat, snatched the pumpkin, and landed with his boots on dry land. Before she knew it, Marie Jolie was a married woman!

She climbed proud as could be into her husband's wagon, and they started driving down the road. It wasn't long, however, before she noticed that things were getting strange. The path was growing darker and darker, and her new husband uglier and uglier.