African-American, trickster folktale from Alabama about how the Devil uses a powerful female temptation to try splitting apart a “lovey-dovey” couple.
Now, I know y’all think the Devil is a little red man with horns growing out of his head with a red tail and a pitchfork. Well, the folks down in south Alabama say that just ain’t so. They say the Devil is nothin’ but an ol’ trixster, just like Brer Rabbit. And you all know how Brer Rabbit’s always going around trickin’ folks, especially Brer Fox and Brer Bear.
Well, that ol’ Devil was travelin’ back and forth all over Alabama trickin’ folks.What he liked to do most of all was to get loving couples to start fightin’ with one another. He had husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends fightin’ all over the place. Once the Devil came a-callin’, it wasn’t long before somebody said the wrong thing to their mate, or somebody forgot an anniversary, or one person cheated on the other. Pretty soon, the loving couple would fight and split up, and the Devil would strut down the road toward the next house, laughin’ all the way!
Well, the Devil was doing a pretty good job until he came across a couple of newlyweds down in the valley. They were so lovey-dovey that the Devil couldn’t get them to part, no matter how hard he tried. After several days, the Devil got real frustrated and just gave up on those two lovebirds. The Devil was walkin’ down the road all discouraged when he ran across a strange woman who was as barefoot as an ol’ possum. The Barefoot Woman looked at the Devil and said, “What’s wrong with you, Mister Devil? You sick or somethin’?”
“Nah,” said the Devil, “I’ve just been tryin’ to break up that couple down in the valley. But they’re so lovey-dovey, I can’t get ’em to part.”
“Shoot, is that all?” said the Barefoot Woman. “Listen, I’ll make you a deal. I ain’t ever had a new pair of shoes before. If you’ll get me a brand new pair of fancy red shoes, I’ll part that couple for you.”
“If you can get ’em to part, I’ll get you the most expensive shoes in town,” said the Devil. “But you don’t get ’em ’til after you do the job.”
“No problem,” said the Barefoot Woman. “You just meet me down at the crossroads tomorrow evenin’ with my shoes.”
The next morning, the Barefoot Woman baked a mouth-watering apple pie and went up to the newlyweds’ home in the valley. The Husband was in the field chopping cotton, his shirt soaked with sweat. The Barefoot Woman asked if she could visit with his Wife, for she had just moved into the valley, and she wanted to get to know her new neighbors. The Husband smiled and pointed the Barefoot Woman toward the house.
The Wife invited the Barefoot Woman in and they began to chatter away. The Barefoot Woman took a seat and began to praise everything in the house as the “prettiest thing she ever saw” – the kitchen, the dishes, the furniture, even the ol’ rooster outside! The Wife thanked her for all her kind words and gave her a bucket of freshly-picked blackberries. “Yessir, everything in this house is pretty,” said the Barefoot Woman. “But you know what the prettiest thing of all is? You are.”
The Wife blushed and said, “Oh, no, I’m not the prettiest. My husband is prettier than I am.”
“Yeah, yeah, he’s pretty alright,” said the Barefoot Woman. “But he’d be even prettier if he didn’t have that big ol’ flesh-mole on his neck with those ugly black hairs stickin’ out.”
The smile briefly faded on the Wife’s face, and she said, “Yeah, I know. He’s pretty embarrassed ’bout it. But I’m used to it by now.”
“You don’t have to get used to it,” said the Barefoot Woman. “Why don’t you just cut it off?”
The Wife’s jaw dropped. “I couldn’t do that!” she exclaimed. “He’d bleed to death!”
“Naw, he wouldn’t,” said the Barefoot Woman. “Here’s what you do: take a razor with you to bed tonight. When he’s fast asleep, reach over and whack that thing off real fast. Then dab his neck with some spider webs to stop the bleeding. He won’t even know you did it ’til the next morning. And I’m sure he’ll thank you for it!”
The Wife finally agreed to do it, thanking the Barefoot Woman over and over again. After telling the Wife good-bye, the Barefoot Woman went outside and visited with the Husband, who was still working in the field. “Boy, you sure is a hard worker,” said the Barefoot Woman.
“Yes, ma’am,” said the Husband. “But I don’t mind it at all, ’cause the harder I work, the more I can give to my beautiful wife. She means the world to me.”
The Barefoot Woman chuckled and said, “Yeah, I’m sure she does. But from what I hear, she means the world to somebody else, too.”
The Husband stopped working and glared at her. “What you mean by that?” he asked.
“Well, from what I hear, she’s seein’ another man in town. And one of these nights, if you’re not careful, she’s gonna do away with you.”
The Husband clenched his fists in rage. “Get offa my property, you lyin’ ol’ hag! Nobody talks ’bout my wife like that!”
The Barefoot Woman shrugged her shoulders and turned away. “Alls I’m sayin’ is watch out,” she said over her shoulder as she walked back down the road.
Later that evening, the Barefoot Woman snuck back toward the newlyweds’ home, hid outside in the smokehouse, and watched the couple through the window as they prepared for bed. Even though he loved his Wife, the Husband had been thinking all day about what the Barefoot Woman had said. He barely spoke a word to his Wife all night, and pretended he was asleep when she crawled into bed beside him. After midnight, the Wife awoke, saw that her Husband was sleeping, then reached under the bed for the razor. She slowly moved toward her Husband and positioned the razor by the big mole on his neck, ready to cut away. Suddenly, the Husband opened his eyes and grabbed her wrist with a vise-like grip. “I knew it!” he screamed. “That ol’ Barefoot Woman said you’s gonna try and kill me so’s you could be with your new man!”
“But…” protested the Wife.
“I don’t want to hear it,” screamed the Husband. “Get outta my house, you hear? Get out! And don’t you ever come back!”
The Wife cried, packed her things and moved away, her heart broken. And the newlyweds never saw each other again.
The next evening, the Barefoot Woman went down to the crossroads to meet the Devil, just as they had arranged. When she got there, she found the Devil holding out a brand new pair of red shoes to her on the end of a long stick.
“What’s goin’ on here?” she asked. “Why you holdin’ those shoes out like that? I did what you asked.”
“Yeah, you sure did,” answered the Devil. “But anybody that can cause that much disturbance, I don’t want no part of. Here, take your shoes.”
The Barefoot Woman then smiled and said, “Why, Mister Devil, don’t you know who I am?”
Suddenly, the Barefoot Woman’s skin started smoking like it was on fire. It melted right off her body, and there in the bright moonlight stood the Devil’s own wife – Mrs. Devil!
“Mrs. Devil!” exclaimed the Devil. “Why’d you go and trick me like that?”
“Mister Devil, I’ve been tryin’ to get you to buy me a brand new pair of shoes for years, and you been too stingy to do it!”
The Devil stared at the ground and shook his head. “Husband of mine,” she said, “don’t you ever underestimate the power of a woman – especially your own wife!”
And that’s the story of The Barefoot Woman.
-THE END-
The Barefoot Woman – Story Credits
Adapted from folklore by The Moonlit Road and Evelyn McCray
Directed by The Moonlit Road
Told by Evelyn McCray
Music by Barbara Panter
Sound Design by Henry Howard
All Photography by Jon Kownacki
I like that the audio story differs significantly from the text. It retains a strong sense of the oral tradition. Great voice, great storytelling.
Old Devil got the wifey whammy, good for her.
Ain’t nothing gets betwixt a woman and her Monolo’s 😉
DAM that was good i think thatss good
Where can I download the audio, please?.
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And this story makes it seem like woman r bigger decievers than men that might be true lol but I did really like it espeically the twist ending
I like it but the devil is to smart to fall for his wifes discise I mean he isnt even really married who in there rightind would marry the devil amd he should have known something was wrong with her when she asked him wat was wrong and called him mr devil part of being a trickster is know one knows who he is or else they wouldnt listen to him and know one is eviler than the devil and this story just makes it seem like woman r smarter than men witch is not true one sex is not better than the other only certaint people r smarter than certaint other people rt
that just goes to show that we girls love our shoes
I think this is a precious gem of a folktale. On one hand, the idea of the devil himself even having a wife (not merely a subservient consort) – who can stand as his equal and even outdo him to the point of scaring him almost witless – is priceless to me. Seems Mr. and Mrs. Devil are indeed soulmates (that is, if they’re supposed to even have souls; I would’ve said “a match made in heaven”, but that would’ve sounded wrong too :))
On the other, I feel very sorry for the broken human lovers. I usually have a hard time with bad endings (with the exception of stories with righteous revenge successfully fulfilled).
this is a good story i couldnt belive that old lady did that and i cant belive that was his own wife!!!!!
i really liked this story mrs.devil is a genious
I thought it was good, but it was easy to tell what the end was gonna be like…sorry, but other than that ir was good.. 🙂
kinda funny lol XD
i like this it was kinda cool!
book is great
dat was krazy and mrs. devil is sneaky i like da story dat who ever dis person isdat kame up with but no one knows what da devil realliiiii looks like bytttt kwl story 🙂
WOW!!!! i like it. Its funny 🙂
That was a good storty , but it was lil weird at the end . :/
Very good story, I enjoyed it 🙂
COOL, is it real? i have to get a real ghost story for my homework!
That was good! =)
What an extraordinary story–Mr devil was very smart to use the stick to pass off the shoes.
wow it was intresting and i feel very bad for those two couples but any way it was good 😀
this story is very good, but its unfair to the two couples, but good! 🙂
this story is unfair, they ruined the relationship of the two couples.
Hadijah! The barefooted woman was Mrs Devil!
I can;t feel any scared during read this story
this story is confusing me because the audio woman is reading different from the text. But it is still a good story…..
klu say cant even spell barefoot hahahaha……………..
what i don’t get after mrs devil, found out that his husband had bought for the bare footed woman shoes and he didn’t buy for her , what did she do. i hope he left him too.
ah,, i love this story 2 because is a good story
the story was a very nice one but at first i thought that the way the husband chased a way the bare footed woman, after that he would go and talk to her wife a bout what had just happened, so that they would all know that it was a trap. i feel bad for the new wedded couples because they have just seprated with out knowing the truth.
good story i loved it[:
what a wonderful end !But the boarefoot woman I think she is no use in this story
bery bery good it was bery punny,
i know k’lu say, you not scare ghost but you scary something… bla. …bla …bla
i love the end of this story.. 🙂
such as a good story…
Good story but feel little bit scare..
this is a good story and it funny too.
oh i like this story is scary but not more that scary me, the barafoot woman is very very bad she so devil, i feel sorry for the for other pople.
good story but look a little scary..
what i still don’t understand is did the new wedded couple get back to gether again after they had been splited up??
haha ohh my this was really an interesting story i really enjoyed it 🙂 and i feel so bad for the poor new wedded couple who were splited up by the devil’s wife:(
i love this story is was good story..
this story had a crazy twist but its good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ive heard this story before. good story
i love these scary stories
hello
Why are "bad boys" with sweet/caring/genuine personalities often left as "best friends?"?
Ahh, another story about the power of women, BORING! It would be refreshing to read a story for once that wasn’t about beer bellied men and the amazing awness of women.
Who had a beer belly?
Great Story … What goes around, comes around..ha ha
very good story!
i feel bad for the couple
*snigger giggle snort* alhtough i must say it’s sad that those newly weds got apart yo will die devil some how+ also GIRL POWER!!!!!!!!!
FEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
that barefoot woman got some brain!
Not bad at all! XD
wow(:
that was beautiful
i loved it.
I love this story! Its wicked funny!
HAHA!!! that was a great end of story twist complementing those troublesome women we have 🙂
This was an amazing story! I enjoyed it myself and im the author! Haha just kidding im not tha gifted. But great story and great author and great story line and great plot. GREAT, GREAT< GREAT ( Greater than great!)
It was cute. It reminded me of that cartoon in the sunday funny pappers. You know the one. The one with the guy named Andy.
OH MY THAT WAS A GREAT STORY ..I TRUELY ENJOY MANY STORYSHERE AND THANK YOU FOR THE ENJOYMENT.
HUGS GERI
Very good story. I was both intrigued and delighted at the same time! Job well done!