The Witch of Blackbird Pond / Ведьма с пруда Черных Дроздов. 10-11 классы
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At first, Mercy worried about this activity, but Kit could see nothing wrong in it. If only she had more stories to read to them! Now she had only the Bible, from which she chose the stories she liked best. Today she chose the story of the Good Samaritan. “One man,” she began, “went from Jerusalem to Jericho…” Suddenly, she had an idea. “You all know this story, don’t you?” she asked the children. They nodded. “Then let’s pretend that it is happening, right now, to us. You, Peter, will be the man traveling along the road. And three of you can be the robbers then. Martha and Eliza, you can be the priest and the Levite, who pass the man by. And Jonathan can be the Good Samaritan who helps him.”
The children were excited. They took their places and started acting, but soon the game became a little messy and loud. Both Kit and Mercy acted quickly, but not quickly enough.
Two tall figures were standing in the kitchen doorway. The sudden use of the stick brought silence and order into the room. Kit and Mercy saw their two visitors: Mr. Kimberley, the schoolmaster, and the Reverend John Woodbridge.
“What is this?” asked Mr. Kimberley angrily. “We’ve come to inspect your school, Mistress Wood, and what do we see?”
Mercy tried to explain, but Kit was first. “It is my fault, sir. I was reading a story to them from the Bible, and I thought that it might be more interesting to act it, like a play, you know.”
“To act it? The Bible?” Reverend Woodbridge stared at Mercy. “What were you thinking, Mercy, allowing such a thing?”
“I didn’t realize what we were doing, sir,” she whispered.
“I am shocked and disappointed,” Mr. Kimberley said. “The school is dismissed. Go home, boys and girls. Do not come back tomorrow. We will let you know if the school will continue.”
“Oh, please, Mr. Kimberley,” begged Kit. “You can’t dismiss the school because of what I did. Dismiss me, if you like.”
“We will have to decide if Mercy is responsible enough to continue teaching the school,” Mr. Kimberley said coldly. “But you are dismissed, young lady.”
When the men had gone, two tears ran slowly down Mercy’s cheeks. To see her tears was more than Kit could bear. In a panic she ran out the door and down the road, past the Meeting House, past the houses where her pupils lived. She didn’t care where she was going.
Kit stopped only when she reached the Great Meadow. There, without thinking she walked into a field and fell in the grass, crying. When she had finally stopped crying, she lay for a long time too tired to move or think. Maybe she even slept a little, but now she opened her eyes and looked up at the blue sky. The sun was shining, and the grass moved slightly in the wind. Suddenly, Kit knew that she was not alone there, and that someone was very close. She got up. Only a few feet away a woman was sitting and watching her, a very old woman with short white hair, colorless eyes and a wrinkled face. As Kit looked at her, the old woman spoke in a quiet voice, “You did well, child, to come to the Meadow. There is always a cure here when the heart is troubled. I know because I’ve found it myself. That is why I live here.”
Kit didn’t move, but stared in horror. She understood that this was the strange woman from Blackbird Pond – Hannah Tupper, the witch! Kit noticed a scar on the woman’s forehead. Was it the devil’s mark?
“People wonder why I want to live here, so close to the swamp,” the woman continued. “But I think you know why. I can see it in your face. The Meadows have spoken to you, too.”
The cold feeling began to pass away. “I didn’t plan to come here,” Kit explained. “I always wanted to come back, but this morning I just got here by accident.”
Hannah Tupper shook her head. “You must be hungry,” she said. “Come, and I’ll give you something to eat.”
“I must go back,” Kit said quickly. “My family must have been looking for me.”
The woman looked at her and smiled. “You still look upset. Whatever it is, you can deal with it better with a bit of food inside. Come with me; it’s not far at all.”
Kit paused. She was suddenly hungry, but more than that, she was curious. Whatever this strange little woman might be, she was definitely harmless and even pleasant. On impulse, Kit hurried after her toward the little hut. Although it was quite late, she didn’t want to return to her Uncle Matthew’s house.
Inside the little house there was a table, a chest, a bed and a spinning wheel at the window. A huge yellow cat opened one eye to look at Kit. On the table Hannah put a small corn cake with blueberries and a jug with yellow goat’s milk. She sat watching as Kit ate, taking nothing herself. Probably, Kit thought, too late, that was all she had! The girl looked about the room. “This is a pretty room,” she said.
Hannah nodded. “My Thomas built this house. He made it good, so it has stood all these years.”
“How long have you lived here?” Kit asked curiously.
“I don’t really know,” the woman answered slowly. “But I remember the day we came here. We had walked from Massachusetts, you see. Someone had told us there would be land for us in Connecticut. But in the town there was none. So we walked toward the river, and then we came to this meadow.”
There were a hundred questions Kit wanted to ask, but instead she looked up and noticed with surprise one thing on the shelf. “This coral!” she exclaimed. “How did it get here?”
A small secret smile lit up the wrinkled face. “I have a sailor friend,” Hannah said. “When he comes back from a voyage, he brings me a present.”
Kit almost laughed. A romance! She imagined him, this white-haired sailor friend, coming here with his small presents from some distant shores. “Maybe this came from my home,” Kit said. “I come from Barbados, you know.”
“From Barbados!” cried the woman. “You do look different somehow. What is it like?”
“It’s so beautiful with flowers every day of the year. You can always smell them in the air.”