Friday from the Archives: “The Patchwork Princess of the Great Dismal Swamp” a short story written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Molly Windsor in NCLR 2006
Carole Boston Weatherford, NC Literary Hall of Fame inductee, most recent Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Award winner, has been a literary force in North Carolina since the 1990s. We are proud to have shared an early short story, “The Patchwork Princess of the Great Dismal Swamp” in our 2006 issue, which featured Children’s Literature of NC.
Weatherford has produced dozens of books, collections, essays, and poems. Her latest, published this year, include Rap It Up, a “how-to book covers literary devices, poetic elements and performance tips to build kids’ writing skills and enhance their confidence as public speakers,” and the NC-centered Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson’s Imagination, which is already garnering attention across the book world.
The Great Dismal Swamp, now a North Carolina State Park, was important to many different groups in the 1800s: it provided raw goods to the lumber industry, it was a shipping channel, and it provided refuge for escaped slaves. Weatherford uses this last historical bit as the basis for her NC riff on the Cinderella myth.
“Once upon a time, there lived a slave girl named Lila. In the slave quarters, she walked on stilts, rode stick horses, and played marbles and horseshoes. Lila’s only toy was a rag doll named Precious who wore a patchwork gown. Before being sold off, Lila’s mama, Ayo, had sewn the doll. “Hold Precious tight,” Ayo told
Lila the last time they hugged.
From then on, Aunt Suzie, the cook and midwife, took Lila under her wing. The old woman taught Lila to piece quilts from scraps, treat ailments with herbs and roots, and make meals from leavings.
The Civil War years were lean. Even the master’s family ate fatback and turnips. When the Yankees came, Aunt Suzie and Lila left the plantation for good.
Carrying the rag doll, an iron pot, an axe, a knife, and a bundle of quilts and rags, Lila and Aunt Suzie trekked
to the Great Dismal Swamp. With quilts and fallen branches, they pitched a tent.”
Read the entire short story on Gale Cengage and add the NCLR 2006 issue to your collection.
