Haiti – around 1835 (2)
Land surveyors
Haiti.
“Get out of here, this is my land, I am living here.” Infuriated, Ti Noel shakes his fist at the land surveyors. When he has gone on raging for some time, one of them takes him by the ear, and gives him a hard blow with his measuring rod. Hastily Ti Noel stumbles back to his hut, and peers from there at the trespassers.
Ti Noel is an old black man with a bony face, and silvery-grey curls. Day after day, he wears the same long green silk coat with pink cuffs. All day long, he talks to the ants, the birds, the goats and the wasps. And sometimes also to the people who pass by and wave to him.
Ti Noel has experienced a lot in his long life. First he was slave at a farm; he herded the cows there and took care of the horses. Secretly he was a friend of the legendary black leader Macandal. He took part in the great rebellion against the whites. After independence he returned to his old farm, which was now ruined and abandoned. There he built a small hut. Later on, he was one of the leaders of the uprising against the black dictator, king Henri Christophe. During the looting of the palace, he took away a royal coat, which he still wears every day.
Haiti.
Finally, the land ended up in the hands of the the coloured persons. They declared that all former farms of the French belong to the state. And that black residents are obliged to work for the republic. Once again, Ti Noel sees supervisors appearing with whips. Once again, he sees the sweat on the foreheads of dark men and women. Once again, he hears the clanking of chains. Does it never end?
Then, Ti Noel remembers Macandal. He could transform himself into an animal. While he is thinking about that, he sees a green bird perched on a twig. The next moment, he himself is the bird. He is perched on the twig, and looks downwards. He hears the land surveyors in the distance, flies to them, and poops on the head of one of them. The following day he is a little goat, an ant or a goose. Until one day the sky becomes black-green, and a hurricane rages across the land. Since then, no one has seen Ti Noel again.
Haiti._______________________
Source
The kingdom of this world (1949) from the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier is a vibrant novel about slave life in Haiti.
Go to:
= part 1: The poison - Haiti – around 1785 (1), story 11.
= the next page: The angel and the sailing ship - a valley in Ireland – 1846 , story 15.
= the Table of contents, story 14.
