美国国家公共电台 NPR Author Explores A Dark History Through A Magical Story In 'Rise Of The Jumbies'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Writer Tracey Baptiste was born in Trinidad where she grew up on fairy tales and the spoken folktales of the island, stories about creatures called jumbies. Two years ago, she wrote her own Caribbean folktale for middle schoolers. And now she's written a sequel that delves¹ further into the island mythology² called "Rise Of The Jumbies." If you've never encountered a jumbie yourself, she gave us a quick description of them.

TRACEY BAPTISTE: They will eat you if they get half the chance to eat you. And growing up...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: They're hungry.

BAPTISTE: Exactly. Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, these were the stories that I listened to all the time. People would tell these stories to kids, of course, to, you know, sort of keep them in line at night - make sure that they weren't, you know, going out and wandering around.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So these are like the monsters under the bed if you will.

BAPTISTE: These were the monsters - well, they were actually the monsters outside the door because they were always outside the house. And you had to be very careful about making sure that they didn't get inside the house. There's just like all kinds of things that you could do to prevent these jumbies from getting inside your house and getting to you. Here's the things that you need to do to keep yourself safe. And then go to bed, sweet child.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, of course.

(LAUGHTER)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The character of Corinne is the main character. And she is fierce and brave. But she also faces discrimination from those around her. She is half-jumbie so half magical. Tell us about her.

BAPTISTE: Oh, yeah. So Corinne is a very fiercely independent. And in book one, she really knows who she is. She really has herself together. And then this jumbie appears. And she didn't really believe in jumbies before this. And so all of a sudden, her world is shaken. And suddenly, she really doesn't know who she is and where she fits in and how she fits in. So when book two starts, she really is very much on shaky ground. And I also start the book with an earthquake to sort of, you know, really highlight that shaky ground that she feels like herself in. But, you know, she's that kind of person who will figure it out. You know, she's going to plow³ through no matter what.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So the mythology of this book is so great. You have Mama D'Leau, the kind of the kind of goddess of the sea...

BAPTISTE: Right.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...Mami Wata. And as you mentioned, you have Trinidadian roots. How did you explore and use this folklore⁴? What sources did you use? How did you sort of come up with all this? Obviously, the jumbies is tales you heard as a child. But what about all these other characters?

BAPTISTE: Well, I did a lot of reading, as much as I could. Because these are oral traditions, there really isn't a lot of stuff written down about jumbies. But there was a few - there were a few stories that I could find. And what I did find was that there are jumbie-like creatures throughout the Caribbean. So I read as much as I could about all of these different creatures. And then I combined it with the stories that I remember as a child. But when I wanted to go into the West African roots of these creatures, then I had to do some more research into the Mami Wata legend. And because I really - I believe anyway that the reason that Mami Wata and Mama D'Leau are so similar is because when people were enslaved and brought these stories to the Caribbean, they kind of got merged⁵ and fused⁶ and intertwined. And so that's kind of what I was going for with Mami Wata and Mama D'Leau in "Rise Of The Jumbies."

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right. So you take this story to West Africa in this book from the Caribbean. Corinne travels with her friends and mermaids⁷ to the place where the mythology supposedly of the jumbies was born, which is in West Africa. And you tackle⁸ the dark history of the Atlantic slave trade. Tell us about why you wanted to take that journey.

BAPTISTE: I think it's really important to have that history and have that history be explored. I think there's a lot of shame in this history. There's a lot of pain in this history. And I thought that with this particular story and using Mama D'Leau and the mermaids I could address the things that have happened but also have it be attached to something that was beautiful.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Why make that connection for your young readers? Why have that sort of complicated history be part of a story like this?

BAPTISTE: Children who are of African descent⁹ are going to hear these stories. And I remember when my son was, I think, maybe he was five and he was in kindergarten. And he came home, and he had just heard about slavery at school. I think maybe it was Black History Month. And he was just so upset about it and couldn't reconcile¹⁰ what - who he was with, you know, this - these stories that he was hearing. And, you know, kids have to deal with this. They have to deal with the fact that this is a thing that has happened and that this is a thing that happened to their ancestors. And it's a thing that has happened because of the way that people look and nothing else. There's no other reason. And grappling with something like that - I think it's really difficult for little children. And so I felt that giving them this kind of story where, you know, something horrible happened but something beautiful resulted from it would be some small amount of comfort.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Tracey Baptiste's new book is "The Rise Of The Jumbies." Thank you so much for joining us.

BAPTISTE: Thank you so much for having me.

1 delves   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That delves the grave duly. 误不了你的洞房。 来自互联网
• The exhibition delves deep into the physics, aromatics and even the timbre of flatulence. 此次展览向人们介绍了人体物理、气味甚至肠胃胀气的声音等各方面知识。 来自互联网

2 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

3 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

4 folklore   

n.民间信仰，民间传说，民俗

参考例句：

• Zhuge Liang is a synonym for wisdom in folklore.诸葛亮在民间传说中成了智慧的代名词。
• In Chinese folklore the bat is an emblem of good fortune.在中国的民间传说中蝙蝠是好运的象征。

5 merged   

（使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中

参考例句：

• Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
• The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。

6 fused   

adj.熔合在一起的

参考例句：

• The wax from the two candles fused as they burned. 两根蜡烛上的蜡燃烧时熔化在一起。
• The burning hearts of the revolutionaries fused into one. 革命者火热的心融合在一起。

7 mermaids   

n.（传说中的）美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
• This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白

8 tackle   

n.工具，复滑车，扭倒；v.处理，抓住

参考例句：

• Don't forget to bring your sports tackle with you tomorrow.别忘了明天带上你的体育用具。
• We have gained sufficient experience to tackle this problem.我们已经有了足够的经验来处理这个问题。

9 descent   

n.下降，下倾，斜坡，坡道，血统，世系

参考例句：

• We watched anxiously during her descent from the tree.我们焦急地看着她从树上爬下来。
• Many Americans are of English descent.许多美国人的祖籍是英国。

10 reconcile   

vt.使协调，使和解，使顺从（甘心）（于）

参考例句：

• Must they reconcile themselves to their fate?难道他们甘心忍受这种命运吗？
• He found it hard to reconcile himself to the disagreeable state.他发现难以忍受这种不愉快的状况。