Moruga Tales Second Edition

By June Khan

Moruga Tales by June Lee-Sing Khan
ISBN: 978-0-9878256-3-6 (eBook)
Second Edition eBook published May 2021

The author spent her early years in the village of Grand Chemin in the district of Moruga. Grand Chemin is a seaside village on the south coast of Trinidad and to this day it is still very rural in nature, forgotten by Time and the Government.

She grew up hearing the stories of the strange and supernatural creatures that haunted the area and filled the inhabitants with dread and wonder. It was with hair-raising excitement and anticipation that she listened to these stories told by school friends and others, and her imagination ran wild as she experienced vicariously the exploits of the heroes who lived to tell the tale.

The “doorstep group” in the tales is composed of young people and children. Some of the names of the people in this group are of actual people she knew in the village and she uses these people to tell the stories. However, the stories they tell are pure fiction and they never really experienced whatever befell the characters in them. For example, June (the author) told a story of douens but she never saw one and Cecil surely never met a real diablesse. As well, the characters in the stories that the group tells are all fictitious and bear no resemblance to anyone extant. The stories come from the author’s imagination while using the folklore of Moruga as a framework upon which to flesh out the characters and the plots. As for the tale about the mermaid, that is the author’s own story. Indeed, the only mermaid she had ever heard anything about was the one from Hans Christian Andersen.

With the passage of time, it is possible that the oral tradition of storytelling may die out and important folklore may be lost. The author remembers the thrill and excitement of the story-telling sessions of her childhood and in her later years has decided to share her experiences.

In this second edition of Moruga Tales, two new tales have been added. The stories are printed in the order in which they were written so the reader may notice a change in narration style as the stories progress. The first two stories are written in the Trini dialect of the 1940's and are not too complicated. The later stories are basically in third person format with the dialect appearing when the characters speak. The last two were written after the publication of the original book and the author hopes that these will continue to grip your imagination. They are in a slightly different vein from the others and do not take place in Grand Chemin and environs (neither does Tale #9 where the setting is anywhere in Trinidad). Their locations, however, are still in the large area called Moruga.

Dim your lights, turn off the television, radio and computer, shut down the cell phone and take the landline off the hook. Light a candle and surround yourself in an aura of mystery. Now, remove yourself to a time and place remote from today’s hustle and bustle. Read, laugh and be entertained!

• Language: English
• Publisher: June Khan
• Release date: May 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9780987825636

June Khan

June Lee-Sing Khan spent her early years in the village of Grand Chemin in the district of Moruga. Grand Chemin is a seaside village on the south coast of Trinidad. She grew up hearing the stories of the strange and supernatural creatures that haunted the area and filled the inhabitants with dread and wonder. It was with hair-raising excitement and tense anticipation that she listened to these stories told by school friends and others, and her imagination ran wild as she experienced vicariously the exploits of the intrepid heroes who lived to tell the tale.

Book preview

MORUGA TALES

June Lee-Sing Khan

Moruga Tales

Publishing History

First edition published November 2011

Second edition published December 2017

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2000 – 2017 by June Lee-Sing Khan

Foreword copyright © 2008 - 2017 by Wayne Lee-Sing

Cover photography copyright © 2017 Wayne Lee-Sing

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9878256-2-9 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-0-9878256-3-6 (e-book)

Printed in Canada

Published by JPK Associates Inc.

London, Ontario, Canada

Dedication

To my sons, Peter and Ian, who encouraged me all along to write these stories and who helped me to edit and publish this book.

Preface to the 2nd Edition

In this second edition of Moruga Tales, two new tales have been added. The stories are printed in the order in which they were written so the reader may notice a change in narration style as the stories progress.

The first two stories are written in the Trini dialect of the 1940's and are not too complicated. The later stories are basically in third person format with the dialect appearing when the characters speak.

The last two were written after the publication of the original book and the author hopes that these will continue to grip your imagination. They are in a slightly different vein from the others and do not take place in Grand Chemin and environs (neither does Tale #9 where the setting is anywhere in Trinidad). Their locations, however, are still in the large area called Moruga.

Read and enjoy!

Foreword

She’s a little girl living in her own world

That’s my little girl June

Down in Moruga where the jumbies turn

Under the silvery moon

She’ll tell you of demons that prowl in the night

Of mermaids, douens, la diablesse

Of soucouyant coming to suck out your life

Her tales are as sweet as a kiss

When evening falls we gather round

With candles and pitch-oil light

No matter what the old men say

We pretend not to be in a fright

The soul of Moruga is simply a part

Of my little girl June

With tales that come from deep in the heart

Of Grand Chemin and La Lune

She’ll tell us her stories again and again

To make sure we never forget

The folklore that is a part of our lives

We’ll always be in her debt

Going to places we’ve never been

Is a thing everybody should try

And living it over and over again

It’s a world that should never die

From the song Moruga in June by Wayne Lee-Sing

Contents

Dedication

Preface to the 2nd Edition

Foreword

Moruga Tales - Introduction

Moruga Tales - Prologue

Tale #1 - Cecil’s Story: Cecil and La Diablesse

Tale #2 - Freddie’s Story: Freddie and the Mermaid

Tale #3 - June’s Story: Douens in the Woods

Tale #4 - Rupert’s Story: ’Ti Jean & the Diablotins

Tale #5 - Chunnie’s Story: The Stranger in the Shop

Tale #6 - Angie’s Story: Big John and the Little Popo

Tale #7 - Joe’s Story: Miss Lucy’s Deal with the Devil

Tale #8 - Frankie’s Story: Frankie’s Encounter with the Lagahou

Tale #9 - Henrietta’s Story: Frangipani

Tale #10 - Kwong’s Story: Pemberton’s Ordeal

Tale #11 - Dolly’s Story: Mama Serafina to the Rescue

Tale #12 - Vernon's Story: Jane Ann's Revenge

Moruga Tales - Epilogue

Glossary

End Notes

Moruga Tales - Introduction

The author spent her early years in the village of Grand Chemin in the district of Moruga. Grand Chemin is a seaside village on the south coast of Trinidad and to this day it is still very rural in nature, forgotten by Time and the Government.

She grew up hearing the stories of the strange and supernatural creatures that haunted the area and filled the inhabitants with dread and wonder. It was with hair-raising excitement and anticipation that she listened to these stories told by school friends and others, and her imagination ran wild as she experienced vicariously the exploits of the heroes who lived to tell the tale.

The doorstep group in the tales is composed of young people and children. Some of the names of the people in this group are of actual people she knew in the village and she uses these people to tell the stories. However, the stories they tell are pure fiction and they never really experienced whatever befell the characters in them. For example, June (the author) told a story of douens but she never saw one and Cecil surely never met a real diablesse. As well, the characters in the stories that the group tells are all fictitious and bear no resemblance to anyone extant. The stories come from the author’s imagination while using the folklore of Moruga as a framework upon which to flesh out the characters and the plots. As for the tale about the mermaid, that is the author’s own story. Indeed, the only mermaid she had ever heard anything about was the one from Hans Christian Andersen.

With the passage of time, it is possible that the oral tradition of story-telling may die out and important folklore may be lost. The author remembers the thrill and excitement of the story-telling sessions of her childhood and in her later years has decided to share her experiences with you, the reader.

Dim your lights, turn off the television, radio and computer, shut down the cell phone and take the landline off the hook. Light a candle and surround yourself in an aura of mystery. Now, remove yourself to a time and place remote from today’s hustle and bustle. Read, laugh and be entertained!

Moruga Tales - Prologue

The 1930s has just turned the corner into the 1940s. The place is Grand Chemin in the district of Moruga. To be more precise, the place is at the back doorsteps of the Lee-Sing house.

Grand Chemin is a sleepy, little village on the south coast of Trinidad. The Moruga road runs from Princes Town to Grand Chemin, from north to south, ending at the sea. The centre of the village is at the crossroads where L’Anse Mitan Road, running east up the hill to the cemetery, and La Lune Road, running west as a continuation, intersect the Moruga Road.

Lee-Sing’s shop is at the southwestern corner of the crossroads. Next to the shop on La Lune Road is Lee-Sing’s house and at the rear of the house are the back doorsteps. Not the front steps, mind you; the front steps are for the Lee-Sing family and their friends. The back doorsteps are… well, the back doorsteps.

There is no electricity. The houses in the village are lit by kerosene lamps. Of course, there are no streetlights. On nights when there is no moon, it is pitch black, except for the stars, which seem so big and bright and close you feel you can almost reach out and touch them. On such nights, the stars are as numerous as the grains of sand on Moruga beach.

The back doorsteps of the Lee-Sing house are a special place. It is the meeting place of the Lee-Sing children, their friends and the domestic help. This is the doorstep group. After dinner, when the place has become quiet, and the children’s homework has been done, the group gravitates to their meeting place. The children sit on the floor on a mat inside the house. Dolly, the housemaid, and Angie, the cook, sit on the top step. The others find a seat somewhere or just stand around. They talk about this and that, and eventually the talk turns to the supernatural and tales of the woods, and also to nansi stories. The children are always agog with excitement, sometimes scared, but always spellbound.

So, on evenings, in the dimness of the night, with a lone pitch-oil lamp burning inside, the group members gather. Cecil, Freddie, Rupert, Chunnie, Joe and Frankie are