Ti-Jean and His Brothers

The next day, Ti-Jean is comforting his mother, who tries to ask her youngest son not to leave. She tells him he is “hardly a man” and has “never proven [himself] in battle or wisdom.” She wants to protect her youngest son, but Ti-Jean comforts her, reminding her that she herself told him “[their] lives are not [theirs] […] that [their] life is God’s own.” As Ti-Jean prepares to leave, his mother says, “The first of my children never asked for my strength, the second of my children thought little of my knowledge, the last of my sons, now, kneels down at my feet, instinct be your shield, it is wiser than reason, conscience be your cause and plain sense your sword.” As he leaves, Ti-Jean says, “Yes, I small. maman, I small, And I never learn from book, but like the small boy, David, I go bring down, bring down Goliath.”

As he heads into the forest, Ti-Jean encounters Frog and greets the animal. Frog assumes Ti-Jean is making fun of him, as Gros Jean and Mi-Jean did, but the youngest brother protests, saying, “Why should I laugh at the frog and his fine bass voice?” Ti-Jean tells Frog that he has his own kind of beauty. He then asks Frog what the fastest way is to the Devil’s estate, and the Frog tells him to beware of the Old Man, who then appears on the forest path.

The Old Man asks Ti-Jean whether his parents are alive, and Ti-Jean responds that he thinks nothing dies. “My brothers are dead but they live in the memory of my mother,” he shares. The Old Man says, “So you lost two brothers?” To this, Ti-Jean points out that he never said how many brothers he had, and asks to see the Old Man’s foot. But when he sweeps up the Old Man’s skirt, Ti-Jean only sees a regular, human, old foot. But then, a bird swoops down from the sky to untie the bundle of sticks on the Old Man’s back, and the Old Man becomes frustrated. Ti-Jean offers to help him retie the sticks, and takes advantage of the situation to lift the Old Man’s skirt from behind. He sees the Old Man’s forked tail.

Ti-Jean asks the Old Man what the fastest way to the Devil’s estate is, and the Old Man tells him to proceed through the forest until he finds “springs of sulphur, where the damned souls are cooking.” But Ti-Jean accuses him of lying, saying, “If evil exists, let it come forward.” So the Old Man removes his mask, revealing himself to be the Devil. But Ti-Jean says that he can’t bear to look at the Devil this way, because it is like looking “at the blinding gaze of God.” To keep the challenge fair, the Devil replaces his mask as the Old Man.

The Devil assigns Ti-Jean the same task as his brothers: he is to catch and tie up a goat. Ti-Jean catches the goat once, and it escapes. Thinking the young boy will get angry, the Devil laughs to himself. But the next time Ti-Jean catches the goat, he returns with something in his hands, which he tells the Devil is goat-seed—he has castrated the goat.

The Devil, a bit vexed that Ti-Jean has “fixed” his goat, struggles to control his temper. Sensing this, Ti-Jean says, “It looks like you vex.” But the Devil contains himself, and gives Ti-Jean the next task: to count each leaf on each sugar cane stalk on the plantation before sunrise. When he has finished telling Ti-Jean what he must do, the Devil says, “Well, what are you waiting for?” To this, Ti-Jean replies, “I got a bit tired chasing the goat. I’m human you know.”

As soon as the Devil has gone, Ti-Jean says to himself, “Count all of the canes, what a waste of time!” Immediately, he calls out to all of the people working on the plantation, saying, “Hey, all you niggers sweating there in the canes! Hey, all you people working hard in the fields! […] I’m the new foreman! Listen to this: The Devil says you must burn everything, now! Burn the cane, burn the cotton!” Ti-Jean repeats himself, saying, “Burn, burn, burn de cane!” The plantation workers repeat after him as a chorus. Frog enters, and shares how the plantation burned all night, until the very last sugar cane existed no longer.

Later that night, the Devil appears, drunk and singing. He laments, “I drink, and I drink, and I feel nothing. Oh, I lack the heart to enjoy the brevity of the world!” Frog appears on the path, and the Devil says, “O God, O God, a monster! Jesus, help!” He begins singing again, “When I was the Son of the Morning, When I was the Prince of Light.” But, picking up the mask, he censures himself, saying, “Oh, to hell with that! You lose a job, you lose a job. Ambition.”

As the Devil wallows in his misery, he sees Ti-Jean coming and puts on his Planter’s mask. Ti-Jean is also carrying a bottle. The Devil asks whether he has done everything he had to do, and Ti-Jean says that he cleaned the entire plantation, drank some wine, and had curried goat for dinner. The Devil commends Ti-Jean for completing the tasks his brothers couldn’t, and Ti-Jeans says, “The only way to annoy you is to rank disobedience.”

Exhausted, the Devil wants to go home, and as he is leaving, Ti-Jean throws his arms around him, saying he is drunk and wants to know the way home. The Devil doesn’t believe Ti-Jean has really been drinking, as he doesn’t smell like alcohol. But Ti-Jean insists that drinking is his vice, and the Devil offers him liquid brimstone to drink. Accepting, Ti-Jean says, “I have pity for all power. That’s why I love the old man with the windy beard. He never wastes it.” Reminded of his past, the Devil reflects on God, saying the fact that he could have everything as the son of God is what ruined him.

As he reminisces, the Devil sees the plantation burning in the distance, and asks Ti-Jean what the fire is. Ti-Jean tells him that it’s the plantation, and he has set it on fire. The Devil responds and tells Ti-Jean that it’s the only home he has. In response, Ti-Jean tells him that his mother had three sons, and didn’t get vexed. Taking off the Planter’s mask, the Devil says, “What the hell do you think I care about your mother? The poor withered fool who thinks it’s holy to be poor, who scraped her knees to the knuckle praying to an old beard that’s been deaf since noise began?”

The Devil commands miniature devils to surround Ti-Jean, and tells them to seize him when Ti-Jean comments that the Devil isn’t smiling. But Bolom intervenes, begging the Devil to be fair. The Devil shows no signs of listening, and raises his fork to kill Ti-Jean. Then, Ti-Jean’s mother appears, asking the devil to have mercy on his son. Ti-Jean admits he’s “scared as Christ.” As the Bolom tries unsuccessfully to convince the Devil to play fair, the Devil reveals an image of Ti-Jean’s mother dying in their hut. He asks Ti-Jean if he can sing, knowing that his mother is dying. Frog encourages Ti-Jean to sing, and the Devil feels his face wet with tears. The Bolom begs Ti-Jean to ask the Devil for life, and the Devil grants this wish, allowing the Bolom to be born.