DEVIL TAKE A WHITTLER

by Weldon Stone ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Strikingly and refreshingly different, happily combining, with a lilting humor and an earthy lustiness, folklore, fact and fantasy, this is a timeless story placed in the Ozark hills. Lem Skaggs, a barefoot whittler and friend of old Nick, woos and wins Myra Johnson, the schoolteacher's well-shoe-d and religious daughter, by whittling for her an entire house and its furnishings. Their wedding, a pagan rite atop a hill, promulgated by old Nick with his flute, finished by the parson with handcuffs in lien of wedding rings, is rivaled only by the birthnight revels of the Skaggs several years later when Lem and Myra have a year-old son, and the devil ""tootles"" a jig, the baby stands up and calls the figures and all are ""tootled"" up the mountain to the wild clan festival. This is not more whimsy, but is reminiscent of God's Little Acre, Dark of the Noon. Even though unconventional, at times frank for certain tastes, it should find a special market.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Rinehart

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1948

Categories: FICTION