Follow the Drinking Gourd Read online

  To Frances Foster

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  Copyright © 1988 by Jeanette Winter

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Originally published in hardcover

  by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, New York, in 1988.

  knopf, borzoi books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Winter, Jeanette.

  Follow the drinking gourd / written and illustrated by Jeanette Winters.

  p. cm.

  summary: By following the directions in a song, “The Drinking Gourd,” taught them by an old sailor named Peg Leg

  Joe, runaway slaves journey north along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada.

  Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-394-89694-6 — Library binding ISBN 978-0-394-99694-3 — eBook ISBN 978-0-307-98278-0

  [1. Fugitive slaves — Fiction. 2. Slavery — Fiction. 3. Underground Railroad — Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.W7547Fo 1988

  [E]—dc19

  88-9661

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  First Page

  About the Author

  A NOTE ABOUT THE STORY

  In the early days of slavery in the United States, many slaves tried to escape their cruel bondage by fleeing north—usually to Canada—to freedom. By the 1840s, a loosely organized group of free blacks, slaves, and white sympathizers formed a secret network of people and places that hid escaped slaves on their dangerous journey to freedom—a network that came to be known as the Underground Railroad.

  Traveling along darkened roads at night, hiding out by day, moving slowly upriver along hundreds of miles of connecting waterways, the fugitive slaves endured many hardships. Slave catchers hunted them down with dogs. Many were shot or hanged And even after crossing into the “free” states, runaway slaves could still be captured and returned to their masters for a reward.

  The most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave herself, who led hundreds of her people to freedom. Among other conductors, there was a onelegged sailor named Peg Leg Joe. Joe hired himself out to plantation owners as a handyman. Then he made friends with the slaves and taught them what seemed a harmless folk song—“Follow the Drinking Gourd.” But hidden in the lyrics of the song were directions for following the Underground Railroad. The Drinking Gourd is the Big Dipper, which points to the North Star. “When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls” meant spring, when travel might be least hazardous.

  As the runaway slaves followed the stars north, they would come across marks Peg Leg Joe had made in the mud or in charcoal on dead trees—a left foot and a peg foot—and they would know they were on the right trail.

  The river that “ends between two hills” was the Tombigbee River The second was the Tennessee River, and the “great big river” was the Ohio River, where Peg Leg Joe would be waiting to ferry them across to the free states on the other side. From there the fugitives were guided from one hiding place to the next until—with luck—they made it to Canada or other safe places in the North.

  Long ago,

  before the Civil War,

  there was an old sailor called Peg Leg Joe

  who did what he could to help free the slaves.

  Joe had a plan.

  He’d use hammer and nail and saw

  and work for the master, the man

  who owned slaves

  on the cotton plantation.

  Joe had a plan.

  At night when work was done,

  he’d teach the slaves a song

  that secretly told the way

  to freedom.

  Just follow the drinking gourd, it said.

  When the song was learned

  and sung all day,

  Peg Leg Joe would slip away

  to work for another master

  and teach the song again.

  One day

  a slave called Molly saw her man James

  sold to another master.

  James would be taken away,

  their family torn apart.

  Just one more night together.

  A quail called in the trees that night.

  Molly and James remembered Joe’s song.

  They sang it low.

  When the sun comes back, and the first quail calls,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom

  If you follow the drinking gourd.

  They looked to the sky and saw the stars.

  Taking their little son Isaiah,

  old Hattie, and her grandson George,

  Molly and James set out for freedom

  that very night,

  following the stars of the drinking gourd.

  They ran all night through the fields,

  till they crossed the stream to the woods.

  When daylight came, they hid in the trees,

  watching,

  listening

  for the master’s hounds

  set loose to find them.

  But the dogs lost the runaways’ scent

  at the stream,

  and Molly and James and Isaiah,

  old Hattie and young George,

  were not found.

  They hid all day in the woods.

  At night they walked again,

  singing Joe’s song

  and looking for the signs

  that marked the trail.

  The riverbank makes a very good road,

  The dead trees will show you the way.

  Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  Walking by night, sleeping by day,

  for weeks they traveled on.

  Sometimes berries to pick

  and corn to snatch,

  sometimes fish to catch,

  sometimes empty bellies to sleep on.

  Sometimes no stars to guide the way.

  They never knew what lay ahead.

  There was danger from men

  who would send them back,

  and danger from hungry beasts.

  But sometimes a kind deed was done.

  One day as they hid in a thicket

  a boy from a farm found them.

  In a bag of feed for the hogs in the wood

  he brought bacon and corn bread to share.

  Singing low, they traveled on.

  The river ends between two hills,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  There’s another river on the other side,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  On and on they followed the trail

  to the river’s end.

  From the top of the hill they saw the new path,

  another river beneath the stars

  to lead them to freedom land.

  The drinking gourd led them on.

  The song was almost done.

  When the great big river meets the little river,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom

  If you follow the drinking gourd.
br />   Then they climbed the last hill.

  Down below was Peg Leg Joe

  waiting at the wide Ohio River

  to carry them across.

  Their spirits rose when they saw the old man.

  Molly and James and Isaiah, old Hattie and George,

  ran to the shore.

  Under a starry sky

  Joe rowed them across the wide Ohio River.

  He told them of hiding places

  where they would be safe.

  A path of houses stretched like a train

  on a secret track leading north to Canada.

  He called it the Underground Railroad.

  It carried riders to freedom.

  The first safe house stood on the hill.

  The lamp was lit,

  which meant it was safe to come.

  Ragged and weary, they waited

  while Joe signaled low, with a hoot like an owl.

  Then the door opened wide

  to welcome the freedom travelers.

  They were rushed through the house

  to the barn,

  for the farmers knew

  there were slave catchers near.

  A trapdoor in the floor

  took them under the barn,

  to hide till it was safe to move on.

  Then Peg Leg Joe went back to the river

  to meet others who followed the drinking gourd.

  With danger still near, too close for ease,

  the farmer sent the five travelers on.

  He drew a map that showed the way north

  on the midnight road

  to the next safe house, just over two hills.

  This time James called the signal,

  a hoot like an owl,

  that opened the door to a Quaker farm.

  The travelers were led to a secret room

  hidden behind shelves.

  They rested here for many days

  and healed their wounds.

  Soft beds, full meals, new clothes, hot baths,

  washed away some fear and pain.

  Isaiah smiled.

  When they were strong, they traveled again

  from house to house on the underground trail,

  still following the drinking gourd north.

  Sometimes they traveled on foot,

  sometimes by cart.

  The wagon they rode near their journey’s end

  carried fruit to market

  and the runaways to freedom.

  At last they came to the shores of Lake Erie.

  Molly and James and Isaiah,

  old Hattie and young George,

  climbed aboard the steamship

  that would carry them across to Canada, to freedom.

  “Five more souls are safe!”

  old Hattie cried.

  The sun shone bright when they stepped on land.

  They had followed the drinking gourd.

  (Repeat chorus)

  The riverbank makes a very good road,

  The dead trees will show you the way.

  Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  (Repeat chorus)

  The river ends between two hills,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  There’s another river on the other side,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  (Repeat chorus)

  When the great big river meets the little river,

  Follow the drinking gourd.

  For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom

  If you follow the drinking gourd.

  Jeanette Winter is one of the most acclaimed author-illustrators working in children’s literature today. She has written and illustrated almost fifty books for young readers, including Diego, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year; My Name Is Georgia, an ALA Notable Book; The Librarian of Basra, winner of the Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for Nonfiction; and Mama, winner of the Society of Illustrators Original Art Silver Medal.

 

 

  Jeanette Winter, Follow the Drinking Gourd

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