Two years in the French West Indies

by Lafcadio Hearn

—"Moin pa té janmain ouè zombi,—pa 'lè ouè ça, moin!"

—"But, Adou, child, I did not ask you whether you ever saw It;—I asked you only to tell me what It is like?"...

Adou hesitates a little, and answers:

—"Zombi? Mais ça fai désòde lanuitt, zombi!"

Ah! it is Something which "makes disorder at night." Still, that is not a satisfactory explanation. "Is it the spectre of a dead person, Adou? Is it one who comes back?"

—"Non, Misié,—non; çê pa ça."

—"Not that?... Then what was it you said the other night when you were afraid to pass the cemetery on an errand,—ça ou té ka di, Adou?"

—"Moin té ka di: 'Moin pa lé k'allé bò cimétiè-là pa ouappò moun-mò ké barré moin: moin pa sé pè vini enco.'" (I said, "I do not want to goby that cemetery because of the dead folk;—the dead folk will bar the way and I cannot get back again.")

—"And you believe that, Adou?"

—"Yes, that is what they say.... And if you go into the cemetery at night you cannot come out again: the dead folk will stop you—moun-mò ké barré ou."...