Up from the Ashes: The Story of Jim, Miss Watson's Former Slave

'Huck,' I say affer ketchin m' breff, 'I kin only 'gree wid whut ch'all's bin a sayin, and y'all's gittin me all stirred up to git some o' dat knowledge in my brain, too, cuz ol Jim he want to be successful. I wants to fine my wife an chillin so's we kin be togedder once mo as a famly. An den I wants us to stay togedder as a famly fuh eber mo. An I wants m' wife an chillins to be smart an edjucated jes as y'all's a bin 'splainin.'

'Right on!' Huck say, an den he add diss curious 'splanation: 'Jim, as you noted a moment or two ago, this really is the first time for me to speak this way. But I hasten to add that for quite some time this new mode of communication has been rummaging around inside my head and crying for expression. Though it might have sounded relatively smooth to you, since you've never heard me speak in this style before, it has been a struggle to verbalize my thoughts in this manner. But I love it! There's a certain smoothness about it that entices me, and I hope the same will rub off onto you. Indeed, Jim, we must make good use of our time together because I'll be heading out West after we get you established up in Illinois, from where you and those who end up assisting you there can proceed to locate and retrieve your wife and family.'

Hearin Huck say he soon gonna hed out West send kind of a chill through me cuz dat mean ol Jim soon gonna be on his own in diss big wide worl. An I done noticed dat dey wuz a mitey big diffrence 'tween de worl o' sclabery an de worl o' free mens an womens. In de former I wuz gen'raly tol whut to do and when to do it; now dat I wuz in de latter it wuz up to me, by an large, to 'termine de drekshun in my libe. In de former when Miz Watson she say jump, I 'mediately aks how high! Now it's mo or les up to me to 'termine how high I wants to jump. An all deez things dat ol Huck wuz a sayin hab me all stirr'd up to do sompin 'portant wid my libe.

Floating down the river with Huck was the beginning of the beginning for me, and I suppose also for Huck. For it was he who first inspired me to set my sights on a distant star; and in my journey toward that supernal goal, I soon came to realize that Divine Providence had led me to you, for you and our children and grandchildren are integral, indeed inseparable, parts of my star. In our epic journey together, we have burned many bridges; and out of the ashes of those bridges we have risen like the mythological Phoenix to embrace this marvelous light. . . .'