A Big JokeThe Story - A Big Joke is another rather humorous story that has been told over the years. In the early days of Caledonia several men stayed in one cabin while they cleared the land. They hired an Indian girl to do the cooking and cleaning for them. They all agreed she was a great cook and a nice looking girl. That first Christmas the men shot some partridges and gave them to the Indian girl to cook for them. She baked them right in the coals with their feathers still on them. The men could not believe how good the partridges tasted cooked this way. Later the men got into the rum and as they drank they talked about the great meal they had just had. The conversation turned to about the Indian girl and how good she was. As the bottle of rum emptied they started convincing themselves one of them should marry the girl. After all they had been out here for a long time without the comfort of a woman. Each one of them asked her, but she did not understand them and thought it was just a big joke. This did not stop the men; they figured they could convince her. They decided to draw straws and the lucky winner would take her for his wife. They could travel the next morning to Annapolis Royal and find a pastor to marry them. The next morning she did not put up any resistance and they were happily on their way. It was nice sunny winter day, and the man was very joyful. But after only a few miles out they heard a wild yelling that was coming from somewhere behind them. They stopped and listened, did not hear anything so started off again. Then they heard it again, only this time even closer. This time it was easy to tell it was an Indian whoop and the girl started to become very scared. The whooping came again and the girl started crying and yelling “my husband, my husband!” Right about then a very large Indian warrior came into sight yelling like a mad man and waving a large knife. The man did not stop, he took off on a dead run with the Indian warrior right at his heels. He managed to keep ahead of the brave all the way into town where he ran right down to the wharf and jumped on the first ship he could find. He appealed to the Captain who hired him right away. They sailed out that night leaving the area far behind him. It was years before the poor fellow decided to come back to this area. Even after all that time no one had the heart to tell the fellow it had all been a big joke. The other guys in the cabin had hired the Indian to chase after the fellow and they paid the girl a shilling to say it was her husband.
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