A Worn Path

-Eudora Welty (b.1909-2001)

(This story presents an old lady’s unconscious heroism.)

Phoenix Jackson is a very old woman who has a little grandson. She regularly makes difficult journeys from her village to the town and back home to get medicine for her ill grandson. This story presents one of the journeys she makes from her village to the town.

It is a December morning. Phoenix, who is very old and small, with her head tied in a red rag, is walking along the path through a pine forest. She is walking slowly, moving side to side, with the help of a thin, small cane made from an umbrella. She is wearing a dark striped dress reaching down to her shoe-tops, and an equally long apron. Her shoe laces are not tied. Her eyes are blue. Her skin is wrinkled. Her hair is smelly. While walking along the path, she is frequently switching at the bushes on the both sides of it.

While walking up the hill, Phoenix has so much difficulty. While coming down the hill, her dress gets caught on a bush, but she is cautious enough to save her dress from being torn. She sets her dress free from the thorny bush with great effort.  After that, she realizes that it is going to be late.

On the way, Phoenix has to cross a bridge. It is made of a log laid across the creek. She is frightened. Having crossed it with much difficulty, she takes rest under a tree. Meanwhile, she has a dream. In her dream, a little boy gives her a slice of marble cake on a plate. While trying to catch it, she wakes up and finds her hand in the air.

Phoenix resumes her journey again. At a point of her path, she has to cross a barbed wire fence. She is careful not to let her dress be torn. So she creeps and crawls, spreading her knees and stretching her fingers like a baby trying to climb the steps.

Phoenix now passes through the old cotton field and enters a field that is full of dead corn stalks. She has a difficulty in finding her way through the high corn stalks. In the middle of the field, she finds a scarecrow. At first, she takes it as a man, then as a ghost. She is very much frightened. She finds a spring flowing silently on her way. She drinks the water and praises it for its sweetness.

A little further, a black dog who is hanging his tongue jumps out of a nearby bush in front of her. She tries to hit the dog with her cane, but she herself falls into a nearby ditch. She immediately loses her consciousness. She can’t come out of the ditch when she gains her consciousness again. After a while, a young hunter arrives there. He helps her out. He is carrying a dead bobwhite in the bag hanging on his back.

Phoenix sees a nickel fall out of the man’s pocket onto the ground. So, she thinks of stealing it secretly. She asks the hunter to chase away the dog which knocked her into the ditch a while ago. When the hunter goes away to chase the dog, she picks up the nickel from the ground and puts it into the pocket of her apron.  At the same time, a bird flies away and she thinks that God saw her stealing the money.

The hunter comes back a while later and points his gun at Phoenix. But she is not afraid. For this, he wants to give her a dime. He feels in his pocket, but doesn’t find any coin.

Finally, Phoenix reaches to the town. It is the Christmas time, so the town is well decorated with red and green electric lights. She stops on the sidewalk. A lady comes along in the crowd. She is carrying presents covered in colorful papers. Old Phoenix asks her to lace her shoes. The girl readily ties them for her. She thanks the lady and reaches to a stone building where she gets medicine for her grandson. There is the doctor’s office. The nurse who knows her informs the others that she is a regular visitor. She also asks about the condition of her grandson, but Phoenix sits quiet. She has forgotten about her grandson while on the way. After the nurse’s repeated queries, she regains her mind’s composure and recalls her purpose of the journey. She is there to get a soothing medicine for her grandson’s ailing throat. She would get the medicine on charity.

The nurse gives Phoenix a nickel as a gift of Christmas. She wants to buy her grandson a little paper windmill with the money.