Feathertop
| "Feathertop" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Published in | Mosses from an Old Manse |
| Publication date | 1852 |
"Feathertop" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1852. The moral tale uses a metaphoric scarecrow named Feathertop and its adventure to offer the reader a conclusive lesson about human character. It was first published in 1852. It has since been used and adapted in several other media forms, such as opera and theatre.
In seventeenth century New England, the witch Mother Rigby builds a scarecrow to protect her garden. She is so taken with her own handiwork that she whimsically decides to bring the scarecrow to life and send it into town to woo Polly Gookin, the daughter of Judge Gookin, with whom Mother Rigby had unspecified prior dealings. Once the stuffed man does come alive, Mother Rigby gives him the appearance of a normal human being - and a pipe, on which the scarecrow must puff to keep himself alive.
Judge Gookin meets the scarecrow, whom Mother Rigby has named Feathertop. Feathertop is introduced to Polly, and the two begin to fall in love. But when Polly and Feathertop gaze into a bewitched mirror, they see Feathertop reflected as a scarecrow, not as a man. Polly faints, and the now-terrified and anguished scarecrow rushes back to Mother Rigby, where, knowing himself for what he really is, he deliberately throws away his pipe and collapses in a lifeless heap. Mother Rigby reflects, "There are thousands upon thousands of coxcombs and charlatans in the world, made up of just such a jumble of wornout, forgotten, and good-for-nothing trash as he was! Yet they live in fair repute, and never see themselves for what they are," and decides that her "son" is better off as merely a scarecrow.
Hawthorne first offered the tale to John Sullivan Dwight, who had asked for a contribution to Sartain's Union Magazine in November 1851. He demanded $100 for it. He admitted to John Sartain that the fee was a high one and noted, "I myself would not pay it, were I in the chair editorial". Instead, "Feathertop: A Moralized Legend" was published in two parts in The International Magazine, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, in February and March 1852. It was the last new adult tale Hawthorne wrote.
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