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Feathertop
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, toward whom Mother Rigby bears an unspecified grudge. 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.
38 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
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111 people want to read
About the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
5,404 books3,536 followersNathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 15, 2019
I greatly enjoyed this neglected Hawthorne work. At bottom it is a simple moral tale, decrying the posturings of the shallow “man of the world” determined to make his fortune by a good marriage, but Hawthorne creates such an effective gothic atmosphere for his narrative, enlivening it with such memorable incidents, that it has takes a positon near the top—if not quite the very top—of my list of favorite Hawthorne short stories.
It tells the story of the witch Old Mother Rigby—habitually puffing on a pipe periodically lit by the devil—who fashions a scarecrow for her own her field, but then becomes so taken with its looks that she chooses to bring it to life. She does so by making the poor straw man puff on her pipe, and when he is convincingly human in appearance, she sends her dark Pinocchio “Feathertop”—for such is the name of Old Mother’s creation—forth from the farm and the into the world to make himself a good marriage. Although he’s barely human, with only half a brain, the old witch is convinced he will be more than equal to the competition. How Feathertop fares in the world of men makes up the rest of the story.
"Never fear, mother!" said the figure, in a stout voice, and sending forth a courageous whiff of smoke, "I will thrive, if an honest man and a gentleman may!"
"Oh, thou wilt be the death of me!" cried the old witch, convulsed with laughter. "That was well said. If an honest man and a gentleman may! Thou playest thy part to perfection. Get along with thee for a smart fellow; and I will wager on thy head, as a man of pith and substance, with a brain and what they call a heart, and all else that a man should have, against any other thing on two legs. I hold myself a better witch than yesterday, for thy sake. Did not I make thee? And I defy any witch in New England to make such another!
March 2, 2022
Classic Hawthorne. Gothic mirage of shadow/light, magic/reality, goodness/naughtiness, humour and seriousness. A New England witch and her tricks at work – when is a scarecrow not a scarecrow? Nat is a born storyteller for children of all ages.
November 6, 2017
So, so so close to 5 stars. What a master Nathaniel Hawthorne was !
A witch's curse, an autumnal scarecrow, and the love of a young girl. Simple, whimsical, funny, and yet heart-breaking in the end. How do you do it, Mr. Hawthorne?
.
A witch's curse, an autumnal scarecrow, and the love of a young girl. Simple, whimsical, funny, and yet heart-breaking in the end. How do you do it, Mr. Hawthorne?
.
December 12, 2020
“Hay miles y miles de petrimetres y charlatanes en el mundo forjados como él con una misma sarta de desperdicios ruinosos, olvidados y nunca se contemplan tal como son en realidad”
December 20, 2015
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
Opening lines:
"Dickon," cried Mother Rigby, "a coal for my pipe!"
The pipe was in the old dame's mouth when she said these words. She had thrust it there after filling it with tobacco, but without stooping to light it at the hearth, where indeed there was no appearance of a fire having been kindled that morning. Forthwith, however, as soon as the order was given, there was an intense red glow out of the bowl of the pipe, and a whiff of smoke came from Mother Rigby's lips. Whence the coal came, and how brought thither by an invisible hand, I have never been able to discover.
Contents
The Birthmark
Young Goodman Brown
Rappaccini's Daughter
Mrs. Bullfrog
The Celestial Railroad
The Procession of Life
Feathertop: A Moralized Legend
Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent
Drowne's Wooden Image
Roger Malvin's Burial
The Artist of the Beautiful
5* The Scarlet Letter
4* Rappaccini's Daughter
3* Wakefield ; Ethan Brand
3* The Ambitious Guest
3* The Blithedale Romance
3* The House of the Seven Gables
3* Twice-Told Tales
3* Wakefield
4* The Marble Faun, Vol 1
4* The Marble Faun, Vol 2
3* The Haunted Mind
3* Feathertop
TR The Wives of the dead
TR Fanshawe
TR Ethan Brand
Opening lines:
"Dickon," cried Mother Rigby, "a coal for my pipe!"
The pipe was in the old dame's mouth when she said these words. She had thrust it there after filling it with tobacco, but without stooping to light it at the hearth, where indeed there was no appearance of a fire having been kindled that morning. Forthwith, however, as soon as the order was given, there was an intense red glow out of the bowl of the pipe, and a whiff of smoke came from Mother Rigby's lips. Whence the coal came, and how brought thither by an invisible hand, I have never been able to discover.
Contents
The Birthmark
Young Goodman Brown
Rappaccini's Daughter
Mrs. Bullfrog
The Celestial Railroad
The Procession of Life
Feathertop: A Moralized Legend
Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent
Drowne's Wooden Image
Roger Malvin's Burial
The Artist of the Beautiful
5* The Scarlet Letter
4* Rappaccini's Daughter
3* Wakefield ; Ethan Brand
3* The Ambitious Guest
3* The Blithedale Romance
3* The House of the Seven Gables
3* Twice-Told Tales
3* Wakefield
4* The Marble Faun, Vol 1
4* The Marble Faun, Vol 2
3* The Haunted Mind
3* Feathertop
TR The Wives of the dead
TR Fanshawe
TR Ethan Brand
April 18, 2025
The perfect Halloween story doesn't exist—
This story draws you in from the first sentence and holds your curiosity in the form of bated breath until the last page, where you release that breath like a puff of smoke.
You can recount the legend of Feathertop around a campfire whilst shining a flashlight under your face to startle and amuse your audience, or you can read it academically and analyze the deeper secrets of morality that Hawthorne found lacking in humankind when this story was written. 5 stars; no notes.
This story draws you in from the first sentence and holds your curiosity in the form of bated breath until the last page, where you release that breath like a puff of smoke.
You can recount the legend of Feathertop around a campfire whilst shining a flashlight under your face to startle and amuse your audience, or you can read it academically and analyze the deeper secrets of morality that Hawthorne found lacking in humankind when this story was written. 5 stars; no notes.
August 4, 2020
A short whimsical tale of a witch who fashions a scarecrow and brings him to life.
October 27, 2022
One of my favorites from him. This reminded me a lot of Frankenstein and the responsibility we have over the art we create and the interpretation of it by others. Themes of witchcraft referring to Hawthorne's hometown in Salem, commenting on the wretchedness of mankind who are just like the scarecrow who could never be human. Thus, the question arises, what is it to be human?
June 7, 2015
Scarecrow comes to life and seduces a young noble lady.
January 26, 2016
"I've seen myself mother, and i'll exist no longer"
October 13, 2024
I came across this short story on The Classic Tales Podcast and enjoyed it a lot. A witch uses a magic pipe to bring life to her scarecrow. The ending was sad, but had a moral to it.
— “Poor fellow,” quoth Mother Rigby with a ruthless glance at the relics of her ill-fated contrivance. “My poor, dear, pretty Feathertop, there are thousands upon thousands of coxcombs and charlatans in the world, made up of just such a jumble of worn-out, forgotten and good-for-nothing trash as he was. Yet they live in fair repute and never see themselves for what they are. And why should my poor puppet be the only one to know himself and perish for it?”
How true that statement is!
— “Poor fellow,” quoth Mother Rigby with a ruthless glance at the relics of her ill-fated contrivance. “My poor, dear, pretty Feathertop, there are thousands upon thousands of coxcombs and charlatans in the world, made up of just such a jumble of worn-out, forgotten and good-for-nothing trash as he was. Yet they live in fair repute and never see themselves for what they are. And why should my poor puppet be the only one to know himself and perish for it?”
How true that statement is!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2019
Me gustó bastante esta historia, me quedo con las citas:
"Hay miles y miles de petimetres y charlatanes en el mundo forjados como él con una misma sarta de desperdicios ruinosos, olvidados e inútiles. Y, sin embargo, viven plácidamente y nunca se contemplan tal como son en realidad. ¿Por qué mi pobre muñeco debió ser el único que se conoció a sí mismo y murió por ello?"
"...sus sentimientos son demasiado tiernos, y su sensibilidad demasiado profunda. Parece tener demasiado corazón para pelear por su propio bienestar en un mundo tan vacío y despiadado"
"Hay miles y miles de petimetres y charlatanes en el mundo forjados como él con una misma sarta de desperdicios ruinosos, olvidados e inútiles. Y, sin embargo, viven plácidamente y nunca se contemplan tal como son en realidad. ¿Por qué mi pobre muñeco debió ser el único que se conoció a sí mismo y murió por ello?"
"...sus sentimientos son demasiado tiernos, y su sensibilidad demasiado profunda. Parece tener demasiado corazón para pelear por su propio bienestar en un mundo tan vacío y despiadado"
April 22, 2024
3.5 ⭐️
“His feelings are too tender, his sen- ;
He seems to have too much heart to bustle for his own advantage in such an empty and heartless world. “
Entertaining, gothic and dark.
“Not an individual appears to have possessed insight enough to detect the illusive character of the stranger except a little child and a cur dog.”
“His feelings are too tender, his sen- ;
He seems to have too much heart to bustle for his own advantage in such an empty and heartless world. “
Entertaining, gothic and dark.
“Not an individual appears to have possessed insight enough to detect the illusive character of the stranger except a little child and a cur dog.”
March 24, 2024
That was pleasant to read and easy to understand, I liked it. There is a lot of Puritan mindset put into the story as if it was a children's story and it pervaded almost the whole text to the point that it wasn't as pleasurable as it could have been.
June 20, 2017
I really liked this short story about a scarecrow brought to life, but, even more, I really loved the play by Percy Mackaye based upon it!
August 2, 2017
He was too good to be a scarecrow. And he was too good to be a man.
February 16, 2019
What a beautiful story
January 16, 2022
A top-tier example of American Romanticism.
July 2, 2024
surprisingly sweet and sad!!
September 19, 2024
Hawthorne Hawks #65
Another yarn from Hawthorne as the quest continues unabated, and this was indeed a well written tale, with some interesting things to say.
He knows how to write this old geezer!
Another yarn from Hawthorne as the quest continues unabated, and this was indeed a well written tale, with some interesting things to say.
He knows how to write this old geezer!
July 1, 2025
Me encanto, a pesar de ser una historia de fantasía genera enseñanzas respecto al "yo" y las emociones.
July 12, 2021
First off I really wish Nathaniel Hawthorne would just stop writing about witches, every time he uses one as a plot device it’s tantalizingly close to being really interesting but just ends up being kinda lame. But despite centering a witch and her animated scarecrow “child,” this story is really about the vapid superficial nature of urban upper class life.
Narratively, this piece would really hold up as a critique of modern day suburban America if Hawthorne wasn’t so gosh d*mn pretentious about everything. He really comes across as hipster-y in the worst possible way in this one and it’s honestly quite distracting.
I picked this up as a fun little Halloween read, and I really can’t urge you enough to just read literally anything by Washington Erving instead, it will likely have much more of the crisp, October, New England spookiness you’re looking for.
Narratively, this piece would really hold up as a critique of modern day suburban America if Hawthorne wasn’t so gosh d*mn pretentious about everything. He really comes across as hipster-y in the worst possible way in this one and it’s honestly quite distracting.
I picked this up as a fun little Halloween read, and I really can’t urge you enough to just read literally anything by Washington Erving instead, it will likely have much more of the crisp, October, New England spookiness you’re looking for.
November 12, 2013
A witch gives life to a scrappy scarecrow who displays more humanity than some of the human folk around town. "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...and never see themselves for that they really are."
I lovelovelovelovelove this short story! Adorable, fresh (though it's not exactly "new"), humorous, magical and true. I read this in the anthology titled "The American Fantasy Tradition." Recommended to anyone who is not opposed to reading about magic.
I lovelovelovelovelove this short story! Adorable, fresh (though it's not exactly "new"), humorous, magical and true. I read this in the anthology titled "The American Fantasy Tradition." Recommended to anyone who is not opposed to reading about magic.
May 27, 2018
Leí este relato corto en el recopilatorio "Relatos Inquietantes para Chicos Valientes".
Me ha gustado bastante, está muy bien narrado y es original para la época.
Sin embargo, considero que es demasiado breve para su propio bien. Sé que es un relato corto, pero tengo la sensación de que se acaba justo cuando se pone interesante la historia. Pasamos bastante tiempo centrados en la creación del espantapájaros y muy poco viéndolo recorrer el mundo, quizás si el tiempo hubiera estado más repartido sería más interesante. No puedo evitar tener la sensación de que el relato corto es más un resumen de un cuento algo más extenso.
Me ha gustado bastante, está muy bien narrado y es original para la época.
Sin embargo, considero que es demasiado breve para su propio bien. Sé que es un relato corto, pero tengo la sensación de que se acaba justo cuando se pone interesante la historia. Pasamos bastante tiempo centrados en la creación del espantapájaros y muy poco viéndolo recorrer el mundo, quizás si el tiempo hubiera estado más repartido sería más interesante. No puedo evitar tener la sensación de que el relato corto es más un resumen de un cuento algo más extenso.
July 11, 2016
A witch learns that when creating a scarecrow, clothes really do make the man.
November 9, 2011
I really love this short story, perfect for the season.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews