Ma Sally is the best cook in her county. She has a son, John, who would like to get married, but Ma Sally wants him to find a wife who can cook as well as she does. So she organises a little contest in which the young women have to prepare a dish of black-eyed peas. Whoever makes the best dish will marry John. This is a really cute, down-to-earth version of The Princess and the Pea. Here, the important thing is not being able to sleep on a pea hidden under a pile of mattresses, but knowing how to cook one! Set in an African American community, the story also has a lovely sense of community woven into it. A simple and charming twist on a familiar fairy tale.
“When Pastor Vernon stopped by the grocery for green tomatoes, Ma’am Della told him. Harriet, shopping nearby, heard.
Reginald shouted to Mr. Mosely over the noise of his barber’s clippers that John was going to choose a bride that Sunday evening. And Hannah, hidden under the hair dryers, heard.
First-grader Flannery told her brother that there would be a contest to pick the best lady in town for John. And Hattie, shelving books nearby, heard.
And on Saturday afternoon, ancient Mr. Jefferson told even-more-ancient Ms. Grady the news. And the new girl in town, fresh out of college and sharp as a tack, well, she heard, too.”
