Plot summary

In seventeenth century New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

, 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

Scarecrow

A scarecrow is, essentially, a decoy, though traditionally, a human figure dressed in old clothes and placed in fields by farmers to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.-History:In Kojiki, the oldest surviving book in Japan...

 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.

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

Mirror

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...

, 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 utterly rejected by Polly, he deliberately breaks 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.

Publication history

"Feathertop: A Moralized Legend" was first published in two parts in The International Magazine, edited by Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Rufus Wilmot Griswold

Rufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15 years old. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842...

, in February and March 1852. It was later collected in 1854 as part of Mosses from an Old Manse

Mosses from an Old Manse

Mosses from an Old Manse was a short story collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1846.-Background and publication history:...

.

In other media

The story, much embellished, was dramatized in 1908 as The Scarecrow

The Scarecrow (play)

The Scarecrow is a play written by Percy MacKaye in 1908, and first presented on Broadway in 1911. It is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Feathertop", but greatly expands upon the tale...

, a full-length, four-act romantic melodrama by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 poet-playwright Percy MacKaye

Percy MacKaye

Percy MacKaye was an American dramatist and poet.-Biography:MacKaye was born in New York City, New York. After graduating from Harvard in 1897, he traveled in Europe for three years, residing in Rome, Switzerland and London, studying at the University of Leipzig in 1899–1900...

. Most of the characters were re-named, Mother Rigby (renamed Goody

Goodwife

Goodwife , usually abbreviated Goody, was a polite form of address for women, formerly used where "Mrs.", "Miss" and "Ms." would be used today. Its male counterpart is Goodman...

 Rickby) was given a definite reason to hate the Judge, Polly (now known as Rachel) was given a fianceé who is constantly jealous of the Scarecrow, and the story was given a more poignant and sentimental ending. And although The Devil never actually appears in "Feathertop", he is one of the major characters in The Scarecrow. The play was adapted as a silent film in 1923 under the title Puritan Passions

Puritan Passions

Puritan Passions is a 1923 silent film directed by Frank Tuttle, based on Percy MacKaye's 1908 play, The Scarecrow, which was itself based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Feathertop". The film stars Glenn Hunter, Mary Astor, and stage actor Osgood Perkins. It follows the play faithfully,...

. The play was also presented on television in 1972, with a cast headed by Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder

Gene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...

 and Blythe Danner

Blythe Danner

Blythe Katherine Danner is an American actress. She is the mother of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow.-Early life:...

, and featuring Pete Duel

Pete Duel

Pete Duel was an American actor, best known for his role in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.-Early life:Peter Ellstrom Deuel was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in nearby Penfield....

, Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd

Norman Lloyd is an American actor, producer, and director with a career in entertainment spanning more than seven decades. Lloyd, who currently resides in Los Angeles, has appeared in over sixty films and television shows....

, Will Geer

Will Geer

Will Geer was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons....

 and Nina Foch

Nina Foch

Nina Foch was a Dutch-born American actress and leading lady in many 1940s and 1950s films.- Personal life :...

 in support.
Feathertop itself was adapted twice into a silent film 1912, 1916 and twice for television. The first television version was presented in 1955 as part of the General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...

, with a cast that included Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

, Carleton Carpenter

Carleton Carpenter

Carleton Carpenter is an American movie/television/stage actor, a magician, author and songwriter....

, Dick Elliott, and Emory Parnell

Emory Parnell

Emory Parnell was an American vaudevillian and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36 year career...

. The second television version was presented in 1961 by ABC-TV

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 as a musical special, starring Hugh O'Brian

Hugh O'Brian

Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...

 and Jane Powell

Jane Powell

Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer and actress.After rising to fame as a singer in her home state of Oregon, Powell was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer while still in her teens...

, with Cathleen Nesbitt

Cathleen Nesbitt

Cathleen Mary Nesbitt, CBE was an English stage and film actress.-Biography:Born in Cheshire, England in 1888, of Welsh and Irish descent, Nesbitt was educated in Lisieux, France, and at the Queen's University of Belfast and the Sorbonne...

 and Hans Conried

Hans Conried

Hans Georg Conried, Jr. was an American comedian, character actor and voice actor.-Early years:He was born on April 15, 1917 in Baltimore, Maryland to Hans Georg Conried, Sr. and Edith Beyr Gildersleeve. His mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna,...

.

"Feathertop" is mentioned in Bill Willingham's

Bill Willingham

Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...

 comic book series Fables. He makes a brief appearance in the prose story "A Wolf in the Fold" from the Fables trade paperback, where he accompanies Snow White

Snow White (Fables)

Snow White is a major character in the comic book series Fables. Her character is based on two myths recorded by the Brothers Grimm, Snow-White and Rose-Red and the more famous Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.-Early life:...

 on her trip to Carpathia to convince the Big Bad Wolf

Bigby Wolf

Bigby Wolf is a major character in the comic book series Fables. He is the Big Bad Wolf of legend and served as the sheriff of the exile community known as Fabletown for several hundred years...

 to join their community.

MacKaye's play has also been made into an opera, also called The Scarecrow, on two occasions - once in 1945, by Normand and Dorothy Lockwood, and again more recently, with music by Joseph Turrin and libretto by Bernard Stambler.

"False Young Man!" in the collection Dark Mondays is a variation on "Feathertop."

External links

• "Feathertop" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, online at: OnlineLiterature.com