Excerpt
Jolie and Beau were running on the braided rug road in The Land of Sha Bebe. They kept running out of the doll land and into the sugarcane field on foot, until they arrived at Emily’s home in human land. Madame Poulette told them to go quickly after having approval, instead of letting them out of the fields on the magic flying quilt as usual. Why? They didn’t know. So they ran as fast as they could.
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In enchanted parts of the sugarcane fields of Louisiana, there live a bunch of rag dolls called Sha Bebe. Stories of them were told to me when I was a child, but I didn’t believe until 1991 when two of the dolls came running to me while I was rocking on my back porch.

I live in a small town called Mathews. It was a lovely, warm fall afternoon on October 11. My daddy had passed away in April, and I was still sad. My joie de vivre had slipped away from my heart. Thoughts of what a wonderful man he had been still kept slipping into my mind. I was a mature woman of forty-four with two children of my own away at college, but I missed him because I loved him so much, and now my mama was sick in the hospital which added to my sadness. My husband Henri was away at work for fourteen days. He traveled the river, unloading goods at different ports.

I was alone on this day. All of the dishes had been washed and picked up. The bed sheets had all been changed with the white linens that had been dried outdoors on the clothes line. I love the outdoor smell of fresh clean linen. The hardwood floor was shinning from a fresh coat of wax, and the whole house smelled of fig preserves that I had just finished cooking. So, with nothing left to do at the moment, I decided to go on my back porch and sit in my rocking chair with my cat Kato.

While holding Kato on my lap, I was staring into the 40 acres of sugarcane fields that surrounded me, along with so many beautiful oak trees that were full of moss at this time. The whooshing sound of the stalks of sugarcane swaying back and forth from the warm eastern breeze had a soothing effect on my soul. The radio was still on in the kitchen, and I could hear "Shake That Cajun Thing" playing.

Such an upbeat sound caused my feet to start tapping on the wood board floor of the porch. Even Kato loved the music. He had nestled himself on my lap and was purring so loudly that it sounded as though he was humming to the song. I had been rocking back and forth for at least fifteen minutes when, all of a sudden, I thought that I was daydreaming. Planting my two feet firmly on the floor, I threw a long, hard look to the sugarcane fields and then rubbed my eyes, but they were still running towards me, each with a gold box in their hands.

A boy and a girl rag doll ran up the flight of twelve steps, came onto my porch, and both sat next to me on my rocking chair. My cat was still rolled up on my lap and wasn’t at all bothered by the dolls’ entrance into his territory.

"Hello. My name is Jolie," said the girl doll. "And this is my friend Beau," she continued as she pointed to the boy doll. "We’ve come to bring you love and kindness and to make you happy. My name means pretty in French, and Beau’s name means handsome. We each have a box of our land’s candy for you," she said as both dolls handed me a gold box filled with candy. "What’s your name?"

Still thinking that I was daydreaming, I looked at both of them with a confused look, and I answered in a rather shaky voice, "Hello. My name is Emily."
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Read more of the folklore........
88 pages with photos.

Once we come into human land, we can never go back again to that magic place. Jolie begins to explain the magical doll land to the human named Emily.

"There’s no magic here in your land, and we stay in human land until we are given up by the human. Your world is much different. There’s so much anger and jealousy here. In your land you think highly of material things. And money is most important. We have no money in our land. There are no wants and desires when everything is enchanted. Humans have to deal with wants and desires because they lack magic. And these desires get in the way of love and kindness. Really, the magic is always there. It’s just that humans haven’t learned how to use it yet. They depend too much on material things."

I listened to Jolie very carefully. "I know many people who want and desire more than what they can have. Then, they get angry if they don’t get what they want. I stay away from people with such burning desires because they have no love inside of them."

"Good for you," said Jolie.

"Why would you want to come into human land?" I asked. "You have all that you need in your land."

"We don’t want to stay in the sugarcane fields," said Jolie. "Our mission is to bring happiness to humans. Everyone in life has a purpose, and this is our purpose. When we are called to come to a human, something changes inside the human heart. You told us that we made you happy, and your life was changed by us coming to you. Right, Emily?"

"Yes," I admitted. "The burdens in my heart feel much lighter. I love that you are with me. I may have found comfort in another way or another time, but I see what you mean about your purpose in life. This was your time to come to me and I understand."

"Everything must change," Jolie continued. "If things don’t change, there is stagnation, and no one wants to be like a muddy old ditch of water that rots and stinks up everything. Right?" Jolie said with a giggle.

Beau wonders why the Cajun angels are flying so low.
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No one leaves the sugarcane fields without the Queen's seal! It's a rule!
The Cajun Angels always fly over all the lands to protect and bring hope.

This first tale tells of the story of Emily (a 44 year old woman), and how the dolls came to her in her time of grief to console her and to make her happy again after the loss of her Dad. Jolie and Beau definitely helped her through her time of grief, and they told her everything of the Magical Land of Sha Bebe, where no human has ever gone.

Or have they?

Is there a way for humans to get into the Land of Sha Bebe by following the braided rug road?

While waltzing along the braided rug road
Waltzing along the braided rug road
Dancing and dancing we all sing this song
While waltzing along the braided rug road

Also, the books are at libraries in Louisiana and also in our tourist welcome centers.

Thank you so much!
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Dedicated to the Spirit of Louisiana
All rights reserved. All characters and titles are protected by copyright law to Mary Lynn Plaisance.
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