Blacaman the Good, Vendor of Miracles Summary

After a hilarious opening scene in which a poisonous snake accidentally bites Blacaman and swells up like a blimp while rolling around on the ground laughing hysterically, the assembled crowd buys all of his nostrums. The narrator, who refers to himself as Blacaman the Good, is fascinated with the shyster and asks if he can learn some of his magic, especially fortune-telling. Blacaman tells the young man quite seriously that he already has the thing most important to learn—the face of an idiot. The narrator describes talking to his father that night and being sold to Blacaman the Bad for a few coins and a deck of cards. The pair take off to make their way in the world, but although Blacaman the Bad is very skilled they find themselves starving...