By Patrick Chamoiseau, from Slave Old Man, which will be published next month by the New Press. The book was originally published by Gallimard in 1997. Chamoiseau, who is from Martinique, is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction. His novel Texaco won the Prix Goncourt. Translated from the French by Linda Coverdale.

The Master has never seen this. He releases the howling mastiff. At the end of the thick rope, he follows it along the skirt of the tall trees. And there, among the twisted roots, the lace of ferns, the monster does not know…