Tituba of Salem Village

When the girls get together at the parsonage, they beg Tituba to read their fortunes in a deck of special cards that Pim loans Mercy Lewis. Betsey is not certain that tarot cards should be in the parsonage. Abigail reassures her, “They’re just heavy paper and they have pictures on them. Pictures of people. Kings and queens. They’re just pretty colors” (119). When Betsey gets agitated, Abigail slaps her to calm her down; Tituba intercedes and pinches Abigail roughly.

Abigail encourages the girls to get their fortunes read: “It’s all in the cards. Tituba can tell you. She can read them” (125). The girls beg Tituba to use the cards. Tituba hopes that the girls will stop pestering her if she gives in. She also worries that Abigail might tell the Reverend about the cards, and he would face a public scandal. Reluctantly, Tituba lays out the cards to tell Mary Warren her future. What she sees is dark—that Mary will cause the deaths of many—so she lies and says the cards predict a happy future married to a wealthy man in Boston. Mary is overjoyed. Abigail keeps the cards.