Edited by Rhyly Bell
Disclaimer: Parts of this remove have been edited to enhance the understanding of the text and for grammatical errors.
We took up our packs and along we went, but a wearisome day I had of it. As we went along I saw an Englishman stripped naked, and lying dead upon the ground, but knew not who it was. Then we came to another Indian town, where we stayed all night. In this town there were four English children, captives; and one of them my own sister’s. I went to see how she did, and she was well, considering her captive condition. I would have tarried1 that night with her, but they that owned her would not suffer it. Then I went into another wigwam, where they were boiling corn and beans, which was a lovely sight to see, but I could not get a taste thereof.2 Then I went to another wigwam, where there were two of the English children; the squaw3 was boiling horses feet; then she cut me off a little piece, and gave one of the English children a piece also. Being very hungry I had quickly eat up mine, but the child could not bite it, it was so tough and sinewy, but lay sucking, gnawing, chewing and slabbering of it in the mouth and hand. Then I took it of the child, and eat it myself, and savory it was to my taste. Then I may say as Job 6.7,
“The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.”
GNV VERSION (ROWLANDSON’S) AND NRSV VERSION (MODERN)
Thus the Lord made that pleasant refreshing, which another time would have been an abomination.45 Then I went home to my mistress’s wigwam; and they told me I disgraced my master with begging, and if I did so any more, they would knock me in the head. I told them, they had as good knock me in head as starve me to death.
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Tarried: stayed longer than intended ↩
Rowlandson’s claims that the Native Americans starve her are inconsistent. See removes five, seven, and fourteen ↩
Squaw: a racist slur toward Indigenous women. See Nancy J. Parezo and Angelina R. Joneson’s Journal Article What’s in a Name?: The 1940s-1950s “Squaw Dress to read about the history of the word “Squaw” ↩
A feeling of hatred or disgust ↩
Rowlandson portrays the Native American’s as “savages”, even though every day she becomes more like them. Here, she describes herself eating like the Native American’s and enjoying it. She says if she did so any other time, it would be an “abomination” as she is a “civilized” Christian woman ↩