Edited by Rhyly Bell
Disclaimer: Parts of this remove have been edited to enhance the understanding of the text and for grammatical errors.
A comfortable remove it was to me, because of my hopes. They gave me a pack, and along we went cheerfully; but quickly my will proved more than my strength; having little or no refreshing, my strength failed me, and my spirits were almost quite gone. Now may I say with David
“I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down like the locust; my knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth of fatness” (Psalm 119.22-24).
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At night we came to an Indian town, and the Indians sat down by a wigwam1 discoursing, but I was almost spent, and could scarce speak. I laid down my load and went into the wigwam, and there sat an Indian boiling of horses feet (they being wont to eat the flesh first, and when the feet were old and dried, and they had nothing else, they would cut off the feet and use them). I asked him to give me a little of his broth, or water they were boiling in; he took a dish, and gave me one spoonful of samp2 and bid me take as much of the broth as I would. Then I put some of the hot water to the samp, and drank it up, and my spirit came again. He gave me also a piece of the ruff or ridding of the small guts, and I broiled it on the coals, and now may I say with Jonathan,
“See, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey” (1 Samuel 14.29).
GNV VERSION (ROWLANDSON’S) AND NRSV VERSION (MODERN)
Now is my spirit revived again; though means be never so inconsiderable, yet if the Lord bestow3 His blessing upon them, they shall refresh both soul and body.4
Thanks to Project Gutenberg for providing the digitized version of this text free of charge. Without their generosity, this project would not be possible.
Wigwam: a domed-shaped house made of wood that the Indigenous peoples built for shelter ↩
Samp: coarsely ground corn ↩
bestows ↩
Rowlandson relates nourishment to her religion, as well as her physical being. In the Bible, food is used metaphorically and literally. It’s believed that having faith in God will “satisfy your ‘hunger'” (see Psalm 1:07:9). This paragraph shows how she simultaneously “feeds” her Christian morals and her stomach, which gives her the strength to go on ↩