In the early days of spring, on March 1621, the Pilgrim men were gathered in the common house when the cry went up, "Indian coming!" An Indian walked toward them, asking for a glass of beer! In English! His name was Samoset, a Maine Indian visiting Massachusetts. He had previous contact with English fisherman and had learned English.
You can imagine the shock of the Pilgrims. Governor Bradford describes the event:
“But about the 16th of March a certain Indian came boldly amongst them
and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand but
marveled at it.
“He was a tall straight man, the hair of his
head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all; he asked some beer, but we gave him
strong water and biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of
mallard, all which he liked well, and had been acquainted with such amongst the
English.
He was a man free in speech, so far as he
could express his mind, and of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; he was the
first savage we could meet withal".
Samoset also brought the well known Squanto to the Pilgrims, a few days later. Squanto, a captive previous living in Europe, spoke fluent English. It would be Squanto who would ensure the survival of the small colony, teaching the English how to grow crops such as corn in the New World.
No comments:
Post a Comment