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Throughout winter we had no contact with the coat-men. Some of the older warriors say the strangers carry weapons that can take a swift bird from flight at a great distance. I can only imagine what these weapons would do to a lumbering man on the ground.
After a time scouts returned to the place of the cleared land and saw that the big ship was gone. I busied myself helping the snipe clan gather bark for our winter wetus and continued to practice my hunting skills. My wish was that the strangers had gone back across the sea. I could tell this is what others wished as well, especially the older men. Our wishes, though, were not granted. The coat-men have been discovered north of Paomet at Patuxet, where our tribe once lived.
Many moons ago, when I was a small child, we were nearly wiped out by a great sickness. Something evil curses that place, for our scouts report that the coat-men are half the number they were, and ache for food. There is the beginning of a break among us regarding what to do. Some want to let the strangers perish. It is clear they have no skill with planting or fishing. Others say that if this group perishes, there will be others. Helping these in their time of need might forge a valuable friendship.
Two among us have lived among the coat-men and call them "English." Samoset is a sagamore of the Abenaki who has been visiting our sachem for some moons now. Tisquanto lived at Patuxet before the great sickness and was kidnapped by other English seamen. He was taken across the ocean and sold into slavery before escaping, but returned to find his people dead or gone. Both warriors speak the strangers’ language — Tisquanto argues fiercely to help them and make peace. Others aren’t sure of the warrior who lived with the coat-men for so many years. Father says the sachem doesn’t trust Tisquanto.
Samoset has proposed a compromise. He will approach these English alone with two arrows — one with a stone point, the other without a tip. We are prepared for war or peace. Let the English decide whether they want our help.
Diary entry of 12-year-old Pometacomet, a fictional member of the Pokanoket tribe of the Wampanoag nation.
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Explain why Samoset's two arrows represent war and peace. Put yourself in the place of the Pilgrims, how would you respond to this offering? |
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Wetu: Wampanoag shelter made by tying together saplings and covering them with either woven grass (summer wetu) or bark (winter wetu)
Sagamore: chief/sachem (different nations used different words for their leaders)
Sachem: chief
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