As Moses said, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14.13).
Such an excellent way to end everything.
106 Matching Annotations
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Oh! the wonderful power of God that mine eyes have seen, affording matter enough for my thoughts to run in, that when others are sleeping mine eyes are weeping.
This is such an incredible transformation on her part. She went through hell and came out the other side.
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Still the Lord went along with us
Is there somewhere else he had to be?
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Our son being nearest
Yes! Things are looking up at last!
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how it was buried by the heathen in the wilderness from among all Christians.
If they were six when they died, why does she insist on calling them "it"? Why not assign it the gender? Is this some sort of PTSD coping mechanism?
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I met with my dear husband
Something tells me this is not going to end well. At least she is home at last!
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wonderful power of God
I love this line -- the wonderful power of God. Wonderful, signifying joy and happiness. Power, signifying fear and strength. It's almost like putting the good with the bad.
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poor Christians’ hopes
The Christians are many things, but "poor" may not be one of them.
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(with their black faces)
Why did she have to add this in? Was it a jab at the juxtaposition between her and them?
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commonest food was ground nuts
Perhaps this is why she keeps eating nuts -- because she is the commonest and the lowest of the low.
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strangely did the Lord provide for them
She believes that the misfortunes and the blessings come from God still, but she doesn't understand why God provides for people who don't believe in Him.
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God seemed to leave his People to themselves, and order all things for His own holy ends.
I feel like Mary's relationship with her religion has grown exponentially. At first it was clinging to her idea of God, and then it was blaming God for her misfortunes, and now she is recognizing Him as a being with his own plans which she is helpless to follow. It went from worship to a sort of fear.
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ground nuts
What is everyone's obsession with nuts in this story?
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I told them, they had as good knock me in head as starve me to death
She's becoming stronger, tougher, and scarier. This is such a transformation. My goodness.
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Then I took it of the child, and eat it myself, and savory it was to my taste.
She ate the child's meat?! Maybe her captors are rubbing off on her...
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I saw an Englishman stripped naked, and lying dead upon the ground, but knew not who it was.
Doesn't being stripped naked have something to do with doing dishonor to the body? After it is dead, it's left naked, which means it means nothing.
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Some of them told me he was dead, and they had killed him; some said he was married again, and that the Governor wished him to marry; and told him he should have his choice, and that all persuaded I was dead. So like were these barbarous creatures to him who was a liar from the beginning. Home Table of Contents Close Introduction Main Body Native American and Ethnographic Texts Introduction The Peyote Cult (Plains) Of the Girl who married Mount Katahdin (Penobscot) The Origin of Disease and Medicine How Glooskap went to England and France (Passamaquoddy) Christopher Columbus Introduction Journal of the First Voyage to America, 1492-1493 (Excerpt) Narrative of the Third Voyage, 1498-1500 (Excerpt) Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Introduction Prologue Chapter VII: The Character of the Country (Excerpt) Chapter VIII: We Go from Aute (Excerpt) Chapter X: The Assault from the Indians (Excerpt) Chapter XII: The Indians Bring Us Food (Excerpt) Chapter XXI: Our Cure of Some of the Afflicted Chapter XXIV: Customs of the Indians of That Country (Excerpt) Chapter XXXII: The Indians Give Us the Hearts of Deer (Excerpt) Chapter XXXIII: We See Traces of Christians (Excerpt) Chapter XXXIV: Of Sending for the Christians (Excerpt) The Requerimiento Requerimiento The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 Introduction Letter on the Pueblo Revolt HOW THE SPANIARDS CAME TO SHUNG-OPOVI, HOW THEY BUILT A MISSION, AND HOW THE HOPI DESTROYED THE MISSION William Bradford Preface Chapter 9: Of their voyage, and how they passed the sea; and of their safe arrival at Cape Cod The remainder of Anno 1620 (Excerpt) Anno Dom: 1623 Anno Dom: 1628 (Excerpt) Anno Dom: 1637 (Excerpt) Anno Dom: 1642 Thomas Morton New English Canaan (Excerpt) Anne Bradstreet Introduction The Prologue The Author to Her Book The Flesh and the Spirit In Honour of the High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth Letter: To My Dear Children Mary Rowlandson The First Remove The Second Remove The Third Remove The Fifth Remove The Eighth Remove The Twelfth Remove The Thirteenth Remove (Excerpt) The Eighteenth Remove The Twentieth Remove (Excerpt) Cotton Mather Wonders of the Invisible World: The Author's Defence Wonders of the Invisible World: The Trial of Martha Carrier at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Salem, August 2, 1692 Decennium Luctuosum: An History of Remarkable Occurrences in the Long War Jonathan Edwards Introduction Personal Narrative (Excerpt) Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Excerpt) Sarah Pierrepont Edwards on Conversion Thomas Paine A Short Video About Thomas Paine Introduction Common Sense (Excerpt) The Age of Reason (Excerpt) Thomas Jefferson Introduction Notes on the State of Virginia (Excerpt) Letter to Nathaniel Burwell Toussaint L'Ouverture Introductory Video Toussaint's Constitution (Excerpt) Briton Hammon A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man... Prince Hall Introduction A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge Phillis Wheatley "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Judith Sargent Murray Desultory Thoughts Upon the Utility of encouraging a degree of Self-Complacency especially in Female Bosoms On the Equality of the Sexes Susanna Rowson Charlotte Temple: Volume I Charlotte Temple: Volume II Edgar Allan Poe Introduction to Poe The Black Cat The Murders in the Rue Morgue Nathaniel Hawthorne Introduction The Minister's Black Veil Young Goodman Brown Walt Whitman Song of Myself Mark Twain Introduction The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg The One Million Pound Banknote List of Full-Text Links to Texts from This Edition To the extent possible under law, Mary Rowlandson has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to The Thirteenth Remove (Excerpt), except where otherwise noted. Pressbooks.com: Simple Book Production
There's nothing like wishing to be returned to someone who has already moved on. Of all the rough things that have happened to her, this might be one of the roughest; even what she once thought of as comfort and a light at the end of her tunnel no longer exists. What is there left for her to keep living for?
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Whereupon I asked one of them, whether they intended to kill him; he answered me, they would not.
That's not what they said in the beginning. What made them change their mind?
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doleful
The mournful word returns. She's a fan of this one; it sums up her situation generously.
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Then also I took my Bible to read, but I found no comfort here neither, which many times I was wont to find.
So her religion is not helping her get through as much as it had in the past! Before, in other removes, she was relying entirely on her thoughts of God and the word of the Lord. Interesting.
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barbarous heathens,
It's been a while since she called them barbarous. Perhaps it was the mention of her son's wellbeing that sparked her memory.
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He answered me that such a time his master roasted him, and that himself did eat a piece of him, as big as his two fingers, and that he was very good meat.
Cannibalism is not okay and that is a terrible thing to say to someone worried for their son. I can't distinguish if this person is tormenting her with her son's obvious terror, or genuinely wants Mary to know what's going on with him. Could be both, or either, I suppose.
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Here one asked me to make a shirt for her papoose,
At least it's a request and not a demand this time.
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old Indian bade me to come to him
Thank goodness there's still some generosity among these people she finds herself among.
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I found six acorns, and two chestnuts, which were some refreshment to me.
That's not much of a snack. :(
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the best friend that I had of an Indian
I like how she points out -- not just "my best friend at the moment" just "my best friend that I had of an Indian". She has discrimination, as well; even though you can't really blame her, after all she's been there, it's worth noting.
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on a sudden my mistress gives out; she would go no further, but turn back again, and said I must go back again with her
That's so selfish! But I really shouldn't be surprised, considering everything Mary has told us about her.
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she snatched it hastily out of my hand, and threw it out of doors.
Again that rage against Christianity.
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“Nux,” which did much rejoice my spirit.
Wait, didn't they say they were going to kill him? Does this mean they're not as bad as she thinks?
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a Sabbath-day-morning, that they prepared for their travel
It's almost like they keep choosing the worst day for Christians to travel. Perhaps its on purpose.
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I could hardly bear to think of the many weary steps I had taken, to come to this place.
An end might be in sight!
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sell me for powder: for so they had sometimes discoursed.
A human life is worth as much as powder. My goodness.
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piece of bear
There's the reappearance of the "bear"; like when the Lord was "bearing" her spirit. Or perhaps I'm just reading too much into it.
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I never tasted pleasanter meat in my life
It's funny how even the worst of things become the best when you've been withered away to nothing.
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pancake, about as big as two fingers
That's hardly a pancake, then.
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“No,” said he, “none will hurt you.” Then came one of them and gave me two spoonfuls of meal to comfort me, and another gave me half a pint of peas; which was more worth than many bushels at another time.
This seems to be nearly the opposite of the monsters she's been describing the rest of the removes. Who are these people? Do they truly match with her personal descriptions of them?
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which was the first time to my remembrance, that I wept before them
This demonstrates how broken down she is, how they've brought her to the basest of herself. All propriety or courage has fled her, and she is weeping among the enemy.
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pagans
The merciless bunch returns.
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His wonderful power in carrying us along, preserving us in the wilderness, while under the enemy’s hand, and returning of us in safety again.
The light at the end of the tunnel. Her only retribution will be under the watchful eye of the Lord.
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the Lord hath chastened me sore yet he hath not given me over to death
This is a perfect description of what she thinks is happening to her and her relationships with her Lord.
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doleful condition
There's the word again, from the beginning of the removes. Doleful. Mourning. It's so true this time, after the death of the child.
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my son Joseph unexpectedly came to me.
At last, something good happens to her!
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Two canoes full they had carried over
I wonder just how packed those canoes were.
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God did not give them courage or activity to go over after us. We were not ready for so great a mercy as victory and deliverance.
This is so powerful. They have worn her down so much that she truly believes she is in the punishment of her Lord.
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to which they answered me they would break my face
Oh my goodness! They won't even let her abide by her own religion, despite giving her the Bible.
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I could starve and die before I could eat such things
They're using her hunger against her. Clever.
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be acknowledged as a favor of God to my weakened body, it being a very cold time.
Again, she thanks God for the goodness, when just a remove ago she was cursing Him for the death of her child. I am confused by who she thinks God is.
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my mistress to give me one spoonful of the meal, but she would not give me a taste.
Brutality through denying food. Denying warmth and denying medicine. These guys are big on denial.
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Jehu
Isn't that another reference to religiosity?
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We opened the Bible and lighted on Psalm 27, in which Psalm we especially took notice of that, ver. ult.
Again, this clinging to religion. It reunites this two women, both worried for their children and damaged beyond repair. It seems to be the only thing keeping these people fighting for their lives.
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Oh, the hideous insulting and triumphing that there was over some Englishmen’s scalps that they had taken
So revenge? We do to you what you did to us?
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They began their din about a mile before they came to us.
Goodness, you could hear them from a mile away? That's some serious partying.
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and afterward sold for a gun
Goodness, human life is worth the price of a weapon. If that's not symbolism, I don't know what is.
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God having taken away this dear child
Why does she blame God, the thing that's been keeping her alive, and not the Indians which wounded and subsequently caused the death of her child?
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where I saw the ground was newly digged, and there they told me they had buried it.
At least they didn't just leave it on the ground...
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I went to take up my dead child in my arms to carry it with me, but they bid me let it alone
This is horrible.
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I must and could lie down by my dead babe, side by side all the night after.
This makes me sick, honestly. To not even give it a proper burial, or keep it away from its grieving mother, is savagery.
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six years, and five months old
Really??? The whole time, I was picturing a child, maybe a year or less. This makes it all the worse.
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departed this life on Feb. 18, 1675
WHAT NO
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I sat with the picture of death in my lap.
This is such an incredible description, like the previous one of hell, and I am once again picturing the very worst of my imagination.
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“your master will quickly knock your child in the head.”
It seems more of a threat than a delivery. To scare her into submission. Hmm.
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I sat much alone with a poor wounded child in my lap, which moaned night and day
Wait, you didn't give any of the oaken leaves to your kid? If they couldn't have healed them, what kind of wound does he have?
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Then I took oaken leaves and laid to my side, and with the blessing of God it cured me also
Thank goodness! At least now she is healing. Things seem to be looking up, just a little bit.
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Yet the Lord still showed mercy to me, and upheld me; and as He wounded me with one hand, so he healed me with the other. T
So the narrator believes that it was God's power that wounded her and then kept her alive? She doesn't sever the connection between God and her captors. This is intriguing.
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that it was easy for me to see how righteous it was with God to cut off the thread of my life and cast me out of His presence forever
Oh. A fear of God. This is new. I am intrigued.
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how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how evilly I had walked in God’s sight;
I honestly don't believe God will be angry, especially when you're surviving on nothing and worrying about your wounded child.
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“I had fainted, unless I had believed, etc” (Psalm 27.13).
The continuous clinging to religion.
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now merciless enemies
What changed to make them "merciless enemies"? Weren't they always considered that?
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from Wednesday night to Saturday night, except only a little cold water.
Again, barbarous cruelty. This is the treatment of war prisoners; which now that I think about it, they probably are.
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my own wound, and my child’s being so exceeding sick, and in a lamentable condition with her wound
Besides the fever, the narrator really hasn't made it clear what the wounds are and how they got them. Did they get them from the cruelty of the Indians?
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they set me up behind him, with my poor sick babe in my lap
Although it's not much, this seems to be a drastic change from the animals that were laughing when she and her child pitched off of a horse. What changed, that they now save her from walking and carrying her child? Which made it through the night! Thank goodness.
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we were both alive to see the light of the next morning
Goodness, I hope they make it through the night. My heart goes out to this woman and her poor child. Though my curiosity is piqued; who wounded her, and how has she survived this long without treatment? Is the baby going to make it through the night? I guess I'll have to see.
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and having no Christian friend near me
Again, that call for God and religion. It really does seem to be the only thing that's keeping her going.
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that I must sit all this cold winter night upon the cold snowy ground, with my sick child in my arms, looking that every hour would be the last of its life
These creatures left her alone with her child, the both of them wounded, in the snow. They seem to lack the basic human decency to assist a wounded child, let alone the aching mother. This is horrible.
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fallen into a violent fever
This seems to be the very definition of "it just keeps getting worse".
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the Lord
There He is again, giving our narrator the strength to carry on. The light at the end of the tunnel.
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we both fell over the horse’s head, at which they, like inhumane creatures, laughed, and rejoiced to see it
The more and more she writes about the actions of the Indians keeping her imprisoned, I'm agreeing with her. These actions are terrible.
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carried it in my arms till my strength failed, and I fell down with it.
This is truly upsetting. It drags empathy from the reader, and all they want to do is reach out and help.
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bearing up my spirit
This made me remember the story about the Origin of Medicine -- the mention of the bear. Although "bearing the spirit" may be just a figure of speech with an intent to describe an indescribable action, using "bearing" the spirit instead of another word intrigued me. Bear is another barbarian, killing seemingly without relent or reason. The bear is a creature, as are the Indians that took her life from her.
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but God was with me in a wonderful manner
This seems to be consistent in a variety of the texts we've read in class; this dedication to religion and to God. God will save me. God was with me. In the name of God. Perhaps this was one of the only things the narrator, among the others that we've read from, had to cling onto? Especially in this narrative, where the narrator has everything taken away from her except for her wounded babe, her life, and her God. At least there's some sort of light at the end of her tunnel.
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It is not my tongue, or pen, can express the sorrows of my heart, and bitterness of my spirit that I had at this departure:
She sounds considerably heartfelt.
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were slain and mangled in a barbarous manner,
There's the word again: "barbarous". It's almost as if the narrator cannot understand why these "creatures" could "mangle and slay" men in such a manner, so she calls them barbarians. And, from what she's told us, I'm inclined to agree with her.
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all was gone (except my life)
Which isn't too bad! Your husband isn't even going to have that by the time he comes home.
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my children gone
Oh dear, where did they go? Are they alive???
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(at least separated from me, he being in the Bay; and to add to my grief, the Indians told me they would kill him as he came homeward)
I cannot actually imagine that happening. Why would you tell someone that you're going to kill their husband while they're still alive and have some sort of power to stop it?
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dolefulness
There it is again!
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who were joyful enough, though we were disconsolate
This sort of seems turned on its head. Don't these mean two different things?
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lively resemblance of hell.
I love this line! Though it's a terrible way to describe the happenings of other human beings, it is executed perfectly: it allows the reader to picture the worst thing they could possibly imagine. Incredible.
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black creatures in the night,
Again with the creatures. They're not humans -- they're animals.
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dolefulest
I can honestly say I've never heard this word used before. It means mournful.
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they intended to lodge
Who are "they"? The barbarous creatures? If so, why are you headed in the same direction? Doesn't that seem a bit counterproductive?
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barbarous creatures
Ah, yes, the dehumanization begins already.
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Truly it would have been wise and well for those of early times if they could have held their tongues.
Moral of the story! I'm still not 100% sure why all of this has to do with mountains, but I guess what I learn from this is you will be protected if you don't ask questions? I suppose it warrants further inspection.
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Ye fools, who by your own folly will kill yourselves; ye mud-wasps, who sting the fingers which would pick ye out of the water, why will ye ever trouble me to tell you what you well know? Can you not see who was the father of my boy?
I love this whole "self destruction" thing that's come about. If these people do not survive, it will be their own doing. Wow.
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they are not of those who make a great nation
They literally just wanted to know who the father was? I mean, I would be super curious if there was a kid with eyebrows made of stone and murder powers wandering around in my village. Curiosity does not make them a bad group.
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Wabanaki a mighty race
It seems unfair to be that selective. "JUST THIS TRIBE CAN BE THE BEST." If this boy has such terrifying power, can't they extend their reach a little?
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child who should build up his nation
This reminds me of the whole "child of two worlds" trope. Having a mixture of both that is meant to lead a nation seems to be a common theme, especially in ye old times (i.e. Hercules, etc).
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, it would drop dead
I'm not understand the correlation between the boy's magic, and the marriage between a woman and a mountain. I get the whole being looming and terrifying, but this is real stuff. In the wrong hands, this boy could destroy everything.
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forbade her to tell any man who had married her.
Doesn't it seem a little obvious? I mean, not many men are going to have a hand in giving the world a child with eyebrows made of stone.
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but his little eyebrows were of stone.
He gets his eyebrows from his dad.
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babe, a beautiful child
Why do they have to clarify with "a beautiful child"? Why can't they just say "bearing a babe" or "bearing a beautiful child"?
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three years she was never seen again.
Is there a significance in three years? Does it take three years to marry a mountain?
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Katahdin were a man
This doesn't seem like a normal activity, wishing mountains were men...
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would
It sort of seems like there's a missing word here? She "would" -- what would she? Gather more blueberries? Feel less lonely? It really isn't clear.
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Rain
Again, capitalization. I'm assuming this isn't going to be bringing about any old rain.
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Girl
Why is "Girl" capital? What is her significance?
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