order someone punishedâor even killed if the person has done a great wrongâmy father is feared. I do not think he enjoys this job, but he has done it for many years and I have heard people saying that he is fair. (I have heard them saying this when they have not known I was listening to them.)
I have also seen people being punished. I did not want to watch, but my father told me that I should do so and that I should show no emotion or pity. That was very hard for me to do, for I do not like to see any person suffering. I watched as a man who often mistreated his wife was told to kneel before my father. Everyone was told what the man had done and reminded that all those who behaved in this way would suffer the same punishment. Then Uttomatomakkin beat the man with a stick. The man did not flinch or cry out, even though he was struck many times. When it was done, the man who had been punished stood and swore that he would never again do such a bad thing. Although I was not happy to watch, in the end it made me proud to see him behave as a man should behave.
Another of the bad things that requires harsh punishment is stealing from our own people. That is such a selfish thing, as selfish as not sharing your food with those of our people who are hungry. (Although my father, as Mamanatowic, always has greater stores of grain than anyone else, whenever there is a poor harvest, he makes certain that food is given out to all who need it.) A man or woman whose heart is greedy, who steals from his own people, is as worthless as a cracked pot. Just as water spills from a cracked pot so, too, honor leaks from a person who steals.
If someone is caught stealing three times, that person will be killed. The thief's death will not be an honorable one, of the sort that is given to enemy warriors taken in battle. During that kind of slow execution, a brave person is given the chance to prove their courage by not crying out or begging for mercy. Instead, someone who is a constant thief will be punished in just the same way one is punished for murdering one of our own people. That person will be thrown down on the great flat
pawcorance
and clubbed to death.
I have never watched anyone being executed. Even if someone deserves to die, my heart does not wish to see it. I think that I would try to stop it if I were forced to be present, even if the person was guilty of so terrible a crime as having a heart so selfish and twisted that he would steal from his own.
By stealing, I do not mean taking things from our enemies or from the Tassantassuk. When one is brave or clever enough to go into the village of an enemy nation and take something from them, that is not a bad thing. When the Coatmen first arrived, many of our people were clever enough to take many things from them. I know this because those things were always brought straight to my father. Taking things to give to the Mamanatowic is a very honorable thing, a deed that someone can brag about. Those who give them know that my father will use those items for the good of our people. So our people have obtained fine knives and beautiful jewelry to wear and even a few of the Coatmen's pots that do not break. The Tassantassuk are very careless. It almost seems as if they want to have their fine things stolen from them.
The one thing, though, that my father most wants no one has yet been able to steal. He wants some of the Coatmen's thunder sticks. But they are very cautious about guarding their weapons.
"It may be," I have heard my father say, "that the only way I will be able to get some of those new weapons will be to make their leader into one of my werowances. Then, because I will be his Great Chief, he will have to keep his promise to obey me and give me what I ask for."
18. JOHN SMITH: Trial
I will now write what followeth in my own name and give the new president his title. I shall be the briefer, being thus discharged.
I was committed to a sergeant and sent to the pinnace,
I have also seen people being punished. I did not want to watch, but my father told me that I should do so and that I should show no emotion or pity. That was very hard for me to do, for I do not like to see any person suffering. I watched as a man who often mistreated his wife was told to kneel before my father. Everyone was told what the man had done and reminded that all those who behaved in this way would suffer the same punishment. Then Uttomatomakkin beat the man with a stick. The man did not flinch or cry out, even though he was struck many times. When it was done, the man who had been punished stood and swore that he would never again do such a bad thing. Although I was not happy to watch, in the end it made me proud to see him behave as a man should behave.
Another of the bad things that requires harsh punishment is stealing from our own people. That is such a selfish thing, as selfish as not sharing your food with those of our people who are hungry. (Although my father, as Mamanatowic, always has greater stores of grain than anyone else, whenever there is a poor harvest, he makes certain that food is given out to all who need it.) A man or woman whose heart is greedy, who steals from his own people, is as worthless as a cracked pot. Just as water spills from a cracked pot so, too, honor leaks from a person who steals.
If someone is caught stealing three times, that person will be killed. The thief's death will not be an honorable one, of the sort that is given to enemy warriors taken in battle. During that kind of slow execution, a brave person is given the chance to prove their courage by not crying out or begging for mercy. Instead, someone who is a constant thief will be punished in just the same way one is punished for murdering one of our own people. That person will be thrown down on the great flat
pawcorance
and clubbed to death.
I have never watched anyone being executed. Even if someone deserves to die, my heart does not wish to see it. I think that I would try to stop it if I were forced to be present, even if the person was guilty of so terrible a crime as having a heart so selfish and twisted that he would steal from his own.
By stealing, I do not mean taking things from our enemies or from the Tassantassuk. When one is brave or clever enough to go into the village of an enemy nation and take something from them, that is not a bad thing. When the Coatmen first arrived, many of our people were clever enough to take many things from them. I know this because those things were always brought straight to my father. Taking things to give to the Mamanatowic is a very honorable thing, a deed that someone can brag about. Those who give them know that my father will use those items for the good of our people. So our people have obtained fine knives and beautiful jewelry to wear and even a few of the Coatmen's pots that do not break. The Tassantassuk are very careless. It almost seems as if they want to have their fine things stolen from them.
The one thing, though, that my father most wants no one has yet been able to steal. He wants some of the Coatmen's thunder sticks. But they are very cautious about guarding their weapons.
"It may be," I have heard my father say, "that the only way I will be able to get some of those new weapons will be to make their leader into one of my werowances. Then, because I will be his Great Chief, he will have to keep his promise to obey me and give me what I ask for."
18. JOHN SMITH: Trial
I will now write what followeth in my own name and give the new president his title. I shall be the briefer, being thus discharged.
I was committed to a sergeant and sent to the pinnace,
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