The Story of Native American Corn
Edward Eggleston
1 When the Pilgrims came to Cape Cod, they sent out Miles Standish and some other men to look through the country and find a good place for them to settle. Standish tried to find some of the Native Americans in order to make friends with them, but the Native Americans ran away whenever they saw him coming. One day he found a heap of sand. He knew it had been lately piled up, because he could see the marks of hands on the sand where the Native Americans had patted it down. Standish and his men dug up this heap. They soon came to a little old basket full of Native American corn. When they had dug further, they found a very large new basket full of fine corn, which had been lately gathered.
2 The Europeans, who had never seen it before, thought Native American corn was very beautiful. Some of the ears were yellow, some were red. On other ears blue and yellow grains were mixed. Standish and his men said it was a "very goodly sight."
3 They wanted the corn for seed. They made up their mind to pay the Native Americans whenever they could find them. The next summer they found out who were the owners of this buried corn, and paid them for all the corn they had taken. If they had not found this corn, they would not have had any to plant the next spring, and so they would have starved to death.
4 The people that were with Miles Standish settled at Plymouth. They were the first that came to live in New England. A Native American named Squanto came to live with the white people at Plymouth. Squanto was born at this very place. He had been carried away to England by a sea captain. Then he had been brought back by another captain to his own country. When he got back to Plymouth, he found that all the people of his village had died from a great sickness. As he could speak some English, and as all his own tribe were dead, he now came to live with the white people.
5 The people at Plymouth did not know how to plant the corn they had found, but Squanto taught them. By watching the trees, the Native Americans knew when to put their corn into the ground. When the young leaf of the white oak tree was as large as a squirrel's ear, they knew that it was time to put their corn into the ground. Squanto taught the white people how to catch a kind of fish, which were used to make their corn grow. They put one or two fishes into each hill of corn, but they were obliged to watch the cornfield day and night for two weeks after planting. If they had not watched it, the wolves would have dug up the fishes, and the corn with them.
6 Of all the plants that grew in America, corn was the most important to the Native Americans. It was also of the most value to the first Europeans who came to this country.
Question
How does Squanto's interaction with the settlers affect the settlers' existence?
Responses
A It assists them in realizing that the New World is a dangerous place.It assists them in realizing that the New World is a dangerous place.
B It helps them to learn a new language, which makes them better at trading.It helps them to learn a new language, which makes them better at trading.
C It helps them to grow a new kind of crop, which proves to be valuable to them.It helps them to grow a new kind of crop, which proves to be valuable to them.
D It causes them to realize that the Indians aren't that different from the white man.It causes them to realize that the Indians aren't that different from the white man.