"Let us gather the fruits of our first harvest and rejoice together,"
said Governor Bradford.
"Yes," said Elder Brewster, "let us take a day upon which we may thank
God for all our blessings and invite to it our Indian friends who have
been so kind to us."
The Pilgrims said that one day was not enough; so they planned to have
a celebration for a whole week.
The great Indian chief, Massasoit, came with ninety of his bravest
warriors, all gaily dressed in deerskins, feathers, and fox tails,
with their faces smeared with red, white, and yellow paint. As a sign
of rank, Massasoit wore a string of bones and a bag of tobacco around
his neck. In his belt he carried a long knife. His face was painted
red, and his hair was daubed with oil.
There were only eleven buildings in the whole of Plymouth village,
four log storehouses, and seven little log dwelling-houses, so the
Indian guests ate and slept out of doors. This did not matter for it
was one of those warm weeks in the season that we call Indian summer.
To supply meat for the occasion four men had already been sent out to
hunt wild turkeys. They killed enough in one day to last the company
almost a week.
Massasoit helped the feast along by sending some of his best hunters
into the woods.
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