00:30by Eric Metaxas, illustrated by Shannon Sternweiss.
00:37Every once in a while, the hand of God is easy to see.
00:42And for a brief moment, fairy tales and history are the same thing.
00:47This story is about one of those times.
00:53It was in the year of our Lord, 1608.
00:56Few white men had ever seen North America, but everywhere, there were various tribes
01:02of natives, some who were friendly and trusting, others who were fierce and cruel.
01:08On the chilly, gray coast of what is today called Massachusetts, there lived a tribe
01:13called the Patuxets, who were as friendly and trusting as any that lived.
01:18One of them, a boy about twelve, was called Tisquantum, or Squanto.
01:26One day, while Squanto and some other Patuxet braves were hunting for lobsters along the
01:31shore, they saw a giant vessel.
01:35It was the size of a hundred canoes.
01:38The men aboard it wore strange clothing and had hair on their faces like fur.
01:44But Squanto was not frightened.
01:47He had heard of such men.
01:49These are the men who come every few years from the world across the water, Squanto told
01:55his friends.
01:56They have come to trade with us.
01:59Squanto knew that they often brought bright beads, glinting knives, axe heads, and iron
02:05pots to exchange for animal pelts and furs.
02:08Let's see what they have brought, Squanto said, and he and his companions excitedly
02:14raced down to the water.
02:19At first, the men seemed friendly to the young braves and offered them food.
02:24But then, without warning, the men attacked.
02:28They grabbed the trusting Patuxets and threw them to the ground, tying stiff ropes around
02:33their wrists and feet.
02:35Squanto had never been so frightened.
02:38The men dragged the braves to their giant ship and threw them into the dark hold beneath
02:43the ship's deck, laughing all the while.
02:46Then they locked the hatch above.
02:51Squanto shivered in the darkness.
02:54The ropes hurt his wrists and ankles.
02:57The ship began to move, and Squanto did not know where he was going or, indeed, if he
03:03would ever see sunlight again.
03:06Why had these men done this?
03:08Squanto listened to the water lapping against the hull of the ship.
03:13Now he knew that he was leaving the world of his childhood forever.
03:17Days passed, and then weeks.
03:20They had traveled for so long that it seemed to Squanto they must now be on the other side
03:26of the sky, behind the moon and sun and stars.
03:30Where were they going?
03:34Then one day, the ship dropped anchor.
03:37At long last, they had come to land.
03:40The hatch was opened, and Squanto and his fellow captives were brought ashore.
03:45The glaring sun burned their eyes.
03:48The air was dry and hot, and everything was dusty from the great heat.
03:54Squanto did not know it yet, but he was now in the country of Spain, in a city called
03:59Malaga.
04:00One of the men from the ship roughly herded Squanto and the other braves toward a crowd
04:05of people on the dock.
04:07One by one, the braves were forced to stand before the jeering crowd.
04:12They were being sold as slaves.
04:15Squanto watched his companions as each one was sold and taken away forever.
04:21But God had another plan for Squanto.
04:24On the dock that morning stood a group of men who were different from the others.
04:29These men were called monks, and they served God.
04:32When it was Squanto's turn to be sold, one of the monks held up a small bag of
04:37heavy coins.
04:39A man from the ship snatched the coins and shoved Squanto toward the monks.
04:47As the monks led Squanto to the monastery where they lived, they spoke kindly to him
04:53in words Squanto could not understand.
04:56The monks fed Squanto, gave him a comfortable place to sleep, and helped him understand
05:01that they meant him no harm.
05:04As time passed, the monks taught Squanto their language and about their faith.
05:09They explained that the God they worshipped saw everything that had ever happened.
05:15He knows the future as well as the past, the monks explained, and all the people in the
05:20world are God's children.
05:23God loves you, they said, and he has seen all you have been through.
05:28If you will trust him, he will use those difficulties in ways you could never imagine.
05:37The monks knew that Squanto missed his family, so they tried to help him find a way to go
05:42back home to America.
05:44Finally, they came upon a good plan.
05:47But first, Squanto would have to travel all the way to England.
05:52That's where the trading ships were that sometimes sailed across the great Atlantic Ocean to
05:56Squanto's home.
05:58So about five years after Squanto had first arrived in Spain, the time finally came for
06:03him to leave.
06:05He bid the dear monks farewell and traveled northward in a ship to London, England.
06:13London was an unbelievable sight.
06:16It made the city of Malaga seem as small as the Patuxet village.
06:21There were soaring towers that seemed to touch the clouds, and long bridges that stretched
06:27all the way across the great river called Thames.
06:30All the streets were filled with people and horses and carriages, and in a great palace
06:36there lived a man whom the Londoners called King James.
06:40He was the great chief, the sachem of that entire land.
06:46The monks had sent Squanto to the home of a London merchant named John Slaney.
06:52After hearing Squanto's story, Slaney and his family welcomed Squanto into their home.
06:59As soon as I find another ship headed for America, Slaney promised, you will be on it,
07:05Squanto.
07:06Squanto's heart leaped.
07:07He was going home.
07:09But it might be a long while before such a ship is found, Slaney warned.
07:15Until then, you will stay here with us.
07:18We will teach you our language and our ways.
07:21Perhaps you will be able to pay your passage back to America by working as a translator
07:26on one of the trading ships.
07:28Squanto sighed heavily, but at least now there was hope.
07:32He would stay in London with the Slaneys and work in their stables until a ship was found
07:37that would carry him home.
07:42At last, five long years later, in the year 1618, a ship was found.
07:49Squanto could hardly believe it.
07:51It had been ten years since he had been kidnapped from Patuxet as a boy of twelve.
07:57At long last, he was going home.
08:00With tears in his eyes, Squanto bid farewell to the Slaneys and to the great city of London
08:05with all its towers and bridges.
08:08Then Squanto boarded the ship and sailed westward toward America.
08:13Far across the Atlantic Ocean, the ship stopped in Newfoundland at a large trading post where
08:19it would remain until spring.
08:22Again Squanto waited.
08:24When at last spring arrived, Squanto boarded the ship one more time.
08:29As the many days passed, Squanto thought back over the last ten years.
08:35Had he imagined them?
08:36Was he really going home?
08:41Then one day, as Squanto stood peering across the waters, he saw land.
08:47Land ho! he yelled.
08:49Hurrah!
08:50As the ship drew closer, Squanto saw that he was not far from where he had been kidnapped
08:55all those years ago.
08:57Home.
08:58Squanto went ashore and immediately began running towards his village.
09:03But something was wrong.
09:05The fields around the village were empty and untended.
09:09There was no one on the path to greet him.
09:14When he reached the village, there wasn't a soul to be seen.
09:19Not even a dog barked at his arrival.
09:22What had happened?
09:24Worried and confused, Squanto walked to the village of a neighboring tribe some miles
09:28away.
09:30There Squanto learned the terrible news.
09:33While he had been away, a terrible illness had struck.
09:36His whole village had been sick.
09:39No one had survived.
09:41This news was more than Squanto could bear.
09:44Had his years of exile and his long journey back been for nothing?
09:49How could God allow this to happen?
09:54For a time, Squanto lived with this neighboring tribe.
09:58But as he watched the happy families all around him, his sadness only grew.
10:04Finally, he went to live in the woods by himself.
10:08There Squanto sat, listening to the wind and to the birds singing in the swaying trees.
10:13As he pondered the great sorrow in his heart, he talked to God.
10:18When the trees began to bud again, a tribesman from another village came to visit Squanto.
10:24His name was Samoset, and he told an amazing story.
10:28The year before, a shipload of families had come and settled in Patuxet, in the very place
10:34where Squanto had lived as a boy.
10:37Samoset told Squanto he must come and see them.
10:40Squanto agreed.
10:44When Squanto came to the edge of what had once been his village, he marveled at the
10:49changes that had been made.
10:51Then he saw them—English people!
10:54They spoke and dressed just like those who had been so kind to him in London.
11:00Squanto rejoiced to see children again playing on the land where he himself had played.
11:06Squanto approached the English people and began speaking to them in their own language.
11:10Good morning, he called.
11:12My name is Squanto.
11:14The English were so amazed that they could not speak.
11:17How did this native know their language so well?
11:21Then Squanto told them the sad story of his kidnapping, of his time in Spain and London,
11:27and of his long journey home.
11:29Then the English people told Squanto of their own search for a home.
11:36Because these people, who were called Pilgrims, chose to worship God differently from other
11:42English people, many of them had been arrested and thrown into jail.
11:47So they had left England and traveled to Holland, where they lived for several years.
11:52But when the Pilgrims saw that their children were forgetting the English ways and were
11:56picking up the habits of the new country, the Pilgrims decided to travel across the
12:01ocean to the new world.
12:03They trusted that God would lead them to a new home.
12:07And God led us to this very spot, one of the Pilgrims said.
12:11We have named it Plymouth, in honor of the town in England where we once lived.
12:18Then they told Squanto about the terrible first winter in their new home.
12:23Half of them had died from sickness and starvation.
12:27We didn't have time to build proper houses, they explained.
12:31The winds were bitter, and the cold came in through the cracks in our huts.
12:36Many of us were already sick and weak from the long journey across the ocean.
12:40And then there wasn't enough food.
12:46As the Pilgrims told their story, the sorrow in their voices broke Squanto's heart.
12:52He knew what it was like to lose loved ones.
12:55William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth, then spoke.
13:00It is like the story of Joseph from our sacred scriptures, he said.
13:04Like you, Joseph was also taken from his home and sold as a slave.
13:09But God had a plan for him.
13:11Through Joseph, God was able to save many people from starving.
13:16What man had intended for evil, God intended for good.
13:20Then Bradford smiled at Squanto.
13:23Perhaps God has sent you to be our Joseph, he said.
13:29In the weeks that followed, Squanto felt like a child again.
13:34It was so good to see his village filled with people.
13:38The Pilgrims worked hard to learn the ways of their new home.
13:41And Squanto showed them how to plant corn by burying three kernels along with
13:46the fish for fertilizer.
13:48He taught them how to find and catch eels in the muddy streams.
13:52And he showed them the best places to look for lobsters among the sea rocks.
14:00When autumn came, the Pilgrims decided to set aside a time to thank God for
14:04his merciful blessings.
14:07They invited Squanto and the other braes from Samoset's tribe to join them.
14:11When the great day came, 90 warriors appeared from the forest,
14:16carrying deer, wild turkeys, and all manner of vegetables.
14:21This would be a great feast.
14:22When everyone was seated, Governor Bradford began to pray.
14:31Thank you, Lord, for sending Squanto to us, he prayed.
14:35We know that your hand has been on him through all of his trials, and
14:39that you have prepared him to be our guide and our friend in a time of great need.
14:44Squanto is your living answer to our tears and prayers.
14:47And in his heart, Squanto also thanked God for the Pilgrims.
14:56For they had shown Squanto that God really had used him as part of his great plan,
15:02just as the Spanish monks had said so many years before.
15:05Hallelujah, who but the glorious God of Heaven could so
15:10miraculously weave together the wandering lives of a lonely Patuxet brave and
15:15a struggling band of English Pilgrims,
15:18in such a way that would bless the whole world for centuries to come.
15:24So this Thanksgiving, when you thank God for all he has given you,
15:29remember to thank him for Squanto, the Patuxet brave who was God's
15:33wonderful gift to America in the rosy dawn of its history.
15:37I hope you enjoyed that story.
15:44If you'd like to see these books uploaded daily, go ahead and subscribe.
15:49And don't forget to check out all the other stories that are already uploaded.
15:52Thank you so much for watching.
