My name is Sarai. This is the year 1400 of Our Lord and Saviour. I am Twenty and Eight years in age.

 

I have been married to my husband Jacob since I was the age of 14. I have birthed unto Jacob five children. The third being a girl lived but only a few hours.  She had difficulty in her breathing and having a bluish tint to her skin.

 

We buried her quickly in hopes if she carried a disease we would not succumb to it. I was in despair but my husband Jacob calmed my grief.  He said, “Grieve not for she is with our Saviour.”

 

This brings me to the story of our fifth and final child. Being a boy we named him Noah. He was a healthy child and soon grew into a young man.

 

We share crop for our Master. When the fields do not provide we tend the Master’s sheep, which are plenty.

 

Noah being the age of five joined his Father and two siblings in the fields.  This being the age of his older Brothers and Sister when they began their work.  The eldest, Rachael recently married and lives with her Husband and Family.  She tends to his elderly
Grand Parents.

 

Noah was a hard worker and kept up with his Father and Brothers.  At the age of Six Noah was stricken with a fever.  I kept him home with me.  I fed him herbal stews and kept a cooling cloth upon his head.  In a few days the fever passed and Noah soon rejoined his Father in the fields.

 

But I soon learned that Noah was not as he was. He searched for his words and had a strange gait about his walk. I feared for his safety.  We live in a small community with a religious fervor.  A few years ago one of the residents began to talk loudly to him self and his words were strange.  He was taken to the local Friar who declared him, “Possessed of Demons.”  He was tortured, found guilty and put to death for this.

 

I kept Noah at home with me. But after only two weeks Jacob came to me and demanded,

“The boy must pull his share or we will all starve. He must return to his duties.”  But still I resisted. 

 

Early one morn before I awoke Jacob spirited Noah out of the house.  When I awoke and realized what had happened I quickly made my way to the fields. I begged, “Noah you must return to the cottage with me!”  But Jacob intervened, “The boy is only a little slow he is not used to the labor.  But he will soon catch up with his siblings.”

 

 

 

Being an obedient wife I returned to the cottage without Noah.  But in a short time the Master of the Manor noticed Noah’s difficulty with his speech and his strange walk.  He went to the town elders with his concerns.  The elders came and observed Noah and they too whispered among themselves.

 

They approached Jacob and demanded he hand Noah over to them. “We fear the child is possessed of Demons and may afflict others.”  Jacob stood firm and said, “This child had a fever, it is of disease, not of Demons.”

 

But the elders held Jacob back and took my Noah.  He was taken to the Friar who held him for three days.  The Friar declared him, “Possessed of Demons.”  A child of six, who at an early age declared, “Jesus is our lord and Saviour.”  An innocent child was tortured, found guilty, and killed to save his soul.

 

I no longer live with my Husband and Children.  I wander to and fro asking anyone I meet, “Have You seen my son Noah? I must find him!”  I hear the people of our community.  “Talk not to her, for she is possessed of Demons!”