Wept of Wish‐Ton‐Wish, The

Wept of Wish‐Ton‐Wish, The, romance by Cooper, published in 1829. In England it was titled The Borderers (1829) and The Heathcotes (1854). An anonymous dramatization was produced (1834) and published (1856).

In 1666 in the Connecticut settlement of Wish‐ton‐Wish the old colonist Mark Heathcote is threatened by Indian attacks, but he is aided by the advice and warnings of the mysterious stranger Submission (the regicide Goffe) and a captive Indian lad who is especially befriended by Heathcote's daughter‐in‐law, Ruth. The boy disappears during an attack, taking with him her small daughter, also named Ruth. The main part of the story deals with King Philip's War, ten years later. The Heathcote settlement is attacked by Indians under Metacomet (King Philip) and Conanchet (Canonchet), the latter being the former boy captive, now grown and a chief of the Narragansett. His wife, Narra‐mattah, is the kidnapped Ruth, and when the Heathcotes are captured, she and Conanchet save them from execution. A few days later, Conanchet's intervention in behalf of Submission and the Heathcotes results in his capture and execution in Philip's camp, following a chase by his old enemies, the Pequot and Mohegan, under their chief, Uncas. Narra‐mattah dies beside the body of her husband, and her mother dies soon afterward, “the wept of Wish‐ton‐Wish.”