The Siege of Jerusalem narrative makes readers identify with, not pity, its Jews

Evidence

Compassion is generated by her description as “a myld wyf” and (even after she eats her child) “that worthi wif,” by the “rewful wordes” she addresses to the little body before she consumes it, and by the generosity she shows (“yit haue I saued you som”). Although the narrative has accordingly been characterized as showing “sympathy” for the besieged Jews, it would be more accurate to say that it encourages the Christian reader to identify with them. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 274

Categorization

• CANDY: The cannibal mother’s line ‘yit haue I saued you som’—saving you some—is a darkly comic detail worth sharing.