The History of Little Henry and his Bearer

The History of Little Henry and his Bearer (1814) was a popular children's book written by Mary Martha Sherwood. It was continuously in print for 70 years after its initial publication and was translated into French, German, Spanish, Hindustani (1814; 1873), Chinese, Marathi (1853), Tamil (1840), and Sinhalese. Telling the story of a young British boy who, on his deathbed, converts Boosy, the Indian man who has taken care of him throughout his childhood, the book is dominated by imperialistic and evangelical themes.

Sherwood's tale blends the realistic with the sentimental and introduces her readers to Hindustani words and descriptions of what she felt was authentic Indian life. As children's literature scholar M. Nancy Cutt explains, "with this work, the obituary tract (which invariably stressed conversion and a Christian death) had assumed the colouring of romance".

In 1823 Sherwood published a female version of the story entitled The History of Little Lucy and her Dhaye, although this tale was much less popular than Little Henry, going through only four editions. In both books she "presents the children's intimacy with and love for their Indian caretakers as an early impediment to their development of a strong English identity; she then offers Evangelical Anglican Christianity, with its emphasis on the missionary impulse to convert others, as a solution to that problem". As Dara Regaignon explains, in the two stories "conversion 'saves' Henry and Lucy by teaching them that some religions and cultures are right while others are wrong" and the two children end up "civilizing" their caretakers. Sherwood ties together British nationalism with Christianity. For example, at the beginning of Little Henry, Henry can only speak Hindustani, but as he learns English he also learns the doctrines of Christianity—"the two are identified with one another entirely: the English language is the medium of the Christian education". When Henry in turn teaches Boosy to read English, he also converts him to Christianity.

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