And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.
Ver. 28. Give thy son, that we may eat him.] The like fell out among the Turks and Tartars in Hungary; a the Germans in Transylvania, 1604; the Tunetans in Africa; and the English here in Edward II's time, A.D. 1316: so terrible was the famine, that horses, dogs, yea, men and children, were stolen for food; and the thieves newly brought into the jails were torn in pieces, and eaten presently, half-alive, by such as had been longer there. b
a Turk. Hist., 1060.
b Purch., Pilgrim., 289. Speed, 674.