`POCAHONTAS' MORE FICTION THAN FACT, PROFESSOR SAYS

The movie "Pocahontas" is more fiction than fact, a Southeast Missouri State University history professor says.

"Disney plays fast and loose with history to weave a good story," B. Gene Ramsey said.

The animated movie deals with the Indian princess, who allegedly saved the life of Jamestown settler John Smith in 1607.

Pocahontas, which means "playful one," was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. He reportedly was about to kill Smith with a stone war club when Pocahontas intervened.

In his writings, Smith recounted that Pocahontas placed her head upon his and begged her father to spare him.

Fortunately, for legend and Disney, Powhatan gave in.

Whether Smith and Pocahontas ever met, is a subject of debate among historians.

But Ramsey said killing an enemy with a war club was a common practice among Indians.

Smith's account of the incident could be true, although even some of Smith's contemporaries questioned the story, Ramsey said.

But the Disney movie takes the story a step further, turning it into a colonial Romeo and Juliet.

Ramsey said there is no evidence Pocahontas and John Smith were ever in love. "Romeo and Juliet, that sounds like pure Disney."

By most accounts, Smith was 27 and Pocahontas, 12, when the two reportedly met. In the movie, both look about 17.

In fact, Smith may have kidnapped Pocahontas and kept her prisoner to keep Chief Powhatan in line, Ramsey said.

The settlers would have had no trouble noticing her. "She did cartwheels naked down the middle of the street. She really entertained the early settlers," Ramsey said.

Around 1613, she fell in love with settler John Rolfe, who helped develop the tobacco industry in America. She became a Christian and was baptized as Rebecca.

In 1614, Pocahontas married Rolfe and traveled with him to London in 1616 to raise funds for the struggling Virginia colonists.

While there, she died of smallpox.

While the movie may be more a fairy tale than history, Ramsey said "Pocahontas" probably will encourage more Americans to take an interest in Indian history.

It also should be entertaining.

"I hope it is a good romance," Ramsey said.