The Bronze Bow

by

Elizabeth George Speare

Leah is Daniel’s younger sister. In the story, she is 15 years old, a graceful girl with long blond hair. (In appearance, she takes after their mother, who was half Greek.) However, she is childlike and afraid; having witnessed her father’s crucifixion when she was five, she’s never left her grandmother’s house. Because Leah is withdrawn, timid, and given to fits of terror, most people think she is demon-possessed. However, Leah is also loving and gentle with an appreciation for beauty. She loves and trusts Daniel to care for her, a loyalty he reciprocates, though he often feels trapped by Leah’s dependence when he’d rather be fighting the Romans. Though she is too sickly to provide for herself, Leah is a skilled weaver whose cloth fetches high prices in surrounding villages. Thacia becomes Leah’s first friend and, behind Daniel’s back, Leah also befriends a homesick Roman soldier named Marcus because she’s too innocent to fear the Romans. Leah is hungry for stories of Jesus and she presses Daniel for details about his teaching and healing, though she won’t go to him herself. After Daniel forces Leah to stop seeing Marcus, Leah falls into a deadly fever, but Jesus heals her and saves her life.

Leah Quotes in The Bronze Bow

The The Bronze Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Leah or refer to Leah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love vs. Vengeance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“You mustn’t be afraid of him. He is our brother Daniel come home. When he milks you, you must be good and stand still. See how big and strong he is. He will take care of us and keep us safe.”

Suddenly he was afraid again. He looked away, trying to shut out the sight of her with her golden hair shining in the lamplight, trying to shut out the sound of that murmuring voice. Everything he cared about and worked for was threatened by that small helpless figure.

Related Characters: Leah (speaker), Daniel bar Jamin
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

He fumbled for the words, and they came, slowly, from the depths of his memory. “‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; He maketh me to lie down in green Pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul’ […]”

Leah sank down beside him. Side by side, without speaking, the brother and sister sat and listened to the breathing of the old woman. Leah’s hand in his own was like the hand of a small child reaching out to him in trust and helplessness. It was a sign that even now the devils did not have complete dominion. Fear retreated into the shadowy corners.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Leah, Grandmother
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

[Daniel] was almost at the point of tears. Yet in the same instant such a fierce resentment sprang up in him that he dared not look his friend in the face. […] Everyone—the doctor, Leah, the neighbors, and now Simon, took it for granted that he had come home to stay. […] What about his life on the mountain? What about Rosh and Samson, and the work that must be done in the cave? Wasn’t that more important than a few farmers who wanted their wheels mended? Everything he loved […] the irresponsible life, the excitement of the raids, rose up and fought off the shackles that Simon held out to him in kindness.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah, Rosh, Samson, Simon the Zealot
Page Number: 121
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

He lay filled with meat and wine, his old comrades stretched out beside him. It was all just as he had imagined it on those endless steaming nights in the town. Yet sleep did not come. He turned over, twisting his shoulders to fit a hump in the rocky ground. In these few weeks his body had forgotten the feel of pebbles. In the same way, his mind shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a resting place […].

All at once he thought of Leah’s little black goat. Would some child in the village be hungry because of tonight's feast?

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah, Rosh
Page Number: 157
Explanation and Analysis:

Where did he himself belong?

The fire in Simon’s forge had almost gone out. He raked back the ashes, blew on the coals and coaxed it back to life. Then he opened the inner door to the house. Leah looked up at him, her blue eyes as lifeless as the fire. She had not combed her hair or bothered to get herself breakfast. With irritation he saw that the water jar was empty and that he would have to stand in line at the well with the snickering women. He bent and picked up the jar, and the bars of his cage slid into place around him.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah
Page Number: 158
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“Do the people—crowd together and push each other?”

“It’s all you can do to stay on your two feet sometimes.”

She was silent so long that he thought she had stopped thinking about it. Then she asked, “Are there children, too? […] Jesus wouldn’t let them hurt the children, would he?”

“He won't even let them send the children away when they’re a nuisance. He insists on talking to them, and finding out their names, and listening to their foolishness. It makes some of the men furious—as though he thought children were important.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Leah (speaker), Jesus
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Bronze Bow LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Bronze Bow PDF

Leah Quotes in The Bronze Bow

The The Bronze Bow quotes below are all either spoken by Leah or refer to Leah. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love vs. Vengeance Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“You mustn’t be afraid of him. He is our brother Daniel come home. When he milks you, you must be good and stand still. See how big and strong he is. He will take care of us and keep us safe.”

Suddenly he was afraid again. He looked away, trying to shut out the sight of her with her golden hair shining in the lamplight, trying to shut out the sound of that murmuring voice. Everything he cared about and worked for was threatened by that small helpless figure.

Related Characters: Leah (speaker), Daniel bar Jamin
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

He fumbled for the words, and they came, slowly, from the depths of his memory. “‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; He maketh me to lie down in green Pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul’ […]”

Leah sank down beside him. Side by side, without speaking, the brother and sister sat and listened to the breathing of the old woman. Leah’s hand in his own was like the hand of a small child reaching out to him in trust and helplessness. It was a sign that even now the devils did not have complete dominion. Fear retreated into the shadowy corners.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Leah, Grandmother
Page Number: 118
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

[Daniel] was almost at the point of tears. Yet in the same instant such a fierce resentment sprang up in him that he dared not look his friend in the face. […] Everyone—the doctor, Leah, the neighbors, and now Simon, took it for granted that he had come home to stay. […] What about his life on the mountain? What about Rosh and Samson, and the work that must be done in the cave? Wasn’t that more important than a few farmers who wanted their wheels mended? Everything he loved […] the irresponsible life, the excitement of the raids, rose up and fought off the shackles that Simon held out to him in kindness.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah, Rosh, Samson, Simon the Zealot
Page Number: 121
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

He lay filled with meat and wine, his old comrades stretched out beside him. It was all just as he had imagined it on those endless steaming nights in the town. Yet sleep did not come. He turned over, twisting his shoulders to fit a hump in the rocky ground. In these few weeks his body had forgotten the feel of pebbles. In the same way, his mind shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a resting place […].

All at once he thought of Leah’s little black goat. Would some child in the village be hungry because of tonight's feast?

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah, Rosh
Page Number: 157
Explanation and Analysis:

Where did he himself belong?

The fire in Simon’s forge had almost gone out. He raked back the ashes, blew on the coals and coaxed it back to life. Then he opened the inner door to the house. Leah looked up at him, her blue eyes as lifeless as the fire. She had not combed her hair or bothered to get herself breakfast. With irritation he saw that the water jar was empty and that he would have to stand in line at the well with the snickering women. He bent and picked up the jar, and the bars of his cage slid into place around him.

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin, Leah
Page Number: 158
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

“Do the people—crowd together and push each other?”

“It’s all you can do to stay on your two feet sometimes.”

She was silent so long that he thought she had stopped thinking about it. Then she asked, “Are there children, too? […] Jesus wouldn’t let them hurt the children, would he?”

“He won't even let them send the children away when they’re a nuisance. He insists on talking to them, and finding out their names, and listening to their foolishness. It makes some of the men furious—as though he thought children were important.”

Related Characters: Daniel bar Jamin (speaker), Leah (speaker), Jesus
Page Number: 169
Explanation and Analysis: