I was taken to a farm somewhere in germany and shackled in a barn by my ankles and left there for a long time. It was the farm of the man who had kidnapped me. His wife and his son also lived there. I didn't speak german and they didn't speak french and they left me there for a long time. They fed me to keep me alive but they didn't pay me any attention as if I was one of their animals. I was so desperately homesick and depressed and wept so much and longed to be with my family again.

Ulcers developed under the shackles but I couldn't tell them. I kept trying to tell them in french that I needed them to take the shackles off to let the ulcers heal but they thought I was asking them to let me go. The ulcers grew bigger and got infected until I was so sick that I nearly died.

Then they took me inside and I was nursed back to health by (not sure who by). During that time I learned to speak a bit of german. His wife hated me so much. I could almost taste the venom in her mouth when she spoke to me. She said I was dirty and stupid and accused me of being a thief and the devils child. His son was just a pig to me. He was younger than me but treated me like a dumb animal. You could say he hated me as much as his mother did. I eventually grew to like the father and try so hard to please him because he was so much nicer to me comparatively.

I don't remember much for a long time because it was just a lot of hard work on the farm and in the kitchen etc.

One day when I was about 16 I was following a horse and cart that was being driven by the son. The left wheel either broke or fell off and the cart landed on my legs (my shins) and crushed them. I remember the pain being almost unbearable and I was bleeding. The son still wasn't kind to me even though I was so badly hurt. He still treated me like an animal.