An old woman sends her three daughters to a Bad Merchant for food, but each daughter fails to obtain help. Frustrated, the mother beats them, eventually killing Whetstone and then the other daughters. Overwhelmed by grief and despair, she ultimately takes her own life, ending the family’s suffering in a brutal cycle of violence.
Source
Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russianized Natives of Eastern Siberia
by Waldemar Bogoras
The American Museum of Natural History
Anthropological Papers, Vol. 20, Part 1
New York, 1918
► Themes of the story
Family Dynamics: The narrative centers on the relationships within a family, highlighting the interactions between the mother and her daughters.
Conflict with Authority: The daughters’ reluctance to obey their mother’s commands and the ensuing consequences illustrate a struggle against parental authority.
Tragic Flaw: The mother’s inability to manage her frustration and anger leads to the demise of her daughters and herself, showcasing a fatal character flaw.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Yukaghir people
Told by Annie Shkuleff, a Russian creole girl aged twelve years, in the village of Pokhotsk, Kolyma country, winter of 1896
An old woman had three daughters. One was Stone-Scraper, another was Scraping-Board, and the third was Whetstone. The old woman sent Stone-Scraper to the Bad Merchant. She said, “Go to him and ask him for some food.” Stone-Scraper said, “I will not go.” Stone-Scraper refused to go. The old woman gave her a flogging, and said to Scraping-Board, “Go to the Merchant.” Scraping-Board said to Stone-Scraper, “Let us go together!” They went out, and stood for some time outside. Then they came back. They did not enter the Bad Merchant’s house. They said to their mother, “The merchant was not at home.” She sent Whetstone, “Go to the Merchant, ask him for some food.” Whetstone went out, and also stood for some time outside. Then she went back, “Why did you come so soon?” cried the mother. “He is not at home.” The old woman went herself, and said to the Merchant, “Were my girls here, have they lied to me?”
► Continue reading…
He said, “They were not here.” She went back and gave them a thrashing. She flogged Whetstone to death, and sent the other back to the Merchant. They went and stood at the door, without speaking. “What do you want?” said the Bad Merchant. “Go away!” So they went. They told their mother, “The Merchant drove us away.” She grew angry, ran to the Merchant and reproached him with tears. “Why did you drive away my little girls?” — “They had nothing to do here,” said the Merchant. “And now I will drive you away too. Be gone!” She went home. There she sat down on her bed and cried bitterly. She cried for a long time, then she jumped up and killed both her daughters. She struck them on the head with a club. After that she sat down again on the bed and cried more bitterly than before. She took her knife and stabbed herself through the heart.
That is all.
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