Mother Goosed: The Tale of HindaElla--Part I

Once upon a time there lived a poor woodcutter and his wife and daughter. The woodcutter never seemed to be able to provide properly for his family as he had been expecting that his wife's parents would fork over a lot of money at his wedding, a circumstance that never materialized. Because he had no other way to make parnoseh, being sure that schooling was a waste of time, he was forced to do manual labor. This he laid at his wife's door every night. His wife took it for as long as she could, but when she got sick after having her only child, she had no will no push herself to live. Soon enough she died.

Normally the woodcutter would have been extremely upset to find that his only child was a daughter, but even this uneducated man could see the potential in the girl. She was stunning even as a small child. "Someone will pay for this one, and pay dearly," the woodcutter thought to himself.

On the death of his wife the woodcutter suddenly found himself forced to do women's work as well as his own, a state of affairs that didn't suit him at all, and so he looked around immediately for a second wife. His financial state did not keep him from being regarded as a good catch, as there were more women then men around. Within a few months he had landed himself a rich widow. Now this was how marriage was supposed to be. The fact that she came with two daughters of her own was a bit of a problem, but the way she looked in a sweater and the way her money looked when it was under his control went a long way toward resigning him to two more brats to raise.

Pity this poor second wife. Her first husband had married her for her looks as well. When she produced two daughters instead of two sons he was not well pleased, especially since the daughters, far from resembling their beautiful mother, were average at best. In fact, they resembled him completely in every way. So he set about, when he remembered them at all, to make sure they would compete well for husbands who would bring honor to him and take over the expense of keeping them up. They were dressed stylishly to attract attention and were well versed in the arts of dancing, light conversation and waving a fan just so. They thus developed a competitive streak, with others and with each other as well.

Just to keep up appearances the woodcutter would occasionally go out and pretend to do some work. As the woodcutter was daydreaming one day about his wife's money, he lost concentration and swung his axe wrong. Death was instantaneous. His poor wife was now left not only with her own children but with her second husband's daughter as well.

Poor woman. She tried, she really tried, but no matter what there was going to be no peace between the three girls. Her daughters recognized in HindaElla some real competition, and HindaElla, well HindaElla wanted no part of any of it.

To Be Continued