Buried alive - Short story

"For evil to triumph, it is only necessary that the good do nothing."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Político y escritor irlandés.

Buried alive

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There is a subtle difference between being evil and being heartless; the first commits actions that are morally evil, perverse; the second, is cruelty, they show absolutely no compassion, they are inhuman, ruthless.

The stepmother of the stories that Mom told us during story nights, I would say that they are evil, heartless and psychopaths. Bad, very bad and no hint of regret or sorrow.

Now, seeing it with adult eyes, I am intrigued by the repeated presence of stepmothers in ancient children's stories. Would it contain the intention of sowing fears? Or, perhaps, that more value would be given to the mother? The truth is that the surrogate mothers of the stories are evil and heartless. And, in this other story, we will observe it again.

This is a sad story about a little girl who was being raised by a woman whom her father married after being widowed. The girl's mother was very good and raised her children in an environment of love, but she got sick and died leaving them small. The girl had a younger brother whom she always kept distant from her stepmother so she wouldn't do evil. So she tried to keep the house tidy and perform all the duties he had as an obligation, plus those of his little brother, so that the lady of the house had no excuses to hit them and mistreat them. But, even so, the climate of terror imposed was suffocating.

One day, the stepmother came out, as always. Not without first counting the fruits of a fig tree in front of the house one by one and then telling the girl:

-Martha, I'm going out. I don't take long. Do not open the door to anyone. Be careful that you can think of picking up a fig from the bush, look that I have them counted!

And, the girl, all scared, trembling at the threat of the woman's facial expression and her words, replied:

-Don't worry ma'am. My little brother and I don't like that.

The woman looked at her menacingly and left.

After a while, an old woman knocked on the door and the girl replied from the inside that who she was, that she could not open the door to anyone on the order of her stepmother. Then, the old lady with a very sweet voice told her:

-Daughter, what I came here was to ask permission to take a fig from the fig tree, because I haven't eaten all day.

The girl was moved and said to the old woman: -Okay, ma'am. But, I only took one because my stepmother said I had them counted and if only one is missing, she may not realize.

When the stepmother returned, it was almost night and they both slept. However, the woman went to get the girl out of the room and in bad ways she claimed that a fig was missing. The girl explained what had happened and the woman became enraged by hitting the girl until she fainted. Then, faced with the barbarity committed, she resolved to bury it at the foot of the fig tree. She told the father that when he returned, Martha was not there and Pablito was asleep.

The father, all upset, believed him and went to file the complaint with the authorities, who sought, asked and when they did not get answers, left the case open.

After a while, Pablito was sent to uproot the grass that had grown in front of the house and when he began his homework, he heard a voice that, singing softly, said:

-Little brother, for being my little brother, do not tear my little hair that my mother has buried me for a fig that has been missing.

The boy was alarmed, but he thought that he had heard badly or had imagined it and he took the grass again, so he heard again:

-Little brother, for being my little brother, do not tear my little hair that my mother has buried me for a fig that has been missing.

Then, he ran to his dad who had just arrived and told him what happened. The father gave notice to the authorities and excavated at the foot of the fig tree, finding the girl who did not seem dead, but asleep. The woman was arrested and imprisoned, but the girl could not come back to life.

This story told by Mom, as always, does not have an original source, but it left us impressed, silent for a while. And, among the questions that later arose, he highlighted: -If I wasn't alive, how did I sing? -Why did he kill her for a single fig? -What is a fig? -Why didn't the girl wake up? - Do children who do not obey kill them? Some questions had no answers. But, something was clear, evil has no justification or forgiveness.

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By Zeleira Cordero @zeleiracordero.

21/09/2019

Phrase

The image is from Pixabay CC0 Creative Commons:

Grave by artbejo

Separators:

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Simplemente Gracias

For your kind reading, simply THANK YOU

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