Note 442 — SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS (continued 5)

After this there came a time when the bridegroom’s younger brother began to dislike his sister-in-law, and he sought in many ways to abuse her, saying rude things to her at times. At first the sister-in-law paid no attention to his abuse.442 One day she made bread from corn grits, and she gave a loaf of it to her hostile brother-in-law, saying: “I have made this for you.” But he seized it rudely, exclaiming: “Do you mean to insult me? I will not eat such bread as that; it is not fit to eat.” With these words he tossed the loaf of bread into the fire. Without a word of remonstrance the young woman cast herself down on her couch and covered her head in sorrow; and she remained thus until her husband returned. At once he asked the cause of her sorrow. At first she refused to tell him. Finally, however, he prevailed on her to do so. She said: “Lately your brother abuses me at every opportunity. I made him bread of the best material I had, and he sneeringly threw it into the fire. So I will go home to my mother. If you desire to accompany me, you may do so. It will require as much time for me to return to my home as it required to come here. When my mother sent me she did not expect me to return to her home again. But I must go, and all that I brought with me shall go back with me. All is due to your brother’s fault. This is why I am sorrowful.” Her husband was deeply grieved at the prospect for his people, and he sought to persuade his wife to change her resolution, but he could not induce her to remain.