24th Thread: I see only sufferings in your future

I would have liked to stay in our beautiful city, in our luxurious house, with its large tiled rooms, its patios full of plants, its living rooms with plush sofas, kitchens, cellars, workshops swarming with slaves. With my mother, who was beautiful and wise, we would visit cousins, we went on cruises, we participated in sacred celebrations. Life was sweet, my daughter, so sweet. What a pity that we had to come to this province where rebellions are likely to erupt at any moment.

And if we had not come here, you would not have met this young man. I never should have let you attend this religious ceremony. If only I had known.

You were always allowed to do your own bidding, as if you were a boy, because your father had too much indulgence for your follies. Instead of learning the work of the wool, you would follow him to the farm, or to assemblies to listen to the speeches of politicians. While I stayed home, you enjoyed that boundless life, but it was not a good preparation for your role as a woman. I can try to intercede with your father, dear, but how could I bend his will? Not only this young man is indigenous, but rumor has it that he belongs to the rebels. The main role of your father in his position is to fight against the insurgency. This marriage would simply be impossible, can’t you see? If at least you cried, but the lightning cast by your eyes frightens me. Wait, don’t leave. I know you do not want to hear what I have to say, my little girl. You are tall and beautiful and accomplished, but for me, you’re still the little girl with plump arms that would throw herself down and bite the carpet when thwarted. If you joined this man, and your father will do any thing to stop you, what life shall you lead? Love does not last, it is a mirage of youth, as my mother used to say. You would be neither in one world nor in the other, an exile from both sides. What if you sacrificed everything to follow your husband and he lost interest in you? Look around you: after a few children, men neglect their wives, too busy conquering kingdoms, digging canals, erecting temples, pronouncing laws. And if it is true that this young man participates in the rebel movement, he risks being arrested, even killed. Sweetheart, listen to your mother, be reasonable, it is for your own good. Ah, like all girls, you think you know better than Mother!  If you had to go away from me to be happy, and that I were never to see you again, I would encourage you to follow your destiny. But you seek a future in which I see only suffering.