63rd Thread: You will not marry your cousin

Click on the image to see the work that inspired the drawing.

My uncle, who is my mother’s brother, worried that I might have no children. In that case, the estate I inherited from my grandmother the warrior would go to a remote cousin of my husband. He would not have that. Since my spouse was in ill health, and really only a child, my uncle made sure I didn’t stay barren. My husband succumbed to mumps when he had not reached the age of fourteen yet. I thought my uncle would marry me. I had no affection for him, but at least our union would restore honor to our lives. I know it’s complicated, I know it’s hard to hear. He took for wife a woman from an influential family, older than him. He also chose my second husband, the one you call Father. I did not have any children from that marriage either. Uncle had picked my second husband to suit his plans, and he continued with me as before. Have mercy, do not ask me for details. He also fathered the children I had during my second marriage. Yes, you too. I found solace by placing you and your siblings at the center of my world, and I withdrew from all social life. Your little worries and ills, your sorrows and your games were my only cares.

Then, one day, the plague struck our province, which we thought was safe. The epidemic is mowing down our people because of the sin committed in our family, and by many others. I do not mind that your cousin is twenty-three years older than you. But he’s your half-brother. I have suffered everything without a word, like an ewe stripped of her fleece every season, but you will not marry your brother. I’ll kill him if necessary.

This is the 63rd of 100 women who talk to their daughters over 2500 years.

Earlier times (Roman Empire):

The 29th woman preferred her life as a captive of the Barbarians.  The 28th woman gives sexual advice to her daughter (explicit).  The 27th woman resents her mother using her for her ambitions. The 26th girl feels powerless to stop her father’s violence. The 25th girl is an orphan, or is she?  The 24th woman falls for an indigenous rebel.

It all starts here: first thread, and the last stories will take place in … present day America.