Two Tales About Grief

Grieving Mothers, A Tale From Germany, By Karl Gander

In Guben a child of Frau P. died, and she cried excessively. Then the child came to her and said, "Mother, do not cry so much. I am deep in water. If you cry any more, I will drown." One evening another woman from the same town who had also cried excessively for her child placed the water cans upside down in the hallway of her house. The next morning she found them right side up behind the door. Then she thought, "That must mean something. I had better not cry so much, or the water cans will soon be filled with tears."



Excessive Grief for the Dead, A Tale From England, By Michael Aislabie Denham

An old woman still living in 1854 in Piersebridge, who mourned with inordinate grief for a length of time the loss of a favorite daughter, asserts that she was visited by the spirit of her departed child, and earnestly exhorted not to disturb her peaceful repose by unnecessary lamentations and repinings at the will of God; and from that time she never grieved more. Events of this kind were common a century ago.

next page
return to index