Reading Notes: "The Jealous Wife"

The story of "The Jealous Wife" was very sad.I could see this being inspired by a true story. A man with two wives leaves to work in the Bush. When he returns he discovers that his eldest wife killed their son. She intended to kill the younger wife's son. The eldest wife was jealous because she felt that the son of the younger wife was more intelligent. She thought that she could get rid of the child while his mother was fishing for the family. After she killed the young boy, she realized she had killed her own child by mistake. She wrapped her son in her arms and fled to the forest. In her grief, the mother rocked the boy in arms and sang to him. She begged him to wake from his endless sleep, but he never did. When the father found her in the woods he poisoned her and spread her ashes in the wind. This story provides a lot of options to write an original story with dark elements. The ending could be changed to create a more favorable outcome.

                                                   Wake From Your Endless Slleep...photo

Bibliography:
Congo: "The Jealous Wife" written by Richard Edward Denette (1898)
Congo: The Jealous Wife