Household Tales · Chapter
The Shroud explained
A mother mourns the death of her seven-year-old son, weeping day and night.
What happens
A mother mourns the death of her seven-year-old son, weeping day and night. The child's ghost appears, pleading with her to stop crying because her tears wet his shroud and prevent him from resting in his coffin. The mother heeds his words, entrusts her grief to God, and the child finally finds peace in his grave.
Themes in this chapter
Transformation and Redemption
The mother transforms her grief into acceptance, allowing the child to find peace in death.
Magic and the Supernatural
The child's ghost appears in its shroud, a supernatural manifestation tied to the mother's tears.
Characters to notice
- the mother
A mother who worships her son and is inconsolable after his death; her tears disturb the child's rest.
- the little boy
A seven-year-old boy, handsome and lovable, who dies and returns as a ghost in his shroud to ask his mother to stop weeping.
Key passages
“Oh, mother, do stop crying, or I shall never fall asleep in my coffin, for my shroud will not dry because of all thy tears, which fall upon it.”
The child begs his mother to cease her weeping, explaining that her tears keep his burial shroud wet and prevent him from resting.
This plea is the central supernatural event, linking the mother's grief to the child's inability to find peace.
“Then the mother gave her sorrow into God’s keeping, and bore it quietly and patiently, and the child came no more, but slept in its little bed beneath the earth.”
The mother entrusts her grief to God and endures it calmly, after which the child stops appearing and rests peacefully in his grave.
This resolution highlights the theme of acceptance and the restoration of natural order.