Articles by Initial Letters
Élhetetlenség
Arany Piroska was born in 1931 in the eastern Hungarian town of Derecske where she grew up and then worked as a school teacher. Since the 1960s she has been writing down stories heard there from her grandparents and extended family. folkMAGazin has been publishing selections from her book “Kendőmesék” (Magyar Kultúra Kiadó. Győr, 2008). These are stories of woman’s life in rural Hungary. This one is Rozáli’s story – a young wife who according to the usual custom, lived with her husband’s family. When the husband was called into the military, Rozáli with her young daughter continued living with his mother. The mother-in-law was a very unpleasant woman who made Rozáli work day and night doing all the work of the farm and household. When Rozáli’s daughter began school and needed a winter coat, the mother-in-law wouldn’t help, but finally came around after some very careful coercion. Years later, after Rozáli’s death, the daughter tearfully unpacks her mother’s wardrobe and finds old, now unexplained, traces from that difficult time.