Story: A Ghost Mother

In the small town, there was a young couple who were deeply in love with each other. After married, they longed to have a child, a fruit of their love. Two years later, the woman was pregnant, and her husband was overjoyed with the new. The villagers were happy for them.

As the young couple waited for their child, they dreamed of their wonderful future like how many kids they will have, how many boys, how many girls, and who will their children look like more. On her delivery day, the moment that supposed to the happiest moment of their lives ended tragically.

The woman had a difficult delivery. When the midwife asked the husband of whom he wanted to save, the man could not speak word while tear streamed down his face. Unlike her undecided husband, in the mid of the pain, the woman told the midwife to save her child. After it seemed like endless hours, the midwife brought out the weak baby, who was injured during the delivery, and a bad new. She could not save the mother.

Holding the newborn son, the man broke down in tear. The young child seemed to know about the loss of his mother and influenced by the misery of his father, he joined his father in crying.

Looking at the newborn child, the fruit of their love and the life that his beloved wife sacrificed her life to save, the man decided to seize his mourning. He stood up and went in the delivery room to see his wife one last time. Seeing the lifeless body lay on the bloody bed, he saw the smile on her face. He knew that she had no regret in her decision. At this moment, he promised his wife that he would use all in his power to take care of their child and raise him up to be a wonderful young man.

After the funeral of his wife, the man was troubled. How could he nurse his son? He had no experience, and both of his and his wife’s parents already passed away. He doubted his ability of raise his child. He ended up hire an old woman to take care of his son during his early age.

The strange thing happened. The child cried nonstop during the day, and he would not drink milk. Yet, at night, the child was quiet. Seeing the child not drinking his milk, the man became worried.

One night, he visited his son’s room to see how his son sleeping. He saw the old nurse already returned to her room. Her action of leaving his young son alone and went to sleep angered him. He decided that he would fire her the next day and find a caring nurse.

As he about to open the of his child’s room, he heard a soft humming. Terrified of the thoughts who would be in his son’s room at this time, he wanted to storm in but afraid that the person inside would hurt his son. The man softly opened the window and looked inside.

He saw that his son was cradled in the arm of a woman. As the woman turned side to side, he saw her face. The woman was his dead wife. Terror crept in his mind, but at the same time, he longed to see her face. It was only few days since her funeral, but he missed her so much. He knew this was her spirit. She must have worried that he could not take care of their child that her soul could not rest peacefully. Unknown why she did not visit him but only visit their child, he knew she must have her own reason. Determined to be a better father so his wife would not be worried, he stood outside the window to see how she takes care of the baby.

Mother and Child. Link

On the next day, he fired the lazy nurse. Every night, he stood outside his son’s room and learned how to take care of the baby from his wife. He saw her got milk from the cow and warmed it up before feeding their child. He saw how she changed the baby’s diaper, how she helped the baby burps, and how she put the child to sleep. During the day, he would apply the same techniques to take care of his son. Surprisingly, his son stopped crying during the day and drank the milk happily.

This situation continued until the child’s first birthday. At this time, the man had become a better father. He loved how things were: his child grew up healthily and he could see his wife at night. Yet, that very night, thing changed. When he repeated his daily routine of watching his wife feeding and putting their son to sleep, she turned around and looked at him. He froze not because he was afraid of her, but he did not want anything to change.

His wife looked at him and smiled. She told him that she knew he stood there all the time, but she could not speak or look at him because if she did it would be the last they see each other. He asked why did she did it now when she knew the consequences because they could live forever pretending that she did not know he knew about her existence. She replied that her time was gone, and now, she was content to see that he could take care of their child and himself. She said she had to go because she wanted him to move on and find his new happiness instead of mourning for her death. Then, she handed him their son and kissed the man for the last time before she disappeared. The man held his son and cried.

Time passed. The young baby grew up to be fine young man, standing next to his old father in front of his mother’s grave.

Author’s Note

I based this story on the Dead Mother in the Russian Fairy Tales. The original version ended with the woman disappeared and the child died after the husband and the kinsmen stormed into the room and saw her nursing the child. I think the original ending was confusing and sad. In my version, I still kept most details, but I changed that fact the husband’s love overcame his fear. I saw made a change about the baby’s death and explain why the woman’s spirit returned. I hope to keep the theme while make the story less tragic.

 Bibliography.  W. R. S. Ralston.  Russian Fairy Tales. Link