{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hbs/hbs43.htm","path":"neu/hbs/hbs43.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hbs/hbs43.htm","text":"NINE dear sons and a daughter, a mother bore and bred;\nShe reared them up till they were grown and the sons were ready to wed,\nAnd the maiden ripe for marriage. And straightway asked for her\nThree suitors, a ban, and a marshal, and a neighbor villager.\nTo the neighbor the mother would give her, but her brethren to the man\nFrom over sea would give her. They said to her: \u201cMarry the ban,\nThe great lord from beyond the sea. In every month of the year\nWe will come, and every week in the month, to see thee, sister dear.\u201d\nThe sister obeyed them, and the ban from over sea she wed.\nBut behold a marvel! God\u2019s pestilence struck her nine brethren dead,\nAnd the solitary mother was left. So passed three years.\nIn her grief little Y\u00e9litsa the sister mourned with tears:\n\u201cDear God, a mighty marvel! What great sin have I done\nTo my brethren, that of all of them cometh to me not one?\u201d\nThe wives of her lord\u2019s brethren reviled her sharp enow:\n\u201cO wife of our lords\u2019 brother, a wanton one art thou,\nHateful unto thy brethren now hast thou come to be,\nThat not one of thy brethren comes here to visit thee.\u201d\nAnd little sister Y\u00e9litsa wept much both day and night;\nBut the dear God, in mercy, took pity on her plight,\nAnd sent forthwith two angels:\n\u201cGo down, ye angels of mine,\nTo the white tomb of Yovan, the youngest of the nine;\nBreathe light upon him with your breath; from the tomb frame him a steed;\nFrom the earth make cakes for the festival all ready to his need;\nOf his shroud make gifts, and get him in readiness to appear\nUpon his wedding visit at the house of his sister dear.\u201d\nTo the white tomb of Yovan the angels of God made speed;\nThey breathed upon him with their breath; from the tomb they framed him a steed,\nAnd cakes from the earth for the festival all ready to his need;\nOf his shroud they made gifts, and got him in readiness to appear\nUpon his wedding visit at the house of his sister dear.\nSwiftly went Yovan the feeble. When the house before him lay\nHis sister saw, and to meet him came forth a little way;\nAnd O her tears fell bitter, all for her sorrow\u2019s sake!\nThey spread their arms, and each other kissed, and sister to brother spake:\n\u201cDid ye not promise, brother, when ye gave me in marriage here,\nThat ye would come to see me every month in the year,\nAnd every week in every month, to visit your sister dear?\nBut ye never came to see me, though three full years have fled.\u201d\nAnd little Y\u00e9litsa further unto her brother said:\n\u201cWhy hast thou grown so dark, brother? \u2019Tis as though beneath the sod\nThou hadst been.\u201d Said Yovan the feeble: \u201cBe still, as thou lovest God.\nA hard constraint is on me. I have wedded eight brothers well,\nAnd served eight sisters by marriage; and, sister, it befell\nThat, when my brothers were married, we made nine houses white.\nTherefore, my little sister, am I grown as black as night.\u201d\nAnd little sister Y\u00e9litsa got ready. She fashioned then\nGifts for her brethren and sisters; silken shirts for the men\nShe made, and, for her sisters, fair rings and bracelets fair.\nAnd ever Yovan her brother besought her strongly there:\n\u201cDear little sister Y\u00e9litsa, I prithee go not home,\nTill on their wedding visit thy brethren to thee come.\u201d\nBut Y\u00e9litsa would not turn back; her fair gifts she prepared.\nThence Yovan started homeward, and his sister with him fared.\nWhen they were come to their home again, a white church stood thereby.\nSaid Yovan the feeble:\n\u201cSister, I prithee tarry nigh,\nUntil I go behind the church; for here at the marrying\nOf the fourth of our eight brethren, I lost my golden ring.\nLet me go to seek it, sister.\u201d\nTo his tomb went Yovan straight,\nAnd little sister Y\u00e9litsa for Yovan there did wait.\nShe waited and sought him. Nigh the church a fresh grave she espied;\nSuddenly she knew in sorrow that Yovan the weak had died.\nQuickly she went to the white house. When she was come to the hall,\nIn the hollow rooms of the white house she heard a cuckoo call.\nNay, it was not a cuckoo blue, but her mother crying sore.\nY\u00e9litsa lifted up her voice as she came unto the door:\n\u201cOpen the door, poor mother.\u201d Said the mother thereunto:\n\u201cGet hence, thou pestilence of God, nine sons of mine that slew!\nTheir ancient mother, also, wilt thou smite stark and dead?\u201d\nAnd little sister Y\u00e9litsa lifted her voice and said:\n\u201cPoor mother, open now the door! No pestilence is here;\nIt is only little Y\u00e9litsa, and she is thy daughter dear.\u201d\nShe opened the door. Each other they clasped their arms around,\nWailing like cuckoos. Mother and child fell dead upon the ground.","title":"SISTER AND BROTHER","type":"page"}