THE UNWORTHY OLD WOMAN: BERTOLT BRECHT
AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF BRECHT'S "DIE UNWÜRDIGE GREISIN" My grandmother was seventy-two years old when my grandfather died. He had a small lithographer's office in a small Baden town and worked there with two or three assistants until his death. My grandmother took care of the household without a maid, looked after the old, rickety house and cooked for the men and children. She was a small, skinny woman with lively lizard eyes, but slow speech. She had raised five children of the seven she had borne, with very meager means. She'd gotten smaller of that over the years. Of the children, the two girls went to America and two sons moved away as well. Only the youngest, who had a weak health, remained in the town. He became a printer and laid himself a too big family. So she was alone in the house when my grandfather had died. The children wrote letters about the problem of what would happen to her. One could offer her a home, and th...