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A fairly typical Russian story is "The Woman Who Made Her Husband Miserable."
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A peasant had a wife he could not control. Whatever he tried to do, she disobeyed him and made him miserable. Finally no longer able to tolerate her, he pushed her into a deep pit. For a few days he was happy. Then he became lonely and went to find his wife. When he lowered a rope into the pit for her, to his great surprise a gnome came up instead. The gnome was distraught over his few days with the difficult woman, and begged the husband to protect him. In exchange he offered to make the man very rich. The husband agreed. The gnome kept his word, and the husband became a wealthy man. No longer needing the gnome, the man tricked him into falling into the pit again. The man then married a beautiful young woman, while his old wife spent the rest of her days in the pit with the gnome.
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In modern times, despite extensive communist rhetoric about gender equality, life continued to be harsh for women in Soviet and post-Soviet regimes. Discrimination has been prevalent in employment even though over 90% of the female population works full-time. Women carry a crushing double burden of full-time work and full-time household responsibilities with little help from their husbands or the government. In some rural areas such practices as female slave markets, private wife exchanges, and wife murders may still persist.
Many British stories on the other hand show wives mainly as Good Women married to the Boss. These women suffer ill-treatment without complaint. Only a few British folkstory wives are Shrews or Wise Women. The compliant attitude of women has been noted in British history. According to Anderson and Zinsser:
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The majority of [British] peasant women throughout the centuries accepted the circumstances, the attitudes, and the necessities of survival even though they were left vulnerable and
subordinate.
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The story, "The Woman Who Was Sold," shows a woman's quiet response to ill-treatment by her husband.
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A poor tailor was very cruel to his good wife. Not wanting her any longer, he decided to offer her for sale. She willingly agreed. He put a rope around her neck and walked with her through the town. At first the townspeople saw this as a big joke. But then a decent old man bid for her. When they got to his house, she rewarded him with money she had hidden in her stocking. Thereafter the old man took good care of her. Her husband meanwhile was ridiculed as a cuckold by the townspeople.
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In this story, the wife's only reaction to extreme violence was her willingness to be sold. Neither she nor the townspeople spoke out against a hateful brute. The townspeople even saw the husband's brutality and the wife's submissiveness as humorous.
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