I wonder if the author has read Hans Christian Andersen. I still remember reading The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf as a kid. A story about a girl who used a loaf of bread as a stepping stone to go over a pool of mud. And then sank into an evil underworld where she was tortured by scary creatures, starved, and paralysed for many dozens of years (enough for everyone she knew to die), while a few visions of people on surface recollecting her sins. She never returned back to earth.
The positive powers have won because I think the prideful girl regretted her action in the end, but even as a kid this struck me as extremely over the top punishment.
Keep in mind that in the 19th century a loaf of bread was the difference between life and death many a time. It's difficult to understand why people took food so seriously until you've gone through some amount of starvation yourself.
Nah. It was just a Mom trying to terrorize a child into being careful with the bread she baked. Probably because it was inconvenient to Mom. Folks beat kids back then for talking back, for spilling milk, for looking at them wrong. No need to justify the over-the-top punishment - it was par for the course for kids.
The positive powers have won because I think the prideful girl regretted her action in the end, but even as a kid this struck me as extremely over the top punishment.