Villagers confront Hazel after she angrily threatens young Yolanda with a thick stick, blaming the child as a jinx responsible for the family's misfortunes. Sue accuses Hazel of profiting from Yolanda’s dead father's compensation and raising the girl only as unpaid labor. Hazel insists she adopted Yolanda because the child's father was her husband's elder brother and that she has fed her. Yolanda begs a kind woman who once saved her to take her in to escape an abusive aunt. The woman agrees to take Yolanda if Hazel won't, forcing Hazel into an immediate, unresolved choice.