ng on the
surrounding hills. "If only no mishap befalls, to spoil everything!" he
would murmur to himself as he came down again.

On the Sunday when the banns are published for the last time it is
customary for all the friends of the young couple--and there is sure to
be a whole army of them--to assemble at the bridegroom's house, which in
the present instance was also the bride's. The banquet on this occasion
is not furnished by the bridal pair: it is a farewell supper given by
the guests of the bride and groom, each of the company contributing a
roasted fowl and a cake. The groom merely supplies the wine, but not
gratis, as all pay for what they drink, and the sum thus collected goes
into the village school fund.

On Monday morning the wedding festivities begin in earnest. At an early
hour people are awakened by the firing of cannon, after which young men
mount their horses and gallop hither and thither, and two others,
accompanied by trumpeters, go forth to invite the village folk to the
wedding and to bear the bridal gifts through the street. Then the
nuptial procession moves, amid the glad ringing of bells, from the house
of the bride to the church. The old men head the line, the young men
come next, and the women follow, while the bridegroom with his escort,
and the bride with her bridesmaids, are given a place in the middle of
the procession. On coming out of the church, the newly married pair
receive a shower of flowers from the hands of the maidens gathered at
the door. But the ceremonies at the church by no means end the wedding
festival. What follows is peculiarly characteristic and important. First
the young men bearing the bridal cake run a race from the church to the
bridegroom's house, the victor winning a silk neckerchief embroidered by
the bride. Then comes the rhymed dialogue, in which the representatives
of the bride and of the groom chaffer with each other over the bride,
but always with the result that the bridegroom's deputy gets the better
of his opponent--yet only after the bridegroom himself has promised to
be father and brother to his young wife, and to cherish her as the apple
of his eye. Thereupon the maidens form a ring around the bride, sing
songs to her to conquer her bashfulness, and so induce her to yield her
hand to the bridegroom. After this the bridesmaids escort her to her new
home--which in this case was represented by the little house that Aaron
had secretly furnished for her. Nei