Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/321

 Marriage Customs of the Bedu and Fellahin. 283

accommodation economises at the wedding festivities, and saves the bridal price. There is no age Hmit among the Bedu. I have witnessed the marriage of boys of twelve to girls of ten. At the other extreme, a man is considered marriageable, however old, so long as he possesses enough vitality to move his toes. For a girl to do so is considered a gross violation of decorum, however natural where all are barefoot. It is one of the charges brought against the " frenji," the European population, who, unconsciously or indifferently, defy many rules of oriental etiquette, and then are astonished that the natives do not respect them !

A Fellah likes to have at least one wife with fair skin, white teeth, and, as his poets express it, eyes like a gazelle and mouth like a quarter of a mejidi (a coin of about the size and value of a shilling) ; for the rest, muscular development is the main thing. There are certain villages, which I could name, known for furnishing wives good and cheap, — and plain ; others, where women are cheap and — less refined as to morals and manners.

Boys and girls even, not to speak of older suitors and sought, have a voice in the selection, but there is less love-making than in the desert. There is less leisure, and the needs of life are more pressing. The spokesman, visiting the girl's father, opens matters with " We have come to seek your daughter and relationship," — to which he replies what may be translated " According to your wish," but which is literally "According to your purse." Coffee is then offered. The etiquette of coffee is a science in itself In general, to decline it is a deliberate insult or declaration of enmity On this occasion, however, it may, in some districts, be declined as an intimation that the preliminaries are not satisfactory, or that diffi- culties are foreseen.

Business proceeds somewhat as follows, — " We come to you as petitioners, — and are not to be refused by God or