Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 162.djvu/152

140 Some one in the name of the parents gives the following answer: — On hearing this, the young girl's desire for matrimony appears to be somewhat cooled down, and she sings, —

The parents, however, do not close with this offer of their daughter, and are of opinion that she has lived with them quite long enough: —

Towards the close of the ceremony the bride's hair is cut to about the height of her shoulders, her wreath is taken off, and she is solemnly invested with the cap, which henceforward marks her as a matron. This taking off of the wreath has given rise to countless songs and rhymes : one of these is as follows, and was sung at Magda's wedding: —

Madame Wolska had presented Magda with sheets and pillow-covers on her marriage; and she sent down supplies of apples and sausages, white bread and brandy, to furnish the wedding feast. But though there was good fare in plenty, there was no sense of gaiety among the wedding guests; the impression left by the cholera was as yet too recent to be got rid of. None of the usual games and jokes were practised on this occasion; there was little singing, and no dancing, and not a single man drank more wódki than was good for him. It was all as decorous, and nearly as dull, as a court ceremony. Nevertheless, all the details of the ceremony were carefully observed; and when the loaves were cut, the "Song of the Wheaten Bread," which belonged to the village programme, was sung, inserting as usual the names of the new-married couple. SONG OF THE WHEATEN BREAD.