Page:Tales by Musæus, Tieck, Richter, Volume 1.djvu/29

Rh eyes; she strove by a thousand caresses and little attentions to work herself into favour; and she so far succeeded that the good lady grew a little more communicative.

In the evening, when the wedding-dance began, she said, “Ah, child! this merry dance it might have been thy part to lead off. What a pleasure, hadst thou recompensed thy mother’s care and toil with this joy! But thou hast mocked thy happiness, and now I shall never see the day when I am to attend thee to the altar.”—“Dear mother,” answered Meta, “I confide in Heaven; and if it is written above that I am to be led to the altar, you will surely deck my garland: for when the right wooer comes, my heart will soon say Yes.”—“Child, for girls without dowry there is no press of wooers; they are heavy ware to trade with. Nowadays the bachelors are mighty stingy; they court to be happy, not to make happy. Besides, thy planet bodes thee no good; thou wert born in April. Let us see how it is written in the Calendar: ‘A damsel born in this month is comely of countenance, slender of shape, but of changeful humour, has a liking to men. Should have an eye upon her maiden garland, and so a laughing wooer come, not miss her fortune.’ Alas, it answers to a hair! The wooer has been here, comes not again: thou hast missed him.”—“Ah, mother! let the planet say its pleasure, never mind it; my heart says to me that I should love and honour the man who asks me to be his wife: and if I do not find that man, or he do not seek me, I will live in good courage by the labour of my hands, and stand by you, and nurse you in your old age, as beseems a good daughter. But if the man of my heart do come, then bless my choice, that it may be well with your daughter on the Earth; and ask not whether he is noble, rich, or famous, but whether he is good and honest, whether he loves and is loved.”—“Ah, daughter! Love keeps a sorry kitchen, and feeds one poorly, along with bread and salt.”—“But yet Unity and Contentment delight to dwell with him, and these season bread and salt with the cheerful enjoyment of our days.”

The pregnant subject of bread and salt continued to be sifted till the night was far spent, and the last fiddle in the wedding-dance was resting from its labours. The moderation of the prudent Meta, who, with youth and beauty on her side, pretended only to an altogether bounded happiness, after hav-