Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 3 1885.djvu/167

Rh every trifling circnmstance of the journey of her bridegroom is of great importance. "The hunting-lines kept hanging: therefore we stayed so long." Certainly the bridegroom (think the chorus, as entering into the thoughts of the bride) snatched them hastily from the bushes. He therefore asks, "Who took them from the apple-tree?" This the young bridegroom did (replies the other chorus), drawn by the centre of all attraction to youth, the kindling spark of company. But to the song itself:

III. But the damsel, his beloved, the desire and the life of his soul, for whose sake he undertook this wearisome journey, and despised every difficulty, is fled. The virgin has concealed herself from female modesty. "Where is my promised, my betrothed?" The parents and relations of the bride, who have hid her, make answer: