Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/85

Rh You will?—But how could you guess it then?" This tallies capitally with the following German saying: "Zwinge mich, so thu' ich keine Sünde," sagte das Mädchen ("Constrain me, so that I shall not commit sin," said the maiden). Naturally in this case, there can be no question of any crimen osculationis, for, as the jurists have it, volenti non fit injuria.

Let us finally examine all these kisses from an ethical standpoint. We have all of us, you know, learnt from our earliest childhood that—

and popular belief adds, by way of warning, that it causes sores on the mouth. Ah, yes, that is certainly very true, but what becomes of our childish lore in the main when we attain to somewhat riper age? Now, only listen to the ballad about what happened in the case of the young Serb, in spite of all he had learnt:

Here, so people told us,

Dwells a youth industrious,

Who from ancient volumes

Late and early studies.