AMONG TIIE TRANSYLVANIAN SAXONS. 103 



A family council is then held as to the merits of the pretendant, and 

 the expediency of accepting or rejecting the proposal. If the latter 

 be decided upon, the maiden must hasten to intrust the silver coin to 

 a near female relation of the young man, who, on receiving it back, is 

 given thereby to understand that he has nothing further to hope in 

 that direction ; but if three days have elapsed without the gift being 

 returned, he is entitled to regard this as a consent, and may commence 

 to visit in the house, on the footing of an official wooer. In cases of 

 rejection, it is considered as a point of honor that no word should 

 betray any hint of what has passed to the outside world a delicate 

 reticence one is surprised to find in these simple folk. This giving 

 of the silver coin is probably a remnant of the old custom of buying 

 the bride, and in many villages it is still usual to talk of the JBraut 

 Ivaufen. 



To return, however, to the land of oats, where, after the harvest 

 has been got in successfully, the bridegroom prepares to make fast the 

 matter, or, in other words, officially to demand the maiden's hand of 

 her parents. It is not consistent with village etiquette, however, that 

 the bridegroom in spe should apply directly to the father of his in- 

 tended, but he must depute some near relation, or an intimate friend, 

 to bring forward the request. The girl's parents, on their side, like- 

 wise appoint a representative to transmit the answer. These two am- 

 bassadors are called the Wortmachcr, u word-makers " sometimes 

 also the Hochzeitsv titer, " wedding-fathers " and are treated with 

 marked consideration and deference during: the wedding festivities. 



Much talking and speechifying are required to transact a peasant 

 wedding correctly from beginning to end, and a fluent and eloquent 

 'Wortmachcr is therefore a much-prized individual. Each village has 

 its own set formulas for each of the like occasions long-winded, 

 pompous speeches, rigorously adhered to, and admitting of neither 

 curtailment nor alteration. The following fragment of one of these 

 speeches will give a correct notion of the general style of Saxon ora- 

 tion. 



It is the Ho chzeitsv titer who, in the name of the young man's par- 

 rents, speaks as follows : " A good morning to you herewith, dear 

 neighbors, and I further wish to hear that you have rested softly this 

 night, and been enabled to rise in health and strength this morning. 

 And such being the case, I will thank the Almighty for his mercies 

 toward you ; and should your health, and the peace and happiness of 

 your household, not be as good as might be desired in every respect, 

 so at least will I thank the Almighty God that he has made your lot 

 endurable, and beg him further to send you in future only so much 

 grief and trouble as you may be enabled patiently to bear at a time. 

 Furthermore, I crave your forgiveness that I have made bold to enter 

 your house thus early in the morning, and trust that my presence here- 

 in may in no wise inconvenience you or put you to shame, but that 



