APPENDIX I 



THE 'MAILEHN' AND 'KILTGANG' 



I HAVE pointed out (p. 24) the importance of the Mailehn as a fossil 

 of the old sex -customs. An extremely interesting phase of it 

 appears in a visitation of the diocese Speyer of the year 1683, 

 cited by Mone, Schauspiele des Mittelalters, Bd. ii. p. 373. We 

 read that a village called Rheinsheim had an 



abusus in juventute mit dem Lehntgen-rufen, quod fit hoc modo. Con- 

 venit juventus utraque una cum civibus et quotquot possunt domo 

 abesse ad ingressum in silvam, ubi duo designati duas ascendunt arbores, 

 sibi invicem respondentes, aliis sub illis haerentibus. Fitque hoc loci 

 pridie sancti Georgii, quando horum unus altissima voce incipit in hunc 

 modum : 



Hb'ret ihr burger iiberall 



was gebeutet euch des Kbnigs hochwiirdiger Marschall : 



was er gebeut und das soil seyn ; 



Hanss Clausen soil Margrethen Lois Buhler seyn 



drey Schritt ins Korn und drey wieder lieraus 



iiber ein Jahr gehet es ein Braut ins Hans. 



Hac ratione omnibus solutis, tarn viduis quam aliis suum assignant procum, 

 et saepe non absque gravi laesione famae et causa gravium dissidiorum, 

 immo turpitudinum, cum procus teneatur illani curare in symposiis saltu, 

 etc., ilia suo proco offerre flores, etc. 



We have clearly here a fossil of the old sex-festival the evening 

 gathering in the woods for the choice of temporary mates. St. George's 

 Day is 23rd April, but the Mailehn in many parts occurred on 1st 

 May. The reference to the Konigs Marschall is hardly an original 

 feature ; it probably refers to the custom by which, in the early 



