THE 'MAILEHN' AND ' KILTGANG' 409 



Here we see the May queen no longer as a chaste maiden, but 

 as the " woman in scarlet seated on a high place." As representa- 

 tive of a Myletta a goddess of fertility she is worshipped by the 

 whole populace, and her cantica diabolica, the winnasonge, for a time 

 carry the very priests of the new faith along in the spirit of the old 

 heathen sex-festivals. 



Closely allied to the summer Mailehn is the Kiltgang. This 

 meeting at night of the young folk of both sexes is again singularly 

 suggestive of the old group habits. On the one side it has de- 

 generated into the slipping of the Bua or Bursch secretly to his 

 sweetheart's window whence the Swiss proverb that " one does 

 not go in wooden shoes to kilt " ; on the other, we find the word 

 denoting a series of festive winter gatherings in the Spinnstube. 

 The Bursch might be received at the window favourably or un- 

 favourably. The maid might not reply to his song or entreaties at 

 all ; she might abuse him ; she might hand him bread or wine from 

 the window, or she might admit him into her chamber. The 

 fenstern, gdsslein gen, z'chilt gd, Swabian fugen, was certainly not such 

 an innocent pastime as some writers have tried to persuade us. It 

 was a visit not only to the window, but inside the chamber, and 

 numerous mediaeval police regulations and sermons show us that 

 it was strongly disapproved of by both the civil and religious 

 authorities. Now it is singular that the name for this night-visit 

 should also be used for village winter meetings of maids and youths 

 in the Spinnstube (Kunkelstube, Karz, etc.) These meetings, owing 

 to the license which accompanied or followed them, were also looked 

 upon with suspicion, and even subject to police supervision. 1 

 Thus, "welche auch ohn erlaubnis ein korz oder gunkelstuben 

 halten bei nachtlicher weile, soil des biiszen mit eim mittelfrevel " 

 (Schmid, Schwabisches Idioticon, p. 220). The Kilt or Kelte is essen- 

 tially a night-gathering for games, talk, and possibly work. The 



1 In Blaubeuren the Lichtstuben for both sexes were forbidden ; the watch- 

 man or constable had to report them, and fines of three to four florins were im- 

 posed on all found present at one. Elsewhere the housewife was made responsible 

 for the good behaviour of the assembly. In 1642 we find a Swabian regulation 

 that only women shall be present, and that the meetings shall be held in 

 respectable houses, for they had in the past been associated with places and 

 hostesses of bad fame. In 1652 we have another ducal order forbidding the 

 abuses known as the Kunkelhauser and Rockenstuben altogether. Clearly their 

 frequenters were little better than the compulsory inmates of the old university 

 spinning-houses in England. 



