FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE KIRGHIZ. 501 



bathed and humiliated, he is led back to the yurt to undergo another 

 trial. If he fails in this also he is condemned to be dressed as a 

 woman, and put in the pillory. Woe to him if he is thin-skinned, 

 it will be a day of torture for him. Joking is the order of the day, 

 and no surly person will be tolerated. Whoever can best enter into 

 the spirit of it is the hero of the day; whoever is unable to take his 

 share is the general sacrificial lamb. 



During these amusements the bride sits concealed behind a 

 curtain in the back of the yurt. The young people of the aul take 

 advantage of her solitude to steal her away, while the bridegroom's 

 friends are occupied with the singing competition. They make 

 an opening between the pieces of felt covering the yurt, drag her 

 through it, put her on horseback, and carry her off unresisting to 

 the yurt of one of her relatives, where she is given into the hands 

 of the assembled older women. If the robbery succeeds, the robber 

 challenges the youths to find the bride and to deliver her from the 

 women. The company hastily breaks up, and they beg her guardians 

 to restore the bride to them. But, however persuasive their words 

 may be, their request is refused. The bride sits before their eyes in 

 a yurt from which a portion of the felt cover has been removed, but 

 violence is out of the question, so the youths begin to bargain. The 

 women demand nine different dishes prepared by the young 

 men's own hands, but, after a time, they agree to accept nine gifts 

 instead, and they give up the bride, stipulating that she shall be 

 taken back to her father's yurt. 



Meanwhile the bridegroom sits waiting in his tent. He has not 

 been quite alone, for some of the young married women had gone to 

 seek him as soon as his companions arrived, and had been received 

 by him with a respectful greeting called "taschim". He had 

 bowed so low before them that his finger-tips had touched the 

 ground, and had then raised himself slowly, letting his hands glide 

 up his shins until he had reached his full height; the women had 

 accepted his homage, and had borne him company all day, giving 

 him food and drink, and whiling away the time with talk and 

 jesting, but not allowing him to leave the tent. Not before sun- 

 down, and only after much coaxing does he receive permission to 



