530 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



enter. The pursuers scattered, only the father of the deceased 

 remaining in the yard. "When they had all gone away, he went 

 into the room where the murderer of his son was sitting by the 

 mother, with a part of her mantle thrown over his knee. 



" Go out of the room," she called to him ; " I have given him 

 my oath ! " 



The old man, without speaking, set his gun in the corner, kissed 

 his son's cold forehead, and went out to make preparations for the 

 funeral. At sunset, while the people of the village were busied 

 with the affairs of their inner households, and even Arso's relatives 

 were engaged each in his own particular duties, the old lady took 

 her charge by the hand and led him out upon the mountain. As 

 soon as she had seen him at a safe distance she told him : " Now 

 my oath is fulfilled ; you must look out for yourself after this ! " 



The obligation of the oessd had terminated ; now followed the 

 pursuit of vengeance. The more industriously the family of the 

 murdered man sought for retribution, the more earnestly the 

 friends of the murderer exerted themselves to obtain pardon. 

 This state of affairs continued through two months. 



At last the whole circle of the murderer's relatives met and 

 decided to ask the father of the murdered man to remit the blood- 

 penalty to the murderer. For this they all rose — the women taking 

 their infants from the cradle and carrying them along — and went 

 in a body to Arso's father. In front of the company marched the 

 murderer, his head veiled with a linen cloth, and the gun with 

 which he had committed the murder hanging from his neck, muz- 

 zle down. Behind him walked two of his particular friends, and 

 after them the rest of the family procession. As they came near 

 the house of the avenger, they all cried out as with one voice, 

 " Aman I aman ! " ( pardon ) ; and continued the petition till 

 noon. The father of the murdered man, without seeming to 

 notice them, consulted with the members of his family whether 

 he should, according to the customary law of the country, shoot 

 the murderer at once or give him pardon. It was decided to par- 

 don him. The father advanced toward the expectant company. 

 The murderer knelt, ready to accept life or death, while the rest of 

 the procession renewed their petition for pardon. The old gentle- 

 man took the murderer's gun and discharged it into the air ; then 

 lifted the cloth from his head and kissed him, in token of pardon. 

 Then he kissed the other male members of the family procession, 

 took the murderer by the hand, led him into the house, and set 

 him in the son's place. The affair was concluded by a three 

 days' feast in the avenger's house. — Translated for the Popular 

 Science Monthly from Das Ausland. 



