1070 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
worried by bis dreams 1 . The bride Gotelint was troubled by 
forebodings of evil 2 . It was generally believed that, before an 
officer of the law, the robber was helpless 3 . When the peasants 
were about to kill Helmbrecht, one of them gave him a bit of 
earth in lieu of the host of the sacrament. 4 
2. Weddings. 
Marriages were arranged by the parents (see above). They 
were based, not on love, but on a desire for wealth and com¬ 
fort 5 . The bride’s father provided a dowry 6 , and the husband 
presented his wife with a substantial gift 7 . When the future 
husband learned that he had been accepted, he bowed in the 
direction of his fiancee’s home. 8 A great wedding feast was 
prepared 9 to which all strangers were welcome 10 . The musi¬ 
cians received presents from both bride and groom 11 . A priest 
was not necessary for the ceremony, which was very simple. 
A wise old man asked the groom three times whether he would 
take the woman as wife, and then asked the bride three times 
whether she would accept the man as husband. On receiving 
affirmative replies, he pronounced them man and wife. The 
audience, which was standing in a circle around them, burst 
into song. The last act of the ceremony was that the husband 
stepped on the wife’s foot. 12 
3. Criminal courts. 
The proceedings of the criminal court were very simple. 
Five court-servants captured the gang of robbers at a wedding 
feast 13 . The theory that a robber loses his strength in the 
1 LI. 580ff. 
2 LI. 1575ff. 
3 LI. 1260ff., 1620, 1641. 
4 L. 1904. 
6 LI. 280, 1282. 
8 L. 280. 
T L1. 1327ff. 
8 L. 1461. 
9 LI. 1463ff. 
10 L. 1543. 
11 L. 1610. 
12 LI. 1507ff. 
18 L. 1613. 
