stood
round them crying, trying in vain to comfort them. After dinner the
bride was again urged to get up, but maidenly modesty and her
dutifulness to her parents still forbade her to obey. No one should
have any reason to say that she was anxious to go. She wanted to show
how loath she was to leave her parents, and every one was praising her,
and saying that such a dutiful daughter would make a filial
daughter-in-law.

But even the most ardent filial piety could not put off the hour of
separation much longer. At last she was dragged from her bed by the
women who had to prepare her for her journey, and she reluctantly
submitted to the preparation. Her hair was shaved all around the
edges, the hair in front, which used to make the fringe for the
forehead, was pulled out. Then her hair was combed straight back to
show that she was now to enter the ranks of the married women. Then
she was powdered and painted, and dressed in her bridal attire, which
consisted of a red skirt, and red cloak, beautifully embroidered in
bright colours, but rather the worse for wear, as it had accompanied
the bridal chair on many another journey. The box with the mitre was
brought forth and the crown was placed on her head, already too richly
adorned with artificial flowers. And now the wailing broke forth
beyond all bounds, the young bride and her mother vying with each other
in making the greatest possible noise; at times beating their heads
against the wall, the bed, or the table in their self-imposed
manifestations of sorrow.

Outside, the trousseau was being sent off, as it had to reach the
bride's future home before she entered the same. Two men carried a
cupboard between them. Others followed with some chairs, and a table
covered with candlesticks and all kinds of utensils. A pair of the
bride's shoes might also be found, placed within those of the
bridegroom's, for, as every one remarked, "The two must now walk
together till old age." Others carried a couple of red wooden boxes
filled with the clothes and personal belongings of the bride, also a
wadded bed-quilt, a bed-curtain, and two embroidered pillows, etc. The
whole procession made an imposing show, and the relatives of
Everlasting Pearl looked after it with pride. The girl had been well
provided for, and could lift up her head without shame before her
husband's people.

The bride herself was at that time kneeling in her bedroom on a large
sieve (a token that al