IN

CHAPTER V

Births and Marriages

" The owl shriek'd at the birth- an evil omen."

" Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate."SHAKESPEARE.

N the present chapter, and in another which comeslater, the ordinary reader will find some details thatmay seem puerile and perhaps coarse; it would havebeen an easy matter to cut out such portions and toembellish the subjects sufficiently to make themmerely pleasing, but this is precisely what the studentsof folk- lore protest against. They ask for the bare,unvarnished facts, and these I have endeavoured tosupply throughout this book. Having in view thethreefold object for which this work was prepared-to prove of service to the student, to the local inquirer,and to the supporter of missions- it has been necessaryin places to sacrifice the interest of one class of readersfor that of the other, and so the significance and valueof many of the points mentioned in the present chapterwill perhaps be rightly appreciated only by thestudents of folk- lore.

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