the later, and specifically Greek, rituals do not furnish us with the close parallels to the mise-en-scéne of the Grail stories which we find in their Asiatic prototypes, and I was desirous of simplifying my argument as much as possible.
Finally, I would point out that in the second paragraph of my letter I wrote direct, not different, affiliation. My readers have, doubtless, made the correction for themselves.
Garo Marriages.
It may help to remove misunderstandings if this examination of Garo marriages begins with a transcript of the exact text of the passage in the Assam Census Report for 1891, on which Sir James Frazer bases his view that “among the Garos marriage with a mother’s brother’s widow appears to be a simple consequence of previous marriage with her daughter.”[1] The text is as follows: “Mr. Teunon informs me of a case in which a man refused to marry the widow who was in this instance a second wife, and not his wife’s own mother; and the old lady then gave herself and her own daughter in marriage to another man. In a dispute regarding the property which followed, the laskar reported that the first man having failed to do his duty, the second was entitled to the greater part of the property.”[2] In this case, therefore, the marriage with the daughter followed as a consequence of the marriage with the widow. This case is described by Sir James Frazer as a case “in which a recalcitrant son-in-law flatly declined to lead his aged mother-in-law to the altar, whereupon the old lady in a huff bestowed not only her own hand but that of her daughter to boot on another man, thus depriving her ungallant son-in-law of an estate and two wives at one fell swoop.”[3] The “plain tale from the hills” may be interpreted in a different manner when we remember that the mother-in-law becomes the chief wife of
- ↑ Folklore in the Old Testament, ii. 454.
- ↑ Assam Census Report, 1891, p. 229.
- ↑ Folklore in the Old Testament, ii. 453.
