every trifling circnmstance of the journey of her bridegroom is of great importance. "The hunting-lines kept hanging: therefore we stayed so long." Certainly the bridegroom (think the chorus, as entering into the thoughts of the bride) snatched them hastily from the bushes. He therefore asks, "Who took them from the apple-tree?" This the young bridegroom did (replies the other chorus), drawn by the centre of all attraction to youth, the kindling spark of company. But to the song itself:
Welcome, welcome, wedding-company!
Welcome, after the journey!
Who kept you well upon the journey?
Who shewed to you the tract?
"God kept us well upon the journey;
"Maria shewed to us the tract."
What kept you on the way so long?
"The hunting-line was hung upon the apple-tree,
"The halters on the beams of the sun."
Who took the hunting-line from the apple-tree?
The halters from the beams?
"That the youthful bridegroom did,
"He took the hunting-line from the apple-tree,
"The halters from the beams of the sun."
III. But the damsel, his beloved, the desire and the life of his soul, for whose sake he undertook this wearisome journey, and despised every difficulty, is fled. The virgin has concealed herself from female modesty. "Where is my promised, my betrothed?" The parents and relations of the bride, who have hid her, make answer:
Very well, very well, thou bridegroom!
Who bid thee come with company?
Could'st thou not have come in private?
The bride heard the bagpipes blow.[1]
She fled into the alder-bushes,
She sprang into the poplar woods.
In Vierland we saw her last,
In Harrien she gives her gifts,[2]
With white beads her head was dressed,
Delicately she was attired.
