Allegories; Fantasy fiction; Historical fiction; Middle Ages -- Fiction
So they were married by Jugatinus, according to the ceremony with
which the People of the Wood were always married by Jugatinus. First
Virgo loosed the girdle of Chloris in such fashion as was customary;
and Chloris, after sitting much longer than Jurgen liked in the lap
of Mutinus (who was in the state that custom required of him) was
led back to Jurgen by Domiducus in accordance with immemorial
custom; Subigo did her customary part; then Praema grasped the
bride's plump arms: and everything was perfectly regular.
Thereafter Jurgen disposed of his staff in the way Thersitês had
directed: and thereafter Jurgen abode with Chloris upon the
outskirts of the forest, and complied with the customs of Leukê. Her
tree was a rather large oak, for Chloris was now in her two hundred
and sixty-sixth year; and at first its commodious trunk sheltered
them. But later Jurgen builded himself a little cabin thatched with
birds' wings, and made himself more comfortable.
"It is well enough for you, my dear, in fact it is expected of you,
to live in a tree-bole. But it makes me feel uncomfortably like a
worm, and it needlessly emphasizes the restrictions of married life.
Besides, you do not want me under your feet all the time, nor I you.
No, let us cultivate a judicious abstention from familiarity: such
is one secret of an enduring, because endurable, marriage. But why
is it, pray, that you have never married before, in all these
years?"
She told him. At first Jurgen could not believe her, but presently
Jurgen was convinced, through at least two of his senses, that what
Chloris told him was true about hamadryads.
"Otherwise, you are not markedly unlike the women of Eubonia," said
Jurgen.
And now Jurgen met many of the People of the Wood; but since the
tree of Chloris stood upon the verge of the forest, he saw far more
of the People of the Field, who dwelt between the forest and the
city of Pseudopolis. These were the neighbors and the ordinary
associates of Chloris and Jurgen; though once in a while, of course,
there would be family gatherings in the forest. But Jurgen presently
had found good reason to distrust the People of the Wood, and went
to none of these gatherings.
"For in Eubonia," he said, "we are taught that your wife's relatives
will never find fault with you to your face so long as you keep away
from them. And more than that, no sensible man expects."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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