DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4593#0214
192 THE ISLES AND SHRINES OF GREECE
It is not usually the custom to marry a second
daughter until the first is married. This is well illus-
trated in Mr. Bikelas' humorous island tale, 'H "AcrxvM
'ASeXijir/, " The Homely Sister." It is the story of a
dry-as-dust professor of philology whose life had
been saved by a young judge, and who had vowed
to devote his life to that of his saviour. The younger
man had fallen in love with the second daughter of
a merchant who had decided not to give her in
marriage until the older and plainer sister had first
been wedded. It is in this emergency that the eccen-
tric bachelor professor decides to sacrifice himself for
his friend and marry the plain-looking sister. He
rushes into the coffee-merchant's office in his busiest
hour and tells him he will marry his daughter. He
is received somewhat coldly, with the suggestion that
such matters are usually arranged through third par-
ties. A female cousin manages the affair more tact-
fully. A meeting of the professor and the homely
daughter is arranged. The fussy trepidation of the
old bachelor is amusing enough. His friend con-
ducts him to the door of the house and leaves him
to his fate. An hour later he comes out radiantly
happy. No one knows just what has occurred, but
he exclaims with delight, " Why, she is n't ugly at
all." Of course a double marriage is the result, and
though the professor looks somewhat comical in his
wedding wreath, the crown of flowers docs not
become a crown of thorns.
It is easy to believe Georgios when he says that in
Sparta the children who run to tell a father that the
baby just born is a girl do not get much of a reward.
"In fact," said Georgios, "he is angry." It is not
It is not usually the custom to marry a second
daughter until the first is married. This is well illus-
trated in Mr. Bikelas' humorous island tale, 'H "AcrxvM
'ASeXijir/, " The Homely Sister." It is the story of a
dry-as-dust professor of philology whose life had
been saved by a young judge, and who had vowed
to devote his life to that of his saviour. The younger
man had fallen in love with the second daughter of
a merchant who had decided not to give her in
marriage until the older and plainer sister had first
been wedded. It is in this emergency that the eccen-
tric bachelor professor decides to sacrifice himself for
his friend and marry the plain-looking sister. He
rushes into the coffee-merchant's office in his busiest
hour and tells him he will marry his daughter. He
is received somewhat coldly, with the suggestion that
such matters are usually arranged through third par-
ties. A female cousin manages the affair more tact-
fully. A meeting of the professor and the homely
daughter is arranged. The fussy trepidation of the
old bachelor is amusing enough. His friend con-
ducts him to the door of the house and leaves him
to his fate. An hour later he comes out radiantly
happy. No one knows just what has occurred, but
he exclaims with delight, " Why, she is n't ugly at
all." Of course a double marriage is the result, and
though the professor looks somewhat comical in his
wedding wreath, the crown of flowers docs not
become a crown of thorns.
It is easy to believe Georgios when he says that in
Sparta the children who run to tell a father that the
baby just born is a girl do not get much of a reward.
"In fact," said Georgios, "he is angry." It is not