They lasted nearly two months, and I can say that there is hardly a
village in Samogitia where I did not stop and where I did not collect
some documents. I may here be allowed, perhaps, to take this opportunity
of thanking the inhabitants of that province, and especially the Church
dignitaries, for the truly warm co-operation they accorded me in my
researches, and the excellent contributions with which they have
enriched my dictionary.
After staying a week at Szawlé, I intended to embark at Klaypeda (the
seaport which we call Memel) to return to my home, when I received the
following letter from Count Szémioth, which was brought by one of his
huntsmen:--
"MY DEAR PROFESSOR,--Allow me to write to you in German, for I
should commit too many errors in grammar if I wrote in Jmoudic, and
you would lose all respect for me. I am not sure you have much of
that as it is, and the news that I am about to communicate to you
will probably not increase it. Without more ado, I am going to be
married, and you will guess to whom. _Jove laughs at lovers' vows._
So said Pirkuns, our Samogitian Jupiter. It is, then, Mlle.
Julienne Iwinska that I am to marry on the 8th of next month. You
will be the kindest of men if you will come and assist at the
ceremony. All the peasantry of Médintiltas and the neighbouring
districts will come to devour several oxen and countless swine,
and, when they are drunk, they will dance in the meadow, which, you
will remember, lies on the right of the avenue. You will see
costumes and customs worthy of your consideration. It will give me
and also Julienne the greatest pleasure if you come, and I must add
that your refusal would place us in a most awkward situation. You
know that I belong to the Evangelical Communion, as does my
betrothed; now, our minister, who lives about thirty leagues away,
is crippled with gout, and I ventured to hope you would be so good
as to act in his stead.
"Believe me, my dear Professor,
"Yours very devotedly,
"MICHEL SZÉMIOTH."
At the end of the letter, in the form of a postscript, had been added in
Jmoudic, in a pretty feminine handwriting:
"I, the muse of Lithuania, write in Jmoudic. Michel is very
impertinent to question your approval. There is no one but I,
indeed, who would be so silly as to marry such a fellow as he. You
will see, Professor, on the 8th of next month, a bride who may be
called _chic_. That is not a Jmoudic word, it is French. But please
do not be distracted during the ceremony."
Neither the letter nor the postscript pleased me. I thought the engaged
couple showed an inexcusable levity concerning such a solemn occasion.
However, how was I to decline? And yet I will admit that the promised
pageant had its attractions for me. According to all appearance, I
should not fail to find among the great number of gentlefolk, who would
be gathered together at the Castle of Médintiltas, some learned people
who would furnish me with useful information. My Jmoudic glossary was
very good; but the sense of a certain number of words which I had learnt
from the lips of the lowest of the peasants was still, relatively
speaking, somewhat obscure to me. All these considerations combined were
sufficiently strong to make me consent to the Count's request, and I
replied that I would be at Médintiltas by the morning of the 8th.
How greatly had I occasion to repent of my decision!