One of the peculiar customs of Roumania is that of two girls of different families choosing each other as sisters by affinity, called suratas, or "sisters of the cross," a relationship sanctioned by the church, and acting as the tie of blood in relation to family marriages. It is this custom which is alluded to in the charming ballad, which recalls the best of those of Spain on similar subjects, with its delicate feeling and graceful expressions:—
HE THAT TOOK NOTHING.
See how it raineth! and the com is cut upon the plain,
And I have left my sickle, too, forgotten 'mid the grain.
Now there it lies—ah, woe is me!—beneath the falling rain.
Of all the lads that joined the dance each took some sign
from me—
One took my girdle, and thou know'st full well which that