Je kelke da jaroj (kelkajn jarojn) poste, Georgo eksedziĝis; kaj jaron pli poste, mi vidis en la ĵurnaloj, ke lia fratino eksedzigis sian edzon.
TRANSLATION 44.
Matrimony.
George became engaged to a charming girl, and is to be married to her on Thursday, and his sister is to be married on the same day. George’s fiancée spoke about her marriage to the vicar of the parish yesterday, and he said he had married her parents twenty years ago, and that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to marry her. He proposed that the marriage should take place in the parish church, and she replied that she was certain her fiancé would be delighted to be married to her in the same church where her parents had been married, and that George’s sister also would consent to be married there.
The wedding day arrived, and the church was filled with all the marriageable persons of the village, maids and bachelors; there was also present the clergyman’s wife, who is a strong advocate of matrimony.
When the two brides[40] arrived, the two bridegrooms[40] were awaiting them in the church, and soon the ceremony commenced. The two bridal couples stood side by side in the chancel opposite the altar. During the ceremony the clergyman put the following question to each bridegroom: "Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?" and then to each bride: "Wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband?" Afterwards each bridegroom put a ring on the fourth finger of his bride, at the same time saying: "With this ring I thee wed."
As soon as the marriage ceremony was over the bridegrooms and brides went to George’s father’s house, where the wedding banquet took place.
Some years afterwards George was divorced, and a year later I saw in the papers that his sister had divorced her husband.
Footnote:
[40] "Bride" and "bridegroom" are synonymous terms in English for persons who are about to be and have been married, but they are distinguished in Esperanto: