Finally, there is the skeleton, not much more, of a literature. Here are some extracts from a bedside book which all girls are supposed to study before making their own homes.
"Liver and Bile of thy mother, approach, my child, and learn what a woman should know.
"When thou speakest with thy husband, let thy tone above all be modest.
"Strive not to appear superior or even as his equal, for the man it is who should lead the woman.
"My child, the boat will not leave its moorings if the stake is solid and secure! In a family the husband is the keystone of the structure!
"The honour he gains goes to the credit of his wife.
"My daughter, ever remember that the happiness of a household lies in the hands of the wife. She must not waste the goods he entrusts to her.
"Waste not then the least trifle. See that every door has always its bolt.... Follow these precepts and wert thou as hideous as an ape thou shalt keep the love of thy husband, for thy presence shall be more profitable to him than a bar of gold, were it the height of a cocoa-nut tree...."
Of such homely advice consists the very ancient manuscript which Moura translated and which escaped the wreck in which all the others were lost.