One day the leader of the band said to me:
"Belphegor, you must marry. You will not be a genuine satyr until you are mated with a female member of our band."
"But where are the ladies? I have not yet seen any of them," I asked.
"I have a bride ready for you, my youngest sister Lilith. You shall see her very soon."
I knew that a Lilith had tempted Father Adam to be untrue to Mother Eve; if she and the captain's sister were one and the same, then she must be considerably older than I. So I said:
"Does she wear a mask?"
"Certainly."
"Then I'll marry her!"
And so it was settled that I should become the leader's brother-in-law.
In a subterranean cavern in the Black Forest our wedding was celebrated. The entire company of satyrs were assembled to witness the ceremony, and when the numerous torches were lighted, the cavern looked like an immensely large church with this difference: everything was inverted. The images of the saints stood on their heads; even the crucifix in the chancel was upside down. The organ's base was against the ceiling; the winged cherubs hovered overhead feet upward; the bells swung with the clappers standing upright, and the choir chanted the psalm backward. The priest who performed the ceremony had the most peculiar legs; one was at least a foot shorter than the other; and when an acolyte removed the mitre, the father's head came off with it. Asafoetida instead of incense was burned in the censer.