It should be known that the young man was unversed in the mysteries of wedlock, for during the lifetime of his parents a tight rein had been kept upon him, and, above all things, he had been forbidden to play at the beast with two backs,[1] lest he should take too much delight therein, and waste all his patrimony. Which was prudent on the part of his parents, for he was not a young man likely to be loved for his appearance.
And since he would do naught to anger his father and mother, and was not, moreover, of an amorous disposition, he had ever preserved his chastity, albeit his wife had deprived him of it right gladly had she known but how.
On a certain day the mother of the bride came to her daughter, and questioned her as to her husband's state and condition and the countless other questions the bride replied that her husband was a good man, and that she did not doubt but that she would be happy with him.
Which answer made the old woman joyous, but, since she knew by her own experience that there are more things in wedlock than eating and drinking, she said to her daughter:
"Come hither, and tell me, on thy word of honour, how he doth acquit himself at night?"
When the girl heard this question she was so vexed and shamed that she might not answer, and her eyes were filled with tears. But her mother, understanding what meant these tears, said:
- ↑ Faire la bête a deux dos. A recognised slang term for the venereal act, used by Rabelais and Shakespeare. C.f. Farmer: Slang and itas Analogues (op. cit. supra), and Landes: Glossaire erotique de la langue française: Brussels, 1861.
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