Listen, my child, be very careful how you wander around. The bird builds a nest and lays eggs in it and hatches them out carefully. And as long as the little ones remain in the nest they remain unimpaired. But then one flutters about, cannot fly properly, and falls to the ground. A boy comes along, picks it up, and says, "Here is my breakfast."

And you, my child, listen carefully. You are still unimpaired because I carried you on my bosom and fed you. But now you are able to run around and make excursions. That fluttering little bird is you.

Maybe you go to the home of your older sister and stay until twilight. And you think, "I will go home." But while you are on the way night falls. And if you meet a man you don’t know who he is in the dark. But he knows this is a girl going by in the dark, so he throws his coat over you. You can’t defend yourself and so you are ruined on the way. So I say, my child, a little bird that is not restless won’t fall into the hands of a boy to be laid on the hearth and roasted. And I tell you this, my child, be very careful, so that you may be married unimpaired, and receive your bride instruction unimpaired.

If it gets dark while you are at your sister’s, sleep there, until it is light and you can come home in the daylight. Your father can’t beat you on this account. Or if you are with your mother’s brother, sleep with your grandmother, your mother’s mother.

It is not suitable for a girl who is growing up to run around in the dark. Night is the time that girls come to grief. They meet a man who has been drinking beer and is drunk. The beer excites him and he commits the unholy deed.

So I say, be very sensible. As long as I had you on my breast you were unimpaired. Now you are able to take care of yourself. See that you do it.

Don’t flutter about like a bird that falls out of the nest and is picked up by a boy, who lays it on the fire and does not esteem it as a bird, but says, "I had some meat."¹

Not infrequently, however, the girl is impaired before the engagement, and in this case the groom, who will surely be informed by old women, will usually not quite fill the beer kegs when making one of the many bride gifts at the home of her parents, indicating in this indirect way that he is aware of the situation.

¹Gutmann, B.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 1: 210 (C. H. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung. By permission).