THE PRINCESS WHO PISSETH OVER THE HAYCOCKS:

_Of a King’s Daughter, the Like of whom was not Seen Elsewhere on Earth; and how she was Cured of her Ways by a Young Peasant, divers Physicians and Charlatans having Failed in the Task._ 111

THE COMB:

_Of a Pope’s Daughter who was “Combed” by a Peasant; and how the Comb was Lost and Found again, together with other Strange and Delightsome Happenings._116

EXCURSUS to THE PRINCESS WHO PISSETH OVER THE HAYCOCKS and THE COMB. 121

THE SKIRMISH:

_Of a Virgin who, on her Marriage Eve, told a Wedded Friend of the Recent and Disturbing Conduct of her Fiancé._ 124

EXCURSUS to THE SKIRMISH. 132

THE NIGHTINGALE:

_Of a Maid who would fain Hear the Nightingale Sing; and how she Made it Sing many Times and even Held it in her Hand._ 134

THE PIKE’S HEAD:

_Of a Young Virgin who Played a Trick on a Youth; and how the Youth, from Fear of being “Bitten,” was for some Time Ignorant of the Pleasures of Marriage._ 142

THE LOVELY NUN AND HER YOUNG BOARDER:

_Of a Lovely Young Virgin, who was of an Inquisitive Turn of Mind, and Proved herself an Apt Pupil in the School of Love._ 147

JOHN AND JOAN:

_Of a Serving Wench who sent her Fellow Servant to Buy her a Steel; and how she Fared thereafter._ 158

THE HUSBAND AS DOCTOR:

_Of a Young Squire who, when he Married, had never Mounted a Christian Creature; of the Means found to Instruct him; and how, on a Sudden, he Wept at a great Feast shortly after he had been Instructed._162

THE PRIEST AND THE LABOURER:

_Of a Priest’s two Daughters who were Tricked by a Labourer; and of divers Strange and Diverting Happenings thereafter._ 171

EXCURSUS to THE PRIEST AND THE LABOURER. 178

THE TWO LOVERS AND THE TWO SISTERS:

_Of two Cavaliers who became Enamoured of two Sisters; and how they found Enjoyment of their Love, albeit in Strange Fashion but none the less Pleasant._ 179

THE BURNING YARD:

_Of a Maid who would not Suffer a Youth to Pleasure her, since, so she Alleged, he had a Burning Yard._ 188

TAKE TIME BY THE FORELOCK:

Of a Young Virgin Wife who was Paid back in her own Coin by her Husband. 190

EXCURSUS to TAKE TIME BY THE FORELOCK. 192

FIRST MEETING BETWEEN A YOUTH AND HIS FIANCÉE:

_Of a Maid and a Youth who held Pleasant Converse in a Coach-house; and of divers Experiments and Discoveries they made there._ 193

THE BREAKER OF EGGS:

_Of a certain Wench who had Eggs in her Belly, which were Broken for her by an Obliging Youth._ 195

EXCURSUS to THE BREAKER OF EGGS. 198

VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS.

_Chloe! Like a fawn she flees, Trembling, timid mother-seeking, Far among the trackless hills; Starting back from bush and breeze, When the new-born spring is speaking To green leaves in little trills. Oh, how shake her heart, her knees! Run! A lizard sets a-creaking That big bush! I bring no ills; I don’t follow you to seize, Like some cruel tigress, reeking Rage; no lion I that kills In Gætulia, hot to tease Out your life! So quit your meeking By your mother! Trust your thrills! Come and learn my mysteries!_

HORACE, I., xxiii.

VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS.

In devoting a volume to the romance and folk-lore of Virginity, it may not be inappropriate first to examine the psychology of a word and a quality as magical as they are misused.

What is virginity? Is it the possession intact of that delicate piece of membrane, the poets’ ‘flos virginitatis,’ or is it some indescribable, intangible attribute in no sense dependent on physical perfection? Does it imply abstention from and ignorance of all sexual pleasures, or must it be a chastity which falls little short of stupid, even criminal, innocence?

To us moderns, blessed (or cursed) with a smattering of science, woman is virginal just as long as we know or believe her to be, physical qualities notwithstanding. By the poet of the past, the romanticist, the mediæval lover, and the ignorant, physical as well as spiritual proofs were probably required or expected. To them, virginity was something tangible; to us it is not.

Nor is the reason far to seek. For while Havelock Ellis, the greatest authority on sexual psychology the world has known, describes the hymen as having acquired in human estimation a spiritual value which has made it far more than a part of the feminine body, ... “something that gives woman all her worth and dignity, ... her market value,” he goes on to point out that the presence or absence of the hymen is no real test of virginity.

“There are many ways,” he writes, (Studies in the Psychology of Sex: Philadelphia, 1914: vol. 5: Erotic Symbolism), “in which the hymen may be destroyed apart from coïtus.... On the other hand, integrity of the hymen is no proof of virginity, apart from the obvious fact that there may be intercourse without penetration.... The hymen may be of a yielding or folding type, so that complete penetration may take place and yet the hymen be afterwards found unruptured. It occasionally happens that the hymen is found intact at the end of pregnancy.”[1]

[1] Schurig, in the 17th century, notes a case of this kind. C.f. his Gynæcologia, where he speaks of a girl being pregnant without losing her virginity. Vide note, p. 100 post, where further details of the life and works of this erudite physician will be found.

And while the foregoing is the exception rather than the rule, it goes far to prove the fallibility of the physical, tangible test.

To most of us, virginity is a quality supposedly prized at all times and by all races. This is far from the case. As Havelock Ellis points out, (op. cit.), virginity is not usually of any value among peoples who are entirely primitive. “Indeed, even in the classic civilisation which we inherit,” he writes, “it is easy to show that the virgin and the admiration for virginity are of late growth; the virgin goddesses were not originally virgins in our modern sense. Diana was the many-breasted patroness of childbirth before she became the chaste and solitary huntress, for the earliest distinction would appear to have been simply between the woman who was attached to a man and the woman who followed an earlier rule of freedom and independence; it was a later notion to suppose that the latter women were debarred from sexual intercourse.”

A French Army Surgeon, Dr. Jacobus X--, (Untrodden Fields of Anthropology: Charles Carrington: Paris, 1898), has some interesting remarks on the subject, and we offer no apology for reproducing them at length. Writing on the “Unimportance of the signs of virginity in the negress,” he says:--

“The Negroes of Senegal do not attach, as the Arabs do, considerable importance to the presence of the real signs of virginity in young girls.... The non-existence of the material proofs of virginity seldom give rise to any complaint on the part of the husband.... Moreover, the size of the virile member of the Negro[2] renders it difficult for him to detect any trick. The black bride, on the wedding night, shows herself expert in the art of simulating the struggles of an expiring virginity, and it is considered good taste for the girls to require almost to be raped. The least innocent young women are often the most clever at this game.

[2] Sir Richard Burton, (The Thousand Nights and a Night), describes how he measured in Somaliland a negro’s penis, which, when quiescent, was six inches long; this organ, however, would not increase proportionately when in erection.

“Thus, throughout nearly all Senegal, the European, who has a taste for maidenheads, can easily be satisfied, provided he is willing to pay the price.[3] At St. Louis women of ill-fame procure young girls, who bear the significant name of the ‘unpierced,’[4] and vary from eight or nine years to the nubile age. It is even easier to obtain a young girl before she is nubile than afterwards, on account of the certainty of her not bearing any children. The price is within the range of all purses, according to quality, and you can have a negro girl, warranted ‘unpierced’ (belonging to the category of domestic slaves), for the modest sum of from eight to sixteen shillings. Of course, the respectable matron pockets half this sum for her honorarium....

[3] A celebrated Parisian courtesan used to boast, according to Mantegazza, that she had “sold her virginity” on 82 different occasions! Vide Curious Bypaths of History: Carrington: Paris, 1898, for further details on this subject.--Note by Dr. Jacobus X--.

[4] C.f. The Thousand Nights and a Night, (Sir Richard F. Burton; the privately printed and uncastrated editions), where the expression is common. “ ... He found her a pearl unpierced.” Again: “ ... went in unto the Princess and found her jewel which had been hidden, an union pearl unthridden, and a filly that none but he had ridden....” Compare, also, the French erotic slang percer (to pierce), signifying the act of sexual intercourse. (Farmer: Slang and its Analogues, p. 25, vol. 6; Vocabula Amatoria, etc.)