Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs (1886) Part 33

Chorus--Shall have no heat.

Oh let us never doubt That all his sins are gone, That Ba.s.sava forgives.

May it be well with him!

Chorus--May it be well!

Let all be well with him!

Chorus--Let all be well.

Surely an impressive burial service to have been found in use amongst a poor little obscure tribe of Indian mountaineers!

It cannot be said that this moral att.i.tude is often reached. Research into funeral rites, of whatever nature, confronts us with much that would be ludicrous were it not so very pitiful, for humanity has displayed a fatal tendency to rush into the committal of ghastly absurdities by way of showing the most sacred kind of grief. Yet, take them all in all, the death laments of the people form a striking and beautiful manifestation of such homage as "Life may give for love to death."

[Footnote 1: "Calling the dead" was without doubt once general amongst all cla.s.ses--which may be true of all the customs that we are now inclined to a.s.sociate with only the very poor. In the striking mediaeval ceremonial performed at the entombment of King Alfonso in the vault at the Escurial, the final act was that of the Lord Chamberlain, who unlocked the coffin, and in the midst of profound silence shouted into the king's ear, "Senor, Senor, Senor." After which he rose, saying, "His majesty does not answer. Then it is true the king is dead."]

[Footnote 2: The child's "personal fate."]

[Footnote 3: The brother.]

[Footnote 4: A little sister had died before.]

[Footnote 5: He had recourse to the Rajahs, whose courts under the old regime, had become a byeword for oppression and corruption.]

[Footnote 6: Compare _Inferno_, Canto vii.]