"Are you never tired of baby?" asked Marco.
"Oh, I love her," said Zoe brightly, as if that was an answer to his question, and nodding gaily, she took her basket and ran down the hillside, where buttercups and bright red poppies nodded in the sun.
[1] Pet name for a baby as we would say "Babykins."
[2] Sumadhe is a sweetmeat and mastika a cordial.
[3] The Grecian equivalent of "Pattycake, pattycake."
[4] Loukoumi is a paste made of sweet gums, sugar, rosewater and nuts.
MARIA was to be married. This was a very great event in the family and all the little Mezzorios were wild with excitement. Maria was the favourite sister, and she was tall and very beautiful. Her hair and eyes were dark and her smile showed through gleaming white teeth. Her marriage chest was ready, her dowry was earned, and a cousin of the family had acted as "go-between" between Uncle Georgios and the father of the young man who wished to marry Maria. His name was Mathos Pappadiamantopoulas, and he had seen Maria as she walked spinning in the fields.
Generally in Greece the parents arrange the marriages and the young people scarcely see each other before the marriage ceremony binds them together. Maria's, however, was quite a love match, for she and Mathos had grown up together and had been waiting only for the dowry to go to housekeeping in a little white cottage near to that of her mother.
Mathos had often been beneath Maria's window and had called his sweetheart all the fond names he could think of. She was in turn "cold water" (always sweet to a Grecian because good water is so scarce in that country), a "lemon tree," and a "little bird." He had sung to her many love songs, among them the Ballad of the Basil.
"If I should die of love, my love, my grave with basil strew, And let some tears fall there, my life, for one who died for you, Agape mon-ou-ou!"
Maria's _prekas_[5] was a fine one. Her father and brothers had determined that.
"She shall not be made ashamed before any man. If I never marry, Maria shall have a good dowry," said Marco.
When the list of what she would give to the furnishing of the little home was made for the groom there was a strange array, a bedstead, a dresser, a chair, sheets and pillowcases, blankets and quilts. There were copper kettles and saucepans of many sizes and shapes, and the lovely homespun linens were beautifully embroidered.