94 They gather in the said ground during this period, where she spends all she has on many celebrations with playing; singing, and dancing and many banquets with her relatives and friends. Then she puts on herfinest clothes and all her jewels. All her other worldly goods are shared out among her children; relatives, and friends, and in this attire she mounts a horse, which should be grey or white, if possible, so that she can be better seen by everyone. And they lead her round the entire town with much rejoicing, until they return to the place where here husband’s body was burned. They throw a large amount of wood into that very grave and they light a bonfire at its edge. They build a wooden scaffold a short distance away, with four or five steps. They raise her on to it and as soon as she is up there, she spins round three times, worshipping the rising sun, and when shefinishes she calls her children; relatives and friends, and gives each of them one of the many jewels she has brought with her, and likewise with all her items of clothing, until she is left with just a small cloth covering her below the waist, and she does all this with such great confidence and happiness, as if she wasn’t going to die. Then from the top of the scaffold, she tells the men to look at how much they owe their wives, whoout of their own free will, burn themselves alive out of love for them, and the wives, how much they owe their husbands for like this, they accompany them even in death. Once she has said this, they place a large pitcher full of oil in her hand and she douses herself in it, and spinning round another three times with it on the scaffold, once again she worships the rising sun. She then throws the pitcher of oil on to theflames, and then throws herself off, as gaily as if she were jumping on to a bale of cotton, which would not do her any harm. Her relatives rush towards her and throw many pitchers of oil and butter that they have prepared into thefire, and then a lot of wood, and such a huge flame roars up that she disappears out of sight.
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