The young men marry later, and for most of them adventure in the village must be difficult and dangerous. Open courtship is absolutely out of the question. It is impossible to know how much goes on in secrecy. Certainly the caves behind and below the houses, which are used for storing straw, have a reputation for illicit love, but I doubt if they are very often used by girls before betrothal, simply because they are so seldom allowed out of the sight of their elders. It was generally agreed by informants, whether they disapproved or not, that most young men solve the problem of physical satisfaction by paying for their pleasure in town.
Some men claimed that village women, particularly the young ones, are so unsophisticated that if a man can only engineer the opportunity, seduction is simple. Others said that even a betrothed girl will defend her virginity until after marriage, and a priori I find it difficult to believe that girls do not know a great deal about sexual matters very early in life. The village women are less prudish among themselves than the men, and sex and reproduction form a major interest in their conversation.
In any case, much less than a secret assignation is needed to rouse gossip and bring a girl's honour into question. One girl of rather poor family was married very suddenly to her fiancé in another village with no ceremonies at all. It turned out that one of the village young men had been making passes at her, and was said to have paid an old man in potatoes for charms to