Formerly, a beautiful girl from the poor would be married off for twenty cows, a female slave, and a male slave. The father and mother would receive all of this and then conduct the marriage contract for her. For this reason, they rejoice more at the birth of daughters than sons, saying that a daughter fills the home with goodness, while a son spoils it. It is their custom that when a girl gets married, she stays in her father's house for a year or two after the consummation of the marriage. She cannot go to her husband's house except after great effort. The expenses during that period are borne by her father. Whatever the man receives during that period is in the form of a gift. It is their custom that if a suitor proposes to a girl, and he had previously had interactions with her father and mother, and she had interactions with his father and mother, these interactions cease upon the engagement. They become estranged. After that, if the suitor visits the engaged girl or her mother, he avoids the path he is on, and so on. Likewise, the girl avoids his father or mother. During this time, if the man enters the house, he sends greetings to the girl's mother before the girl, or her sister, or a slave girl in the house, and so on. She also sends greetings to him, and they do not meet or visit each other like that until the consummation of the marriage. On the day of the consummation, he comes out and kisses her head and her condition, and they gather around her, as does the girl. And their customs are that the first of them...