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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Then he took the mother's ring, and betroth'd the two children,
Saying:--"Once more may it be these golden hoops' destination
Firmly to fasten a bond altogether resembling the old one!
For this youth is deeply imbued with love for the maiden,
And the maiden confesses that she for the youth has a liking.
Therefore, I now betroth you, and wish you all blessings hereafter,
With the parents' consent, and with our friend here as a witness."
And the neighbour bent forward, and added his own benediction;
But when the clergyman placed the gold ring on the hand of the maiden,
He with astonishment saw the one which already was on it,
And which Hermann before at the fountain had anxiously noticed.
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