Romeo & Juliet . . . the sensible version

 We're all familiar with the story. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl's family objects. Conflict ensues. In this case, the girl & boy are both part of a Romany church in a village somewhere east of here. Also in this case (as often happens in small villages) they are technically too closely related to marry by law. (Unlike this couple, who had been together for years.)

Note that this did not used to be such a point. Louisa May Alcott had the heroine of Eight Cousins marry one of those first cousins in Rose in Bloom. And Keith, who is a genealogy buff, has found several sets of married first cousins back down the family tree. The boy & girl in this story were far more distantly related than that. Maybe kissing cousins?

Be that as it may, conflict ensued. The families drug the local pastor into the thick of it. He suffered sleepless nights. Many people prayed. Boy and girl decided it wasn't worth all the commotion and split up. 

A sensible Romeo & Juliet make for a calm, wise conclusion rather than a tumultuously tragic one. Now if only the rest of the girl's family would go ahead and choose to wisely conclude their end of the conflict . . . 

More prayer is needed!