ten for example) but adequate, grven the Fremen s ability to recycle their water m stillsuits and stilltents The Sayyadma distributing the water also gave her blessings to its use and to those consuming it, and prayers of thanks were offered to Shai-Hulud for providing the means of survival for another day A family's last action before retiring for die night was to divide among its members UK water produced by their reclamation chain bers (small rooms adjoining one s quarters where bodily wastes were recycled for their water) It was considered unlucky to leave free water standing unused unless stored m one of the sietch s evaporation-proof basins the best place to keep a household s water was thought to be within the bodies of that family's members As the water was consumed, the head of die family chanted Now do we consume mat which will one day be returned for die flesh of a man is his own, but his water belongs to the tnbe '' Like the "water of conception" ritual diis nightly reminder served to emphasize the image of the individual as a part of the tribal whole WATER RINGS These metallic counters represented the volume of water released by a body processed through a deathstill They were manufactured m denominations ranging from fifty liters down to one thirty second of a drachm (a drachm being one two hundred fiftieth of a liter), which serves to give some indication of how precise the Fremen water-measunng devices were as well as the importance placed on even the most minute quantities of the precious substance The counters for water released by the bodies of Fremen who had died a natural deadi or by those of strangers found in the bled who were treated as a water-gift from FREMEN WATER CUSTOMS FREMEN WATER CUSTOMS Shai-Hulud, were consigned to the care of the sietch s Naib and considered held m common by all the people Those tallying the water once held by enemies killed in group combat were similarly treated Only the water nngs which represented the water of one killed in a personal combat were given over to individual members of a tnbe they-and possession of the water they measured-were the property of the combat s victor This was the winner's compensation for the water lost during the fight, since it was required that combatants face each other blade to blade without their stillsuits (The water was stored in the sietch holding basin, of course but its owner was permitted to draw upon it at need, or bestow it upon needier members of the tnbe) The nngs possessed great social significance above and beyond their representation of water In Fremen betrothal, the would-be groom presented his water nngs to his fiancee, she would then arrange them on fine wires to be worn either as earrings or (more commonly) as hair ornaments Part of the marriage ceremony involved the groom's patting the newly fashioned ornaments on the bride This use of the water counters helped regulate much of the interaction between the sexes A wait, or untiled youth-one yet to meet another male tn mortal combat-could not marry Thus, the only men in the sietch who would fattier children would be those who had already proven themselves capable of survival Cowards, weaklings, and other such undesirables were never given the opportunity to clutter the gene pool, as further insurance, children bom out of wedlock were left in the desert, a sacnfice to Shai-Hulud In addition, the requirement that a man's possess water nngs before a marriage could take place helped to control the polygamy permitted Fremen males It was.