mean that he can be prompted to act upon whatever family responsibilities this relationship entails. But Boaz, though he has been magnanimous almost to an extreme in providing them sustenance during the harvest season, has thus far not acted any further upon whatever obligations these may be. So Naomi concocts a dangerous and delicate scheme. She instructs Ruth to bathe, to put on perfumed oil, and to put on her “dress,” i.e., to remove the symbols and the garments of her widowhood (for this interpretation