John Bull on the Guadalquivir: From "Tales from All Countries"Trollope, Anthony
General
John Bull on the Guadalquivir: From "Tales from All Countries"
Trollope, Anthony
British -- Spain -- Fiction; Courtship -- Fiction; Short stories
Dress any Englishman in such a garb and he will at once give you the idea
of a hog in armour. In the first place he will lack the proper spirit to
carry it off, and in the next place the motion of his limbs will disgrace
the ornaments they bear. “And so best,” most Englishmen will say. Very
likely; and, therefore, let no Englishman try it. But my Spaniard did
not look at like a hog in armour. He walked slowly down the plank into
the boat, whistling lowly but very clearly a few bars from a opera tune.
It was plain to see that he was master of himself, of his ornaments, and
of his limbs. He had no appearance of thinking that men were looking at
him, or of feeling that he was beauteous in his attire;—nothing could be
more natural than his foot-fall, or the quiet glance of his cheery gray
eye. He walked up to the captain, who held the helm, and lightly raised
his hand to his cap. The captain, taking one hand from the wheel, did
the same, and then the stranger, turning his back to the stern of the
vessel, and fronting down the river with his face, continued to whistle
slowly, clearly, and in excellent time. Grand as were his clothes they
were no burden on his mind.
“What is he?” said I, going up to my friend Johnson with a whisper.
“Well, I’ve been looking at him,” said Johnson—which was true enough;
“he’s a — an uncommonly good-looking fellow, isn’t he?”
“Particularly so,” said I; “and got up quite irrespective of expense. Is
he a—a—a gentleman, now, do you think?”
“Well, those things are so different in Spain that it’s almost impossible
to make an Englishman understand them. One learns to know all this sort
of people by being with them in the country, but one can’t explain.”
“No; exactly. Are they real gold?”
“Yes, yes; I dare say they are. They sometimes have them silver gilt.”
“It is quite a common thing, then, isn’t it?” asked I.
“Well, not exactly; that—Ah! yes; I see! of course. He is a torero.”
“A what?”
“A mayo. I will explain it all to you. You will see them about in all
places, and you will get used to them.”
“But I haven’t seen one other as yet.”
“No, and they are not all so gay as this, nor so new in their finery, you
know.”
“And what is a torero?”
“Well, a torero is a man engaged in bull-fighting.”
“Oh! he is a matador, is he?” said I, looking at him with more than all
my eyes.
“No, not exactly that;—not of necessity. He is probably a mayo. A
fellow that dresses himself smart for fairs, and will be seen hanging
about with the bull-fighters. What would be a sporting fellow in
England—only he won’t drink and curse like a low man on the turf there.
Come, shall we go and speak to him?”
“I can’t talk to him,” said I, diffident of my Spanish. I had received
lessons in England from Maria Daguilar; but six weeks is little enough
for making love, let alone the learning of a foreign language.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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