Jose: Our Little Portuguese CousinSawyer, Edith A. (Edith Augusta)
General
Jose: Our Little Portuguese Cousin
Sawyer, Edith A. (Edith Augusta)
Children -- Portugal -- Juvenile literature
On the morning of St. Antonio's day, the thirteenth of June, the family
was up early to eat with Antonio and Jose the holiday breakfast of
_estofado_--stewed meat and vegetables. At six o'clock they gathered on
the wide stone doorstep to see the brothers start. Carlos lay at the
edge of the step, his nose upon his paws, waiting, both eyes fixed upon
Jose. The dog knew that some unusual journey was planned; he was all
ready to go, too.
But Carlos could not go. This was Jose's only regret at starting. "He
would be frightened and perhaps lost in the city," Antonio said. So the
dog was held back by Joanna, and he decided, in his dog way, that Jose
must be going off to school again. The parrot's cries of _Accolade!
Accolade!_ followed the brothers until they were beyond reach of the
sound.
It was a glorious June morning. Although so early, the sun was even
now high in the blue heavens. The air was fragrant with sweet flower
perfumes. Many small brown and yellow butterflies fluttered along
the roadside. Large gray sand-lizards ran out from the underbrush.
Meadow-larks and blackbirds sang in every tree-top.
All beyond the village market-place was new to Jose. The road grew
constantly better. Soon above the pine forests appeared the granite
peak of Penha. On the approach to Guimarães, the ground rises and pine
forests spread around the city for miles. In that wild country, Affonso
Henriquez first learned the art of war, and in his very boyhood became
the trusted leader of his troops.
As the brothers drew nearer, they saw the gentle hill on which stand
the walls of the old castle, still keeping watch over the city which
lies beneath. It is impossible to imagine a ruin more stately than
that of this grand old castle of the Middle Ages, the first Christian
fortress in Portugal,--a castle-fortress which tells the story of the
strong spirit of the race of men who built it. The huge granite blocks,
each taller than a man, which form the battlements, still stand erect
and immovable.
On the road, as the brothers drew yet nearer, were many other
travellers, like themselves bound for the city. It was market-day as
well as the holiday of St. Antonio. There were men and women, boys and
girls, in gala-day costume. Sometimes the women and girls were driving
donkeys, pannier-laden. But oftenest, these women-folk had baskets,
heavily filled, upon their heads; in Portugal women carry everything in
baskets, from babies to bales of goods. There were herdsmen on the way,
driving flocks of goats. Groups of children walked soberly along with
their parents. Now and then a beggar asked Antonio for a bit of money;
but Portugal has few beggars compared with its neighboring country,
Spain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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