Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 05

Literature -- Collections

--Certainly few people in my situation would have accepted the offer of
this singular gipsy. It was not, however, without its allurements for
me; I was fond of adventure, and what more ready means of gratifying my
love of it than by putting myself under the hands of such a guide? There
are many who would have been afraid of treachery, but I had no fears on
this point, as I did not believe that the fellow harbored the slightest
ill-intention towards me; I saw that he was fully convinced that I was
one of the Errate, and his affection for his own race, and his hatred
for the Busné, were his strongest characteristics. I wished moreover to
lay hold of every opportunity of making myself acquainted with the ways
of the Spanish gipsies, and an excellent one here presented itself on my
first entrance into Spain. In a word, I determined to accompany the
gipsy. "I will go with you," I exclaimed; "as for my baggage, I will
dispatch it to Madrid by the _birdoche_." "Do so, brother," he replied,
"and the _gras_ will go lighter. Baggage, indeed!--what need of baggage
have you? How the Busné on the road would laugh if they saw two Calés
with baggage behind them!"

During my stay at Badajoz I had but little intercourse with the
Spaniards, my time being chiefly devoted to the gipsies: with whom, from
long intercourse with various sections of their race in different parts
of the world, I felt myself much more at home than with the silent,
reserved men of Spain, with whom a foreigner might mingle for half a
century without having half a dozen words addressed to him, unless he
himself made the first advances to intimacy, which after all might be
rejected with a shrug and a _no entiendo_; for among the many deeply
rooted prejudices of these people is the strange idea that no foreigner
can speak their language, an idea to which they will still cling though
they hear him conversing with perfect ease; for in that case the utmost
that they will concede to his attainments is, "Habla quatro palabras y
nada mas." (He can speak four words, and no more.)

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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History

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 05

Literature -- Collections

--Certainly few people in my situation would have accepted the offer of
this singular gipsy. It was not, however, without its allurements for
me; I was fond of adventure, and what more ready means of gratifying my
love of it than by putting myself under the hands of such a guide? There
are many who would have been afraid of treachery, but I had no fears on
this point, as I did not believe that the fellow harbored the slightest
ill-intention towards me; I saw that he was fully convinced that I was
one of the Errate, and his affection for his own race, and his hatred
for the Busné, were his strongest characteristics. I wished moreover to
lay hold of every opportunity of making myself acquainted with the ways
of the Spanish gipsies, and an excellent one here presented itself on my
first entrance into Spain. In a word, I determined to accompany the
gipsy. "I will go with you," I exclaimed; "as for my baggage, I will
dispatch it to Madrid by the _birdoche_." "Do so, brother," he replied,
"and the _gras_ will go lighter. Baggage, indeed!--what need of baggage
have you? How the Busné on the road would laugh if they saw two Calés
with baggage behind them!"

During my stay at Badajoz I had but little intercourse with the
Spaniards, my time being chiefly devoted to the gipsies: with whom, from
long intercourse with various sections of their race in different parts
of the world, I felt myself much more at home than with the silent,
reserved men of Spain, with whom a foreigner might mingle for half a
century without having half a dozen words addressed to him, unless he
himself made the first advances to intimacy, which after all might be
rejected with a shrug and a _no entiendo_; for among the many deeply
rooted prejudices of these people is the strange idea that no foreigner
can speak their language, an idea to which they will still cling though
they hear him conversing with perfect ease; for in that case the utmost
that they will concede to his attainments is, "Habla quatro palabras y
nada mas." (He can speak four words, and no more.)

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 05

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 05

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