"When the vast plain awakes in the bluish light of dawn, the last of the nightingales that have sang through the night breaks off abruptly in his final trill, as though he had been stricken by the steely shaft of day. Sparrows in whole coveys burst forth from the thatched roofs, and beneath this aerial rabble preening their wings, the trees shake and nod. "One by one the murmurs of the night subside--the trickling of watercourses, the sighing of the reeds, the barking of the watchful dogs. Other sounds belonging to the day grow louder and fill the huerta. The crow of the cock is heard from every farm; the village bells re-echo the call to prayer borne across from the towers of Valencia, which are yet misty in the distance; from the farmyards arises a discordant animal concert--the neighing of horses, the bellowing of oxen, the clucking of hens, the bleating of lambs, the grunting of swine--the sounds produced by beasts that scent the keen odour of vegetation in the morning breeze and are hungry for the fields. "The sky is suffused with light, and with light, life inundates the plain and penetrates to the interior of human and animal abodes. Doors open creaking. In the porches white figures appear, their hands clasped behind their necks, scanning the horizon. From the stables issue towards the city, milch cows, flocks of goats, manure carts. Bells tinkle between the dwarf trees bordering the high road, and every now and again is heard the sharp '_Arre, Aca!_' of the drivers. "On the thresholds of the cottages those bound for the town exchange greetings with those that stay in the fields: '_Bon dia nos done Deu!_' (May God give us a good day!) '_Bon dia._' "Immense is the energy, the explosion of life, at midsummer, the best season of the year, the time of harvest and abundance. Space throbs with light and heat. The African sun rains torrents of fire on the land already cracked and wrinkled by its burning caresses, and its golden beams pierce the dense foliage, beneath which are hidden the canals and trenches to save them from the all-powerful vivifying heat. "The branches of the trees are heavy with fruit. They bend beneath the weight of yellow grapes covered with glazed leaves. Like the pink cheeks of a child glow the apricots amid the verdure. Children greedily eye the luscious burden of the fig trees. From the gardens is wafted the scent of the jasmin, and the magnolias dispense their incense in the burning air laden with the perfume of the cereals.