The Bible in Spain: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman, in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the PeninsulaBorrow, George
Religion
The Bible in Spain: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman, in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History -- 19th century
“All the appearance of one!” said Antonio; “and is she not really one?
She knows more crabbed things and crabbed words than all the Errate
betwixt here and Catalonia. She has been amongst the wild Moors, and can
make more drows, poisons, and philtres than any one alive. She once made
a kind of paste, and persuaded me to taste, and shortly after I had done
so my soul departed from my body, and wandered through horrid forests and
mountains, amidst monsters and duendes, during one entire night. She
learned many things amidst the Corahai which I should be glad to know.”
“Have you been long acquainted with her?” said I; “you appear to be quite
at home in this house.”
“Acquainted with her!” said Antonio. “Did not my own brother marry the
black Calli, her daughter, who bore him the chabi, sixteen years ago,
just before he was hanged by the Busné?”
In the afternoon I was seated with the Gypsy mother in the hall, the two
Callees were absent telling fortunes about the town and neighbourhood,
which was their principal occupation. “Are you married, my London
Caloro?” said the old woman to me. “Are you a ro?”
_Myself_.—Wherefore do you ask, O Dai de los Cales?
_Gypsy Mother_.—It is high time that the lacha of the chabi were taken
from her, and that she had a ro. You can do no better than take her for
romi, my London Caloro.
_Myself_.—I am a stranger in this land, O mother of the Gypsies, and
scarcely know how to provide for myself, much less for a romi.
_Gypsy Mother_.—She wants no one to provide for her, my London Caloro,
she can at any time provide for herself and her ro. She can hokkawar,
tell baji, and there are few to equal her at stealing a pastesas. Were
she once at Madrilati, where they tell me you are going, she would make
much treasure; therefore take her thither, for in this foros she is nahi
(_lost_), as it were, for there is nothing to be gained; but in the foros
baro it would be another matter; she would go dressed in lachipi and
sonacai (_silk and gold_), whilst you would ride about on your
black-tailed gra; and when you had got much treasure, you might return
hither and live like a Crallis, and all the Errate of the Chim del Manro
should bow down their heads to you. What, say you, my London Caloro,
what say you to my plan?
Myself.—Your plan is a plausible one, mother, or at least some people
would think so; but I am, as you are aware, of another chim, and have no
inclination to pass my life in this country.
_Gypsy Mother_.—Then return to your own country, my Caloro, the chabi can
cross the pani. Would she not do business in London with the rest of the
Caloré? Or why not go to the land of the Corahai? In which case I would
accompany you; I and my daughter, the mother of the chabi.
_Myself_.—And what should we do in the land of the Corahai? It is a poor
and wild country, I believe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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