The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes: His Fortunes and Misfortunes as Told by HimselfAnonymous
General
The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes: His Fortunes and Misfortunes as Told by Himself
Anonymous
Picaresque literature, Spanish; Spain -- Social conditions -- 16th century -- Fiction; Spanish fiction -- Translations into English
Once, in the dead of night, I saw that my guards were fast
asleep, and I tried to get loose. But the ropes around me were
wet, and I couldn't. I thought about shouting, but I decided
that that wouldn't work, since the first one who heard me would
seal my mouth with a half-gallon of water. When I saw that way
out cut off, I began to twist around impatiently in the slough,
and I struggled and pushed so much that the cask turned over, and
me along with it. All the water spilled out, and when I found
myself freed I shouted for help.
The fishermen were terrified when they realized what I'd done,
and they quickly hit on a solution: they stopped up my mouth by
stuffing it full of seaweed. And to muddle my shouts, they began
to shout themselves, even louder, calling out, "Help, help, call
the law!" And as they were doing all this, they filled the cask
back up with water from a nearby well, with unbelievable speed.
The innkeeper came running out with a battle-ax, and everyone
else at the inn came out armed with iron pokers and sticks. All
the neighbors came in, along with a constable and six deputies
who happened to be passing by. The innkeeper asked the sailors
what had happened, and they answered that thieves had tried to
steal their fish. And like a madman he began shouting, "Get the
thieves, get the thieves!" Some went to see if they had gotten
out the door; others went to find out if they were escaping
across the rooftops. And as for me, my custodians had put me
back in my vat.
It happened that the water that spilled out all ran through a
hole in the floor, onto the bed of a room downstairs where the
daughter of the house was sleeping. Now this girl had been so
moved to charity that she had brought a young priest in with her
to spend the night in contemplation. They became so frightened
when the deluge fell on the bed and all the people began shouting
that they crawled out through a window as naked as Adam and Eve,
without even a fig leaf to cover their private parts. There was
a full moon, and its brightness was so great that it could have
competed with the sun. When the people saw them they shouted,
"Get the thieves, catch the thieves!" The deputies and the
constable ran after the girl and the priest and quickly caught up
with them because they were barefoot and the stones on the
ground made it difficult for them to run. And in one swoop they
led them off to jail. Early next morning the fishermen left
Madrid to go to Toledo, and they never did find out what God had
done with that simple little maiden and the devout priest.
VI. How They Took Lazaro to Toledo
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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