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
So I was living as content as could be. The last mistress was a
devout woman: I had more to do with her than with the others
because all she ever did was visit with friars, and when she was
alone with them she was in her glory. Her house was like a
beehive: some coming, others going, and they all came with their
sleeves stuffed with things for her. For me, so I would be a
faithful secretary, they brought some pieces of meat from their
meals, which they put in their sleeves. I have never in my life
seen a more hypocritical woman than she was. When she walked
down the street she never took her eyes off the ground; her
rosary was always in her hand, and she would always be praying on
it in the streets. Every woman who knew her begged her to pray
to God for them since her prayers were so acceptable to Him. She
told them she was a great sinner (and that was no lie), but she
was lying with the truth.
Each of my mistresses had her own special time for me to come.
When one of them said she didn't want to go out, I went to the
next one's house, until I finished my rounds. They told me what
time to come back for them and without fail, because if I (sinner
that I am) was even a little bit late, the lady would insult me
in front of everyone she visited, and she would threaten me,
saying that if I kept being so careless she would get another
squire who was more diligent, careful, and punctual. Anyone
hearing her shout and threaten me so haughtily undoubtedly
thought she was paying me two pieces of silver every day and a
salary of three hundred silver pieces a year besides. When my
mistresses walked down the street each one looked like the wife
of the judge over all Castile, or at least, of a judge of the
Chancery.
One day it happened that the chaplain's niece and the
constable's wife met in a church, and both of them wanted to go
home at the same time. The quarrel about which one I would take
home first was so loud that it was as though we were in jail.
They grabbed hold of me and pulled--one at one side and one at
the other--so fiercely that they tore my cloak to shreds. And
there I stood, stark naked, because I didn't have a damned thing
under it but some ragged underwear that looked like a fish net.
The people who saw the fish hook peeping out from the torn
underwear laughed their heads off. The church was like a tavern:
some were making fun of poor Lazaro; others were listening to the
two women dig up their grandparents. I was in such a hurry to
gather up the pieces of my cloak that had fallen in their
ripeness that I didn't get a chance to listen to what they were
saying. I only heard the widow say, 'Where does this whore get
all her pride? Yesterday she was a water girl, and today she
wears taffeta dresses at the expense of the souls in purgatory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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