What thoughts I had all along the road about my good gypsies:their way of life,their customs,the way they behaved.It really amazed me that the law let such thieves go around so freely,since everyone knows that their life involves nothing but stealing.Theirs is an asylum--a shelter for thieves,a congregation of apostates,and a school for evil.I was especially astonished that friars would leave a life of rumination to follow the one of ruination and fatigue of the gypsies.I wouldn't have believed what the gypsy told me if he hadn't shown me a gypsy man and woman a mile from the camp,behind the walls of a shelter:he was broad-shouldered,and she was plump.He wasn't sunburned,and she wasn't tanned by harsh weather.One of them was singing a verse from the psalms of David,and the other was answering with another verse.The good old man told me that they
were a friar and a nun who had come to his congregation not more than a week ago,wanting to profess a more austere life.
I came to an inn three miles from Valladolid,and I saw the old lady from Madrid,along with the young maiden of yore,sitting in the doorway.A gallant young fellow came out to call them in to eat.They didn't recognize me because of my good disguise:my patch still over one eye and my clothes worn in the roguish style.But I knew I was the Lazaro who had come out of the tomb that had been so harsh on me.I went up to them to see if they would give me anything.But they couldn't because they didn't have anything for themselves.The young man who served as their steward was so generous that,for himself,his sweetheart,and the old bawd,he'd had a tiny bit of pork liver prepared with a sauce.I could have shoveled down everything on the plate in less than two mouthfuls.The bread was as black as the tablecloth,and that looked like a penitent's tunic or a rag for cleaning stoves.
"Eat,my dove,"the gentleman said."This meal is fit for a prince."
The go-between ate without a word so as not to lose any time and because she saw there wasn't enough for all of them.They began to clean up the plate with such gusto that they removed the finish.When the poor,sad meal was over--and it had made them more hungry than full--the gentle lover made excuses by saying the inn didn't have much food.
When I saw they didn't have anything for me,I asked the innkeeper what there was to eat.He told me,"It depends how much you want to pay."He wanted to give me a few chitterlings.I asked him if he had anything else.He offered me a quarter of kid that the lover hadn't wanted because it was too expensive.I wanted to impress them,so I told him to give it to me.I sat down with it at the end of the table,and their stares were a sight to behold.With each mouthful I swallowed six eyes,because those of the lover,the girl,and the bawd were fastened on what I was eating.
"What's going on?"asked the maiden."That poor man is eating a quarter of kid,and there was nothing for us but a poor piece of fried liver."The young fellow answered that he had asked the innkeeper for some partridges,capons or hens,and that he had told him he didn't have anything else to offer.I knew the truth of the matter--that he had put them on that diet because he didn't want to pay or couldn't,but I decided to eat and keep quiet.The kid was like a magnet.Without warning,I found all three of them hovering over my plate.
The brazen-faced little bitch picked up a piece and said,"With your permission,brother."But before she had it,she had the piece in her mouth.
The old woman said,"Don't steal his meal from this poor sinner."
"I'm not stealing it,"she answered."I intend to pay him for it very well."
And in the same breath she began to eat so fast and furiously that it looked like she hadn't eaten in six days.The old woman took a bite to see how it tasted.
"Is it really that good?"said the young man.And he filled his mouth with an enormous piece.When I saw that they were going too far,I picked up everything on the plate and stuck it in my mouth.It was so big that it couldn't go down or up.
While I was in this struggle,two armed men came riding up to the door of the inn,wearing vests and helmets and carrying shields.Each of them had one musket at his side and another on the saddle.They dismounted and gave their mules to a foot servant.They asked the innkeeper if there was anything to eat.He told them he had a good supply of food,and if they liked they could go into the hall while he was preparing it.The old woman had gone over to the door when she heard the noise,and she came back with her hands over her face,bowing as much as a novice monk.She spoke with a wee,tiny voice and was laboriously twisting back and forth like she was going into labor.
As softly and well as she could,she said,"We're lost.Clara's brothers (Clara was the maiden's name)are outside."
