As Far As I Could
Scan It, It Appeared The Most Uncouth Animal I Had Ever Beheld.
It
was of a spectral white, short in the body, but with remarkably
long legs.
I observed that it was particularly high in the cruz or
withers. "You are looking at the grasti," said Antonio; "it is
eighteen years old, but it is the very best in the Chim del Manro;
I have long had my eye upon it; I bought it for my own use for the
affairs of Egypt. Mount, brother, mount and let us leave the
foros - the gate is about being opened."
He locked the door, and deposited the key in his faja. In less
than a quarter of an hour we had left the town behind us. "This
does not appear to be a very good horse," said I to Antonio, as we
proceeded over the plain. "It is with difficulty that I can make
him move."
"He is the swiftest horse in the Chim del Manro, brother," said
Antonio; "at the gallop and at the speedy trot there is no one to
match him; but he is eighteen years old, and his joints are stiff,
especially of a morning; but let him once become heated and the
genio del viejo (spirit of the old man) comes upon him and there is
no holding him in with bit or bridle. I bought that horse for the
affairs of Egypt, brother."
About noon we arrived at a small village in the neighbourhood of a
high lumpy hill. "There is no Calo house in this place," said
Antonio; "we will therefore go to the posada of the Busne, and
refresh ourselves, man and beast." We entered the kitchen and sat
down at the boards, calling for wine and bread. There were two
ill-looking fellows in the kitchen, smoking cigars; I said
something to Antonio in the Calo language.
"What is that I hear?" said one of the fellows, who was
distinguished by an immense pair of moustaches. "What is that I
hear? is it in Calo that you are speaking before me, and I a Chalan
and national? Accursed gypsy, how dare you enter this posada and
speak before me in that speech? Is it not forbidden by the law of
the land in which we are, even as it is forbidden for a gypsy to
enter the mercado? I tell you what, friend, if I hear another word
of Calo come from your mouth, I will cudgel your bones and send you
flying over the house-tops with a kick of my foot."
"You would do right," said his companion; "the insolence of these
gypsies is no longer to be borne. When I am at Merida or Badajoz I
go to the mercado, and there in a corner stand the accursed gypsies
jabbering to each other in a speech which I understand not. 'Gypsy
gentleman,' say I to one of them, 'what will you have for that
donkey?' 'I will have ten dollars for it, Caballero nacional,'
says the gypsy; 'it is the best donkey in all Spain.' 'I should
like to see its paces,' say I. 'That you shall, most valorous!'
says the gypsy, and jumping upon its back, he puts it to its paces,
first of all whispering something into its ears in Calo, and truly
the paces of the donkey are most wonderful, such as I have never
seen before. 'I think it will just suit me,' and after looking at
it awhile, I take out the money and pay for it. 'I shall go to my
house,' says the gypsy; and off he runs. 'I shall go to my
village,' say I, and I mount the donkey. 'Vamonos,' say I, but the
donkey won't move. I give him a switch, but I don't get on the
better for that. 'How is this?' say I, and I fall to spurring him.
What happens then, brother? The wizard no sooner feels the prick
than he bucks down, and flings me over his head into the mire. I
get up and look about me; there stands the donkey staring at me,
and there stand the whole gypsy canaille squinting at me with their
filmy eyes. 'Where is the scamp who has sold me this piece of
furniture?' I shout. 'He is gone to Granada, Valorous,' says one.
'He is gone to see his kindred among the Moors,' says another. 'I
just saw him running over the field, in the direction of -, with
the devil close behind him,' says a third. In a word, I am
tricked. I wish to dispose of the donkey; no one, however, will
buy him; he is a Calo donkey, and every person avoids him. At last
the gypsies offer thirty rials for him; and after much chaffering I
am glad to get rid of him at two dollars. It is all a trick,
however; he returns to his master, and the brotherhood share the
spoil amongst them. All which villainy would be prevented, in my
opinion, were the Calo language not spoken; for what but the word
of Calo could have induced the donkey to behave in such an
unaccountable manner?"
Both seemed perfectly satisfied with the justness of this
conclusion, and continued smoking till their cigars were burnt to
stumps, when they arose, twitched their whiskers, looked at us with
fierce disdain, and dashing the tobacco-ends to the ground, strode
out of the apartment.
"Those people seem no friends to the gypsies," said I to Antonio,
when the two bullies had departed, "nor to the Calo language
either."
"May evil glanders seize their nostrils," said Antonio; "they have
been jonjabadoed by our people. However, brother, you did wrong to
speak to me in Calo, in a posada like this; it is a forbidden
language; for, as I have often told you, the king has destroyed the
law of the Cales.
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