One Day I Went To The Bishop's Palace And Spoke To Him, Telling Him
I Was A Pilgrim From Saint James, And Requesting Assistance.
He
told me, however, that he could not relieve me, and as for my being
a pilgrim from Saint James, he was glad of it, and hoped that it
would be of service to my soul.
So I left Mondonedo, and got
amongst the wild mountains, begging and betting at the door of
every choza that I passed, telling all I saw that I was a pilgrim
from Saint James, and showing my passport in proof that I had been
there. Lieber herr, no person gave me a cuart, nor even a piece of
broa, and both Gallegans and Asturians laughed at Saint James, and
told me that his name was no longer a passport in Spain. I should
have starved if I had not sometimes plucked an ear or two out of
the maize fields; I likewise gathered grapes from the parras and
berries from the brambles, and in this manner I subsisted till I
arrived at the bellotas, where I slaughtered a stray kid which I
met, and devoured part of the flesh raw, so great was my hunger.
It made me, however, very ill, and for two days I lay in a barranco
half dead and unable to help myself; it was a mercy that I was not
devoured by the wolves. I then struck across the country for
Oviedo: how I reached it I do not know; I was like one walking in
a dream.
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