Episode 5

Boy, didst thou hear naught this night? For I went after the snake, and I even think it must be making for thy bed, for they are very cold and seek warmth.”

“May it please God it bite me not,” said I, “for I have great dread of it.”

In this manner he was so watchful and sleepless that, by my faith, the snake (or rather the he-snake) dared not gnaw by night or approach the chest; but by day, while he was in the church or about the town, I made my raids: which mischiefs he seeing, and how little remedy he could provide for them, went about by night, as I say, like a goblin.

I was afraid that with all his searchings he might light upon the key which I kept beneath my straw; and it seemed safest to me to put it in my mouth by night. For ever since I lived with the blind man, I had made such a purse of it that it happened to me to hold twelve or fifteen maravedis therein, all in half-blancas, without hindering my eating; for otherwise I could not possess a single coin without the cursed blind man finding it, leaving no seam or patch unsearched very frequently. And so, as I say, every night I put the key into my mouth, and slept without fear that my sorcerer of a master would light upon it; but when ill luck is to come, diligence is in vain.

My stars willed, or rather my sins, that one night while I was sleeping, the key placed itself in my mouth—which I must have held open—in such wise and position that the air and breath which I expelled in sleeping passed through the hollow of the key, which was a pipe-key; and it whistled, as my misfortune would have it, right loudly, so that my startled master heard it and believed without doubt that it was the hissing of the snake; and certainly it must have sounded like it.

He arose very softly with his cudgel in hand, and groping by the sound of the snake, approached me with great quietness, so as not to be heard by the reptile; and when he saw himself near, he thought that it had crept thither into the straw where I lay, drawn by my warmth. Raising his staff high, thinking he had it beneath him and intending to deal it such a blow as would slay it, with all his might he discharged upon my head so terrible a stroke that he left me senseless and with my skull severely fractured.

When he felt that he had struck me—since I must have made a great moan under that fierce blow—he related that he had approached me, shouting and calling upon me, striving to bring me to myself. But when he touched me with his hands, he felt the great stream of blood running from me, and knew the hurt he had done me; and in great haste he went to fetch a light. And coming with it, he found me groaning, still with my key in my mouth, which I had never let go, half of it sticking out, just as it must have been when I was whistling through it.

The slayer of snakes, amazed at what that key might be, looked upon it, drawing it entirely from my mouth, and saw what it was: for in its wards it differed in nothing from his own. He went straightway to try it, and with it he proved the whole mischief. The cruel hunter must have said: “The mouse and snake that waged war upon me and ate my substance are found!”

Of what happened during the three days following I can give no account, for I spent them in the belly of the whale; but what I have related I heard, after I came to myself, from the mouth of my master, who recounted it at length to all who came thither.

At the end of three days I recovered my senses, and found myself lying upon my straw, my head all plastered and anointed with oils and ointments; and being frightened, I cried: “What is this?”

The cruel priest answered me:

“By my faith, the mice and snakes that were destroying me are hunted down at last!”

And I looked upon myself and saw me so bruised that I straightway suspected my misfortune.

At this hour an old woman who practiced healing entered, with the neighbors, and they began to remove the rags from my head and dress the wound. And finding that I had returned to my senses, they rejoiced greatly and said:

“Since he hath recovered his wit, please God it will be nothing.”

Then they began anew to recount my misfortunes and to laugh at them, while I, poor sinner, wept. With all this they gave me something to eat, for I was fainting with hunger, and could scarce relieve my craving. And so, little by little, in a fortnight I was able to rise and was out of danger, though not out of hunger, and half healed.

The very next day after I had risen, my master took me by the hand, led me forth from the door, and setting me in the street, said unto me:

“Lázaro, from this day forth thou art thine own master and not mine. Seek a master and go with God, for I desire not so diligent a servant in my company. It cannot be but that thou hast been a blind man’s boy!”

And crossing himself against me as if I were possessed of a devil, he turned into his house and shut the door.

Third Treatise

How Lázaro took service with a squire, and of what befell him with him

In this manner was I forced to make a virtue of necessity, and little by little, with the help of good folk, I reached this famous city of Toledo, where by the mercy of God in a fortnight my wound was closed; and while I was sick, they always gave me some alms, but after I was healed, everyone said unto me:

“Thou art a rogue and a vagrant! Go, seek a master whom thou mayst serve!”

“And where shall such a one be found,” said I unto myself, “unless God were now to create him anew, as He created the world?”

Wandering thus from door to door, with very little relief, for charity had already flown up to heaven, God threw in my way a squire who was walking along the street, reasonably well dressed, well combed, his gait and pace orderly and grave. He looked upon me, and I upon him, and he said unto me:

“Boy, seekest thou a master?”

I said unto him: “Yes, sir.”

“Then come after me,” he answered, “for God hath done thee a mercy in meeting with me. Some good prayer hast thou said this day.”

And I followed him, giving thanks to God for what I heard from him, and also because he seemed to me, by his dress and bearing, to be the very master I required.

It was morning when I met this my third master, and he led me after him through a great part of the city. We passed through the markets where bread and other provisions were sold. I thought and even hoped that he would load me with what was there for sale, for this was the very hour when they are wont to provide what is needful; but with a brisk pace he passed all these things by. “Perchance he sees nothing here to his liking,” said I to myself, “and will have us buy it elsewhere.”

In this manner we walked until the clock struck eleven. Then he entered the principal church, and I after him; and very devoutly did I see him hear mass and the other divine offices, until all was ended and the congregation departed. Then we went forth from the church.

At a brisk pace we began to go down a street. I went along the merriest boy in the world, seeing that we had not busied ourselves in seeking food. I well considered that my new master must be a man who bought in gross, and that our dinner would already be prepared, just as I wished and even had need of it.

By this time the clock struck one in the afternoon, and we came to a house before which my master halted, and I with him; and casting the fold of his cloak over his left shoulder, he drew a key from his sleeve, opened the door, and we entered the house. The entrance was dark and gloomy, in such wise that it seemed to strike terror into those who entered, though within there was a small courtyard and decent rooms.

When we had entered, he took off his cloak, and asking me whether my hands were clean, we shook and folded it, and blowing cleanly upon a stone bench that stood there, he laid it upon it. And this done, he sat down beside it, questioning me at great length whence I came and how I had arrived in that city; and I gave him a longer account than I could have wished, for it seemed to me a more fitting hour to command the table to be laid and the stewpot dished than for the questions he asked me. With all that, I satisfied him concerning my person as best I knew how to lie, telling my virtues and keeping silence concerning the rest, which seemed to me not suited for the chamber.

This done, he sat thus for a while; and straightway I saw an evil sign, it being now almost two o’clock and I seeing no more sign of dinner than in a dead man. After this, I considered that keeping of the door locked with a key, and hearing no footsteps of any living person above or below throughout the house. All that I had seen was bare walls, without seeing stool, bench, table, or even such a chest as that of old: in short, it seemed an enchanted house. Being thus, he said unto me:

“Boy, hast thou eaten?”

“No, sir,” said I, “for it had not yet struck eight when I met with your honor.”

“Well, though it was early, I had breakfasted; and when I eat anything thus, I would have thee know that I remain so until nightfall. Wherefore shift for thyself as thou canst, and we shall sup later.”

Your Honor may believe, when I heard this, that I was upon the point of swooning, not so much from hunger as from knowing once and for all that fortune was utterly adverse to me. There did my miseries present themselves anew, and I began to weep over my toils; there came to my memory the thought I had when I intended to leave the priest, saying that though he was wretched and stingy, perchance I should meet with another worse: in short, there did I bewail my laborious past life and my near approaching death. And yet, dissembling as best I could:

“Sir, I am a lad that troubles not myself much about eating, blessed be God! Of that I may boast among all my equals as having the most temperate throat, and so have I been praised for it to this day by all the masters I have had.”

“That is a virtue,” said he, “and for that cause shall I love thee the more: for stuffing is for swine, and eating with measure is for gentlemen.”

“Well do I understand thee!” said I unto myself. “A curse upon so much virtue and moderation as these masters of mine find in starvation!”

I betook myself to a corner of the doorway and drew forth certain pieces of bread from my bosom, which had remained to me from those given for God’s sake. He, seeing this, said unto me:

“Come hither, boy. What art thou eating?”

I drew near to him and showed him the bread. He took a piece from me, the best and largest of three that were there, and said unto me:

“By my life, this looks like good bread!”

“How now!” said I. “Is it good now, sir?”

“Yes, by my faith,” said he. “Where didst thou get it? Was it kneaded by clean hands?”

“I know not that,” said I; “but the taste thereof brings me no loathing.”

“May it please God!” said my poor master.

And carrying it to his mouth, he began to take as fierce bites of it as I did of the other.

“Most savory bread this is, by God!” said he.

And perceiving which foot he limped on, I made haste, for I saw him disposed, if he finished before me, to offer courteously to help me with what remained; and with this we finished almost at the same time. And my master began to brush off with his hands a few very tiny crumbs that had fallen upon his breast; and entering a small chamber that was there, he brought forth an old jug with a broken spout, and when he had drunk, invited me to drink. I, to feign temperance, said: