I wanted to be on my way,but my strength wasn't equal to my intentions,and so I stayed in Madrid for a few days.I didn't get along badly there because I used a pair of crutches--since I couldn't walk without them--and I begged from door to door and from convent to convent until I had enough strength to set out.I was quick to do it because of what I heard a beggar tell who was sitting in the sun with some others,picking off fleas.
It was the story of the trunk I've just told about,but the beggar added that the man they put in jail,thinking he was the one who had been inside the chest,had proved it wasn't him.Because at the time it had all happened he was in his room;and none of his neighbors had ever seen him wearing any other clothes than the ones he had on when they arrested him.But even at that,they had still paraded him through the streets for being a vagabond,and had banished him from Madrid.The beggar also told how that man and the maiden's relatives were looking for a baggage carrier,who had contrived the whole business,and they swore that the first one who found him would run him through until he looked like a sieve.
When I heard that,I was all eyes,and I put a patch over one of them.Then I shaved off my beard like a mock priest,and the way I looked then,I was sure that not even the mother who bore me would have recognized me.I left Madrid,intending to go to Tejares to see whether fortune would disown me if I went back to the mold.I passed by the Escorial,a building that reflects the greatness of the monarch who was having it built (it wasn't finished yet)and so much so that it can be counted among the wonders of the world,although you can't say it is a very pleasant place to have it built at,since the land is barren and mountainous.But the summer air is so nice that all you have to do is sit in the shade and you won't be bothered by the heat or the cold,and the air is very healthy.
Less than three miles from there I met a band of gypsies who had set up camp in an old country house.When they saw me from a distance they thought I was one of them because my clothes seemed to promise no less;but when I got close they saw they were mistaken.They shunned me a little because,as I saw,they were holding a conference or debate on thievery.They told me that wasn't the road to Salamanca but to Valladolid.Since my business didn't force me to go to one place instead of any other,I told them that if that's the way it was,I wanted to see that city before I went back to my own town.
One of the oldest men there asked me where I was from,and when I told him Tejares,he invited me to eat with them because we were almost neighbors:he was from Salamanca.I accepted,and afterwards they asked me to tell about myself and my life.I did (they didn't have to ask me twice),with the fewest and shortest words that such great things allowed.When I came to the part about the barrel and what happened to me at the innkeeper's place in Madrid,they burst into laughter,especially a man and woman gypsy who nearly split their sides.I began to feel ashamed,and my face turned red.
The gypsy who was my neighbor saw me blushing,and he said,"Don't be ashamed,brother.These people aren't laughing at you;your life is more deserving of admiration than laughter.And since you have told us so much about yourself,it is only right that we should repay you the same way.We will put our trust in you just as you have trusted us.And if the people here will allow me,I will tell you the reason for their laughter."
Everyone told him to go ahead because they knew he was discreet and experienced enough not to let things go too far.
"For your information,then,"he continued,"those people who are laughing over there are the maiden and the priest who jumped in puribus when the deluge from your barrel nearly flooded them.If they want to they can tell you how the turns of fortune have brought them to their present state."
The brand new gypsy girl asked them to let her do it,capturing the benevolence of the illustrious audience,and so,with a sonorous,peaceful,and grave voice,she told her story.
"The day I left,or leaped (to be more accurate),from my father's house and they took me off to prison,they put me in a room that was darker than it was clean and that reeked more than it was decorated.Father Urbez,who is here and won't let me lie,was put in jail until he told them he was a priest.Then they immediately gave him over to the bishop,who scolded him severely for having let himself be overcome by a drop in the ocean and for having caused such a scandal.But when he promised to be more careful and watch himself so that not even the ground would know of his comings and goings,they let him loose and told him not to say mass for a month.
