登陆注册
15427300000014

第14章 How Lazaro Took up with a Priest and the Things(5)

He went around all excited and not able to sleep,so that--on my word of honor--the snake (a male one,of course)didn't dare go out chewing at night,or even go near the chest.But in the daytime,while he was at church or in town,I did my looting.And when he saw the damage and that he wasn't able to do anything about it,he wandered around at night--as I've said--like a spook.

I was afraid that in his wanderings he might stumble onto my key that I kept under the straw.So it seemed to me that the safest thing was to put it in my mouth at night.Because since I'd been with the blind man my mouth had gotten round like a purse,and I could hold twenty or thirty coppers in it--all in half-copper coins--and eat at the same time.If I hadn't been able to do that I couldn't have gotten hold of even a copper that the blasted blind man wouldn't have found:he was always searching every patch and seam on my clothes.Well,as I say,I put the key in my mouth every night,and I went to sleep without being afraid that the zombie master of mine would stumble onto it.But when trouble is going to strike,you can't do a thing to stop it.

The fates--or to be more exact,my sins--had it in store for me that one night while I was sleeping my mouth must have been open,and the key shifted so that the air I breathed out while I was asleep went through the hollow part of the key.It was tubular,and (unfortunately for me)it whistled so loud that my master heard it and got excited.He must have thought it was the snake hissing,and I guess it really sounded like one.

He got up very quietly with his club in hand,and by feeling his way toward the sound he came up to me very softly so the snake wouldn't hear him.And when he found himself so close,he thought that it had come over to where I was lying,looking for a warm place,and had slipped into the straw.So,lifting the club up high,and thinking that he had the snake trapped down there and that he would hit it so hard that he'd kill it,he swung down on me with such a mighty blow that he knocked me unconscious and left my head bashed in.

Then he saw that he'd hit me (I must have really cried out when the blow leveled me),and--as he later told me--he reached over and shouted at me,calling my name and trying to revive me.But when his hands touched me and he felt all the blood,he realized what he'd done,and he went off to get a light right away.When he came back with it he found me moaning with the key still in my mouth:I had never let loose of it,and it was still sticking half out--just like it must have been when I was whistling through it.

The snake killer was terrified,wondering what it could be.He took it all the way out of my mouth and looked at it.Then he realized what it was because its ridges matched his key exactly.He went to try it out,and he solved the crime.Then that cruel hunter must have said:"I've found the mouse and the snake that were fighting me and eating me out of house and home."

I can't say for sure what happened during the next three days because I spent them inside the belly of the whale.But what I've just told I heard about from my master when I came to;he was telling what had happened in detail to everyone who came by.At the end of three days,when I was back in my senses,I found myself stretched out on my straw bed with my head all bandaged up and full of oils and salves.And I got scared and said,"What is this?"

The cruel priest answered,"It seems that I caught the mice and snakes that were ruining me."

I looked myself over,and when I saw how badly beaten up I was,I guessed what had happened.

Then an old lady who was a healer came in,along with the neighbors.And they began to take the wrappings off my head and treat the wound.When they saw that I was conscious again,they were very happy,and they said,'Well,he's got his senses back.God willing,it won't be too serious."

Then they began to talk again about what had happened to me and to laugh.While I--sinner that I am--I was crying.Anyway,they fed me,and I was famished,but they really didn't give me enough.Yet,little by little,I recovered,and two weeks later I was able to get up,out of any danger (but not out of my state of hunger)and nearly cured.

The next day when I'd gotten up,my master took me by the hand and led me out the door,and when I was in the street he said to me:"Lazaro,from now on you're on your own--I don't want you.Go get yourself another master,and God be with you.I don't want such a diligent servant here with me.You could only have become this way from being a blind man's guide."

Then he crossed himself as if I had the devil in me and went back into his house and closed the door.

同类推荐
  • 佛说大意经

    佛说大意经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 求幸福斋随笔

    求幸福斋随笔

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 六十种曲义侠记

    六十种曲义侠记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 中枢龟镜

    中枢龟镜

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 富国

    富国

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 落花琉璃谁人知

    落花琉璃谁人知

    《落花琉璃谁人知》“神仙哥哥,你是个好人!”五岁的琉璃望着眼前白衣男子,露出了深深的感激。“那我以后去哪里找你啊?我要报答你的!”男子听闻,只是笑了笑,飞走了。“这就是神仙吗?”直到那抹白色身影消失,才堪堪收回了视线。“那我去哪儿找他呢?”正想着,目光落在男子不慎落下的青色雪花吊坠,青色,那不就是…?
  • 浮离流所

    浮离流所

    这个世界上一定有一个人是你一生所念,如果没有人受得了你,那你就自己爱自己。因为,别无选择
  • 天灾末世

    天灾末世

    平凡的高材生,一夜之间家破人亡天灾?还是人祸?真相掩藏在黑暗的角落漫漫的探寻之路,一次次地深陷泥潭......是放弃,还是一往无前?
  • 帝君嗜宠千面妖妃

    帝君嗜宠千面妖妃

    她是西歧国第一美人,陌上卿人,不染纤尘,却懦弱无能,胸无点墨,被囚禁水楼。可又有谁知道,她冰冷嗜血,杀人如麻,势力庞大,一身绝世武功亦沉浮天下!谁知逃过了被操控的命运,还是逃不过情爱的牵绊。他乃一代帝君,却强势霸道,唯她独宠。“女人,九宫无妃,待你归来!”愿与君策马映雪,不诉离殇。
  • TFBOYS之因为全世界有你
  • 青春无限

    青春无限

    星辰,一个处于青春期的快乐女生,她喜欢校园生活,喜欢和朋友们在一起。一群玩世不恭的孩子们,会发生怎样奇妙的事情......
  • 高更 列宾(中外名人的青少年时代)

    高更 列宾(中外名人的青少年时代)

    尹成君、冯志才、乔伟、马建编著的《高更 列宾》是《中外名人的青少年时代丛书》之一。《高更列宾》对高更、列宾的家世、家教、兴趣爱好以及对其一生有影响的人和事等着墨颇多,尤其探究了本人之所以成功的主客观因素,希望可以对成长中、探索中的青少年会有所裨益。
  • 叶普公主

    叶普公主

    叶普公主因被诅咒,要经过三世轮回才能苏醒,这次写的是第一世。
  • 贴身护美特工

    贴身护美特工

    身怀绝技的特种兵,天生就有超能力,为保护女证人的安全,护花、探险、夺宝、奇遇不断,最终走向巅峰之路。
  • 豪宠:冷少的绝色娇妻

    豪宠:冷少的绝色娇妻

    她--暗地里是杀手界不败的神话,明面上她确是欧家高贵的大小姐父母失败的婚姻,让她厌恶了豪门的爱情游戏在她最难过最无助的时候,那个冷魅的男子闯入了她的世界.....他--是暗夜帝都的当家人,也是冷氏集团的总裁传闻他心狠手辣,做事果决,身边女人不断,可是直到遇见了她.....他--欧氏集团的总裁,因为母亲的二次婚姻让他失去了最爱的她看似温文儒雅,实则上确是一个城府极深的男人....