Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-25
EVENING STAR,
x RANC1SC0 DE La VEGA,
THE FISH MAN.
/ CONCLUDED. |

CONCLUDED.
The young man, without any hesitation. q
stopping to look much around him, thereupo,
led his friendinto the village, and went straigh
on the house of the widow Maria de la Vega
his supposed mother. As soon as the poo
woman saw him enter the cottage she ran to
ward him, clasped him in her arms, and cried
with tears in her eyes: "Ah, yes, yes, tho,
art indeed my son Francisco-thou art he VIII,
was lost to me at Bilbao"
His two brothers, one Of whom was the &c
clesiastic, happening to be at home, recog
niEed him also at once with joyful emotion
They embraced him, questioned him, and en-
aeavored by every possible means to get him
talk, or at least to give some tokens Of sym.
pathy, but this strange being remained not
only dumb, but as cold and insensible as a
block Of marble. The wandering priest no "
left his charge to the care of his family. and
SON Quilted Lierganes; the general impres
SION being that the youth had, through his
long residence in the sea, lost his intellect
and with 1T all recollection Of his early years
1t is very natural to SUI pose that the news
OF Francisco's return should produce a great
sensation in the neighborhood People of all
ranks Hooked to see this extraordinary per-
sonage; indeed, several grandees invited him
to spend few days at their castles, in order
10 observe him more minutely. Here he was
| closely examined and many men of the high
est character asserted that his back and some
other parts of his body were covered with
| scales somewhat similar to those of a fish !:
while other individuals, who saw him q few
years subsequently, treated this part of the
| tory as fable
AS regards the rest Of his person-he was
SIX feet in height, neither particularly thin
nor stout; his figure was awkward the hair
| of his head was of a reddish tinge, and quite
| short. He had no color in his face. and lis
| nails were entirely destroyed, as il the salt
| water had corroded them lie could not en-.
dure shoes, and always went barefooted IL
clothes were given him he would wear them
if rot, he would 60 with perfect indifference
without them. And the same as regarded
bis food whatever was placed before him he
ate without evincing the slightest preference
for one dish over another; and if his mother
neglected to provide him with meat, he never
asked for any. Occasionally he would utter
few words, but without any coherency, evil
IDENTIFY meaning nothing by these sounis He
could find his way perfectly to places with
which he had been previously acquainted;
and bis principal employment consisted in
carrying letters about the neighborhood
Hence, We may conclude, that although he
never replied to any questions that were put
to him, he fully understood the orders he re-
ceived lie was even conscientious in the
discharge of these commissions, and the sender
could always rely upon his punctuality Once
d
games to Santander. A broad sheet of water,
traversed by ferry boat, interrupts the way
between these two towns and on the present
occasion the ferry boat was missing, where
upon he Immediately, without reflection,
walked into the water, and swan across 10
the opposite shore, arriving in Santander in a
very wet condition but on being questioned
as to what had occurred, be gave no answer,
and without saying a word delivered the let
tels correctly, and then returned to Lierganes
His relations never thought of finding any
steady employment for him again, as he ap-
psared totally unfit for the most ordinary pur-
suit. In this way, without speaking, and ap-
parently without thinking, he continued for
nine long years to live under his mother
roof. Both she and her friends had become
quite accustomed to his odd ways; and he
gradually sank into Obscurity. Suddenly,
however, he again disappeared from the vii
lage, and nothing was ever afterwards heard
of him Some fishermen pretended to have
seen figure bearing strong resemblance to
him in the harbOr Of Asturias; but this news
was never confirmed, and no trace of the mis-
sing Francisco was ever found The proba-
bility is, that he again betoOk himself to the
sea, Notwithstanding that his youthful ardor
for the water had long vanished, and that he
had, ever since his capture at ldiz, evinced
the most perfect Indifference toward every
thing around him. Tieck, who has carefully
his account Of it
THAT the captured man was the lost boy
of Lierganes, there is every reason TO believe,
for he himself knew his birthplace again, he
found his way there, his mother and brothers
recognized him at first sight as their own lost
Francisco. The idiot could scarcely have
acted the role of an impostor for ten years,
since no advantage accrued from 1t, nor was
he in position to derive the slightest benefit
from the lie. His family could not be anxious
to deceive any one in that quiet little town,
more especially as the maintenance Of the un-
fortunate was nothing but a burden to them.
Moreover, besides his immediate relations,
several men Of eminence and the most un
doubted respectability bore witness to the gen
uineness Of this Francisco, so that We must
class this incident with some Of the most re
markable phenomena of nature, to explain
which often battles the ingenuity of the phil
osopher. 1t is greatly to be deplored that
when fshed out of the sea, this singular being
SD ould have been little better, mentally, than
block of stone. Had he retained his mem
ory, and regained the power of speech, it
would have been highly instructive and inter
esting TO have learned how he had supported
himself in the water. Divers can certainly
hold their breath for some time but, whether
any human bodies possess the capacity, and
may be able to cultivate this capacity SO far
as to enable them to dispense with air for any
considerable perlOu, is not an easy matter To
admit How did he live in the scar What
did he eat? How did he manage to escape so
long from the murderous monsters of the deep,
so that he did not seem to have suffered in the
slightest degree from any of them? Could he
dispense with sleep, and if not, where did he
sleep? In the ocean, or on shore? His in
tellect was not so much disOrdered as COM
pletely inactive and without power. If, in
deed, this phlegmatic monster in reality was
not the long lost Francisco las we are almost
| compelled to admit then this man, whoever
| be might be, is still more remarkable than the
| so called fish sturba, of which even respecta-
l bic writer's relate such incredible stories