Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-06-05

c-AO0S
meadows. and all those woods, and all
those vines, and all those focks; who when
he came riding on horseback into his lands
with men behind him, seemed like the
king, and they prepared for him lodging
and dinner-for that simpleton, so that
every one knew the hour and the moment
in which he was to arrive, and they did not
let themselves be caught with their hands
in the bag.
"That man is bound to be robbed!' said
Mazzaro, and burst out laughing when the
baron gave him kicks behind, and rubbed
his back with his hands, murmuring, LET
simpletons keep at home," and property
does not belong to him who has it, but to
him who knows how to get it,"
He, on the contrary, after he had gotten
riches, certainly did not send word whether
he were coming to look after the reaping
or the vintage and when and how; but he
appeared suddenly, on foot or riding his
mule, without his men, with piece OF
bread in his pocket; and he slept beside his
sheaves, with his eyes open and his gun be-
tween his legs.
In this way, little by little Mazzaro be-
came master of all the baron's property,
and the latter parted first with the olive
grove, then with the vines, then with the
allyayith his palace itself, so that day did
not pass in which he did not sign legal
paper, and Navarro put below his worthy
| X mark The baron had nothing left but
the stone shield that formerly was over his
| door, and it was the only thing that he had
not been willing to sell, saying to Mazzaro,
''This only, of all my property, will not do
| for thee" And it was true; Mazzaro did
| not know what to do with it, and would
not have paid twopence for it.
''This is fine thing, to have the fortune
| that Mazzaro hasP' people said; and they
did not know what it had taken to grasp
that fortune; how many thoughts, how
many fatigues, how many falsehoods, how
many perils of going to the galleys, and
how that head that was a jewel had worked
day and night, steadier than a milestone,
to get riches; and if the owner of a neigh
boring field persisted in not giving it up
to him, and wanted to take Mazzaro by
| the neck, he had to find a stratagem to
constrain the owner to sell, and make him
fall into the trap, despite of the distrust Of
| the peasant nature. He would go and
boast, for example, of the fertility Of
! land rent which did not even produce lu-
zines, and succeeded in making the poor
fellow believe it to be a promised land, so
| UudU U0 l6U ulIuSc1l Oc 11louCcu W llIC 1t,
as a speculation, and afterward lost his
rent, his house and his field, which MAJ
faro took-for piece of bread. And how
many annoyances Mazzaro had to bear!
The mezzadri who came to complain of the
bad years, the debtors who sent their
wives in a procession to tear their hair and
| beat their breasts, conjuring him not to
| put them into the road, by taking away
their mule or their donkey, for they had
nothing to eat
s'Do you see what I eat?' he would re-
ply. "Bread and an onion! And I have
storehouses brimful, and am master of all
this property"
And if they asked for penny he an
swered that he had none.
And indeed he had not, for he never kept
twelve tart in his pocket 1t took so many
to make all that property profitable, and
the money entered and passed out of his
house like river. Moreover, he did not
care for money. He said it was not prop
erty, and as soon as he put together GER
tain sum he at once bought a piece of land,
because he wished to succeed in having as
much land as the king has, and to be bet
ter off than the king for the king cannot
sell it or call it his own,
One thing alone grieved him, that he was
beginning to grow old, and he must leave
the earth behind him. This is an injustice
Of God, he thought, that after having worn
out your life in gaining property, when
you have succeeded in getting it, SO that
you would like more, you have to leave it.
And he would remain for hours seated on
basket, with his chin in his hands, look
ing at his vines that grew green before his
eyes, and the fields that waved with heads
of wheat like sea, and the olive groves
that yelled the mountain like cloud; and
if half naked boy passed in front of him,
bent under his burden like weary ass, he
would thrust his stick between the boys
legs for envy, and murmur, II look who
has length of days! that fellow who has
nothing!''
So that when they told him that it was
time to leave his property, in order to
think of his soul, he went out into the
court yard like mailman, staggering, and
vent about killing his ducks and turkeys
with blows of his stick, and screaming,
s'My property, come along with me!'-
Translated for "Short Stories" from the
Italian of Verga by E. Cavazza.