CHAPTER 7

The pillar which the blind man could not smell

After that, I decided to definitely leave the blind man. And this is what I did.

We went to the town to ask for alms. But it was raining hard so we stayed behind some arcades. But it got very late and the blind man wanted to go home.

We had to jump over a stream of water. I said:

- Uncle, the stream is very wide here. There is a place where the stream is narrower. If you jump there, you will not get wet.

- You are clever. Take me there. I don’t want to get wet.

I took him to a place where there was a pillar in front. I told him to jump. He jumped and hit his head against the pillar and fainted. At that moment, I ran away.

His second master: a priest

The next day I went to a town called Maqueda. I met a priest. He asked me if I could assist at mass.

But the priest was very selfish. He put the bread into a big chest, locked with a key.

The priest always carried the key on him. There was nothing to eat in the house except some onions. He gave me one onion every four days. He said:

- You eat too much.

He ate meat for lunch and dinner. Sometimes he gave me a piece of bread or some stock but never meat!

On Saturdays, he sent me to buy the head of a sheep. He cooked it and ate the eyes, the tongue, the brain . Then , he gave me the bones. He said:

- Come on, eat. You are very lucky. You are luckier than the Pope.

After three weeks, I thought that I was going to die of hunger. I was very weak.

CHAPTER 8