ght, Petra. I also believe that your son will be great, at
least a patriarch. I have never seen any one who learned the business
in a shorter time. Yes, he'll remember me when as Pope or bishop he
entertains himself in making baskets for his cook. He'll then say
masses for my soul--he, he!" With this hope the good old man again
filled his _kalikut_ with buyo.

"If God hears my prayers and my hopes are fulfilled, I'll say to Andoy,
'Son, take away all our sins and send us to Heaven!' Then we shan't
need to pray and fast and buy indulgences. One whose son is a blessed
Pope can commit sins!"

"Send him to my house tomorrow, Petra," cried the old man
enthusiastically, "and I'll teach him to weave the _nito!_"

"Huh! Get out! What are you dreaming about, grand-dad? Do you still
think that the Popes even move their hands? The curate, being nothing
more than a curate, only works in the mass--when he turns around! The
Archbishop doesn't even turn around, for he says mass sitting down. So
the Pope--the Pope says it in bed with a fan! What are you thinking
about?"

"Of nothing more, Petra, than that he know how to weave the _nito_. It
would be well for him to be able to sell hats and cigar-cases so that
he wouldn't have to beg alms, as the curate does here every year in
the name of the Pope. It always fills me with compassion to see a
saint poor, so I give all my savings."

Another countryman here joined in the conversation, saying, "It's all
settled, cumare, [95] my son has got to be a doctor, there's nothing
like being a doctor!"

"Doctor! What are you talking about, cumpare?" retorted Petra. "There's
nothing like being a curate!"

"A curate, pish! A curate? The doctor makes lots of money, the sick
people worship him, cumare!"

"Excuse me! The curate, by making three or four turns and saying
_deminos pabiscum_, [96] eats God and makes money. All, even the women,
tell him their secrets."

"And the doctor? What do you think a doctor is? The doctor sees all
that the women have, he feels the pulses of the _dalagas!_ I'd just
like to be a doctor for a week!"

"And the curate, perhaps the curate doesn't see what your doctor
sees? Better still, you know the saying, 'the fattest chicken and
the roundest leg for the curate!'"

"What of that? Do the doctors eat dried fish? Do they soil their
fingers eating salt?"

"Does the curate dirty his hands as your doctors do? He has great
estates and when he works he works with mu