ure them. This herb
has also the virtue to cut iron--everything it touches."

"What absurdities this Jose swallows without chewing, like a real
shark!" interrupted Manuel, laughing. "Don Frederico, do you comprehend
what he said and believes as an article of faith? He believes and says
that snakes never die."

"No, they never die," replied the shepherd. "When they see death coming
they escape from their skin, and run away. With age they become
serpents; little by little they are covered with scales and wings: they
become dragons, and return to the desert. But you, Manuel, you do not
wish to believe anything. Do you deny also that the lizard is the enemy
of the woman, and the friend of man? If you do not believe it, ask then
of Miguel."

"He knows it?"

"Without doubt, by experience."

"Whence did he learn it?" demanded Stein.

"He was sleeping in the field," replied Jose. "A snake glided near him.
A lizard, which was in the furrow, saw it coming, and presented himself
to defend Miguel. The lizard, which was of large form, fought with the
snake. But Miguel not awaking, the lizard pressed his tail against the
nose of the sleeper, and ran off as if his paws were on fire. The lizard
is a good little beast, who has good desires; he never sleeps in the sun
without descending the wall to kiss the earth."

When the conversation commenced on the subject of swallows, Paca said to
Anis, who was seated among his sisters, with his legs crossed like a
Grand Turk in miniature, "Anis, do you know what the swallows say?"

"I? No. They have never spoken to me."

"Attend then: they say--" the little girl imitated the chirping of
swallows, and began to sing with volubility:--

"To eat and to drink!
And to loan when you may;
But 'tis madness to think
This loan to repay.
Flee, flee, pretty swallow, the season demands,
Fly swift on the wing, and reach other lands."

"Is it for that they are sold?"

"For that," affirmed his sister.

During this time Dolores, carrying her infant in one hand, with the
other spread the table, served the potatoes, and distributed to each one
his part. The children ate from her plate, and Stein remarked that she
did not even touch the dish she had prepared with so much care.

"You do not eat, Dolores?" he said to her.

"Do you not know the saying," she replied laughing, "'He who has
children at his side will never die of indigestion,' Don Frederic