him, and were trying to lead
him back, but he would not go. He stood on his hind-legs, and then lay
down on his side, and rolled in the dust till the scarlet saddle-cloth
was spoilt, and then, suddenly rising, rushed into the cottage, and
tried to sit on his accustomed chair.

His mother fled the house, and the rabble entered, and so cudgelled
Pablo that he was fain to return to the inn; and, after being groomed,
he allowed the archbishop to mount him. However, he had not gone far
before he exclaimed, "By St. Iago, this mule hath the pace of a camel!"
Pablo, not being accustomed to four legs, did not know how to use them,
so that he would move his right fore and hind legs together. This caused
the archbishop great inconvenience, for, being a corpulent man, it made
him roll about on the saddle like the gold ball on the cathedral of
Sevilla, when the west wind loosened it, and the east wind blew it down.

Seizing the pommel with both his hands, and raising himself in his shoe
stirrups, he looked as if he intended to vault over the head of the
mule; and as they were at this moment going through a village, the
inhabitants, who had come out to see the archbishop, thought he was
about to deliver a sermon. So, surrounding the mule, they uncovered
their heads, and knelt awaiting the blessing.

Pablo, forgetting he was a mule, thought the people were doing homage to
him, and being of a merry disposition, he gave way to such inward
laughter that it brought on a violent fit of coughing, which the
faithful--not seeing the face of the archbishop, for they devoutly bent
their heads towards the ground--took to be the natural clearing of the
throat before speaking. But the archbishop, who was now becoming
seriously frightened, and thinking that the evil one had entered the
body of his mule, exclaimed, "Exorciso te--abernuncio!" Then did Pablo
sit down on his hind-quarters, so that the archbishop slid off the
saddle and rolled on the ground, and another "Abernuncio!" in a deeper
tone, brought the devout people to their feet. Pablo at this moment got
up, and by so doing completely capsized the venerable archbishop,
causing him to turn over on to his head. Full of dust and anger, the
prelate started to his feet, and carefully examined his mule to see if
he could account for this peculiar behaviour. Sorely grieved did Pablo
feel at having caused the good archbishop so much annoyance, and, so as
to show his contrition, he went down on his