en any man or woman
looked at him he threw an eye at them.

When his mother learned what he had done she took to her bed and sent
her son for a physician. When the doctor came he felt her pulse and
said: "Oh! how weak this poor woman is!" Then he told the son that he
must take good care of his mother and make her some very thin broth and
give her a bowlful every minute. The son promised to obey him and went
to the market and bought a sparrow and put on the fire a pail of water.
When it boiled he put in the sparrow and waited until it boiled up two
or three times, and then took a bowl of the broth to his mother, and
repeated the dose as fast as he could.

The next day the physician found the poor woman weaker than ever, and
told her son he must put something heavy on her so as to throw her into
a perspiration. When the doctor had gone the son piled all the heavy
furniture in the room on her, and when she could no longer breathe he
ran for the doctor again. This time the doctor saw that nothing was to
be done, and advised her son to have her confess and prepare for death.
So her son dressed her and carried her to church and sat her in the
confessional and told the priest that some one was waiting for him and
then went home. The priest soon saw that the woman was dead and went to
find her son. When the son heard that his mother was dead, he declared
that the priest had killed her, and began to beat him.[21]

* * * * *

There are many stories in Italy which turn on the tricks played by a
sharper on his credulous friends; a good specimen of the class is the
following from Sicily (Pitre, No. 157):

CV. UNCLE CAPRIANO.

There was once a husband and wife who had a daughter. The man's name was
Uncle Capriano and he owned near the town a piece of property, where he
always worked. One day thirteen robbers happened to pass that way, saw
Uncle Capriano, dismounted, and began to talk with him, and soon formed
a friendship for him. After this they frequently went to divert
themselves with him. When they arrived they always saluted him with:
"Good day, Uncle Capriano," and he answered: "Your servant, gentlemen;
what are your worships doing?" "We have come to amuse ourselves. Go,
Uncle Capriano, go and lunch, for we will do the work meanwhile." So he
went and ate and they did his work for him. Finally, what do you suppose
Uncle Capriano tried to do? He sought to invent some way to get money
from t