"Well,I'll be...,"I said."That's why God doesn't help you out.You won't let anyone ask Him to."
"Especially,"he said,"because I'm not so poor.In fact,where I'm from I have a huge estate (it's fifty miles from where I was born,right along Costanilla,the main street of Valladolid).And if the houses on it were still standing and kept up,it would be worth more than six thousand pieces of silver--just to give you an idea of how big and grand it would be.And I have a pigeon house that would produce more than two hundred pigeons a year if it hadn't fallen down.And there are some other things I won't mention,but I left them all because of my honor.
"And I came to this city,thinking I'd find a good position.But it hasn't turned out the way I thought it would.I meet lots of canons and other officials of the church,but those people are so tight with their money that no one could possibly get them to change their ways.Lesser men want me,too,but working for them is a lot of trouble.They want you to change from a man into a jack-of-all-trades,and if you won't,they give you the sack.And,generally,the paydays are few and far between;most of the time your only sure way of being paid is when they feed you.And when they want to have a clear conscience and really pay you for the sweat of your brow,your payoff comes from their clothes closet with a sweaty old jacket or a ragged cape or coat.And even when a man has a position with someone of the nobility,he still has his troubles.
"I ask you:aren't I clever enough to serve one of them and make him happy?Lord,if I ran into one,I really think I'd be his favorite--and I could do lots of things for him.Why,I could lie to him just as well as anyone else could.And I could flatter him like nothing he'd ever seen before.And I'd laugh at his stories and jokes even if they weren't exactly the funniest things in the world.I'd never tell him anything disturbing even if he would be better off knowing it.I would be very conscientious in everything about him,both in word and in deed.And I wouldn't kill myself to do things he wouldn't see.Whenever he was around to hear me,I would always scold the servants so he'd think I was very concerned about him.And if he were scolding one of his servants,I'd step in with some pointed remarks about the culprit that would make the nobleman even madder,while I was appearing to take the servant's side.I would praise the things he liked,but I'd mock and slander the people of the house and even the ones who didn't live there.I would go prying and try to find out about other people's lives so I could tell him about them.
"And I'd do all sorts of other things like this that go on in palaces these days and that people in that sort of a position like.They don't want to see good men in their homes.In fact,they think they're useless,and actually,they hate them.They say they're stupid people you can't deal with and that a nobleman can't confide in them.And smart people these days act with the nobility,as I say,just the way I would.But with my bad luck,I haven't met one of them."
And so my master complained about his unhappy life,too,telling me how admirable he was.
Well,about this time,a man and an old woman came in the door.The man wanted the rent money for the house,and the old lady had rented him the bed and wanted the money for that.They figured up the amount,and for two months'rent they wanted what he couldn't have made in a year.I think it was about twelve or thirteen pieces of silver.And he answered them very courteously:he said that he would go out to the square to change a doubloon and that they should come back that afternoon.But when he left,he never came back.
So they returned in the afternoon,but it was too late.I told them that he still hadn't come back.And when night came and he didn't,I was afraid to stay in the house alone.So I went to the women next door and told them what had happened,and I slept at their place.
The next morning,the creditors returned.But no one was home,so they came to the door of the place I was staying at now and asked about their neighbor.And the women told them,"Here is his servant and the door key."
Then they asked me about him,and I told them I didn't know where he was and that he hadn't come back home after going to get the change.And I said that I thought he'd given both them and me the slip.
When they heard that,they went to get a constable and a notary.And then they came back with them and took the key and called me and some witnesses over.And they opened the door and went inside to take my master's property until he paid what he owed them.They walked through the entire house and found it empty,just as I've said.And they asked me,
"What's become of your master's things--his chests and drapes and furniture?"
"I don't know anything about that,"I answered.
"It's obvious,"they said,"that last night they must have had it all taken out and carted somewhere else.Constable,arrest this boy.He knows where it is."
Then the constable came over and grabbed me by the collar of my jacket,and he said,"Boy,you're under arrest unless you tell us what's happened to your master's things."
I'd never seen myself in such a fix (I had,of course,been held by the collar lots of times before,but that was done gently so that I could guide that man who couldn't see down the road),and so I was really scared.And while crying,I promised to answer their questions.
"All right,"they said."Then tell us what you know.Don't be afraid."
The notary sat down on a stone bench so he could write out the inventory,and he asked me what things my master had.
"Sir,"I said,"according to what my master told me,he has a nice estate with houses on it and a pigeon house that isn't standing any more."
"All right,"they said."Even though it probably isn't worth much,it will be enough to pay off his bill.And what part of the city is it located in?"they asked me.
"In his town,"I answered.
"For God's sake,we're really getting far,"they said."And just where is his town?"
"He told me that he came from Old Castile,"I replied.
