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62 pages

English

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One summer morning the red rooster on his perch in the fig tree woke up and took a look at the sky.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819907169
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0100€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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I
S AN RAMON'S DAYIN THE MORNING
I
O ne summermorning the red rooster on his perch in the fig tree woke up andtook a look at the sky.
He was a very responsible rooster. He was always thefirst one up in the morning, and I really think he believed that ifit were not for him the sun himself would forget to rise.
It was so very early that a few stars still shone,and a pale moon was sailing away toward the west. Over the easternhills the rooster saw a pink cloud, and knew at once that it wastime to wake the world. He stood up and stretched his wings. Thenhe crowed so long and loud that he nearly fell off his perchbackward, on to the cat, who was sleeping on the roof just below."Cock a doodle do-o-o!" he screamed. "I'm awake, areyou-oo-oo?"
At least that is the way it must have sounded to allthe other roosters in the little village, for they began at once toanswer him. "Cock a doodle doo-oo, we're up as soon as you-oo,"they cried; and soon there was such a chorus of them calling backand forth that the five hens woke up, one after another, and flewdown from the perch, to hunt bugs for their breakfast.
Last of all the turkey opened his eyes and flappedheavily to the ground, gobbling all the way.
The cat stretched herself and sprang from the roofto the fig tree and sharpened her claws on its bark.
The birds began to sing, and still there was nosound from the tiny gray adobe house under the fig tree.
The little white hen tiptoed round to the front ofthe hut and peeped in at the open door. There in one corner oftheir one room lay Tonio and Tita and their father and mother, allsound asleep.
The little white hen must have told the red roosterwhat she saw, for he followed her and looked into the hut too. Thenhe ruffled his neck feathers, flapped his wings, and crowed soloudly that Pancho and Doña Teresa and the Twins all woke at onceand sat up with a bounce, to see what was the matter.
It startled the little white hen to see them all situp suddenly in a row, so she squawked and scrambled out through theopen door as fast as she could go.
The red rooster ran too, and the two of them neverstopped until they disappeared behind the bee-hives in thegarden.
II
T he moment shewas really awake, Doña Teresa began to talk. "Upon my soul!" shecried, crossing herself, "the red rooster gave me a dreadful turn.I was just in the midst of a most beautiful dream! But now he hasdriven it all out of my head with his silly noise, and I cannoteven remember what it was about!"
Doña Teresa rose, and while she talked she deftlyrolled up the mat on which she had slept and stood it on end in thecorner of the room. You see it didn't take any time at all todress, because they always slept with their clothes on. But DoñaTeresa was very particular about one thing. She made them all washtheir faces and hands the very first thing every singlemorning!
For a wash-basin there was a part of a log, hollowedout like a trough. Beside the hollow log there was a large redolla, with a gourd in it. Pancho had dipped water from the ollainto the trough and was already splashing about, while Doña Teresarolled the Twins off on to the floor and placed their mats in thecorner with the others. "Come, my pigeons," she said to them, "itis time to be stirring. We are very lazy to lie in bed aftercockcrow on San Ramon's Day!" "Oh, Little Mother," cried Tita,picking herself up, "is it really the fiesta of San Ramon? And mayI take the little white hen to be blessed, all myself?" "You maytake the little white hen if you can catch her," Doña Teresaanswered. "Indeed, we must take all the animals, or at the veryleast one of each kind to stand for all the others. The turkey mustbe caught, and the goat must be brought from the field so I canmilk her. Tonto [that was what they called thedonkey] is waiting in the shed to be made ready, not tospeak of the cat and dog! Bless my soul, how many things there areto be done!"
While his mother talked, Tonio had taken his lassodown from the nail where it hung, and was just quietly slipping outof the door with it, when Doña Teresa saw him. "Here you – Tonio,"she cried, "come back and wash yourself!" "Can't I wait until I'vecaught Pinto?" Tonio begged. "What's the use of washing? You onlyget dirty again. Lots of the boys don't wash at all except onSunday." "Come right back and wash yourself this minute," commandedDoña Teresa. "You might as well say it's no use to eat yourbreakfast because you'll be hungry again right away! As long as I'myour mother you shall begin the day right at least."
Tonio groaned a little, and came back to the trough.There he did something that he called washing, though I feel quitesure that there were corners behind his ears that were not evenwet!
On the wall above the place where the sleeping matshad been spread, there was a picture of the Virgin and Child, andDoña Teresa kept a little taper always burning before thepicture.
When they had all washed, Doña Teresa called Panchoand the Twins to her side, and all four knelt in a row before thepicture, crossed themselves, and murmured a little prayer. "If youwant the day to go right," said Doña Teresa as she rose from herknees, "always begin with saying your prayers and washing yourface. And now, Tonio, run and catch Pinto for your father while Iget his breakfast, for the cows must be rounded up for milking evenif it is San Ramon's Day; and Tita, you take the little red ollaand go for water!"
III
W hile the Twinswere gone on these errands, Pancho fed the donkey, and Doña Teresamade the fire in her queer little stove; only she didn't call it astove – she called it a brasero . It was a sort of box builtup of clay and stones. The brasero stood in an alcove, and besideit was a large red olla, which Doña Teresa kept filled with waterfor her cooking. Beyond the brasero was a cupboard for thedishes.
Doña Teresa knelt before the brasero and pulled outthe ashes of yesterday's fire. Then she put in some little sticks,lighted them, and set a flat red dish on top of the brasero overthe tiny flames.
In the corner of the room there was a pretty basketcovered with a white drawn-work napkin. Doña Teresa turned back thenapkin and counted out ten flat cakes, made of corn meal. They wereyesterday's tortillas. These she put in the dish to heat.
When they were warm, she brought some of them toPancho, with a dish of beans and red chile sauce. Pancho sat downon a flat stone under the fig tree to eat his breakfast. He had noknife or fork or spoon, but he really did not need them, for hetore the tortillas into wedge-shaped pieces and scooped up thebeans and chile sauce with them, and ate scoop, beans, chile sauce,and all in one mouthful. The chile sauce was so hot with red pepperthat you would have thought that Pancho must have had a tin throatin order to swallow it at all; but he was used to it, and nevereven winked his eyes when it went down. Just as he was taking thelast bite of the last tortilla, Tonio came back, leading Pinto bythe rope of his lasso.
Tonio was very proud of catching Pinto and bringinghim back to his father all by himself. He even put the saddle on.But the moment he felt the saddle-girth around him Pinto swelled uplike everything, so that Tonio couldn't buckle it! Tonio pulled andtugged until he was red in the face, but Pinto just stood stillwith his ears turned back, and stayed swelled.
Then Pancho came up. He took hold of the strap,braced his knee against Pinto's side, and pulled.
Pinto knew it was no use holding his breath anylonger, so he let go, and in a minute Pancho had the strap securelyfastened and had vaulted into the saddle.
He was just starting away, when Doña Teresa camerunning out of the hut with something in her hand. "Here's a biteof lunch for you," she said, "in case you get hungry in the field.There's beans and chile sauce and four tortillas."
She had put it all nicely in a little dish with thetortillas fitted in like a cover over the chile sauce and beans,and it was all tied up in a clean white cloth.
Pancho took off his sombrero, put the dish carefullyon his head, and clapped his hat down over it. The hat was large,and the dish just fitted the crown, so it seemed quite safe. Thenhe galloped off, looking very grand and gay, with his red serapeflying out behind him.
When he was out of sight, Doña Teresa and the Twinshad their breakfasts too, sitting on the stones under the fig tree.Pronounced Sahn Rah-mon´. Brah-say´ro.
II
T HE BLESSING
I
W hen breakfastwas over you could tell by the long, long shadow of the fig treethat it was still very early in the morning. On sunny days DoñaTeresa could tell the time almost exactly by its shadow, but onrainy days she just had to guess, because there was no clock in herlittle cabin.
It was lucky that it was so early, because therewere so many things to be done. The Twins and their mother were notthe only busy people about, however, for there were two hundredother peons beside Pancho who worked on the hacienda, and each onehad a little cabin where he lived with his family.
There were other vaqueros besides Pancho. There wereploughmen, and farmers, and water-carriers, and servants for thegreat white house where Señor Fernandez lived with his wife andpretty daughter Carmen. And there was the gatekeeper, José, whomthe Twins loved because he knew the most wonderful stories and wasalways willing to tell them.
There were field-workers, and wood-cutters, and evenfishermen. The huts where they all lived were huddled together likea little village, and the village, and the country for miles andmiles around, and the big house, and the little chapel beside it,and the schoolhouse, and everything else on that great hacienda,belonged to Señor Fernandez.
It almost seemed as if the workers all belonged toSeñor Fernandez, too, for they had to do just what he told them to,and there was no other place for them to go and nothing else forthem to do if they had wanted ever so much