I Have Nothing To Say Against The Asturians, Save That
They Are Close And Penurious Whilst At Service; But They
Are not
thieves, neither at home nor abroad, and though we must have our
wits about us in their country,
I have heard we may travel from one
end of it to the other without the slightest fear of being either
robbed or ill treated, which is not the case in Galicia, where we
were always in danger of having our throats cut."
Leaving Navias, we proceeded through a wild desolate country, till
we reached the pass of Baralla, which lies up the side of a huge
wall of rocks, which at a distance appear of a light green colour,
though perfectly bare of herbage or plants of any description.
"This pass," said Martin of Rivadeo, "bears a very evil reputation,
and I should not like to travel it after sunset. It is not
infested by robbers, but by things much worse, the duendes of two
friars of Saint Francis. It is said that in the old time, long
before the convents were suppressed, two friars of the order of
Saint Francis left their convent to beg; it chanced that they were
very successful, but as they were returning at nightfall, by this
pass, they had a quarrel about what they had collected, each
insisting that he had done his duty better than the other; at last,
from high words they fell to abuse, and from abuse to blows. What
do you think these demons of friars did?
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