But When Were Donkeys Of Any
Sort Ever Well Advised In All Respects?
Those of Seville, where donkeys
abound, were otherwise of the superior intelligence which throughout
Spain leaves the horse and even the mule far behind, and constitutes the
donkeys, far beyond the idle and useless dogs, the friends of man.
They
indefinitely outnumber the dogs, and the cats are of course nowhere in
the count. Yet I would not misprize the cats of Seville, which
apparently have their money price. We stopped to admire a beautiful
white one, on our way to see the market one day, praising it as
intelligibly as we could, and the owner caught it up, when we had passed
and ran after us, and offered to sell it to us.
That might have been because it was near the market where we experienced
almost the only mercantile zeal we had known in Spain. Women with ropes
and garlands of onions round their necks invited us to buy, and we had
hopeful advances from the stalls of salads and fruits, where there was a
brave and beautiful show of lettuces and endives, grapes, medlars, and
heaps of melons, but no oranges; I do not know why, though there were
shining masses of red peppers and green, peppers, and vast earthen bowls
with yellow peas soaking in them. The flowers were every gay autumnal
sort, especially dahlias, sometimes made into stiff bouquets, perhaps
for church offerings. There were mounds of chestnuts, four or five feet
high and wide; and these flowers and fruits filled the interior of the
market, while the stalls for the flesh and fish were on the outside.
There seemed more sellers than buyers; here and there were ladies
buying, but it is said that the mistresses commonly send their maids for
the daily provision.
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