THE SCENE: When he was just a boy, Lazarillo de Tormes’ mother sold him to a blind beggar to become an apprentice beggar. Their relationship was both symbiotic and antagonistic, and by turns humous and horrifying.
THE TEXT: I have never met a man so avaricious and stingy, insomuch that he nearly killed me with hunger, depriving me of the necessities of life. I tell the truth that if, by way of subtlety and cunning, I had not found a remedy, I should many times have succumbed to starvation.
The blind man used to have a small jug of wine near him when he dined, and quick as thought I gave it “silent kisses” when I put it down for him. But it was not long afore he noticed the loss in what he drank, so he never let the jug out of his hand, but always kept it with him. However, he had no manner to point to what went on, while I had a long oaten straw which I prepared for this need of mine. Slipping it into the mouth of the jug I sucked up the wine to my heart’s content. The old rascal, being very astute, suspected something. So he put the jug between his knees and, covering the mouth with his hand, drank in security.
Seeing the wine go I craved for it. The straw being no longer of any avail, I hit upon another plan. I succeeded in making a tiny hole in the bottom of the jug, and stopped it with a small piece of wax. When dinnertime came I pretended to be cold, and got between the old man’s legs to warm myself at the poor little light we had. With the same light I melted the wax, and very soon a little fountain began to drain into my mouth, which I placed so that I should not lose a drop. When the poor old man wanted to drink he got nothing. His astonishment was expressed in curses, devoting the wine and the jug to the devil. “You can not think that I have been drinking, uncle!” I said, “for you have not let the Jug out of your hand.”
But he gave the jug so many twists and turns that at last he found the hole. He said nothing. Next day I was sucking at my hole as usual, thinking no evil and little dreaming of what he was getting ready for me. I was seated on the ground, taking in those delicious draughts, my face turned up to heaven, my eyes half closed the better to enjoy the toothsome liquor, when the wicked blind man took his revenge. He raised the jug with both hands, and, with all his might, sent it crashing down on my mouth. I was quite off his guard, being careless and joyous as at other times. Truly it seemed to me as if the sky and all that was in it had fallen upon me. The blow was so great that the pieces of the jug cut my face in several parts and broke my teeth, so that I remain without them to this day.
– The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes, 16th Century AD
