Page:Anderson--Isle of seven moons.djvu/202

190 like the bad man with the painted dolls. Oh, no, he never see the stars!

"On this night they hear a voice. It say:

"Go sell your goats an' go into beeg city and get your bebees.

"They look up, but the mouth of the Virgin is so still—they do not make move but there is leetle smile in her mouth, not like yours, Señorita, when you make fun for me, but like that when I hurt my hand in the storm and you feex it.

"So when the sun come up, very early nex' day, they sell their goats and walk to the beeg ceety.

"It is very far, but they go very fast, although they are bent like old people. Señorita, the heart give wings even to lame feet.

"In the streets the rich people make mock of them, but they jus' think hard of what the voice say:

"Go get your bebees.

"It is again carnival time, an' in the plaza they see the man an his painted dolls in a little red box high like your head an' with boards like this above the middle. The people all go inside to see the dancing girl. You would not like herr! Oh no! She was not nice.

"All day the man and his wife they wait in Plaza. At night when the stars shine an' the people sleep in their beds, that motherr and fatherr go to the door. But there is big lock on the door an' they cannot open it. Then they both rub their eyes, for Señorita, believe me, the man tell me himself, there come out the air a hand. There was nobody, only the hand white like a cloud. It hold a key of gold. It is very