Page:Plays by Jacinto Benavente - Third series (IA playstranslatedf03benauoft).pdf/59

 kill me. I know that I owe my life to this good woman. While we were running through the wood, the robbers saw us afar off and ran after us. This poor old woman could go no faster and I had to take her up in my arms. I ran in among the brambles and the steep rocks, with those ruffians always behind at our heels. When we came to a stubble-field, what should they take it into their heads to do, but to set fire to it, and since the wind was blowing toward us, we soon saw ourselves borne down upon by a rolling sea of flame, which advanced with a roar in a terrible wave…

. I shall never get over the fright!

. But how did you escape?

. I don't know. But I tell you we had to fly!

. Fly? No! But you ran fast in spite of your load. You are strong and brave.

. So there were no palaces, no princesses nor fairies after all? I told you so. That road could lead nowhere that was good. And you. Master Tutor, what happened to you?

. I have been busy all this time with my books. It was not possible that the map could have been wrong. In fact, the error was mine. In examining it, I jumped from one line to another, and, as you see, what was an inch on the map, was seven leagues by the road!

. The truth in books, as in life, always lies between the lines.

. While the Prince was returning from his perilous excursion, I was asleep. So they waked me as they passed, and this old woman brought us to this house, where, as she says, there is plenty to eat.

. Yes, there is; they eat frequently. But, alas! What is the use of heaping up riches? Don't you know? This is the Castle of the Ogre. I am promised him for supper