Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/29

Rh manage to get some wine from the same quarter; you go to our friend, crying, and as if running away from me, pretending that I want to beat you. Take a wine bag under your dress, and when you hear my voice, run as if you were afraid of me, and hide in our gossip's wine cellar; and while I am talking to him, fill the bag with wine, slip out by the other door, and go home."

The wife, pretending to be in great trouble, ran to the rich godfather's house, and implored him to defend her from her husband, who wanted to kill her. Then, hearing the sound of her husband's voice, she ran down into the cellar, and while the godfather was doing his best to calm her husband's wrath, she was busy filling the leathern bag with wine. But she had forgotten to bring a string to tie the bag with. So she began singing out, "Oh, dear, there is no string to the neck of the bag!"

The husband, who understood what she wanted, replied, "Ah! you wicked woman! When I get down to you, I'll choke you with the ribbon that binds your hair!" The moment she heard these words she unfastened her hair, tied the mouth of the bag with the ribbon, and quickly went home with it. In this manner they got both pork and wine without having to pay for it, while they had the great satisfaction of outwitting the miserly godfather.

(. From a person from Beira-Baixa.)