Page:The Gypsy Lad of Roumania (1914).djvu/11



HEN the meal was over, the tall peasant looked over toward the couch, and beckoned to Peter. The boy scrambled to his feet, and stood before his host.

“You are small,” said the peasant disapprovingly. Peter looked properly ashamed of it. “Nevertheless,” he went on, “you could learn to drive the oxen, and do many a small task about the fields. Would you work in the fields, boy?”

“Yes, master,” said Peter eagerly.

“Eat then, and rest with us,” said the peasant.

Peter went to the table thankfully. As soon as he had eaten, and had time to think, he began to feel rather proud that he was taken in by this family, who lived in a house and wore beautiful clothes of homespun, without any holes in them. He looked at stately Maria, the mother, spinning close to the lamp with an air of possession. She was now his mistress. Even as he gazed, she looked up and met his eyes.

“I will take care of Beauty for you while you work,” she said. “I will guard him carefully.”

“You are very good, boerasa,” he said. “I thank you with my heart.”

Peter cuddled down for the night with the family on the sheepskins. In the early dawn, he was aroused by Sabas, and trudged off to the fields with him and his sons.