“Who is it? What do you want? Let me sleep, or else I shall be tired
to-morrow.”
“Sir,” exclaimed the barber, “the cock has already crowed, and it must
be time to rise.”
“You are mistaken,” replied the prince, “for it is only half an hour ago
since you woke me; but I am not annoyed with you.”
Pablo was now sorely troubled in his mind because he thought he might
give offence to the prince, and so he kept revolving in his mind all
that his mother had told him about the anger of princes, and how much it
was to be dreaded. This thought so perplexed him that he resolved on
putting an end to the life of the cock that had caused the mistake. He
therefore proceeded to the poultry-yard close by, and seeing the
offender surrounded by the hens, he made a rush at him, which set all
the fowls cackling as if a fox had broken in.
The prince, hearing the noise, hurried to the window, and in a loud
voice inquired what the noise was all about.
“Sir,” said Pablo, “I was but trying to punish the disturber of your
rest. I have got hold of him now, and your highness may go to sleep
without further care, as I will not forget to waken you.”
“But,” continued the prince, “if you waken me again before it is time, I
will most decidedly punish you.” Saying which he again retired to rest.
“Since the days when cocks crew in the Holy Land they have always
brought sorrow into this world,” inwardly ejaculated Pablo. “His proper
place is in the pan, and that is where he should go if I had my way.”
All at once Pablo commenced to feel very sleepy, so he walked up and
down the yard to keep awake; but becoming drowsy he sank on the ground,
and was soon so fast asleep that he dreamt a nigger prince was attacking
him, which made him scream so terribly that it woke, not only the
prince, but also all the dogs in the neighbourhood.
The prince again rushed to the window, and hearing Pablo scream out,
“Don’t murder me, I will give you all!” hurried down into the yard, and
seeing how matters stood bestowed such a hearty kick on Pablo that he
jumped up.
The frightened barber beholding the prince near to him, took to his
heels, and ran home as fast as he could.
When he had got into bed he began regretting that he had run away from
the prince’s service, so he got up again, saying to himself, “The
prince shall have a sharper spur than I could ever buckle on;” and,
proceeding to the principal door of the palace, he wrote the following
words with chalk, “Pablo has gone before your highness to court the
Princess of Granada himself.”
This had the desired effect, for when the prince arose in the morning
and was leaving the palace alone, he read the words, and they caused him
to be so jealous that he performed the distance in half the time he
would otherwise have taken.
Pablo after that used to say that “a jealous man on horseback is first
cousin to a flash of lightning and to a true Spaniard.”