RAFAEL'S TRAINED TOPS
It was early in the afternoon of the next day. The tide was low in the
canals of Venice. Hundreds of green crabs could be seen clinging
lazily to the stone walls of the houses, wherever there was a place
still cool and wet from the salt sea-water.
At the base of the two great columns in the Piazzetta, groups of
Venetian beggars were soundly sleeping. The gondoliers call these
beggars "crab-catchers," because they cling about the mooring-steps of
the canals to beg centimes from the passengers in the gondolas.
The Venetian pigeons were also sleeping. Their way of begging is more
pleasing than that of the crab-catchers, but they are beggars for all
that. They never wait for the sound of the bell which the good priest
rings every day when it is time for them to be fed, but fly down to
the pavement whenever they catch sight of a person with a bit of
grain. They flutter down by twos and threes, and beg with their best
coos for something to eat.
But now they had all disappeared from the pavement, and might be
seen, dozing with their heads under their wings, up among the eaves of
the fine palaces and beautiful public buildings which surround the
Square of St. Mark.
The children, who love to feed the pigeons, had disappeared, too, and
all Venice seemed to be taking its afternoon nap.
An American lady and her daughter, paying no heed to the heat of the
sun, turned the corner of the Doge's palace and entered the Piazzetta,
meaning to cross to the farther end of the large square, where
wood-carvings are for sale in one of the shops.
"Mother," said the girl suddenly, "I wish we knew of something to see
besides the buildings in this square. We have been here four days, and
have bought a lovely carved cherub, or a souvenir spoon of Venice, for
every one of our friends, but we don't know anything about this
beautiful old city."
"We must be careful not to get lost again, Edith," answered her
mother. "This Piazza is always perfectly safe. If we keep within sight
of the cathedral we can easily find our way back to the hotel at any
time."
"I should like to get lost again," said Edith decidedly. "There must
be many other interesting places to see besides the Doge's palace and
St. Mark's Cathedral, if we only knew where to look for them."
"You can learn much about the life of the city by looking from the
hotel windows," said her mother.
"Oh, Mother, I can't sit at the window and watch the gondolas on the
Grand Canal without wishing to ride in one," replied Edith. "Why can't
we hire one, and go in and out among all the islands?"
Her mother stopped in the middle of the square and looked doubtfully
out over the water of the lagoon. "We cannot be too careful what we
do," she said. "Those gondoliers might leave us on one of the outer
islands, and we could not get back to the hotel, for we do not know a
single word of Italian."
"Oh, they don't do such things in Venice, I know," answered Edith;
"and besides, we might take a guide along with us. There must be many
who speak English, and who would be glad to show us the city sights
for the sake of earning some Italian lire."
"Where should we look to find some one to speak English?" asked her
mother.
As if in answer to her words there came the sound of boys' voices from
a corner of the square, where the Merceria, with its shops, leads to
the Rialto bridge. Edith and her mother looked up and saw a group of
boys gathered around the pedestal of the lion farthest from the great
church.
English words floated across to the American people, although the
voice which spoke them was an Italian one.
"Signor Rafael Valla will now present his troupe of trained tops,"
said the voice.
The American girl watched the group eagerly. Rafael--the boy of the
boat and the serenade--knelt in the center, with a collection of tops
on the pavement beside him.
The tops were of many different makes and colors. There were the
light, agile ones from Japan, that spin only a moment. There were the
big German tops that spin with a great humming sound, but are not at
all graceful. There were the solid, business-like English tops that do
their work and then go off at the close of the performance with a bow
and an off-hand dash, as if to make room for the next on the program.
At last Rafael took up one which was wrapped in gold-foil, and which
seemed to be both graceful and business-like, and wonderfully
accomplished. It hung balanced between two outer circles of steel, and
spun in every possible position--on the pavement, on the top of a
post, and at right angles to it--all at one spinning.
"It is my golden spinner," said the boy, in Italian. "It has travelled
among all the great cities of the world, and never failed to keep an
engagement."
The boys laughed, and Edith joined in the laughter, although she did
not know the meaning of the words.
Rafael looked up into her face and smiled. It was the opportunity
which she had hoped for. She had noticed his unusual appearance, and
that he was dressed with care.
"Speak to him, Mother," she urged, in English. "Perhaps he will tell
us where we may go to see the sights."
The boy rose and took off his cap. "I speak English, Signora," he
said. "There are truly many things to see in Venice, if you wish to
see them."