|After midnight the wind began to howl as if all the cats in the place
had been on the roof, and to shake the shutters. The sea roared round
the Fariglione as if all the bulls of the Fair of Saint Alfio had been
there, and the day opened as black as the soul of Judas. In short, an
ugly September Sunday dawned--a Sunday in false September which lets
loose a tempest on one between the cup and the lip, like a shot from
behind a prickly-pear. The village boats were all drawn up on the beach,
and well fastened to the great stones under the washing-tank; so the
boys amused themselves by hissing and howling whenever there passed by
some lonely sail far out at sea, tossed amid mist and foam, dancing up
and down as if chased by the devil; the women, instead, made the sign
of the cross, as if they could see with their eyes the poor fellows who
were on board.
Maruzza la Longa was silent, as behooved her; but she could not stand
still a minute, and went up and down and in and out without stopping,
like a hen that is going to lay an egg. The men were at the tavern,
or in Pizzuti’s shop, or under the butcher’s shed, watching the rain,
sniffing the air with their heads up. On the shore there was only Padron
’Ntoni, looking out for that load of lupins and his son Bastianazzo
and the _Provvidenza_, all out at sea there; and there was La Locca’s
son too, who had nothing to lose, only his brother Menico was out at sea
with Bastianazzo in the _Provvidenza_, with the lupins. Padron Fortunato
Cipolla, getting shaved in Pizzuti’s shop, said that he wouldn’t give
two baiocchi for Bastianazzo and La Locca’s Menico with the Provvidenza
and the load of lupins.
“Now everybody wants to be a merchant and to get rich,” said he,
shrugging his shoulders; “and then when the steed is stolen they shut
the stable door.”
In Santuzza’s bar-room there was a crowd--that big drunken Rocco Spatu
shouting and spitting enough for a dozen; Daddy Tino Goosefoot, Mastro
Cola Zuppiddu, Uncle Mangiacarubbe; Don Michele, the brigadier of the
coast-guard, with his big boots and his pistols, as if he were going
to look for smugglers in this sort of weather; and Mastro Mariano
Cinghialenta. That great big elephant of a man, Mastro Cola Zuppiddu,
went about giving people thumps in fun, heavy enough to knock down an
ox, as if he had his calker’s mallet in his hand all the time, and then
Uncle Cinghialenta, to show that he was a carrier, and a courageous man
who knew the world, turned round upon him, swearing and blaspheming.
Uncle Santoro, curled all up in the corner of the little porch, waited
with out-stretched hand until some one should pass that he might ask for
alms.
“Between the two, father and daughter, they must make a good sum on such
a day as this,” said Zuppiddu, “when everybody comes to the tavern.”
“Bastianazzo Malavoglia is worse off than he is at this moment,” said
Goosefoot. “Mastro Cirino may ring the bell as much as he likes, to-day
the Malavoglia won’t go to church--they are angry with our Lord--because
of that load of lupins they’ve got out at sea.”
The wind swept about the petticoats and the dry leaves, so that Vanni
Pizzuti, with the razor in his hand, held on to the nose of the man he
was shaving, and looked out over his shoulder to see what was going on;
and when he had finished, stood with hand on hip in the door-way, with
his curly hair shining like silk; and the druggist stood at his shop
door, under that big ugly hat of his that looked as if he had an
umbrella on his head, pretending to have high words with Don Silvestro,
the town-clerk, because his wife didn’t force him to go to church in
spite of himself, and laughed under his beard at the joke, winking at
the boys who were tumbling in the gutters.
“To-day” Daddy Goosefoot went about saying, “Padroni ’Ntoni is a
Protestant, like Don Franco the apothecary.”
“If I see you looking after that old wretch Don Silvestro, I’ll box your
ears right here where we are,” shouted La Zuppidda, crossing the piazza,
to her girl. “That one I don’t like.”
La Santuzza, at the last stroke of the bell, left her father to take
care of the tavern, and went into church, with her customers behind her.
Uncle Santoro, poor old fellow, was blind, and didn’t go to the mass,
but he didn’t lose his time at the tavern, for though he couldn’t see
who went to the bar, he knew them all by the step as one or another went
to take a drink.
“The devils are out on the air,” said Santuzza, as she crossed herself
with the holy water. “A day to commit a mortal sin!”
Close by, La Zuppidda muttered Ave Marias mechanically, sitting on her
heels, shooting sharp glances hither and thither, as if she were on evil
terms with the whole village, whispering to whoever would listen to her:
“There’s Maruzza la Longa doesn’t come to church, and yet her husband
is out at sea in this horrid weather! There’s no need to wonder why
the Lord sends judgments on us. There’s even Menico’s mother comes to
church, though she doesn’t do anything there but watch the flies.”
“One must pray also for sinners,” said Santuzza; “that is what good
people are for.”
Uncle Crucifix was kneeling at the foot of the altar of the Sorrowing
Mother of God, with a very big rosary in his hand, and intoned his
prayers with a nasal twang which would have touched the heart of Satan
himself. Between one Ave Maria and another he talked of the affair of
the lupins, and of the _Provvidenza_, which was out at sea, and of La
Longa, who would be left with five children.
“In these days,” said Padron Cipolla, shrugging his shoulders, “no one
is content with his own estate; everybody wants the moon and stars for
himself.”
“The fact is,” concluded Daddy Zuppiddu, “that this will be a black day
for the Malavoglia.”
“For my part,” added Goosefoot, “I shouldn’t care to be in Cousin
Bastianazzo’s shirt.”
The evening came on chill and sad; now and then there came a blast of
north wind, bringing a shower of fine cold rain; it was one of those
evenings when, if the bark lies high and safe, with her belly in the
sand, one enjoys watching the simmering pot, with the baby between one’s
knees, and listening to the housewife trotting to and fro behind one’s
back. The lazy ones preferred going to the tavern to enjoy the Sunday,
which seemed likely to last over Monday as well; and the cupboards shone
in the firelight until even Uncle Santoro, sitting out there with his
extended hand, moved his chair to warm his back a little.
“He’s better off than poor old Bastianazzo just now,” said Rocco Spatu,
lighting his pipe at the door.
And without further reflection he put his hand in his pocket, and
permitted himself to give two centimes in alms.
“You are throwing your alms away, thanking God for being in safety from
the storm; there’s no danger of your dying like Bastianazzo.”
Everybody laughed at the joke, and then they all stood looking out at
the sea, that was as black as the wet rocks.
Padron ’Ntoni had been going about all day, as if he had been bitten
by the tarantula, and the apothecary asked him if he wanted a tonic, and
then he said:
“Fine providence this, eh, Padron ’Ntoni?” But he was a Protestant and
a Jew; all the world knew that.
La Locca’s son, who was out there with his hands in his empty pockets,
began:
“Uncle Crucifix is gone with old Goosefoot to get Padron ’Ntoni to
swear before witnesses that he took the cargo of lupins on credit.”
At dusk Maruzza, with her little ones, went out on the cliffs to watch
the sea, which from that point could be seen quite well, and hearing
the moaning waves, she felt faint and sick, but said nothing. The little
girl cried, and these poor things, forgotten up there on the rocks,
seemed like souls in Purgatory. The little one’s cries made the mother
quite sick--it seemed like an evil omen; she couldn’t think what to do
to keep the child quiet, and she sang to her song after song, with a
trembling voice loaded with tears..
The men, on their way back from the tavern, with pot of oil or flask of
wine, stopped to exchange a few words with La Longa, as if nothing
had happened; and some of Bastianazzo’s special friends--Cipolla, for
example, or Mangiacarubbe--walking out to the edge of the cliff, and
giving a look out to see in what sort of a temper the old growler was
going to sleep in, went up to Cousin Maruzza, asking about her husband,
and staying a few minutes to keep her company, pipe in mouth, or talking
softly among themselves. The poor little woman, frightened by these
unusual attentions, looked at them with sad, scared eyes, and held her
baby tight in her arms, as if they had tried to steal it from her. At
last the hardest, or the most compassionate of them, took her by the
arm and led her home. She let herself be led, only saying over and over
again: “O Blessed Virgin! O Blessed Virgin Mary!” The children clung
to her skirts, as if they had been afraid somebody was going to steal
something from them too. When they passed before the tavern all the
customers stopped talking, and came to the door in a cloud of smoke,
gazing at her as if she were already a curiosity.
“_Requiem aeternam_,” mumbled old Santoro, under his breath: “that poor
Bastianazzo always gave me something when his father let him have a
soldo to spend for himself.”
The poor little thing, who did not even know she was a widow, went on
crying: “O Blessed Virgin! O Blessed Virgin! O Virgin Mary!”
Before the steps of her house the neighbors were waiting for her,
talking among themselves in a low voice. When they saw her coming, Mammy
Goose-foot and her cousin Anna came towards her silently, with
folded hands. Then she wound her hands wildly in her hair, and with a
distracted screech rushed to hide herself in the house.
“What a misfortune!” they said among themselves in the street. “And the
boat was loaded--forty scudi worth of lupins!”