I saw how near I was to death,and I was horrified;how near I was to being rich,and I was overjoyed.Death frightened me,and the treasure delighted me.I wanted to run away from the first and enjoy the second.I tore off the rags that my master,the squire,had left me for the services I had done him.Then I tied the rope to my foot and began to swim (I didn't know how to do that very well,but necessity put wings on my feet and oars on my hands).The fish there gathered around to nip at me,and their prodding was like spurs that goaded me on.So with them nipping and me galloping,we came up to the surface of the water,where something happened that was the cause of all my troubles.The fish and I were caught up in some nets that some fishermen had thrown out,and when they felt the fish in the nets they pulled so mightily,and water began to flow into me just as mightily,so that I couldn't hold out,and I started to drown.And I would have drowned if the sailors had not pulled the booty on board with their usual speed.What a God-awful taste!I have never drunk anything that bad in my entire life.It tasted like the archpriest's piss my wife made me drink once,telling me it was good Ocana wine.
With the fish on board and myself as well,the fishermen began to pull on the line and discovered the spool (as the saying goes).They found me tangled up in the rope and were astonished,and they said,"What sort of fish is this?Its face looks like a man's.Is it the devil or a ghost?Let's pull on that rope and see what he has fastened to his foot."
The fishermen pulled so hard that their ship started to sink.When they saw the trouble they were in,they cut the rope,and at the same time they cut off Lazaro's hopes of ever becoming one of the landed gentry.They turned me upside down so I would empty out the water I had drunk and the wine,too.They saw that I wasn't dead (which was by no means the worst that could have happened to me),so they gave me a little wine,and I came back to life like a lamp with kerosene poured in.They asked me all kinds of questions,but I didn't answer a word until they gave me something to eat.When I got my breath back,the first thing I asked them about was the shackles that were tied to my foot.They told me that they had cut them to get out of the danger they had been in.Troy was lost and so were all of Lazaro's great desires:and right then his troubles,cares,and hardships began.There is nothing in the world worse than to have fancied yourself rich,on top of the world,and then to suddenly find yourself poor and at the bottom of the ladder.
I had built my castles on the water,and it had sunk them all.I told the fishermen what both of us lost when they had cut off my shackles.They were so angry that one of them nearly went mad.The shrewdest one said they should throw me back into the sea and wait for me there until I came up again.They all agreed with him,and even though I objected strongly,their minds were made up:they said that since I knew the way,it would be easy for me (as if I would be going to the pastry shop or the tavern!).
They were so blinded by their greed that they would have thrown me out if my fortune (or misfortune)had not arranged for a ship to come up to us to help carry back the fish.They all kept quiet so that the others wouldn't find out about the treasure they had discovered.But they had to leave off their evil plan for the moment.They brought their boats to shore,and they threw me back with the fish to hide me,intending to hunt for me again when they could.Later,two of them picked me up and carried me to a little hut nearby.One man who didn't know the secret asked them what I was.They said I was a monster that had been caught with the tuna.When they had me inside that miserable pigsty,I begged them to give me some rags to cover my naked body so I could be presentable.
You can do that,"they said,"after you've settled your account with the hostess."
At the time I didn't understand their gibberish.The fame of the monster spread through the countryside,and many people came to the hut to see me.But the fishermen didn't want to show me;they said they were waiting for permission from the bishops and the Inquisition and that,until then,it was entirely out of the question.I was stupified.I didn't know what they were planning,and so I didn't know what to say or do.The same thing happened to me that happens to the cuckold:he is the last to find out.Those devils cooked up a scheme that Satan himself wouldn't have thought of.But that requires a new chapter and a new look.
