He never left me
all day, and when I lay down to rest by night, he laid himself down
with me, always holding fast about my neck. Every morning he pushed
me to make me wake, and afterwards obliged me to get up and walk,
and pressed me with his feet. You may judge then what trouble I was
in, to be loaded with such a burden as I could by no means rid
myself of.
One day I found in my way several dry calabashes that had fallen
from a tree; I took a large one, and, after cleaning it, pressed
into it some juice of grapes, which abounded in the island. Having
filled the calabash, I set it in a convenient place; and coming
hither again some days after, I took up my calabash, and setting it
to my mouth found the wine to be so good that it presently made me
not only forget my sorrow, but grow vigorous, and so light-hearted
that I began to sing and dance as I walked along.
The old man, perceiving the effect which this drink had upon me,
and that I carried him with more ease than I did before, made a
sign for me to give him some of it. I gave him the calabash, and
the liquor pleasing his palate, he drank it all off. He became
drunk immediately, and the fumes getting up into his head he began
to sing after his manner, and to dance upon my shoulders.
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