Perhaps one of the most amusing instances of incongruity in Lope, and their number is not few, is to be found in the first jornada of the “Trabajos de Jacob,” where Joseph, at the moment he escapes from Potiphar’s wife, leaving his cloak in her possession, says in soliloquy,—
So mayest thou, woman-like, upon my cloak
Thy vengeance wreak, as the bull wreaks his wrath
Upon the cloak before him played; the man
Meanwhile escaping safe.
Y assi haras en essa capa,
Con venganza de muger,
Lo que el toro suele hacer,
Del hombre que se escapa.
Yet, absurd as the passage is for its incongruity, it may have been loudly applauded by an audience that thought much more of bull-fights than of the just rules of the drama.