THE TOPSY-TURVY WORLD
I don't know why, but it is a fact that Providence one day decreed that everything should turn upside down. The picture that the world presented could not have been more extraordinary: the fishes flew through the air like swarms of butterflies; in place of linnets and nightingales, the sharks and whales sang. The birds swam on the bosom of the waters, like Pedro for his house; it was glorious to see the dives they made. A donkey in the porch of an Inn played on a clarinet the "No me matas, no me matas," while another who was apparently in a good position, came out of a restaurant picking his teeth with a Toledo sword.
It is related that a boy who lived at that time, and whose name was, if I remember right, Manolo, had, among other grave defects, that of ill-treating animals; his parents and masters reprimanded him in vain, and from time to time even gave him a flogging that would have set fire to tinder: but it did not make the boy any better. Whenever he saw an ass tied to a fence he untied it and rode it for a good while, hitting it a whack to make it trot. When he met a dog the least that he did was to fetch it a smack that made it go away at more than a walking pace with its tail between its legs. More than one cat he chased about after having tied a sardine tin to its tail; in short, he was a little demon.
But now it must be remembered that all things were changed, and that on waking up one morning he found, at the head of his bed, one of his dogs, which, giving him a punch, said:
"Little friend, on getting up you have got to clean my boots;" and as the boy hesitated, the dog hit him two punches which made him get up more than quickly. What was his surprise to notice that he could only go on four feet! He wished to speak, but a bark came from his lips; he tried to bite the dog, and the latter rained blows upon him.
He rushed out of the house, and found other boys as mischievous as himself punished in the same way. In Oriente Place, Carlos and Pepe were pulling a little carriage, and in it were riding the two goats that usually drew the vehicle. Several of those water-carriers who carry their water-skins on the loins of a donkey which they almost kill by blows, went about themselves bent down under the load, getting a blow each time they sucked their thumbs. Their former slaves went on two feet behind them, saying: "Gee up, donkey, you are more stupid than a post."
Manolo went on his way, on four feet of course, and even these seemed few enough to run with, when on crossing a street he met a friend and schoolmate, with whom he opened, by barks, the following dialogue:
"Bernardo, as I live! Have you seen what has happened to us?"
"Yes, of course I see it! For am I not changed into a poodle?"
"Here you see me in a fix; I don't know where to hide myself so that the old dogs won't be able to take their revenge for the tricks I used to play on them when I was a person."