“Now sit down, all of you,” commanded Doña Teresa, as she knelt beside the brasero and poured the syrup into the cooking-pan, [p 49] “It will take some time to cook enough for every one, and if you are in too much of a hurry you may burn your fingers and your tongue. José, you tell us a story while we are waiting.”
So they all sat down in a circle around Doña Teresa with José opposite her, and the fire flickered in the brasero, and lighted up all the eager brown faces and all the bright black eyes, as they watched Doña Teresa’s cooking-pan.
II
Then José told the story of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby; and after that he told how Br’er Rabbit made a riding-horse out of Br’er Fox; and when he had finished, the sweet potatoes were ready.
“Who shall have the first piece?” asked Doña Teresa, holding up a nice brown slice.
“José, José,” cried all the children.
José took out his penny and gave it to Doña Teresa, and held out his dish. She took up a big piece of sweet potato on the [p 50] end of a pointed stick. It was almost safely landed in José’s dish, when suddenly there was a great flapping of wings and a loud “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” right behind José!
The red rooster had opened his eyes, and when he saw the glow of the fire, he thought it must be morning. So he crowed at once, and then flew right down off his perch, and before any one knew what he was after or could stop him, he had snatched José’s candied sweet potato off the end of Doña Teresa’s stick, and was running away with it as fast as he could go!
“Thanks be to God,” said José, “that piece was still very hot!”