Then, in some little recess around the corner of the church, with countless pigeons waiting for the crumbs, they would sit with him, sharing his frugal meal. When they had finished, he would sometimes take them for a ride in his shabby gondola on the Grand Canal, and on the way they would beg to stop for just a moment at the famous well with two porphyry lions. Andrea was tall enough to clamber by himself after the manner of young Venetians, and nothing would do but Paolo must lift Maria, so she, too, would proudly straddle one of the fierce figures. There they would sit while the old caretaker would count the pigeons bathing and splashing in the water.
But, better than anything else, the children liked to snuggle close to their companion while he told them wonderful stories until it was time for him to go back to work.
While they watched with fascinated eyes, he would trace a diagram in the pavement to show how the Grand Canal, in its wanderings, exactly describes the letter "S." His eyes would glow as he told of the grandeur of Venice in the time of the Doges, or cause the children to shudder at gruesome accounts of how, in the olden time, the prisoners were thrown from the Bridge of Sighs, into the water below.
Perchance, he would tell of the wedding of the Adriatic and call Venice the Bride of the Sea, or give a vivid account of how the body of St. Mark was brought there in the long ago.
In fact, his tales were so realistic, that it almost seemed as if he must have been an eyewitness of every incident he narrated.
CHAPTER II
ANDREA'S WISH
Of all the old man's tales, there was not one the children liked so well as the story of St. Mark's pigeons.
It was strange that, as soon as he began to talk about them, there would be heard the whirr, whirr of wings, and in an instant, countless birds would light on every possible ledge, nestling among the statuary and filling the air with the soft music of their coos.
On this special day of which I am going to tell you, three of the very prettiest flew straight into Maria's lap and settled there, to her delight, with an air of proprietorship, while one particularly striking fellow perched inquisitively on Andrea's shoulder.