He pressed some coins into Pilar's hand, but she shrank back.
"Oh, no, no!" she exclaimed. "I cannot take money from you, señor, when I have given you nothing for it!"
Juan laughed. "Very well, little proud one," he said. "You may bring me something else tomorrow."
Pilar thought of the old pair of castanets.
She asked Juan whether he would take them, and he replied, "Of course. It is not difficult to sell castanets in Seville."
So Pilar left the shop of Juan Sanchez, and her heart sang as she skipped along. She bought bread and fish and eggs and she took them home.
She cooked the fish and the eggs in oil, as Spanish people do. Then she poured some milk out of a pitcher and tried to make her grandfather eat and drink.
After that, she went into her tiny room and once again opened the wooden chest. This time she took out the magic castanets, whose mysterious history she did not know.
| SEVILLE |
But her grandfather knew all those terrible legends which had been handed down through the family. He was too intelligent really to believe them but when Pilar came into his room holding the clappers in her hand, his eyes suddenly filled with fear.