| STREET OF THE SERPENTS |
"What are you saying, child?" she cried. "Do you tell me you have lost the castanets?"
Lira nodded and took an unusually large bite out of the loaf. Her mother stood over her, her face a mask of fear.
"Lira," she gasped, "do you know what you have done? If, indeed, you have lost the castanets, then truly you have brought misfortune upon your whole family."
Whereupon, her mother recited this verse:
"Castanets, with magic spell,
Never lose or give or sell;
If you do, then grief and strife
Will follow you through all your life."
Lira's eyes grew big. The loaf of bread dropped to the ground as she arose.
Leading her mother to the rock behind which she had hidden the castanets, she said, "Look, Mother. The castanets are not really lost. I was only fooling you. They are hidden in here and—"
She pulled out the loose rock and looked behind it. The castanets were gone.
Now, in those days, people believed in spells and charms, and Lira's mother was terribly frightened. She was also terribly angry with Lira.