A little farther on another vendor stopped us.
“How is this?” he said gravely; “you are without red carnations; that is not well.”
“He is right, Signori,” said the gobbo; “we must wear red carnations as well as lavender.”
We bought enough red carnations for an army.
“What do the lavender and the carnations signify?”
“Who knows, Signora? it is the custom to wear them. One says it brings buona fortuna, another that it keeps the witches away; it is well to be on the safe side.”
As the cab came to a dead stop for a moment outside a trattoria, a saucy boy sprang on the step and asked for a soldo to buy a dish of snails.
“Do not refuse,” said the gobbo; “he is a good boy; it is the custom on the eve of San Giovanni to eat snails and polenta, as you may see for yourselves.”
Over the door of the trattoria hung an illuminated transparency: on one side was a picture of a large snail, on the other a witch riding a broomstick.
“Aglo, Aglo (Garlic). Who wants aglo? There is nothing so good against the fascino (fascination) as aglo!”