[Page 95.]—1.[{95-1}] Traga-santos; a play on the double meaning of the word tragar, 'to swallow' and 'to believe implicitly in'. See in the Vocab. Animalejos and other proper nouns.
[Page 96.]—1.[{96-1}] es para ... referida, must be imagined; it cannot be told.
[Page 97.]—1.[{97-1}] El alma ... Traga-santos, poor Traga-santos' heart sank into his shoes.
2.[{97-2}] víctimas; this paragraph is a sarcastic allusion to the irreligious way in which the holiday of San Isidro is observed at Madrid.
3.[{97-3}] y más, the more so.
4.[{97-4}] ¿cuál no ... asombro, imagine the amazement.
[Page 98.]—1.[{98-1}] para que ... lloviese, in order that he should see to it that it did not rain.
2.[{98-2}] It is said that in the rural districts of both Spain and Spanish America the images of saints have been beaten or stoned because prayers were not granted. The scene that is given here is, probably, purely imaginary.
3.[{98-3}] ¡Lo que ... lluvia!, the fact is that the rain ceased! (lit., flew away immediately)
[Page 99.]—1.[{99-1}] en ... ser, valued so little the fact that it was.