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mongibello
27
" Monte Chiaro lies on Etna, if you know where
Etna lies?"
It came so anxiously, as if it were asking altogether
too much that Gaetano should know anything of
Etna. And they laughed all three; both she, Father
Josef and Gaetano.
She seemed a different person entirely, after she
had made them laugh. Will you come and see
Diamante and Etna and Monte Chiaro ?" she asked
suddenly. " Etna, you must see. It is the greatest
mountain in the world. Etna is a king, and the
mountains round about lie on their knees and dare
not lift their eyes towards its face."
And she began to tell all about Etna. No doubt
she imagined it would tempt him.
And such was really the case, that Gaetano had
never reflected upon what sort of a mountain Etna
was. It had never occurred to him that it had snow
on the top of its head, forest of oak in its beard^
grapevine round its waist, and that it stood
knee-deep in orange groves. And down from it, great,
broad, black rivers came bursting forth. Those were
wonderful streams : they flowed without murmur,
their waves were not caused by wind, the poorest
swimmer could cross them without any bridge. He
guessed that it was the lava she meant. And it
pleased her that he could guess it. He had brains
evidently. He was a genuine Alagona.
And then how large it was ! Only fancy that one
needed three days to ride around it and three days
to ride to the top and down again ! And that there
were fifty cities besides Diamante and fourteen large
forests and two hundred small mountains, which by
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