Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Book II - IX. Palazzo Geraci and Palazzo Corvaja
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86 228 . the miracles of antichrist
the Geracis were interested in farming and mining.
When a Geraci had been left an inheritance, some
old relative of the Corvajas felt compelled to die,
that the honor of the race might not be hazarded.
Palazzo Geraci was constantly busy counting its
servants in order not to be surpassed by Palazzo
Corvaja. But this was not enough ; they must also
keep track of the galloons on the caps too, and of
the harness and horses. The pheasant feather at the
neck of Corvaja’s leading-horses must not be an inch
higher than Geraci’s. Their flocks of goats must
increase in the same proportion, and Geraci’s oxen
must have just as long horns as Corvaja’s.
In these days we would think that there ought to
have been an end to the enmity between the two
palaces. In these days the two palaces stand
equally desolate.
Geraci’s courtyard is now a filthy hole, containing
both donkey stable and pig-sty and hen-yard. On
the high staircase rags are dried and the relief-fillets
are broken and scarred. In one of the two entrances
vegetables are sold, and in the other shoes are made.
The porter looks like the most wretched of beggars,
and from cellar to garret may be found only poor
miserable people.
Nor is Palazzo Corvaja one whit better. There
is not a trace left of the mosaic covering in the great
hall, only empty naked vaults. No beggars live
there, because the greater part of the palace is in
ruins. It lifts now only its beautiful front with
the ornamented window-frames towards the bright
Sicilian sky.
But the enmity between Geraci and Corvaja is not
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