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66 DAYS IN THE SUN
have three sons who want nothing so much as to be-
come my successors; for the present they must live on
the jobs I cannot take.”
“But why don’t they look for some other occupa-
tion?”
“Why? Because no one would like to employ the
hangman’s children, or make use of utensils fashioned
by our hands; they will not even have us buried in the
same soil with them. I married off my daughter very
well; she married the assistant to the executioner of
Madrid; he will surely advance some day, when his
superior shuffles off, and it’s a good post. He is the
son of a hangman, too, from the neighborhood of
Bilboa, a splendid fellow, who would have made a
great career with the women had it not been for his
trade. Things being as they are he had to come all
the way to Seville to get a wife from me. I did not
have quite so much trouble; I married the daughter of
the executioner at Malaga; the jobs were not so far
apart then as they are now.”
“And is it true that you must be escorted to the
execution place and back again, as the people would
stone you if you were not protected ?”
“Yes, the people always side with the offender—
the Spanish people are very proud, you know. And in
a way the authorities stick to the offender too—not
so much nowadays any more. But about twenty years
ago they used to seize me after each execution and
imprison me, with heavy chains. They would take me
before a judge, and I would be asked: Do you admit
that you have killed Don Fulano?—Yes!—Why did
you commit this act?—Because of his great sins!—
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