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fra gaetano 4 7
4 7
since he had heard Father Gondo. Everything was
trivial compared with being like Father Gondo, and
be blessed by the people. Gaetano would not be
able to live if he could not sit by the market-place
well and relate legends.
But if Gaetano continued to roam in Donna
Elisa’s garden, eating peaches and mandarins, he
would never hear the great sea of human beings
surging around him.
He must go forth and become a hermit on Etna.
He must dwell in one of the large caves and live on
roots and fruit. He would never meet any human
being, he would never cut his hair, and he would
wear nothing but a few dirty rags. But after ten or
twenty years he would return to the world. Then
he would look like a beast and speak like an angel.
That would be something quite different from
going about dressed in velvet clothes, and shining
leather hat. That would be different from sitting in
the shop with Donna Elisa, taking down saint after
saint from the shelf and hearing her tell what they
had done. Several times he had taken a knife and a
piece of wood and tried to carve images of saints.
It was very difficult, but it would be much worse to
make a saint of himself. However, he was not
afraid of difficulties or privations.
He stole out of his room, across the attic and
down the attic stairs. There remained only to pass
through the shop, and out into the street; but on
the last step he checked himself. A faint glimmer
of light was visible through a crack of the door at
the left of the stairs.
There was the door to Donna Elisa’s room, and
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