este astuto ciego, contaré un caso de muchos que con él me acaecieron, en el cual me parece dio bien a entender a su gran astucia. Cuando salimos de Salamanca, su motivo fue venir a tierra de Toledo, porque decía ser la gente más rica, aunque no muy limosnera. Se arrimaba a este refrán: «Más da el duro que el desnudo.» Y venimos a este camino por los mejores lugares. Donde hallaba buena acogida y ganancia, nos deteníamos. Donde no, a tercero día hacíamos San Juan.¹⁴
     Acaeció que, llegando a un lugar, que llaman Almorox, al tiempo que cogían las uvas, un vendimiador le dio un racimo de ellas en limosna. Y como suelen ir los cestos maltratados, y también porque la uva en aquel tiempo está muy madura, se le desgranaba el racimo en la mano. Para echarlo en el fardel, se tornaba mosto y lo que a él se llegaba. Acordó de hacer un banquete, así por no lo poder llevar como por contentarme que aquel día me había dado muchos rodillazos y golpes. Nos sentamos en un valladar, y dijo:
     -Ahora quiero yo usar contigo de una liberalidad, y es que ambos comamos este racimo de uvas, y que hayas de él tanta parte como yo. Lo partirá de esta manera: tú picarás una vez y yo otra, con tal que me prometas no tomar cada vez más de una uva. Yo haré lo mismo hasta que lo acabemos, y de esta suerte no habrá engaño.
     Hecho así el concierto, comenzamos. Mas luego al segundo lance, el traidor mudó propósito y comenzó a tomar de dos en dos, considerando que yo debería hacer lo mismo. Como vi que él quebraba la postura, no me contenté ir a la par con él, mas aun pasaba adelante: dos a dos, y tres a tres, y como podía, las comía. Acabado el racimo, estuvo un poco con el escobajo en la mano, y meneando la cabeza dijo:
     -Lázaro, engañando me has. Juraré yo a Dios que has tú comido las uvas tres a tres.
     -No comí -dije yo-, mas ¿por qué sospechase eso?
     Respondió el sagacísimo ciego:
     -¿Sabes en qué veo que las comiste tres a tres? En que comía yo dos a dos, y callabas.

 ₪ 8 ₪

astute blind man, I will tell of one case among many which befell me that I think offered a good understanding of his great cunning. When we left Salamanca his motive was to come to the Toledo area, because the people were said to be richer, though not very charitable. He backed himself up with this proverb: "Even the tightfisted give more than the empty-handed." And we took to this road by way of the fine villages. Where he found a good reception and gain, we stopped. Where not, by the third day, we'd do a San Juan.¹⁴    
     It came to pass that, arriving at a place called Almorox at the time they were picking grapes, a vintager gave him a bunch of them as alms.  And as they were supposed to go into the basket of culls and also because the grapes at that time of year were very ripe, the bunch fell apart in his hand. Put into the sack, they would mold along with anything else they touched. He resolved to have a feast, as much as for not being able to carry them as to please me, that day having kneed me and knocked me about many times. We sat on a fence and he said:
     "Now I want to treat you liberally and that is we'll both eat this bunch of grapes, you doing each part as I do. We shall divide them up in this manner: You'll pick one and I the next, such that you promise me not to take more than one grape each time. I will do the same until we finish it and in this manner we'll have no tricks.
     The bargain struck, we began. Yet right away on the second go-round, the traitor changed intent and began to take two-at-a-time, judging I would be obliged to do the same. As I saw him breaking the agreement, I wasn't content to go on par with him, but even passed him up: two-at-a-time, three-at-a-time, eating them as fast as I could. The bunch was finished, he remained a little while with the stalk in his hand and shaking his head said:
     "Lázaro, cheating me you have. I swear to God that you've eaten the grapes three-at-a-time."
     "I didn't," I said. "But why would you suspect that?"
     The shrewd blind man answered:
     "You want to know how I saw you eat them three-at-a-time? It was that I
 ate them two-at-a-time and you kept quiet."