The Parent's Assistant; Or, Stories for Children

Upon these occasions, our fisherman always forgot, or neglected to count, the hours and days which were wasted in waiting for a fair wind to put to sea, or angling in vain on the shore.

Little Piedro, who used to bask in the sun upon the sea-shore beside his father, and to lounge or sleep away his time in a fishing-boat, acquired habits of idleness, which seemed to his father of little consequence whilst he was but a child.

'What will you do with Piedro as he grows up, neighbour?' said the gardener. 'He is smart and quick enough, but he is always in mischief. Scarcely a day has passed for this fortnight but I have caught him amongst my grapes. I track his footsteps all over my vineyard.' 'He is but a child yet, and knows no better,' replied the fisherman. 'But if you don't teach him better now he is a child, how will he know when he is a man?' said the gardener. 'A mighty noise about a bunch of grapes, truly!' cried the fisherman; 'a few grapes more or less in your vineyard, what does it signify?' 'I speak for your son's sake, and not for the sake of my grapes,' said the gardener; 'and I tell you again, the boy will not do well in the world, neighbour, if you don't look after him in time.' 'He'll do well enough in the world, you will find,' answered the fisherman, carelessly. 'Whenever he casts my nets, they never come up empty. "It is better to be lucky than wise."'[20 - E meglio esser fortunato che savio.]

This was a proverb which Piedro had frequently heard from his father, and to which he most willingly trusted, because it gave him less trouble to fancy himself fortunate than to make himself wise.

'Come here, child,' said his father to him, when he returned home after the preceding conversation with the gardener; 'how old are you, my boy? – twelve years old, is not it?' 'As old as Francisco, and older by six months,' said Piedro. 'And smarter and more knowing by six years,' said his father. 'Here, take these fish to Naples, and let us see how you'll sell them for me. Venture a small fish, as the proverb says, to catch a great one.[21 - Butta una sardella per pigliar un luccio.] I was too late with them at the market yesterday, but nobody will know but what they are just fresh out of the water, unless you go and tell them.'

'Not I; trust me for that; I'm not such a fool,' replied Piedro, laughing; 'I leave that to Francisco. Do you know, I saw him the other day miss selling a melon for his father by turning the bruised side to the customer, who was just laying down the money for it, and who was a raw servant-boy, moreover – one who would never have guessed there were two sides to a melon, if he had not, as you say, father, been told of it?'

'Off with you to market. You are a droll chap,' said his father, 'and will sell my fish cleverly, I'll be bound. As to the rest, let every man take care of his own grapes. You understand me, Piedro?'

'Perfectly,' said the boy, who perceived that his father was indifferent as to his honesty, provided he sold fish at the highest price possible. He proceeded to the market, and he offered his fish with assiduity to every person whom he thought likely to buy it, especially to those upon whom he thought he could impose. He positively asserted to all who looked at his fish that they were just fresh out of the water. Good judges of men and fish knew that he said what was false, and passed him by with neglect; but it was at last what he called good luck to meet with the very same young raw servant-boy who would have bought the bruised melon from Francisco. He made up to him directly, crying, 'Fish! Fine fresh fish! fresh fish!'

'Was it caught to-day?' said the boy.

'Yes, this morning; not an hour ago,' said Piedro, with the greatest effrontery.

The servant-boy was imposed upon; and being a foreigner, speaking the Italian language but imperfectly, and not being expert at reckoning the Italian money, he was no match for the cunning Piedro, who cheated him not only as to the freshness but as to the price of the commodity. Piedro received nearly half as much again for his fish as he ought to have done.

On his road homewards from Naples to the little village of Resina, where his father lived, he overtook Francisco, who was leading his father's ass. The ass was laden with large panniers, which were filled with the stalks and leaves of cauliflowers, cabbages, broccoli, lettuces, etc. – all the refuse of the Neapolitan kitchens, which are usually collected by the gardeners' boys, and carried to the gardens round Naples, to be mixed with other manure.

'Well-filled panniers, truly,' said Piedro, as he overtook Francisco and the ass. The panniers were indeed not only filled to the top, but piled up with much skill and care, so that the load met over the animal's back.

'It is not a very heavy load for the ass, though it looks so large,' said Francisco. 'The poor fellow, however, shall have a little of this water,' added he, leading the ass to a pool by the roadside.

'I was not thinking of the ass, boy; I was not thinking of any ass, but of you, when I said, "Well-filled panniers, truly!" This is your morning's work, I presume, and you'll make another journey to Naples to-day, on the same errand, I warrant, before your father thinks you have done enough?'

'Not before my father thinks I have done enough, but before I think so myself,' replied Francisco.

'I do enough to satisfy myself and my father too,' said Piedro, 'without slaving myself after your fashion. Look here,' producing the money he had received for the fish; 'all this was had for asking. It is no bad thing, you'll allow, to know how to ask for money properly.'

'I should be ashamed to beg, or borrow either,' said Francisco.

'Neither did I get what you see by begging, or borrowing either,' said Piedro, 'but by using my wits; not as you did yesterday, when, like a novice, you showed the bruised side of your melon, and so spoiled your market by your wisdom.'

'Wisdom I think it still,' said Francisco.

'And your father?' asked Piedro.

'And my father,' said Francisco.

'Mine is of a different way of thinking,' said Piedro. 'He always tells me that the buyer has need of a hundred eyes, and if one can blind the whole hundred, so much the better. You must know, I got off the fish to-day that my father could not sell yesterday in the market – got it off for fresh just out of the river – got twice as much as the market price for it; and from whom, think you? Why, from the very booby that would have bought the bruised melon for a sound one if you would have let him. You'll allow I'm no fool, Francisco, and that I'm in a fair way to grow rich, if I go on as I have begun.'

'Stay,' said Francisco; 'you forgot that the booby you took in to-day will not be so easily taken in to-morrow. He will buy no more fish from you, because he will be afraid of your cheating him; but he will be ready enough to buy fruit from me, because he will know I shall not cheat him – so you'll have lost a customer, and I gained one.'

'With all my heart,' said Piedro. 'One customer does not make a market; if he buys no more from me, what care I? there are people enough to buy fish in Naples.'

'And do you mean to serve them all in the same manner?' asked Francisco.

'If they will be only so good as to give me leave,' said Piedro, laughing, and repeating his father's proverb, '"Venture a small fish to catch a large one."'[22 - See antea.] He had learned to think that to cheat in making bargains was witty and clever.

'And you have never considered, then,' said Francisco, 'that all these people will, one after another, find you out in time?'

'Ay, in time; but it will be some time first. There are a great many of them, enough to last me all the summer, if I lose a customer a day,' said Piedro.

'And next summer,' observed Francisco, 'what will you do?'

'Next summer is not come yet; there is time enough to think what I shall do before next summer comes. Why, now, suppose the blockheads, after they had been taken in and found it out, all joined against me, and would buy none of our fish – what then? Are there no trades but that of a fisherman? In Naples, are there not a hundred ways of making money for a smart lad like me? as my father says. What do you think of turning merchant, and selling sugar-plums and cakes to the children in their market? Would they be hard to deal with, think you?'

'I think not,' said Francisco; 'but I think the children would find out in time if they were cheated, and would like it as little as the men.'

'I don't doubt them. Then in time I could, you know, change my trade – sell chips and sticks in the wood-market – hand about the lemonade to the fine folks, or twenty other things. There are trades enough, boy.'

'Yes, for the honest dealer,' said Francisco, 'but for no other; for in all of them you'll find, as my father says, that a good character is the best fortune to set up with. Change your trade ever so often, you'll be found out for what you are at last.'

'And what am I, pray?' said Piedro, angrily. 'The whole truth of the matter is, Francisco, that you envy my good luck, and can't bear to hear this money jingle in my hand. Ay, stroke the long ears of your ass, and look as wise as you please. It's better to be lucky than wise, as my father says. Good morning to you. When I am found out for what I am, or when the worst comes to the worst, I can drive a stupid ass, with his panniers filled with rubbish, as well as you do now, honest Francisco?

'Not quite so well. Unless you were honest Francisco, you would not fill his panniers quite so readily.'

This was certain, that Francisco was so well known for his honesty amongst all the people at Naples with whom his father was acquainted, that every one was glad to deal with him; and as he never wronged any one, all were willing to serve him – at least, as much as they could without loss to themselves; so that after the market was over, his panniers were regularly filled by the gardeners and others with whatever he wanted. His industry was constant, his gains small but certain, and he every day had more and more reason to trust to his father's maxim – That honesty is the best policy.

The foreign servant lad, to whom Francisco had so honestly, or, as Piedro said, so sillily, shown the bruised side of the melon, was an Englishman. He left his native country, of which he was extremely fond, to attend upon his master, to whom he was still more attached. His master was in a declining state of health, and this young lad waited on him a little more to his mind than his other servants. We must, in consideration of his zeal, fidelity, and inexperience, pardon him for not being a good judge of fish. Though he had simplicity enough to be easily cheated once, he had too much sense to be twice made a dupe. The next time he met Piedro in the market, he happened to be in company with several English gentlemen's servants, and he pointed Piedro out to them all as an arrant knave. They heard his cry of 'Fresh fish! fresh fish! fine fresh fish!' with incredulous smiles, and let him pass, but not without some expressions of contempt, though uttered in English, he tolerably well understood; for the tone of contempt is sufficiently expressive in all languages. He lost more by not selling his fish to these people than he had gained the day before by cheating the English booby. The market was well supplied, and he could not get rid of his cargo.

'Is not this truly provoking?' said Piedro, as he passed by Francisco, who was selling fruit for his father. 'Look, my basket is as heavy as when I left home; and look at 'em yourself, they really are fine fresh fish to-day; and yet, because that revengeful booby told how I took him in yesterday, not one of yonder crowd would buy them; and all the time they really are fresh to-day!'

'So they are,' said Francisco; 'but you said so yesterday, when they were not; and he that was duped then is not ready to believe you to-day. How does he know that you deserve it better?'

'He might have looked at the fish,' repeated Piedro; 'they are fresh to-day. I am sure he need not have been afraid.'

'Ay,' said Francisco; 'but as my father said to you once – the scalded dog fears cold water.'[23 - Il cane scottato dell' acqua calda ha paura poi della fredda.]

Here their conversation was interrupted by the same English lad, who smiled as he came up to Francisco, and taking up a fine pine-apple, he said, in a mixture of bad Italian and English – 'I need not look at the other side of this; you will tell me if it is not as good as it looks. Name your price; I know you have but one, and that an honest one; and as to the rest, I am able and willing to pay for what I buy; that is to say, my master is, which comes to the same thing. I wish your fruit could make him well, and it would be worth its weight in gold – to me, at least. We must have some of your grapes for him.'

'Is he not well?' inquired Francisco. 'We must, then, pick out the best for him,' at the same time singling out a tempting bunch. 'I hope he will like these; but if you could some day come as far as Resina (it is a village but a few miles out of town, where we have our vineyard), you could there choose for yourself, and pluck them fresh from the vines for your poor master.'

'Bless you, my good boy; I should take you for an Englishman, by your way of dealing. I'll come to your village. Only write me down the name; for your Italian names slip through my head. I'll come to the vineyard if it was ten miles off; and all the time we stay in Naples (may it not be so long as I fear it will!), with my master's leave, which he never refuses me to anything that's proper, I'll deal with you for all our fruit, as sure as my name's Arthur, and with none else, with my good will. I wish all your countrymen would take after you in honesty, indeed I do,' concluded the Englishman, looking full at Piedro, who took up his unsold basket of fish, looking somewhat silly, and gloomily walked off.

Arthur, the English servant, was as good as his word. He dealt constantly with Francisco, and proved an excellent customer, buying from him during the whole season as much fruit as his master wanted. His master, who was an Englishman of distinction, was invited to take up his residence, during his stay in Italy, at the Count de F.'s villa, which was in the environs of Naples – an easy walk from Resina. Francisco had the pleasure of seeing his father's vineyard often full of generous visitors, and Arthur, who had circulated the anecdote of the bruised melon, was, he said, 'proud to think that some of this was his doing, and that an Englishman never forgot a good turn, be it from a countryman or foreigner.'

'My dear boy,' said Francisco's father to him, whilst Arthur was in the vineyard helping to tend the vines, 'I am to thank you and your honesty, it seems, for our having our hands so full of business this season. It is fair you should have a share of our profits.'

'So I have, father, enough and enough, when I see you and mother going on so well. What can I want more?'

'Oh, my brave boy, we know you are a grateful, good son; but I have been your age myself; you have companions, you have little expenses of your own. Here; this vine, this fig-tree, and a melon a week next summer shall be yours. With these make a fine figure amongst the little Neapolitan merchants; and all I wish is that you may prosper as well, and by the same honest means, in managing for yourself, as you have done managing for me.'

'Thank you, father; and if I prosper at all, it shall be by those means, and no other, or I should not be worthy to be called your son.'