The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino

Author:Italo Calvino
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Italy - Civilization - 18th Century, Literature, Psychological Fiction, Family, Italian Fiction, Literary, Historical Fiction, Italy, Nobility - Italy, General, Prose Literature, Conduct of Life
ISBN: 9780156106801
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 1959-01-02T07:00:00+00:00


} 15 {

IT WAS at this time, when he began seeing a lot of the Cavalier, that Cosimo noticed something odd in his behavior, or rather something different from usual, whether odder or less odd. It was as if that abstracted air of his no longer came from a wandering mind, but from a fixed and dominating thought. He would often, now, have talkative moments; and though before, unsociable as he was, he never set foot in the town, now, on the other hand, he was always down at the port, mingling with groups or sitting on the pavements with old sailors and boatmen, commenting on the arrival and departure of ships and the misdeeds of the pirates.

Off our coasts there still cruised the feluccas of the Barbary pirates, molesting our traffic. Nowadays it was petty piratage, no longer as in the days when an attack by pirates meant one's ending as a slave at Tunis or Algiers, or losing nose and ears. Now when the Mohammedans managed to overtake a tartan from Ombrosa, they took only the cargo: barrels of dried fish, rounds of Dutch cheese, bails of cotton and the like. Sometimes our people were faster and would escape, firing a round of grapeshot at the felucca's rigging; and the Barbary sailors would reply by spitting, making lewd gestures and shouting insults.

In fact, it was just petty piracy, and went on because the pashas of those countries claimed certain credits from our merchants and shipowners, which they exhorted, as according to them they had not been properly treated, or even cheated, in some business deal or other. And so they tried to settle their accounts piecemeal by robbery while at the same time continuing their commercial transactions, with constant bickering and bargaining. So it was to neither side's interest to come to a definite break; and navigation hereabouts went on full of hazards and risks, without ever degenerating to tragedy.

The story I am about to tell was narrated to me by Cosimo in a number of different versions; I am keeping to the one which had the most details and was also the most logical. My brother when describing his adventures certainly added many out of his own head, but I always try to give a faithful report of what he told me, as he is the only source.

Well, one night Cosimo, who since that watching for fires had got into the habit of waking up at all hours, saw a light coming down into the valley. He followed it silently over the branches with his cat's tread, and saw Enea Silvio Carrega walking along very quietly, in his fez and robe, holding a lantern.

What was the Cavalier, who usually retired to bed with the chickens, doing up at that hour? Cosimo followed some distance behind. He was careful not to make any noise, even knowing too that his uncle, when walking along so concentratedly, was as good as deaf and saw only a few inches in front of his nose.



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