The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER XIV 71<br />
CHAPTER XIV<br />
Tasio: Lunatic or Sage<br />
<strong>The</strong> peculiar old man wandered about the streets aimlessly. A former student of philosophy, he had given up<br />
his career in obedience to his mother's wishes and not from any lack of means or ability. Quite the contrary, it<br />
was because his mother was rich and he was said to possess talent. <strong>The</strong> good woman feared that her son<br />
would become learned and forget God, so she had given him his choice of entering the priesthood or leaving<br />
college. Being in love, he chose the latter course and married. <strong>The</strong>n having lost both his wife and his mother<br />
within a year, he sought consolation in his books in order to free himself from sorrow, the cockpit, and the<br />
dangers of idleness. He became so addicted to his studies and the purchase of books, that he entirely neglected<br />
his fortune and gradually ruined himself. Persons of culture called him Don Anastasio, or Tasio the Sage,<br />
while the great crowd of the ignorant knew him as Tasio the Lunatic, on account of his peculiar ideas and his<br />
eccentric manner of dealing with others.<br />
As we said before, the evening threatened to be stormy. <strong>The</strong> lightning flashed its pale rays across the leaden<br />
sky, the air was heavy and the slight breeze excessively sultry. Tasio had apparently already forgotten his<br />
beloved skull, and now he was smiling as he looked at the dark clouds. Near the church he met a man wearing<br />
an alpaca coat, who carried in one hand a large bundle of candles and in the other a tasseled cane, the emblem<br />
of his office as gobernadorcillo.<br />
"You seem to be merry?" he greeted Tasio in Tagalog.<br />
"Truly I am, señor capitan, I'm merry because I hope for something."<br />
"Ah? What do you hope for?"<br />
"<strong>The</strong> storm!"<br />
"<strong>The</strong> storm? Are you thinking of taking a bath?" asked the gobernadorcillo in a jesting way as he stared at the<br />
simple attire of the old man.<br />
"A bath? That's not a bad idea, especially when one has just stumbled over some trash!" answered Tasio in a<br />
similar, though somewhat more offensive tone, staring at the other's face. "But I hope for something better."<br />
"What, then?"<br />
"Some thunderbolts that will kill people and burn down houses," returned the Sage seriously.<br />
"Why don't you ask for the deluge at once?"<br />
"We all deserve it, even you and I! You, señor gobernadorcillo, have there a bundle of tapers that came from<br />
some Chinese shop, yet this now makes the tenth year that I have been proposing to each new occupant of<br />
your office the purchase of lightning-rods. Every one laughs at me, and buys bombs and rockets and pays for<br />
the ringing of bells. Even you yourself, on the day after I made my proposition, ordered from the Chinese<br />
founders a bell in honor of St. Barbara, [53] when science has shown that it is dangerous to ring the bells<br />
during a storm. Explain to me why in the year '70, when lightning struck in Biñan, it hit the very church tower<br />
and destroyed the clock and altar. What was the bell of St. Barbara doing then?"<br />
At the moment there was a vivid flash. "Jesús, María, y <strong>José</strong>! Holy St. Barbara!" exclaimed the<br />
gobernadorcillo, turning pale and crossing himself.