The Charlotte Journal

THE FISH OF ALAGON

In times past there was a certain captain-general of Aragon, who was a great gourmand, and consequently very fond of salmon, of which delicious edible he was in the habit of receiving a weekly supply from the Bay of Biscay. Of course the muleteer who brought it passed regularly through Alagon on his way to the vice-royal palace in Zaragoza, and the worthy alcalde of the village having nothing better to do, had often held converse with the passing muleteer and made himself acquainted with his affairs. At length he took it into his head that this salmon, which was so nice a thing in the mouth of a captain-general, could not well prove unsavory in that of an alcalde. So one day he stopped the returning muleteer, and told him that he must have some of his fish. In vain did the reluctant muleteer protest that his excellency would be in despair, and that he would be ruined, he insisted upon taking some of the best fish, and promised to pay for them at the same rate as the viceroy should pay for the remainder. The disconsolate muleteer went his way, and arrived in due time in Zaragoza. Of course, his coming was attended with vast excitement. Cooks, scullions and major-domos, courtiers and parasites, place-men and pretenders to become so, were all in a terror of dismay when they heard of the disastrous deficiency. The matter was broken with caution to the insulted potentate, and the muleteer ushered into his presence. "Now is it, my friend, that thou hast come so scantily provided?" "May it please your excellency, the alcalde of Alagon has laid hands upon the best of the fish; he says that he has as nice a tooth as your excellency, and that he will pay for those which he has retained whatever your excellency shall for the remainder." "Tell the major-domo, to pay thee a pound of gold for each pound of salmon, and go in peace." The muleteer did as he was ordered, and received the money with the best grace he could, and of course lost no time in going in search of more fish. At Alagon he had an interview with the worthy alcalde, and asked if the fish were not indeed as fit food for an alcalde as for a captain-general. The alcalde pronounced it a delicious morsel, and professed it his intention to eat it often. He sent his willing hand in search of the pistareens that were to pay for it, and begged to know what his excellency had given. "A pound of gold for a pound of salmon was the answer, which broke like thunder on the alcalde's ear; he was a ruined man: he had eaten up his whole substance—house, lands, sheep, mules and oxen, at a single meal. The word salmon was, of course, no very pleasant one in his ears afterward: neither is it in those of the natives of Alagon to this day; against whom the proverb is used as a reproach and the words "As dear as the fish of Alagon," are now uttered there by a stranger under terror of his life.—Spain Revisited by Lieut. Slide ll.