[67] Cf. their proverbs, “Lan lasterra, lan alferra--Rapid work, idle work;” and “Geroa, alferraren leloa--To-morrow is the refrain of the idle.”
[68] The great game at Irun, between French and Spanish Basques, about the year 1840, has become a legend, and is still spoken of by the peasants. Gascoña, the chief French player, was offered 10,000 francs “pour faire trahison,” but refused, were it ten times the sum. Oxen, crops, fields and houses were freely betted. The ball, we are told, was slily wetted for service, tintacks were scattered in the court, and Gascoña, accustomed to play barefoot, called for a pair of heavy wooden _sabots_, and continued the game. The French won, and were obliged to escape across the frontier without changing, and _chistera_ on arm. Those were the times when the peasants left their farms to play for the love of the game. To-day the game is in the hands of a few professionals, for the benefit of foreigners, the result often arranged beforehand. “Aujourd’hui,” said an aged player of the frontier, “les joueurs rient quelquefois: nous ne riions pas, nous.”
[69] Antaño, en los antaños, dans le temps.
[70] Corografía de Guipúzcoa: “No es creible si no se ve el mucho pan y cera que se ofrece.... Además en tales grandes funerales por modo de ofrenda se trae á la puerta de la iglesia un buey vivo en unos lugares y en otros un carnero también vivo que, acabado el oficio, se vuelve á la casería ó carnicería, y por esto se paga al cura una cantidad determinada en dinero.” He estimates the house expenses at 500 duros (or dollars), and the Church expenses at another 500, truly an immense sum for those days. When the burials took place in the church, the offerings of bread and wax would be made on the tomb.
[71] The music and words are by Iparraguirre.
[73] Urrugne, above the sun-dial on the church.
[75] Saint Pée, formerly Stus. Petrus de Ivarren. “There is a little village called St. Pé, where I was stopped a day or two by very bad weather. I was lodged at the Curé’s, a good old man, from whose conversation about the state of France I received light which had important results. He was very clever and very well-informed, and took not only right, but large views of things.”--_The Duke of Wellington to J. W. Croker._