The Oath

The Oath Parte 9

Then I turn to the blacksmith, "Good evening, Master Luigi!" I said, going to meet him, and shaking his hand; his was a rather hard limb: made rough and callused from the innumerable shoeing made during his many years of profession.

"Good evening, Don Francesco!", he replied frankly and clearly, albeit with the cigarette clamped between his lips. »

— Did he smoke too?

— The honest artisans..., almost all, did smoking, don Nicò, while the selfish ones did not: they accumulated!

— Master Luigi also it smoked the Nazionali cigarettes: like my father.

« I was amazed that he had attributed the "Don" to me, — a male noun, from the people of south Italy reserved only to large landowners, or important professionals, and even to municipal employees — but evidently he thought that I had to have that title, as owner of the farm.

In the meantime, Peppino had put Billy in his box and had gone to get Carano: it was he who had to be shod.

Billy, meanwhile, not seeing his companion, began to scrape the ground and neigh loudly, beating his hoof several times against the door.

"What's wrong with this?", master Luigi said, surprised.

"Nothing, master Luigi! It's just that when he's in his box, he necessarily wants Carano to be close to him: otherwise he'll do this! I bought them together, and they traveled together up to here; in the truck, during the long journey they became friends!", I replied.

Master Luigi, satisfied with my answer, took the bag of the tools of the trade, the easel to place the horse's hoof on it, and, aided by his companion, a small anvil.

Then he put on a leather apron: suitable to protect his legs from the pointed and cutting tool that he would use to trim the hooves.

Who accompanied him was a man who rounded up his working day by assisting with the farrier; his task was to place himself on the side of the horse, support, and keep in position the limb to be shod.

Carano arrived and was tied to the steel ring set in the wall; from that position Billy could see him well, and he calmed down: the blacksmith's work could begin. I waited for a while, and then went indoors to shower, and change. »

— From the waist down, don Nicò, I was soaking wet.

— The risks of horseback riding in winter, Frank. Hahaha!

« When I returned, the farrier had already shod the forelegs; Peppino had returned the horses still grazing to their stalls, and he remained leaning against the wall: watching.

Master Luigi worked hard, and I "Master Luigi..., have you ever shod a racehorse?"

"No! This is the first! In my work... only saddle and draft horses, mules and donkeys: only these are around in this area!", he answered me, while with the pincer he removed the first iron from the hindquarters.

I like talking to older people, and I asked: "When you were young, have you been a soldier?"

"Yes! In a cavalry regiment, before the World War II: I was a farrier, specialized as a nurse for quadrupeds!"

"Um...! It may be useful to me!", I considered; with horses you never know... an accidental injury, or worse, intestinal colic, and it occurred to me that it would be convenient for me to know him better.

"Master Luigi, is better than a vet!", his aide intervened. On hearing it, master Luigi made a gesture of disagreement: as if to tell him not to exaggerate.