“Vanni,” said the old woman. “You’re still a dreamer and nothing more. When the bird flies away, do you think the branch stays empty? The branch is fixed, and the bird moves on, and if one leaves another takes its place.”

“I … as God as my witness, I …”

“Vanni, Vanni, what are you saying? Why are you cursing? What do you expect? Youth wants love, and women want a husband!”

Vanni stared at the ground, dark and surly, with his thumbs twitching restlessly in his pockets. Gna’ Nunzia ladled out the soup, a little frightened.

“It’s getting cold.”

“I’ll slit their throats,” mumbled Vanni. “It’s shameful! Not to wait a year and a half! And idiot that I am I ate dry bread and slept on straw so I could make thirty-five onze, cent by cent. But who is he? Can you at least tell me that?”

“He’s from Licata, a tree trimmer. He was an eligible young man, and Maredda’s poor. She’s to be pitied. The blood boiled in my veins, too, but then I forgave her. You have to understand how things are….”

“Well, if I run into him, I’ll have a few things to say. He’s getting the scraps, it’s pathetic! I had the best; a girl’s first love is what counts, not the second. And I’ll tell him that. And he’ll leave her. And then I won’t take her either!”

Gna’ Nunzia ladled and let him speak. When he’d vented himself sufficiently, she spoke to him and managed to calm him down. What did he really want to do? By now, Maredda had practically ruined herself. She’d been reduced to the point that if the tree trimmer decided he didn’t want her, she might as well tie a rock around her neck and throw herself into the sea. The mistake had been in not getting engaged. Wouldn’t it be better now to let everyone go their own way and not get tangled up with those two dishonorable wretches?

She even persuaded him to eat. And after having eaten, he felt like a new person, so much so that the old woman remarked, “It was hunger and exhaustion, my son. You were seeing things with an ox’s eyes. Happily, because you’re young, there are still plenty of girls!”

“That much is true!” agreed Vanni. “This time, I’ll let you find me a wife. As God is my witness, I want to get married by Saint Joseph’s Day.”

Later in the afternoon, friends and relatives came to celebrate Vanni’s return. He was all animated now, feeling like a man who’d experienced life, and he spit on the ground while talking about La Mèrica.