Lhasaero mistakenly thought the funeral procession was going to carry the dead into the house

Lázaro mistakes a widow’s lament for directions to his own house, and rushes home to bar a funeral procession from entering. The episode pivots on the starving squire’s description of their dwelling as a place where no one eats or drinks: words meant as grief-stricken complaint sound, to Lázaro, like a literal address. His fear briefly overwhelms the prospect of food, while his master’s laughter turns the mistake into one of the household’s rare comic reversals.

The Meal and the House

The incident begins with an unexpected real in the squire’s possession. Proud of the coin, he gives it to Lázaro and sends him to the market for bread, wine, and meat. He has also rented another lodging, so they will leave their present house at the end of the month. His account of the place is shaped by deprivation: since moving in, he says, he has tasted neither wine nor meat and has known no peace. He promises that this day they will eat like princes.

For Lázaro, the errand initially means a welcome reprieve. Carrying the money and a jug toward the market, he calculates how best to spend it and gives thanks that his master has come by funds. The promised meal makes the funeral he encounters on the way all the more sharply timed: good fortune has appeared, but it has not yet become food.

The Procession and the Misreading

Lázaro steps aside for a procession of priests and other people carrying a dead man on a bier. Behind it walks a woman dressed in mourning, apparently the deceased’s wife, surrounded by other women. Weeping aloud, she asks where her husband is being taken and describes the destination as a gloomy, ill-fated house where people never eat or drink.

The complaint echoes the squire’s own description of their lodging so closely that Lázaro takes it literally. He imagines that the procession is bringing the dead man to his home. The distinction between a widow’s lament about a miserable dwelling and an actual announcement of the destination disappears in his alarm; the house’s established reputation for hunger supplies the mistaken identification.

The Barricaded Door

Lázaro abandons the route to the market, pushes through the crowd, and runs home as fast as he can. He shuts the door in haste, calls for his master’s protection, and clings to him for help in keeping the mourners out. The squire, at first concerned that something else has happened, asks why the boy is shouting and barring the entrance. Lázaro explains that a dead man is being brought there and repeats the widow’s words, now convinced that they refer to their own house.

The explanation makes the squire laugh so hard that for a while he cannot speak. Meanwhile, Lázaro has already bolted the door and braces his shoulder against it. Even after the procession has passed, he remains convinced that the body may still be brought inside. The squire recognizes why the widow’s words misled him, but points out that the funeral has gone on and tells him to open the door and fetch the food. Lázaro asks him to wait until the procession has turned the corner.

Fear, Food, and Comic Reversal

At last the squire goes to the door, opens it, and pushes Lázaro back outside so that he will resume the errand. The funeral does not enter the house, and the meal promised by the unexpected coin is recovered: the two eat well that day. Yet Lázaro says he could not enjoy the food. It takes him three days to regain his normal colour, while the squire repeatedly bursts into laughter whenever he remembers the boy’s mistake.

The episode reverses the household’s usual crisis without removing its underlying poverty. The squire’s new money and rented lodging make a meal possible, but the house’s history of hunger has become so defining that a passing description of it can inspire a literal fear of death. Lázaro’s practical urgency—first to secure the door, then to delay opening it until the mourners are gone—makes the misunderstanding a scene of physical action, not merely a verbal joke. The procession passes; the household eats; fear remains in Lázaro’s body after the danger he imagined has gone.