Storia do Mogor 353.4.8

353.4.8

Whilst the woman was at the foot of the altar engaged in prayer, it came to pass that the Virgin descended from the altar and said to her : ' Stop where you are, for your husband is taking you away deceitfully. I will take your place.' The Virgin issued from the church, joined the knight, and they continued the journey. Upon arriving at the place fixed upon, the knight said to the Devil : ' Here is my wife in place of the cash.' The Devil approached to seize the woman, but received a great shock of terror, and with a backward leap cried : ' This is not thy wife as thou promised me ; it is the Virgin Mary, whom I am impotent to lay hands on.' The knight assured him it was his wife ; but meanwhile the Virgin had disappeared. The character was played by a black man dressed in woman's clothes [96] . The Devil's and the knight's parts were taken by two white men, who now commenced to shoe-beat each other, and thus the play came to an end. This play was acted by the Jesuits in the month of July, 1705, in the presence of all the officials of the settlement, as also of the Malabãr population, to a noisy accompaniment of drums and trumpets and the discharge of fireworks.