"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her.

"Two angels came down from heaven and bore her away on their wings. Mary
Magdalene came to meet her at the gate of heaven.

"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her.

"There, she was seated in a place of glory, a chaplet of rubies was given
to her, and she is singing her rosary with the Virgin.

"Thanks, good neighbours. I will go and be with her."

As he finished the last words of his melancholy refrain, he flung himself
from the top of his rock into the sea, as though he really desired to
engulf himself. Nisida and the other women gave a cry of terror, for
during some minutes the diver failed to reappear upon the surface.

"Are you out of your senses?" cried a young man who had suddenly
appeared, unobserved among the women. "Why, what are you afraid of? You
know very well that Bastiano is always doing things of this sort. But do
not be alarmed: all the fishes in the Mediterranean will be drowned
before any harm comes to him. Water is his natural element. Good-day,
sister; good-day, father."

The young fisherman kissed Nisida on the forehead, drew near to his
father, and, bowing his handsome head before him, took off his red cap
and respectfully kissed the old man's hand. He came thus to ask his
blessing every evening before putting out to sea, where he often spent
the night fishing from his boat.