Author: Matilde Serao
Year: 1891
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"The Land of Cockayne" was written in 1901 by Matilde Serao as a powerful study in fiction of the passion for gambling and the evil effect of the national lottery in Naples on all classes of society.
Excerpt from The Land of Cockayne:
I would like - I would like three-halfpence-worth of meat; we will eat it with our bread - Nannina and I, ' said she, with a pretty greedy grimace.
We don't cook meat to-day it is Saturday. Only tripe for unbelievers on Saturday.' Well, give me the salt cod, ' she murmured, withholding a sigh. Then she looked into the Impresa court with curiosity, while the youth disappeared into the black depths of the cellar to get the cod. A little ray of sunshine coming from the top turned the court golden; every now and then some man or woman's form crossed it. Antonietta, the seamstress, went on staring, humming a popular dirge, slightly swaying on her hips.
Here is the cod, ' said the youth, coming back. He had put it in a small plate; there were four big bits falling into flakes, in a reddish sauce strongly seasoned with pepper, the sauce, as it waved about, leaving yellow oily marks on the edges of the gray plate.
Here is the money, ' Antonietta murmured, pulling it out of her pocket. But she stood with the plate in her hand, looking at the cod falling to pieces in the juice.
If I were to take a term, ' She said, as she went on her way, holding the plate carefully, 'i should like to gratify my wish of eating meat every day.'
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