All day long the four idiot sons of the couple Mazzini-Ferraz sat on a bench in the patio. Their tongues protruded from between their lips; their eyes were dull; their mouths hung open as they turned their heads.

The patio had an earthen floor and was closed to the west by a brick wall. The bench was five feet from the wall, parallel to it, and there they sat, motionless, their gaze fastened on the bricks. As the sun went down, disappearing behind the wall, the idiots rejoiced. The blinding light was always what first gained their attention; little by little by little their eyes lighted up; finally, they would laugh uproariously, each infected by the same uneasy hilarity, staring at the sun with bestial joy, as if it were something to eat.

Other times, lined up on the bench, they hummed for hours on end, imitating the sound of the trolley. Loud noises, too, shook them from their inertia, and at those times they ran around the patio, biting their tongues and mewing. But almost always they were sunk in the somber lethargy of idiocy, passing the entire day seated on their bench, their legs hanging motionless, dampening their pants with slobber.

Todo el día, sentados en el patio en un banco, estaban los cuatro hijos idiotas del matrimonio Mazzini-Ferraz. Tenían la lengua entre los labios, los ojos estúpidos y volvían la cabeza con la boca abierta.

El patio era de tierra, cerrado al oeste por un cerco de ladrillos. El banco quedaba paralelo a él, a cinco metros, y allí se mantenían inmóviles, fijos los ojos en los ladrillos. Como el sol se ocultaba tras el cerco, al declinar los idiotas tenían fiesta. La luz enceguecedora llamaba su atención al principio, poco a poco sus ojos se animaban; se reían al fin estrepitosamente, congestionados por la misma hilaridad ansiosa, mirando el sol con alegría bestial, como si fuera comida.

Otras veces, alineados en el banco, zumbaban horas enteras, imitando al tranvía eléctrico. Los ruidos fuertes sacudían asimismo su inercia, y corrían entonces, mordiéndose la lengua y mugiendo, alrededor del patio. Pero casi siempre estaban apagados en un sombrío letargo de idiotismo, y pasaban todo el día sentados en su banco, con las piernas colgantes y quietas, empapando de glutinosa saliva el pantalón.