The trade was made. Pedro went away weeping until he was out of sight and then took to his heels.

The stranger brought his servants, and he wasn‘t long finding out how well he had been swindled. Frantic, he directed a search for Pedro but all to no avail. He gave up the hunt and did the only thing left for him to do, and that was to swear revenge in case he should ever again meet Pedro de Urdemalas.

Well, sir, true of form, there came a day when again Pedro was broke and hungry. Immediately he began devising a new lie with which to snare some sucker. "I need twenty cents worth of frijoles, a pot, an underground furnace, and a little time," said he to himself

He bought beans and a pot, dug a furnace, and after he burned some wood to coals, he put the pot over them and hid all traces of the fire. Presently the pot began to boil, and Pedro, with a long thorn, speared those frijoles that boiled to the top and ate them. He was amusing himself in this manner when a traveller approached.

"Buenas tardes, buen amigo (good-day, good friend)," he said. “What are you doing?"

"No, nothing," said Pedro de Urdemalas, "just waiting for those who are to arise and observing those who go."

"Pardon," said the traveller, pointing at the pot, "What makes that thing boil?"

"Nothing; it is a magic pot," Pedro informed him. "In the preparation of my meals I never have to bother with fire. As soon as the food is in it and it is placed on the ground it begins to boil."

Now, the stranger was a travelling man and figured that he needed just such a pot.

"How much do you want for it?" he asked.

"I don‘t care to sell it," said Pedro.