UNINTERlingua 2023

50 his readers. The three points that I would like to present here are the fo- llowing: 1) establish that the continuation of 1555 deserves to be considered as a picaresque work, 2) discuss the descent of Lázaro into a different world and give some examples of similar journeys from classical mythology of descents to the lower world, and 3) present several differences between those mythological examples and the way in which the Lázaro of 1555 handles the theme of descent. However, in order to provide a better unders- tanding regarding these three points, it will be helpful to first pro- vide a brief summary of the little-known, and even less-studied, Segunda parte. The anonymous continuation begins where the original work of 1554 ended, that is, with Lázaro living a fairly comfortable life with his wife and among friends, but still interested in reaching an even better economic level. So, when the news about an expe- dition to Argel arrived, he decided to take a chance and departed for Argel in search of his fortune. Unfortunately, soon after he departed on the ship that was su- pposed to take him to new adventures and economic prosperity, there was a severe thunderstorm, and his ship was destroyed when it collided with other ships. Since they were already out to sea, it was obvious that very few men would survive the tra- gedy. Thinking that his life was about to end, Lázaro decided to drink as much as he could of the wine that was still left on board, thus satisfying one last time his craving for this beverage. No- body could have imagined that this act would end up saving his life; however, when the ship sank completely and Lázaro entered the ocean, he discovered that not one single drop of salty water could enter his body. He had drunk so much wine that he was completely saturated, and his body could not absorb one more drop of liquid. Once in the ocean, however, he was attacked by tuna fish that were trying to devour him just as they had already done with some of his unfortunate ship mates who had fallen into the ocean before him. For some reason, perhaps by instinct, Lázaro be- gan to swim towards the bottom of the ocean while at the same time making use of his sword and killing his attackers. Relatively soon, he found a cave behind a rock and hid the re. After a while, when his system began to digest the wine that he had drunk, a little bit of