But she did well, for if she martyrized Tagalog, Spanish fared no better with her, either in regard to grammar or pronunciation, in spite of her husband, the chairs and the shoes, all of which had done what they could to teach her.
One of the words that had cost her more effort than the hieroglyphics cost Champollion was the name _Filipinas_.

The story goes that on the day after her wedding, when she was talking with her husband, who was then a corporal, she had said _Pilipinas_.

The corporal thought it his duty to correct her, so he said, slapping her on the head, "Say _Felipinas_, woman! Don't be stupid! Don't you know that's what your damned country is called, from _Felipe ?_" The woman, dreaming through her honeymoon, wished to obey and said _Felepinas_.

To the corporal it seemed that she was getting nearer to it, so he increased the slaps and reprimanded her thus: "But, woman, can't you pronounce _Felipe ?_ Don't forget it; you know the king, Don Felipe--the fifth--.

Say _Felipe_, and add to it _nas_, which in Latin means 'islands of Indians,' and you have the name of your damned country!" Consolacion, at that time a washerwoman, patted her bruises and repeated with symptoms of losing her patience, "Fe-li-pe, Felipe--nas, Fe-li-pe-nas, Felipinas, so ?" The corporal saw visions.