Note 263 — EL CAPITÁN VENENO[4]
Reading edition
con cinco mil [diablos] de a caballo, with 5000 [devils] on horseback: Jorge is using up oaths. Later he orders Rosa con cinco mil demonios. Alarcón uses con mil santos,: and in La Pródiga, p. 243, when the horse comes back without Julia: ¡Jesús, Jesús, mil veces! It is striking how frequently numbers are used in oaths. In Villaseñor's Guillermo we have 200,000 demonios. Frequently the oath has the addition "mounted on horseback". The numbers occur also in magic and charms and in church literature. Laval quotes: Ave María, santa y sagrada, quince mil veces seáis alabada. It is little different from English "No, a thousand times no".