Actually, there had been an illiterate carpenter, Melchiorre Gerbas "considered to be a person of little wit, who had listened to Menocchio. The talk about him "in the inns was that he does not believe in God and blasphemes vehemently," More than one witness had linked Melchiorre's name to Menocchio's because he had "slandered and spoken ill about the things of the Church." Then the vicar general had wanted to know about his dealings with Menocchio, who had just been imprisoned. At first Melchiorre insisted that they were simply matters connected with their occupations ("he provides me with wood to work on and Ipay him"): but afterwards he admitted having blasphemed in the inns of Montereale, repeating a sentence he had learned from Menocchio: "Menocchio told me that God is nothing but air and this I too believe.