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diff --git a/old/orig5921-h/p17.htm b/old/orig5921-h/p17.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a9651d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig5921-h/p17.htm @@ -0,0 +1,415 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE HISTORY OF DON QUIXOTE, By Cervantes, Vol. I., Part 17.</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-size: 97%; margin-left: 15%;} + // --> +</style> + + +</head> +<body> + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p16.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p18.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +<center> +<h1>DON QUIXOTE</h1> +<br> +<h2>by Miguel de Cervantes</h2> +<br> +<h3>Translated by John Ormsby</h3> +</center> + +<br><br> + +<center><h3> +Volume I., Part 17. +<br><br> +Chapter 50 +</h3></center> + +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="bookcover.jpg (230K)" src="images/bookcover.jpg" height="842" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/bookcover.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<img alt="spine.jpg (152K)" src="images/spine.jpg" height="842" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/spine.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + + + +<h3>Ebook Editor's Note</h3> + +<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> +<p>The book cover and spine above and the images which follow were not part of the original Ormsby +translation—they are taken from the 1880 edition of J. W. Clark, illustrated by +Gustave Dore. Clark in his edition states that, "The English text of 'Don Quixote' +adopted in this edition is that of Jarvis, with occasional corrections from Motteaux." +See in the introduction below John Ormsby's critique of +both the Jarvis and Motteaux translations. It has been elected in the present Project Gutenberg edition +to attach the famous engravings of Gustave Dore to the Ormsby translation instead +of the Jarvis/Motteaux. The detail of many of the Dore engravings can be fully appreciated only +by utilizing the "Full Size" button to expand them to their original dimensions. Ormsby +in his Preface has criticized the fanciful nature of Dore's illustrations; others feel +these woodcuts and steel engravings well match Quixote's dreams. + + D.W.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<img alt="p003.jpg (307K)" src="images/p003.jpg" height="813" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p003.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<center><h2>CONTENTS</h2></center> + +<pre> + +<a href="#ch50">CHAPTER L</a> +OF THE SHREWD CONTROVERSY WHICH DON QUIXOTE +AND THE CANON HELD, TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS + +</pre> + +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch50"></a>CHAPTER L.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>OF THE SHREWD CONTROVERSY WHICH DON QUIXOTE AND THE CANON HELD, +TOGETHER WITH OTHER INCIDENTS +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c50a"></a><img alt="c50a.jpg (160K)" src="images/c50a.jpg" height="427" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c50a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"A good joke, that!" returned Don Quixote. "Books that have been +printed with the king's licence, and with the approbation of those +to whom they have been submitted, and read with universal delight, and +extolled by great and small, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, +gentle and simple, in a word by people of every sort, of whatever rank +or condition they may be—that these should be lies! And above all +when they carry such an appearance of truth with them; for they tell +us the father, mother, country, kindred, age, place, and the +achievements, step by step, and day by day, performed by such a knight +or knights! Hush, sir; utter not such blasphemy; trust me I am +advising you now to act as a sensible man should; only read them, +and you will see the pleasure you will derive from them. For, come, +tell me, can there be anything more delightful than to see, as it +were, here now displayed before us a vast lake of bubbling pitch +with a host of snakes and serpents and lizards, and ferocious and +terrible creatures of all sorts swimming about in it, while from the +middle of the lake there comes a plaintive voice saying: 'Knight, +whosoever thou art who beholdest this dread lake, if thou wouldst +win the prize that lies hidden beneath these dusky waves, prove the +valour of thy stout heart and cast thyself into the midst of its +dark burning waters, else thou shalt not be worthy to see the mighty +wonders contained in the seven castles of the seven Fays that lie +beneath this black expanse;' and then the knight, almost ere the awful +voice has ceased, without stopping to consider, without pausing to +reflect upon the danger to which he is exposing himself, without +even relieving himself of the weight of his massive armour, commending +himself to God and to his lady, plunges into the midst of the +boiling lake, and when he little looks for it, or knows what his +fate is to be, he finds himself among flowery meadows, with which +the Elysian fields are not to be compared.</p> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c50b"></a><img alt="c50b.jpg (344K)" src="images/c50b.jpg" height="827" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c50b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"The sky seems more +transparent there, and the sun shines with a strange brilliancy, and a +delightful grove of green leafy trees presents itself to the eyes +and charms the sight with its verdure, while the ear is soothed by the +sweet untutored melody of the countless birds of gay plumage that flit +to and fro among the interlacing branches. Here he sees a brook +whose limpid waters, like liquid crystal, ripple over fine sands and +white pebbles that look like sifted gold and purest pearls. There he +perceives a cunningly wrought fountain of many-coloured jasper and +polished marble; here another of rustic fashion where the little +mussel-shells and the spiral white and yellow mansions of the snail +disposed in studious disorder, mingled with fragments of glittering +crystal and mock emeralds, make up a work of varied aspect, where art, +imitating nature, seems to have outdone it.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c50c"></a><img alt="c50c.jpg (334K)" src="images/c50c.jpg" height="830" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c50c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<p>"Suddenly there is +presented to his sight a strong castle or gorgeous palace with walls +of massy gold, turrets of diamond and gates of jacinth; in short, so +marvellous is its structure that though the materials of which it is +built are nothing less than diamonds, carbuncles, rubies, pearls, +gold, and emeralds, the workmanship is still more rare. And after +having seen all this, what can be more charming than to see how a bevy +of damsels comes forth from the gate of the castle in gay and gorgeous +attire, such that, were I to set myself now to depict it as the +histories describe it to us, I should never have done; and then how +she who seems to be the first among them all takes the bold knight who +plunged into the boiling lake by the hand, and without addressing a +word to him leads him into the rich palace or castle, and strips him +as naked as when his mother bore him, and bathes him in lukewarm +water, and anoints him all over with sweet-smelling unguents, and +clothes him in a shirt of the softest sendal, all scented and +perfumed, while another damsel comes and throws over his shoulders a +mantle which is said to be worth at the very least a city, and even +more? How charming it is, then, when they tell us how, after all this, +they lead him to another chamber where he finds the tables set out +in such style that he is filled with amazement and wonder; to see +how they pour out water for his hands distilled from amber and +sweet-scented flowers; how they seat him on an ivory chair; to see how +the damsels wait on him all in profound silence; how they bring him +such a variety of dainties so temptingly prepared that the appetite is +at a loss which to select; to hear the music that resounds while he is +at table, by whom or whence produced he knows not. And then when the +repast is over and the tables removed, for the knight to recline in +the chair, picking his teeth perhaps as usual, and a damsel, much +lovelier than any of the others, to enter unexpectedly by the +chamber door, and herself by his side, and begin to tell him what +the castle is, and how she is held enchanted there, and other things +that amaze the knight and astonish the readers who are perusing his +history.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c50d"></a><img alt="c50d.jpg (433K)" src="images/c50d.jpg" height="825" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c50d.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"But I will not expatiate any further upon this, as it may +be gathered from it that whatever part of whatever history of a +knight-errant one reads, it will fill the reader, whoever he be, +with delight and wonder; and take my advice, sir, and, as I said +before, read these books and you will see how they will banish any +melancholy you may feel and raise your spirits should they be +depressed. For myself I can say that since I have been a knight-errant +I have become valiant, polite, generous, well-bred, magnanimous, +courteous, dauntless, gentle, patient, and have learned to bear +hardships, imprisonments, and enchantments; and though it be such a +short time since I have seen myself shut up in a cage like a madman, I +hope by the might of my arm, if heaven aid me and fortune thwart me +not, to see myself king of some kingdom where I may be able to show +the gratitude and generosity that dwell in my heart; for by my +faith, senor, the poor man is incapacitated from showing the virtue of +generosity to anyone, though he may possess it in the highest +degree; and gratitude that consists of disposition only is a dead +thing, just as faith without works is dead. For this reason I should +be glad were fortune soon to offer me some opportunity of making +myself an emperor, so as to show my heart in doing good to my friends, +particularly to this poor Sancho Panza, my squire, who is the best +fellow in the world; and I would gladly give him a county I have +promised him this ever so long, only that I am afraid he has not the +capacity to govern his realm."</p> + +<p>Sancho partly heard these last words of his master, and said to him, +"Strive hard you, Senor Don Quixote, to give me that county so often +promised by you and so long looked for by me, for I promise you +there will be no want of capacity in me to govern it; and even if +there is, I have heard say there are men in the world who farm +seigniories, paying so much a year, and they themselves taking +charge of the government, while the lord, with his legs stretched out, +enjoys the revenue they pay him, without troubling himself about +anything else. That's what I'll do, and not stand haggling over +trifles, but wash my hands at once of the whole business, and enjoy my +rents like a duke, and let things go their own way."</p> + +<p>"That, brother Sancho," said the canon, "only holds good as far as +the enjoyment of the revenue goes; but the lord of the seigniory +must attend to the administration of justice, and here capacity and +sound judgment come in, and above all a firm determination to find out +the truth; for if this be wanting in the beginning, the middle and the +end will always go wrong; and God as commonly aids the honest +intentions of the simple as he frustrates the evil designs of the +crafty."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand those philosophies," returned Sancho Panza; "all +I know is I would I had the county as soon as I shall know how to +govern it; for I have as much soul as another, and as much body as +anyone, and I shall be as much king of my realm as any other of his; +and being so I should do as I liked, and doing as I liked I should +please myself, and pleasing myself I should be content, and when one +is content he has nothing more to desire, and when one has nothing +more to desire there is an end of it; so let the county come, and +God he with you, and let us see one another, as one blind man said +to the other."</p> + +<p>"That is not bad philosophy thou art talking, Sancho," said the +canon; "but for all that there is a good deal to be said on this +matter of counties."</p> + +<p>To which Don Quixote returned, "I know not what more there is to +be said; I only guide myself by the example set me by the great Amadis +of Gaul, when he made his squire count of the Insula Firme; and so, +without any scruples of conscience, I can make a count of Sancho +Panza, for he is one of the best squires that ever knight-errant had."</p> + +<p>The canon was astonished at the methodical nonsense (if nonsense +be capable of method) that Don Quixote uttered, at the way in which he +had described the adventure of the knight of the lake, at the +impression that the deliberate lies of the books he read had made upon +him, and lastly he marvelled at the simplicity of Sancho, who +desired so eagerly to obtain the county his master had promised him.</p> + +<p>By this time the canon's servants, who had gone to the inn to +fetch the sumpter mule, had returned, and making a carpet and the +green grass of the meadow serve as a table, they seated themselves +in the shade of some trees and made their repast there, that the +carter might not be deprived of the advantage of the spot, as has been +already said. As they were eating they suddenly heard a loud noise and +the sound of a bell that seemed to come from among some brambles and +thick bushes that were close by, and the same instant they observed +a beautiful goat, spotted all over black, white, and brown, spring out +of the thicket with a goatherd after it, calling to it and uttering +the usual cries to make it stop or turn back to the fold. The fugitive +goat, scared and frightened, ran towards the company as if seeking +their protection and then stood still, and the goatherd coming up +seized it by the horns and began to talk to it as if it were possessed +of reason and understanding: "Ah wanderer, wanderer, Spotty, Spotty; +how have you gone limping all this time? What wolves have frightened +you, my daughter? Won't you tell me what is the matter, my beauty? But +what else can it be except that you are a she, and cannot keep +quiet? A plague on your humours and the humours of those you take +after! Come back, come back, my darling; and if you will not be so +happy, at any rate you will be safe in the fold or with your +companions; for if you who ought to keep and lead them, go wandering +astray, what will become of them?"</p> + +<p>The goatherd's talk amused all who heard it, but especially the +canon, who said to him, "As you live, brother, take it easy, and be +not in such a hurry to drive this goat back to the fold; for, being +a female, as you say, she will follow her natural instinct in spite of +all you can do to prevent it. Take this morsel and drink a sup, and +that will soothe your irritation, and in the meantime the goat will +rest herself," and so saying, he handed him the loins of a cold rabbit +on a fork.</p> + +<p>The goatherd took it with thanks, and drank and calmed himself, +and then said, "I should be sorry if your worships were to take me for +a simpleton for having spoken so seriously as I did to this animal; +but the truth is there is a certain mystery in the words I used. I +am a clown, but not so much of one but that I know how to behave to +men and to beasts."</p> + +<p>"That I can well believe," said the curate, "for I know already by +experience that the woods breed men of learning, and shepherds' +harbour philosophers."</p> + +<p>"At all events, senor," returned the goatherd, "they shelter men +of experience; and that you may see the truth of this and grasp it, +though I may seem to put myself forward without being asked, I will, +if it will not tire you, gentlemen, and you will give me your +attention for a little, tell you a true story which will confirm +this gentleman's word (and he pointed to the curate) as well as my +own."</p> + +<p>To this Don Quixote replied, "Seeing that this affair has a +certain colour of chivalry about it, I for my part, brother, will hear +you most gladly, and so will all these gentlemen, from the high +intelligence they possess and their love of curious novelties that +interest, charm, and entertain the mind, as I feel quite sure your +story will do. So begin, friend, for we are all prepared to listen."</p> + +<p>"I draw my stakes," said Sancho, "and will retreat with this pasty +to the brook there, where I mean to victual myself for three days; for +I have heard my lord, Don Quixote, say that a knight-errant's squire +should eat until he can hold no more, whenever he has the chance, +because it often happens them to get by accident into a wood so +thick that they cannot find a way out of it for six days; and if the +man is not well filled or his alforjas well stored, there he may stay, +as very often he does, turned into a dried mummy."</p> + +<p>"Thou art in the right of it, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "go where +thou wilt and eat all thou canst, for I have had enough, and only want +to give my mind its refreshment, as I shall by listening to this +good fellow's story."</p> + +<p>"It is what we shall all do," said the canon; and then begged the +goatherd to begin the promised tale.</p> + +<p>The goatherd gave the goat which he held by the horns a couple of +slaps on the back, saying, "Lie down here beside me, Spotty, for we +have time enough to return to our fold." The goat seemed to understand +him, for as her master seated himself, she stretched herself quietly +beside him and looked up in his face to show him she was all attention +to what he was going to say, and then in these words he began his +story.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c50e"></a><img alt="c50e.jpg (27K)" src="images/c50e.jpg" height="381" width="423"> +</center> + + +<br> +<br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p16.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p18.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +</body> +</html> + |