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diff --git a/old/orig5921-h/p18.htm b/old/orig5921-h/p18.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05849d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig5921-h/p18.htm @@ -0,0 +1,870 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE HISTORY OF DON QUIXOTE, By Cervantes, Vol. I., Part 18.</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="p17.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</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 18. +<br><br> +Chapters 51-52 +</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 "Enlarge" 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="#ch51">CHAPTER LI</a> +WHICH DEALS WITH WHAT THE GOATHERD TOLD THOSE WHO +WERE CARRYING OFF DON QUIXOTE + +<a href="#ch52">CHAPTER LII</a> +OF THE QUARREL THAT DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH THE GOATHERD, +TOGETHER WITH THE RARE ADVENTURE OF THE PENITENTS, +WHICH WITH AN EXPENDITURE OF SWEAT HE BROUGHT TO +A HAPPY CONCLUSION + +</pre> + +<br><br><br><br> + + + + + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch51"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>WHICH DEALS WITH WHAT THE GOATHERD TOLD THOSE WHO WERE CARRYING +OFF DON QUIXOTE +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c51a"></a><img alt="c51a.jpg (115K)" src="images/c51a.jpg" height="423" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c51a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>Three leagues from this valley there is a village which, though +small, is one of the richest in all this neighbourhood, and in it +there lived a farmer, a very worthy man, and so much respected that, +although to be so is the natural consequence of being rich, he was +even more respected for his virtue than for the wealth he had +acquired. But what made him still more fortunate, as he said +himself, was having a daughter of such exceeding beauty, rare +intelligence, gracefulness, and virtue, that everyone who knew her and +beheld her marvelled at the extraordinary gifts with which heaven +and nature had endowed her. As a child she was beautiful, she +continued to grow in beauty, and at the age of sixteen she was most +lovely. The fame of her beauty began to spread abroad through all +the villages around—but why do I say the villages around, merely, +when it spread to distant cities, and even made its way into the halls +of royalty and reached the ears of people of every class, who came +from all sides to see her as if to see something rare and curious, +or some wonder-working image?</p> + +<p>Her father watched over her and she watched over herself; for +there are no locks, or guards, or bolts that can protect a young +girl better than her own modesty. The wealth of the father and the +beauty of the daughter led many neighbours as well as strangers to +seek her for a wife; but he, as one might well be who had the disposal +of so rich a jewel, was perplexed and unable to make up his mind to +which of her countless suitors he should entrust her. I was one +among the many who felt a desire so natural, and, as her father knew +who I was, and I was of the same town, of pure blood, in the bloom +of life, and very rich in possessions, I had great hopes of success. +There was another of the same place and qualifications who also sought +her, and this made her father's choice hang in the balance, for he +felt that on either of us his daughter would be well bestowed; so to +escape from this state of perplexity he resolved to refer the matter +to Leandra (for that is the name of the rich damsel who has reduced me +to misery), reflecting that as we were both equal it would be best +to leave it to his dear daughter to choose according to her +inclination—a course that is worthy of imitation by all fathers who +wish to settle their children in life. I do not mean that they ought +to leave them to make a choice of what is contemptible and bad, but +that they should place before them what is good and then allow them to +make a good choice as they please. I do not know which Leandra +chose; I only know her father put us both off with the tender age of +his daughter and vague words that neither bound him nor dismissed +us. My rival is called Anselmo and I myself Eugenio—that you may know +the names of the personages that figure in this tragedy, the end of +which is still in suspense, though it is plain to see it must be +disastrous.</p> + +<p>About this time there arrived in our town one Vicente de la Roca, +the son of a poor peasant of the same town, the said Vicente having +returned from service as a soldier in Italy and divers other parts. +A captain who chanced to pass that way with his company had carried +him off from our village when he was a boy of about twelve years, +and now twelve years later the young man came back in a soldier's +uniform, arrayed in a thousand colours, and all over glass trinkets +and fine steel chains. To-day he would appear in one gay dress, +to-morrow in another; but all flimsy and gaudy, of little substance +and less worth. The peasant folk, who are naturally malicious, and +when they have nothing to do can be malice itself, remarked all +this, and took note of his finery and jewellery, piece by piece, and +discovered that he had three suits of different colours, with +garters and stockings to match; but he made so many arrangements and +combinations out of them, that if they had not counted them, anyone +would have sworn that he had made a display of more than ten suits +of clothes and twenty plumes. Do not look upon all this that I am +telling you about the clothes as uncalled for or spun out, for they +have a great deal to do with the story. He used to seat himself on a +bench under the great poplar in our plaza, and there he would keep +us all hanging open-mouthed on the stories he told us of his exploits. +There was no country on the face of the globe he had not seen, nor +battle he had not been engaged in; he had killed more Moors than there +are in Morocco and Tunis, and fought more single combats, according to +his own account, than Garcilaso, Diego Garcia de Paredes and a +thousand others he named, and out of all he had come victorious +without losing a drop of blood. On the other hand he showed marks of +wounds, which, though they could not be made out, he said were gunshot +wounds received in divers encounters and actions. Lastly, with +monstrous impudence he used to say "you" to his equals and even +those who knew what he was, and declare that his arm was his father +and his deeds his pedigree, and that being a soldier he was as good as +the king himself. And to add to these swaggering ways he was a +trifle of a musician, and played the guitar with such a flourish +that some said he made it speak; nor did his accomplishments end here, +for he was something of a poet too, and on every trifle that +happened in the town he made a ballad a league long.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c51b"></a><img alt="c51b.jpg (372K)" src="images/c51b.jpg" height="827" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c51b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>This soldier, then, that I have described, this Vicente de la +Roca, this bravo, gallant, musician, poet, was often seen and +watched by Leandra from a window of her house which looked out on +the plaza. The glitter of his showy attire took her fancy, his ballads +bewitched her (for he gave away twenty copies of every one he made), +the tales of his exploits which he told about himself came to her +ears; and in short, as the devil no doubt had arranged it, she fell in +love with him before the presumption of making love to her had +suggested itself to him; and as in love-affairs none are more easily +brought to an issue than those which have the inclination of the +lady for an ally, Leandra and Vicente came to an understanding without +any difficulty; and before any of her numerous suitors had any +suspicion of her design, she had already carried it into effect, +having left the house of her dearly beloved father (for mother she had +none), and disappeared from the village with the soldier, who came +more triumphantly out of this enterprise than out of any of the +large number he laid claim to. All the village and all who heard of it +were amazed at the affair; I was aghast, Anselmo thunderstruck, her +father full of grief, her relations indignant, the authorities all +in a ferment, the officers of the Brotherhood in arms. They scoured +the roads, they searched the woods and all quarters, and at the end of +three days they found the flighty Leandra in a mountain cave, stript +to her shift, and robbed of all the money and precious jewels she +had carried away from home with her.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c51c"></a><img alt="c51c.jpg (275K)" src="images/c51c.jpg" height="826" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c51c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>They brought her back to her +unhappy father, and questioned her as to her misfortune, and she +confessed without pressure that Vicente de la Roca had deceived her, +and under promise of marrying her had induced her to leave her +father's house, as he meant to take her to the richest and most +delightful city in the whole world, which was Naples; and that she, +ill-advised and deluded, had believed him, and robbed her father, +and handed over all to him the night she disappeared; and that he +had carried her away to a rugged mountain and shut her up in the +eave where they had found her. She said, moreover, that the soldier, +without robbing her of her honour, had taken from her everything she +had, and made off, leaving her in the cave, a thing that still further +surprised everybody. It was not easy for us to credit the young +man's continence, but she asserted it with such earnestness that it +helped to console her distressed father, who thought nothing of what +had been taken since the jewel that once lost can never be recovered +had been left to his daughter. The same day that Leandra made her +appearance her father removed her from our sight and took her away +to shut her up in a convent in a town near this, in the hope that time +may wear away some of the disgrace she has incurred. Leandra's youth +furnished an excuse for her fault, at least with those to whom it +was of no consequence whether she was good or bad; but those who +knew her shrewdness and intelligence did not attribute her +misdemeanour to ignorance but to wantonness and the natural +disposition of women, which is for the most part flighty and +ill-regulated.</p> + +<p>Leandra withdrawn from sight, Anselmo's eyes grew blind, or at any +rate found nothing to look at that gave them any pleasure, and mine +were in darkness without a ray of light to direct them to anything +enjoyable while Leandra was away. Our melancholy grew greater, our +patience grew less; we cursed the soldier's finery and railed at the +carelessness of Leandra's father. At last Anselmo and I agreed to +leave the village and come to this valley; and, he feeding a great +flock of sheep of his own, and I a large herd of goats of mine, we +pass our life among the trees, giving vent to our sorrows, together +singing the fair Leandra's praises, or upbraiding her, or else sighing +alone, and to heaven pouring forth our complaints in solitude. +Following our example, many more of Leandra's lovers have come to +these rude mountains and adopted our mode of life, and they are so +numerous that one would fancy the place had been turned into the +pastoral Arcadia, so full is it of shepherds and sheep-folds; nor is +there a spot in it where the name of the fair Leandra is not heard. +Here one curses her and calls her capricious, fickle, and immodest, +there another condemns her as frail and frivolous; this pardons and +absolves her, that spurns and reviles her; one extols her beauty, +another assails her character, and in short all abuse her, and all +adore her, and to such a pitch has this general infatuation gone +that there are some who complain of her scorn without ever having +exchanged a word with her, and even some that bewail and mourn the +raging fever of jealousy, for which she never gave anyone cause, +for, as I have already said, her misconduct was known before her +passion. There is no nook among the rocks, no brookside, no shade +beneath the trees that is not haunted by some shepherd telling his +woes to the breezes; wherever there is an echo it repeats the name +of Leandra; the mountains ring with "Leandra," "Leandra" murmur the +brooks, and Leandra keeps us all bewildered and bewitched, hoping +without hope and fearing without knowing what we fear. Of all this +silly set the one that shows the least and also the most sense is my +rival Anselmo, for having so many other things to complain of, he only +complains of separation, and to the accompaniment of a rebeck, which +he plays admirably, he sings his complaints in verses that show his +ingenuity. I follow another, easier, and to my mind wiser course, +and that is to rail at the frivolity of women, at their inconstancy, +their double dealing, their broken promises, their unkept pledges, and +in short the want of reflection they show in fixing their affections +and inclinations. This, sirs, was the reason of words and +expressions I made use of to this goat when I came up just now; for as +she is a female I have a contempt for her, though she is the best in +all my fold. This is the story I promised to tell you, and if I have +been tedious in telling it, I will not be slow to serve you; my hut is +close by, and I have fresh milk and dainty cheese there, as well as +a variety of toothsome fruit, no less pleasing to the eye than to +the palate.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c51e"><img alt="c51e.jpg (14K)" src="images/c51e.jpg" height="377" width="315">"></a> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch52"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>OF THE QUARREL THAT DON QUIXOTE HAD WITH THE GOATHERD, TOGETHER WITH +THE RARE ADVENTURE OF THE PENITENTS, WHICH WITH AN EXPENDITURE OF +SWEAT HE BROUGHT TO A HAPPY CONCLUSION +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c52a"></a><img alt="c52a.jpg (40K)" src="images/c52a.jpg" height="130" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c52a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>The goatherd's tale gave great satisfaction to all the hearers, +and the canon especially enjoyed it, for he had remarked with +particular attention the manner in which it had been told, which was +as unlike the manner of a clownish goatherd as it was like that of a +polished city wit; and he observed that the curate had been quite +right in saying that the woods bred men of learning. They all +offered their services to Eugenio but he who showed himself most +liberal in this way was Don Quixote, who said to him, "Most assuredly, +brother goatherd, if I found myself in a position to attempt any +adventure, I would, this very instant, set out on your behalf, and +would rescue Leandra from that convent (where no doubt she is kept +against her will), in spite of the abbess and all who might try to +prevent me, and would place her in your hands to deal with her +according to your will and pleasure, observing, however, the laws of +chivalry which lay down that no violence of any kind is to be +offered to any damsel. But I trust in God our Lord that the might of +one malignant enchanter may not prove so great but that the power of +another better disposed may prove superior to it, and then I promise +you my support and assistance, as I am bound to do by my profession, +which is none other than to give aid to the weak and needy."</p> + +<p>The goatherd eyed him, and noticing Don Quixote's sorry appearance +and looks, he was filled with wonder, and asked the barber, who was +next him, "Senor, who is this man who makes such a figure and talks in +such a strain?"</p> + +<p>"Who should it be," said the barber, "but the famous Don Quixote +of La Mancha, the undoer of injustice, the righter of wrongs, the +protector of damsels, the terror of giants, and the winner of +battles?"</p> + +<p>"That," said the goatherd, "sounds like what one reads in the +books of the knights-errant, who did all that you say this man does; +though it is my belief that either you are joking, or else this +gentleman has empty lodgings in his head."</p> + +<p>"You are a great scoundrel," said Don Quixote, "and it is you who +are empty and a fool. I am fuller than ever was the whoreson bitch +that bore you;" and passing from words to deeds, he caught up a loaf +that was near him and sent it full in the goatherd's face, with such +force that he flattened his nose; but the goatherd, who did not +understand jokes, and found himself roughly handled in such good +earnest, paying no respect to carpet, tablecloth, or diners, sprang +upon Don Quixote, and seizing him by the throat with both hands +would no doubt have throttled him, had not Sancho Panza that instant +come to the rescue, and grasping him by the shoulders flung him down +on the table, smashing plates, breaking glasses, and upsetting and +scattering everything on it. Don Quixote, finding himself free, strove +to get on top of the goatherd, who, with his face covered with +blood, and soundly kicked by Sancho, was on all fours feeling about +for one of the table-knives to take a bloody revenge with. The canon +and the curate, however, prevented him, but the barber so contrived it +that he got Don Quixote under him, and rained down upon him such a +shower of fisticuffs that the poor knight's face streamed with blood +as freely as his own. The canon and the curate were bursting with +laughter, the officers were capering with delight, and both the one +and the other hissed them on as they do dogs that are worrying one +another in a fight. Sancho alone was frantic, for he could not free +himself from the grasp of one of the canon's servants, who kept him +from going to his master's assistance.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c52b"></a><img alt="c52b.jpg (348K)" src="images/c52b.jpg" height="510" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c52b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>At last, while they were all, with the exception of the two bruisers +who were mauling each other, in high glee and enjoyment, they heard +a trumpet sound a note so doleful that it made them all look in the +direction whence the sound seemed to come. But the one that was most +excited by hearing it was Don Quixote, who though sorely against his +will he was under the goatherd, and something more than pretty well +pummelled, said to him, "Brother devil (for it is impossible but +that thou must be one since thou hast had might and strength enough to +overcome mine), I ask thee to agree to a truce for but one hour for +the solemn note of yonder trumpet that falls on our ears seems to me +to summon me to some new adventure." The goatherd, who was by this +time tired of pummelling and being pummelled, released him at once, +and Don Quixote rising to his feet and turning his eyes to the quarter +where the sound had been heard, suddenly saw coming down the slope +of a hill several men clad in white like penitents.</p> + +<p>The fact was that the clouds had that year withheld their moisture +from the earth, and in all the villages of the district they were +organising processions, rogations, and penances, imploring God to open +the hands of his mercy and send the rain; and to this end the people +of a village that was hard by were going in procession to a holy +hermitage there was on one side of that valley. Don Quixote when he +saw the strange garb of the penitents, without reflecting how often he +had seen it before, took it into his head that this was a case of +adventure, and that it fell to him alone as a knight-errant to +engage in it; and he was all the more confirmed in this notion, by the +idea that an image draped in black they had with them was some +illustrious lady that these villains and discourteous thieves were +carrying off by force. As soon as this occurred to him he ran with all +speed to Rocinante who was grazing at large, and taking the bridle and +the buckler from the saddle-bow, he had him bridled in an instant, and +calling to Sancho for his sword he mounted Rocinante, braced his +buckler on his arm, and in a loud voice exclaimed to those who stood +by, "Now, noble company, ye shall see how important it is that there +should be knights in the world professing the of knight-errantry; now, +I say, ye shall see, by the deliverance of that worthy lady who is +borne captive there, whether knights-errant deserve to be held in +estimation," and so saying he brought his legs to bear on +Rocinante—for he had no spurs—and at a full canter (for in all this veracious +history we never read of Rocinante fairly galloping) set off to +encounter the penitents, though the curate, the canon, and the +barber ran to prevent him. But it was out of their power, nor did he +even stop for the shouts of Sancho calling after him, "Where are you +going, Senor Don Quixote? What devils have possessed you to set you on +against our Catholic faith? Plague take me! mind, that is a procession +of penitents, and the lady they are carrying on that stand there is +the blessed image of the immaculate Virgin. Take care what you are +doing, senor, for this time it may be safely said you don't know +what you are about." Sancho laboured in vain, for his master was so +bent on coming to quarters with these sheeted figures and releasing +the lady in black that he did not hear a word; and even had he +heard, he would not have turned back if the king had ordered him. He +came up with the procession and reined in Rocinante, who was already +anxious enough to slacken speed a little, and in a hoarse, excited +voice he exclaimed, "You who hide your faces, perhaps because you +are not good subjects, pay attention and listen to what I am about +to say to you." The first to halt were those who were carrying the +image, and one of the four ecclesiastics who were chanting the Litany, +struck by the strange figure of Don Quixote, the leanness of +Rocinante, and the other ludicrous peculiarities he observed, said +in reply to him, "Brother, if you have anything to say to us say it +quickly, for these brethren are whipping themselves, and we cannot +stop, nor is it reasonable we should stop to hear anything, unless +indeed it is short enough to be said in two words."</p> + +<p>"I will say it in one," replied Don Quixote, "and it is this; that +at once, this very instant, ye release that fair lady whose tears +and sad aspect show plainly that ye are carrying her off against her +will, and that ye have committed some scandalous outrage against +her; and I, who was born into the world to redress all such like +wrongs, will not permit you to advance another step until you have +restored to her the liberty she pines for and deserves."</p> + +<p>From these words all the hearers concluded that he must be a madman, +and began to laugh heartily, and their laughter acted like gunpowder +on Don Quixote's fury, for drawing his sword without another word he +made a rush at the stand. One of those who supported it, leaving the +burden to his comrades, advanced to meet him, flourishing a forked +stick that he had for propping up the stand when resting, and with +this he caught a mighty cut Don Quixote made at him that severed it in +two; but with the portion that remained in his hand he dealt such a +thwack on the shoulder of Don Quixote's sword arm (which the buckler +could not protect against the clownish assault) that poor Don +Quixote came to the ground in a sad plight.</p> + +<p>Sancho Panza, who was coming on close behind puffing and blowing, +seeing him fall, cried out to his assailant not to strike him again, +for he was poor enchanted knight, who had never harmed anyone all +the days of his life; but what checked the clown was, not Sancho's +shouting, but seeing that Don Quixote did not stir hand or foot; and +so, fancying he had killed him, he hastily hitched up his tunic +under his girdle and took to his heels across the country like a deer.</p> + +<p>By this time all Don Quixote's companions had come up to where he +lay; but the processionists seeing them come running, and with them +the officers of the Brotherhood with their crossbows, apprehended +mischief, and clustering round the image, raised their hoods, and +grasped their scourges, as the priests did their tapers, and awaited +the attack, resolved to defend themselves and even to take the +offensive against their assailants if they could. Fortune, however, +arranged the matter better than they expected, for all Sancho did +was to fling himself on his master's body, raising over him the most +doleful and laughable lamentation that ever was heard, for he believed +he was dead. The curate was known to another curate who walked in +the procession, and their recognition of one another set at rest the +apprehensions of both parties; the first then told the other in two +words who Don Quixote was, and he and the whole troop of penitents +went to see if the poor gentleman was dead, and heard Sancho Panza +saying, with tears in his eyes, "Oh flower of chivalry, that with +one blow of a stick hast ended the course of thy well-spent life! Oh +pride of thy race, honour and glory of all La Mancha, nay, of all +the world, that for want of thee will be full of evil-doers, no longer +in fear of punishment for their misdeeds! Oh thou, generous above +all the Alexanders, since for only eight months of service thou hast +given me the best island the sea girds or surrounds! Humble with the +proud, haughty with the humble, encounterer of dangers, endurer of +outrages, enamoured without reason, imitator of the good, scourge of +the wicked, enemy of the mean, in short, knight-errant, which is all +that can be said!"</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c52c"></a><img alt="c52c.jpg (325K)" src="images/c52c.jpg" height="516" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c52c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<p>At the cries and moans of Sancho, Don Quixote came to himself, and +the first word he said was, "He who lives separated from you, sweetest +Dulcinea, has greater miseries to endure than these. Aid me, friend +Sancho, to mount the enchanted cart, for I am not in a condition to +press the saddle of Rocinante, as this shoulder is all knocked to +pieces."</p> + +<p>"That I will do with all my heart, senor," said Sancho; "and let +us return to our village with these gentlemen, who seek your good, and +there we will prepare for making another sally, which may turn out +more profitable and creditable to us."</p> + +<p>"Thou art right, Sancho," returned Don Quixote; "It will be wise +to let the malign influence of the stars which now prevails pass off."</p> + +<p>The canon, the curate, and the barber told him he would act very +wisely in doing as he said; and so, highly amused at Sancho Panza's +simplicities, they placed Don Quixote in the cart as before. The +procession once more formed itself in order and proceeded on its road; +the goatherd took his leave of the party; the officers of the +Brotherhood declined to go any farther, and the curate paid them +what was due to them; the canon begged the curate to let him know +how Don Quixote did, whether he was cured of his madness or still +suffered from it, and then begged leave to continue his journey; in +short, they all separated and went their ways, leaving to themselves +the curate and the barber, Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the good +Rocinante, who regarded everything with as great resignation as his +master. The carter yoked his oxen and made Don Quixote comfortable +on a truss of hay, and at his usual deliberate pace took the road +the curate directed, and at the end of six days they reached Don +Quixote's village, and entered it about the middle of the day, which +it so happened was a Sunday, and the people were all in the plaza, +through which Don Quixote's cart passed. They all flocked to see +what was in the cart, and when they recognised their townsman they +were filled with amazement, and a boy ran off to bring the news to his +housekeeper and his niece that their master and uncle had come back +all lean and yellow and stretched on a truss of hay on an ox-cart. +It was piteous to hear the cries the two good ladies raised, how +they beat their breasts and poured out fresh maledictions on those +accursed books of chivalry; all which was renewed when they saw Don +Quixote coming in at the gate.</p> + +<p>At the news of Don Quixote's arrival Sancho Panza's wife came +running, for she by this time knew that her husband had gone away with +him as his squire, and on seeing Sancho, the first thing she asked him +was if the ass was well. Sancho replied that he was, better than his +master was.</p> + +<p>"Thanks be to God," said she, "for being so good to me; but now tell +me, my friend, what have you made by your squirings? What gown have +you brought me back? What shoes for your children?"</p> + +<p>"I bring nothing of that sort, wife," said Sancho; "though I bring +other things of more consequence and value."</p> + +<p>"I am very glad of that," returned his wife; "show me these things +of more value and consequence, my friend; for I want to see them to +cheer my heart that has been so sad and heavy all these ages that +you have been away."</p> + +<p>"I will show them to you at home, wife," said Sancho; "be content +for the present; for if it please God that we should again go on our +travels in search of adventures, you will soon see me a count, or +governor of an island, and that not one of those everyday ones, but +the best that is to be had."</p> + +<p>"Heaven grant it, husband," said she, "for indeed we have need of +it. But tell me, what's this about islands, for I don't understand +it?"</p> + +<p>"Honey is not for the mouth of the ass," returned Sancho; "all in +good time thou shalt see, wife—nay, thou wilt be surprised to hear +thyself called 'your ladyship' by all thy vassals."</p> + +<p>"What are you talking about, Sancho, with your ladyships, islands, +and vassals?" returned Teresa Panza—for so Sancho's wife was +called, though they were not relations, for in La Mancha it is +customary for wives to take their husbands' surnames.</p> + +<p>"Don't be in such a hurry to know all this, Teresa," said Sancho; +"it is enough that I am telling you the truth, so shut your mouth. But +I may tell you this much by the way, that there is nothing in the +world more delightful than to be a person of consideration, squire +to a knight-errant, and a seeker of adventures. To be sure most of +those one finds do not end as pleasantly as one could wish, for out of +a hundred, ninety-nine will turn out cross and contrary. I know it +by experience, for out of some I came blanketed, and out of others +belaboured. Still, for all that, it is a fine thing to be on the +look-out for what may happen, crossing mountains, searching woods, +climbing rocks, visiting castles, putting up at inns, all at free +quarters, and devil take the maravedi to pay."</p> + +<p>While this conversation passed between Sancho Panza and his wife, +Don Quixote's housekeeper and niece took him in and undressed him +and laid him in his old bed. He eyed them askance, and could not +make out where he was. The curate charged his niece to be very careful +to make her uncle comfortable and to keep a watch over him lest he +should make his escape from them again, telling her what they had been +obliged to do to bring him home. On this the pair once more lifted +up their voices and renewed their maledictions upon the books of +chivalry, and implored heaven to plunge the authors of such lies and +nonsense into the midst of the bottomless pit. They were, in short, +kept in anxiety and dread lest their uncle and master should give them +the slip the moment he found himself somewhat better, and as they +feared so it fell out.</p> + +<p>But the author of this history, though he has devoted research and +industry to the discovery of the deeds achieved by Don Quixote in +his third sally, has been unable to obtain any information +respecting them, at any rate derived from authentic documents; +tradition has merely preserved in the memory of La Mancha the fact +that Don Quixote, the third time he sallied forth from his home, +betook himself to Saragossa, where he was present at some famous +jousts which came off in that city, and that he had adventures there +worthy of his valour and high intelligence. Of his end and death he +could learn no particulars, nor would he have ascertained it or +known of it, if good fortune had not produced an old physician for him +who had in his possession a leaden box, which, according to his +account, had been discovered among the crumbling foundations of an +ancient hermitage that was being rebuilt; in which box were found +certain parchment manuscripts in Gothic character, but in Castilian +verse, containing many of his achievements, and setting forth the +beauty of Dulcinea, the form of Rocinante, the fidelity of Sancho +Panza, and the burial of Don Quixote himself, together with sundry +epitaphs and eulogies on his life and character; but all that could be +read and deciphered were those which the trustworthy author of this +new and unparalleled history here presents. And the said author asks +of those that shall read it nothing in return for the vast toil +which it has cost him in examining and searching the Manchegan +archives in order to bring it to light, save that they give him the +same credit that people of sense give to the books of chivalry that +pervade the world and are so popular; for with this he will consider +himself amply paid and fully satisfied, and will be encouraged to seek +out and produce other histories, if not as truthful, at least equal in +invention and not less entertaining. The first words written on the +parchment found in the leaden box were these:</p> + + +<center> + + THE ACADEMICIANS OF<br> + ARGAMASILLA, A VILLAGE OF<br> + LA MANCHA,<br> + ON THE LIFE AND DEATH<br> + OF DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA,<br> + HOC SCRIPSERUNT<br> +MONICONGO, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA,<br> +</center> + + +<pre> + + + + + ON THE TOMB OF DON QUIXOTE + + +EPITAPH + +The scatterbrain that gave La Mancha more + Rich spoils than Jason's; who a point so keen + Had to his wit, and happier far had been +If his wit's weathercock a blunter bore; +The arm renowned far as Gaeta's shore, + Cathay, and all the lands that lie between; + The muse discreet and terrible in mien +As ever wrote on brass in days of yore; +He who surpassed the Amadises all, + And who as naught the Galaors accounted, + Supported by his love and gallantry: +Who made the Belianises sing small, + And sought renown on Rocinante mounted; + Here, underneath this cold stone, doth he lie. + + + +PANIAGUADO, +ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, +IN LAUDEM DULCINEAE DEL TOBOSO + +SONNET + +She, whose full features may be here descried, + High-bosomed, with a bearing of disdain, + Is Dulcinea, she for whom in vain +The great Don Quixote of La Mancha sighed. +For her, Toboso's queen, from side to side + He traversed the grim sierra, the champaign + Of Aranjuez, and Montiel's famous plain: +On Rocinante oft a weary ride. +Malignant planets, cruel destiny, + Pursued them both, the fair Manchegan dame, +And the unconquered star of chivalry. + Nor youth nor beauty saved her from the claim +Of death; he paid love's bitter penalty, + And left the marble to preserve his name. + + + +CAPRICHOSO, A MOST ACUTE ACADEMICIAN +OF ARGAMASILLA, IN PRAISE OF ROCINANTE, +STEED OF DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA + +SONNET + +On that proud throne of diamantine sheen, + Which the blood-reeking feet of Mars degrade, +The mad Manchegan's banner now hath been + By him in all its bravery displayed. + There hath he hung his arms and trenchant blade +Wherewith, achieving deeds till now unseen, + He slays, lays low, cleaves, hews; but art hath made +A novel style for our new paladin. +If Amadis be the proud boast of Gaul, + If by his progeny the fame of Greece + Through all the regions of the earth be spread, +Great Quixote crowned in grim Bellona's hall + To-day exalts La Mancha over these, + And above Greece or Gaul she holds her head. +Nor ends his glory here, for his good steed +Doth Brillador and Bayard far exceed; +As mettled steeds compared with Rocinante, +The reputation they have won is scanty. + + + + +BURLADOR, ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, +ON SANCHO PANZA + +SONNET + + The worthy Sancho Panza here you see; + A great soul once was in that body small, + Nor was there squire upon this earthly ball +So plain and simple, or of guile so free. +Within an ace of being Count was he, + And would have been but for the spite and gall + Of this vile age, mean and illiberal, +That cannot even let a donkey be. +For mounted on an ass (excuse the word), + By Rocinante's side this gentle squire + Was wont his wandering master to attend. +Delusive hopes that lure the common herd + With promises of ease, the heart's desire, + In shadows, dreams, and smoke ye always end. + + + + +CACHIDIABLO, +ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, +ON THE TOMB OF DON QUIXOTE +EPITAPH + +The knight lies here below, + Ill-errant and bruised sore, + Whom Rocinante bore +In his wanderings to and fro. +By the side of the knight is laid + Stolid man Sancho too, + Than whom a squire more true +Was not in the esquire trade. + + + + + TIQUITOC, + ACADEMICIAN OF ARGAMASILLA, +ON THE TOMB OF DULCINEA DEL TOBOSO + + EPITAPH +Here Dulcinea lies. + Plump was she and robust: + Now she is ashes and dust: +The end of all flesh that dies. +A lady of high degree, + With the port of a lofty dame, + And the great Don Quixote's flame, +And the pride of her village was she. +</pre> + + +<p> +These were all the verses that could be deciphered; the rest, the +writing being worm-eaten, were handed over to one of the +Academicians to make out their meaning conjecturally. We have been +informed that at the cost of many sleepless nights and much toil he +has succeeded, and that he means to publish them in hopes of Don +Quixote's third sally.</p> + +<center><i> +"Forse altro cantera con miglior plectro."</i> +</center> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c52e"></a><img alt="c52e.jpg (54K)" src="images/c52e.jpg" height="713" width="479"> +</center> + + +<br> +<br> + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p17.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +</body> +</html> + + |