diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/orig5946-h/p23.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/orig5946-h/p23.htm | 834 |
1 files changed, 834 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/orig5946-h/p23.htm b/old/orig5946-h/p23.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b0d53d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig5946-h/p23.htm @@ -0,0 +1,834 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE HISTORY OF DON QUIXOTE, By Cervantes, Vol. II., Part 23.</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="p22.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5946-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p24.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 II., Part 23. +<br><br> +Chapters 19-20 +</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="#ch19b">CHAPTER XIX</a> +IN WHICH IS RELATED THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENAMOURED +SHEPHERD, TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRULY DROLL INCIDENTS + +<a href="#ch20b">CHAPTER XX</a> +WHEREIN AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF THE WEDDING OF CAMACHO +THE RICH, TOGETHER WITH THE INCIDENT OF BASILIO THE POOR + +</pre> + +<br><br><br><br> + + +<center><h1>DON QUIXOTE</h1></center> +<br><br> +<center><h2>Volume II.</h2></center> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch19b"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>IN WHICH IS RELATED THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENAMOURED SHEPHERD, +TOGETHER WITH OTHER TRULY DROLL INCIDENTS +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="p19a"></a><img alt="p19a.jpg (131K)" src="images/p19a.jpg" height="416" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p19a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>Don Quixote had gone but a short distance beyond Don Diego's +village, when he fell in with a couple of either priests or +students, and a couple of peasants, mounted on four beasts of the +ass kind. One of the students carried, wrapped up in a piece of +green buckram by way of a portmanteau, what seemed to be a little +linen and a couple of pairs of-ribbed stockings; the other carried +nothing but a pair of new fencing-foils with buttons. The peasants +carried divers articles that showed they were on their way from some +large town where they had bought them, and were taking them home to +their village; and both students and peasants were struck with the +same amazement that everybody felt who saw Don Quixote for the first +time, and were dying to know who this man, so different from +ordinary men, could be. Don Quixote saluted them, and after +ascertaining that their road was the same as his, made them an offer +of his company, and begged them to slacken their pace, as their +young asses travelled faster than his horse; and then, to gratify +them, he told them in a few words who he was and the calling and +profession he followed, which was that of a knight-errant seeking +adventures in all parts of the world. He informed them that his own +name was Don Quixote of La Mancha, and that he was called, by way of +surname, the Knight of the Lions.</p> + +<p>All this was Greek or gibberish to the peasants, but not so to the +students, who very soon perceived the crack in Don Quixote's pate; for +all that, however, they regarded him with admiration and respect, +and one of them said to him, "If you, sir knight, have no fixed +road, as it is the way with those who seek adventures not to have any, +let your worship come with us; you will see one of the finest and +richest weddings that up to this day have ever been celebrated in La +Mancha, or for many a league round."</p> + +<p>Don Quixote asked him if it was some prince's, that he spoke of it +in this way. "Not at all," said the student; "it is the wedding of a +farmer and a farmer's daughter, he the richest in all this country, +and she the fairest mortal ever set eyes on. The display with which it +is to be attended will be something rare and out of the common, for it +will be celebrated in a meadow adjoining the town of the bride, who is +called, par excellence, Quiteria the fair, as the bridegroom is called +Camacho the rich. She is eighteen, and he twenty-two, and they are +fairly matched, though some knowing ones, who have all the pedigrees +in the world by heart, will have it that the family of the fair +Quiteria is better than Camacho's; but no one minds that now-a-days, +for wealth can solder a great many flaws. At any rate, Camacho is +free-handed, and it is his fancy to screen the whole meadow with +boughs and cover it in overhead, so that the sun will have hard work +if he tries to get in to reach the grass that covers the soil. He +has provided dancers too, not only sword but also bell-dancers, for in +his own town there are those who ring the changes and jingle the bells +to perfection; of shoe-dancers I say nothing, for of them he has +engaged a host. But none of these things, nor of the many others I +have omitted to mention, will do more to make this a memorable wedding +than the part which I suspect the despairing Basilio will play in +it. This Basilio is a youth of the same village as Quiteria, and he +lived in the house next door to that of her parents, of which +circumstance Love took advantage to reproduce to the word the +long-forgotten loves of Pyramus and Thisbe; for Basilio loved Quiteria +from his earliest years, and she responded to his passion with +countless modest proofs of affection, so that the loves of the two +children, Basilio and Quiteria, were the talk and the amusement of the +town. As they grew up, the father of Quiteria made up his mind to +refuse Basilio his wonted freedom of access to the house, and to +relieve himself of constant doubts and suspicions, he arranged a match +for his daughter with the rich Camacho, as he did not approve of +marrying her to Basilio, who had not so large a share of the gifts +of fortune as of nature; for if the truth be told ungrudgingly, he +is the most agile youth we know, a mighty thrower of the bar, a +first-rate wrestler, and a great ball-player; he runs like a deer, and +leaps better than a goat, bowls over the nine-pins as if by magic, +sings like a lark, plays the guitar so as to make it speak, and, above +all, handles a sword as well as the best."</p> + +<p>"For that excellence alone," said Don Quixote at this, "the youth +deserves to marry, not merely the fair Quiteria, but Queen Guinevere +herself, were she alive now, in spite of Launcelot and all who would +try to prevent it."</p> + +<p>"Say that to my wife," said Sancho, who had until now listened in +silence, "for she won't hear of anything but each one marrying his +equal, holding with the proverb 'each ewe to her like.' What I would +like is that this good Basilio (for I am beginning to take a fancy +to him already) should marry this lady Quiteria; and a blessing and +good luck—I meant to say the opposite—on people who would prevent +those who love one another from marrying."</p> + +<p>"If all those who love one another were to marry," said Don Quixote, +"it would deprive parents of the right to choose, and marry their +children to the proper person and at the proper time; and if it was +left to daughters to choose husbands as they pleased, one would be for +choosing her father's servant, and another, some one she has seen +passing in the street and fancies gallant and dashing, though he may +be a drunken bully; for love and fancy easily blind the eyes of the +judgment, so much wanted in choosing one's way of life; and the +matrimonial choice is very liable to error, and it needs great caution +and the special favour of heaven to make it a good one. He who has +to make a long journey, will, if he is wise, look out for some +trusty and pleasant companion to accompany him before he sets out. +Why, then, should not he do the same who has to make the whole journey +of life down to the final halting-place of death, more especially when +the companion has to be his companion in bed, at board, and +everywhere, as the wife is to her husband? The companionship of +one's wife is no article of merchandise, that, after it has been +bought, may be returned, or bartered, or changed; for it is an +inseparable accident that lasts as long as life lasts; it is a noose +that, once you put it round your neck, turns into a Gordian knot, +which, if the scythe of Death does not cut it, there is no untying. +I could say a great deal more on this subject, were I not prevented by +the anxiety I feel to know if the senor licentiate has anything more +to tell about the story of Basilio."</p> + +<p>To this the student, bachelor, or, as Don Quixote called him, +licentiate, replied, "I have nothing whatever to say further, but that +from the moment Basilio learned that the fair Quiteria was to be +married to Camacho the rich, he has never been seen to smile, or heard +to utter rational word, and he always goes about moody and dejected, +talking to himself in a way that shows plainly he is out of his +senses. He eats little and sleeps little, and all he eats is fruit, +and when he sleeps, if he sleeps at all, it is in the field on the +hard earth like a brute beast. Sometimes he gazes at the sky, at other +times he fixes his eyes on the earth in such an abstracted way that he +might be taken for a clothed statue, with its drapery stirred by the +wind. In short, he shows such signs of a heart crushed by suffering, +that all we who know him believe that when to-morrow the fair Quiteria +says 'yes,' it will be his sentence of death."</p> + +<p>"God will guide it better," said Sancho, "for God who gives the +wound gives the salve; nobody knows what will happen; there are a good +many hours between this and to-morrow, and any one of them, or any +moment, the house may fall; I have seen the rain coming down and the +sun shining all at one time; many a one goes to bed in good health who +can't stir the next day. And tell me, is there anyone who can boast of +having driven a nail into the wheel of fortune? No, faith; and between +a woman's 'yes' and 'no' I wouldn't venture to put the point of a pin, +for there would not be room for it; if you tell me Quiteria loves +Basilio heart and soul, then I'll give him a bag of good luck; for +love, I have heard say, looks through spectacles that make copper seem +gold, poverty wealth, and blear eyes pearls."</p> + +<p>"What art thou driving at, Sancho? curses on thee!" said Don +Quixote; "for when thou takest to stringing proverbs and sayings +together, no one can understand thee but Judas himself, and I wish +he had thee. Tell me, thou animal, what dost thou know about nails +or wheels, or anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, if you don't understand me," replied Sancho, "it is no wonder +my words are taken for nonsense; but no matter; I understand myself, +and I know I have not said anything very foolish in what I have +said; only your worship, senor, is always gravelling at everything I +say, nay, everything I do."</p> + +<p>"Cavilling, not gravelling," said Don Quixote, "thou prevaricator of +honest language, God confound thee!"</p> + +<p>"Don't find fault with me, your worship," returned Sancho, "for +you know I have not been bred up at court or trained at Salamanca, +to know whether I am adding or dropping a letter or so in my words. +Why! God bless me, it's not fair to force a Sayago-man to speak like a +Toledan; maybe there are Toledans who do not hit it off when it +comes to polished talk."</p> + +<p>"That is true," said the licentiate, "for those who have been bred +up in the Tanneries and the Zocodover cannot talk like those who are +almost all day pacing the cathedral cloisters, and yet they are all +Toledans. Pure, correct, elegant and lucid language will be met with +in men of courtly breeding and discrimination, though they may have +been born in Majalahonda; I say of discrimination, because there are +many who are not so, and discrimination is the grammar of good +language, if it be accompanied by practice. I, sirs, for my sins +have studied canon law at Salamanca, and I rather pique myself on +expressing my meaning in clear, plain, and intelligible language."</p> + +<p>"If you did not pique yourself more on your dexterity with those +foils you carry than on dexterity of tongue," said the other +student, "you would have been head of the degrees, where you are now +tail."</p> + +<p>"Look here, bachelor Corchuelo," returned the licentiate, "you +have the most mistaken idea in the world about skill with the sword, +if you think it useless."</p> + +<p>"It is no idea on my part, but an established truth," replied +Corchuelo; "and if you wish me to prove it to you by experiment, you +have swords there, and it is a good opportunity; I have a steady +hand and a strong arm, and these joined with my resolution, which is +not small, will make you confess that I am not mistaken. Dismount +and put in practice your positions and circles and angles and science, +for I hope to make you see stars at noonday with my rude raw +swordsmanship, in which, next to God, I place my trust that the man is +yet to be born who will make me turn my back, and that there is not +one in the world I will not compel to give ground."</p> + +<p>"As to whether you turn your back or not, I do not concern +myself," replied the master of fence; "though it might be that your +grave would be dug on the spot where you planted your foot the first +time; I mean that you would be stretched dead there for despising +skill with the sword."</p> + +<p>"We shall soon see," replied Corchuelo, and getting off his ass +briskly, he drew out furiously one of the swords the licentiate +carried on his beast.</p> + +<p>"It must not be that way," said Don Quixote at this point; "I will +be the director of this fencing match, and judge of this often +disputed question;" and dismounting from Rocinante and grasping his +lance, he planted himself in the middle of the road, just as the +licentiate, with an easy, graceful bearing and step, advanced +towards Corchuelo, who came on against him, darting fire from his +eyes, as the saying is. The other two of the company, the peasants, +without dismounting from their asses, served as spectators of the +mortal tragedy. The cuts, thrusts, down strokes, back strokes and +doubles, that Corchuelo delivered were past counting, and came thicker +than hops or hail. He attacked like an angry lion, but he was met by a +tap on the mouth from the button of the licentiate's sword that +checked him in the midst of his furious onset, and made him kiss it as +if it were a relic, though not as devoutly as relics are and ought +to be kissed. The end of it was that the licentiate reckoned up for +him by thrusts every one of the buttons of the short cassock he +wore, tore the skirts into strips, like the tails of a cuttlefish, +knocked off his hat twice, and so completely tired him out, that in +vexation, anger, and rage, he took the sword by the hilt and flung +it away with such force, that one of the peasants that were there, who +was a notary, and who went for it, made an affidavit afterwards that +he sent it nearly three-quarters of a league, which testimony will +serve, and has served, to show and establish with all certainty that +strength is overcome by skill.</p> + +<p>Corchuelo sat down wearied, and Sancho approaching him said, "By +my faith, senor bachelor, if your worship takes my advice, you will +never challenge anyone to fence again, only to wrestle and throw the +bar, for you have the youth and strength for that; but as for these +fencers as they call them, I have heard say they can put the point +of a sword through the eye of a needle."</p> + +<p>"I am satisfied with having tumbled off my donkey," said +Corchuelo, "and with having had the truth I was so ignorant of +proved to me by experience;" and getting up he embraced the +licentiate, and they were better friends than ever; and not caring +to wait for the notary who had gone for the sword, as they saw he +would be a long time about it, they resolved to push on so as to reach +the village of Quiteria, to which they all belonged, in good time.</p> + +<p>During the remainder of the journey the licentiate held forth to +them on the excellences of the sword, with such conclusive +arguments, and such figures and mathematical proofs, that all were +convinced of the value of the science, and Corchuelo cured of his +dogmatism.</p> + +<p>It grew dark; but before they reached the town it seemed to them all +as if there was a heaven full of countless glittering stars in front +of it. They heard, too, the pleasant mingled notes of a variety of +instruments, flutes, drums, psalteries, pipes, tabors, and timbrels, +and as they drew near they perceived that the trees of a leafy +arcade that had been constructed at the entrance of the town were +filled with lights unaffected by the wind, for the breeze at the +time was so gentle that it had not power to stir the leaves on the +trees. The musicians were the life of the wedding, wandering through +the pleasant grounds in separate bands, some dancing, others +singing, others playing the various instruments already mentioned. +In short, it seemed as though mirth and gaiety were frisking and +gambolling all over the meadow. Several other persons were engaged +in erecting raised benches from which people might conveniently see +the plays and dances that were to be performed the next day on the +spot dedicated to the celebration of the marriage of Camacho the +rich and the obsequies of Basilio. Don Quixote would not enter the +village, although the peasant as well as the bachelor pressed him; +he excused himself, however, on the grounds, amply sufficient in his +opinion, that it was the custom of knights-errant to sleep in the +fields and woods in preference to towns, even were it under gilded +ceilings; and so turned aside a little out of the road, very much +against Sancho's will, as the good quarters he had enjoyed in the +castle or house of Don Diego came back to his mind.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p19e"></a><img alt="p19e.jpg (29K)" src="images/p19e.jpg" height="611" width="469"> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch20b"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>WHEREIN AN ACCOUNT IS GIVEN OF THE WEDDING OF CAMACHO THE RICH, +TOGETHER WITH THE INCIDENT OF BASILIO THE POOR +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="p20a"></a><img alt="p20a.jpg (125K)" src="images/p20a.jpg" height="451" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p20a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>Scarce had the fair Aurora given bright Phoebus time to dry the +liquid pearls upon her golden locks with the heat of his fervent rays, +when Don Quixote, shaking off sloth from his limbs, sprang to his feet +and called to his squire Sancho, who was still snoring; seeing which +Don Quixote ere he roused him thus addressed him: "Happy thou, above +all the dwellers on the face of the earth, that, without envying or +being envied, sleepest with tranquil mind, and that neither enchanters +persecute nor enchantments affright. Sleep, I say, and will say a +hundred times, without any jealous thoughts of thy mistress to make +thee keep ceaseless vigils, or any cares as to how thou art to pay the +debts thou owest, or find to-morrow's food for thyself and thy needy +little family, to interfere with thy repose. Ambition breaks not thy +rest, nor doth this world's empty pomp disturb thee, for the utmost +reach of thy anxiety is to provide for thy ass, since upon my +shoulders thou hast laid the support of thyself, the counterpoise +and burden that nature and custom have imposed upon masters. The +servant sleeps and the master lies awake thinking how he is to feed +him, advance him, and reward him. The distress of seeing the sky +turn brazen, and withhold its needful moisture from the earth, is +not felt by the servant but by the master, who in time of scarcity and +famine must support him who has served him in times of plenty and +abundance."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p20b"></a><img alt="p20b.jpg (365K)" src="images/p20b.jpg" height="821" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p20b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>To all this Sancho made no reply because he was asleep, nor would he +have wakened up so soon as he did had not Don Quixote brought him to +his senses with the butt of his lance. He awoke at last, drowsy and +lazy, and casting his eyes about in every direction, observed, +"There comes, if I don't mistake, from the quarter of that arcade a +steam and a smell a great deal more like fried rashers than +galingale or thyme; a wedding that begins with smells like that, by my +faith, ought to be plentiful and unstinting."</p> + +<p>"Have done, thou glutton," said Don Quixote; "come, let us go and +witness this bridal, and see what the rejected Basilio does."</p> + +<p>"Let him do what he likes," returned Sancho; "be he not poor, he +would marry Quiteria. To make a grand match for himself, and he +without a farthing; is there nothing else? Faith, senor, it's my +opinion the poor man should be content with what he can get, and not +go looking for dainties in the bottom of the sea. I will bet my arm +that Camacho could bury Basilio in reals; and if that be so, as no +doubt it is, what a fool Quiteria would be to refuse the fine +dresses and jewels Camacho must have given her and will give her, +and take Basilio's bar-throwing and sword-play. They won't give a pint +of wine at the tavern for a good cast of the bar or a neat thrust of +the sword. Talents and accomplishments that can't be turned into +money, let Count Dirlos have them; but when such gifts fall to one +that has hard cash, I wish my condition of life was as becoming as +they are. On a good foundation you can raise a good building, and +the best foundation in the world is money."</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Sancho," said Don Quixote here, "stop that +harangue; it is my belief, if thou wert allowed to continue all thou +beginnest every instant, thou wouldst have no time left for eating +or sleeping; for thou wouldst spend it all in talking."</p> + +<p>"If your worship had a good memory," replied Sancho, "you would +remember the articles of our agreement before we started from home +this last time; one of them was that I was to be let say all I +liked, so long as it was not against my neighbour or your worship's +authority; and so far, it seems to me, I have not broken the said +article."</p> + +<p>"I remember no such article, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "and even if +it were so, I desire you to hold your tongue and come along; for the +instruments we heard last night are already beginning to enliven the +valleys again, and no doubt the marriage will take place in the cool +of the morning, and not in the heat of the afternoon."</p> + +<p>Sancho did as his master bade him, and putting the saddle on +Rocinante and the pack-saddle on Dapple, they both mounted and at a +leisurely pace entered the arcade. The first thing that presented +itself to Sancho's eyes was a whole ox spitted on a whole elm tree, +and in the fire at which it was to be roasted there was burning a +middling-sized mountain of faggots, and six stewpots that stood +round the blaze had not been made in the ordinary mould of common +pots, for they were six half wine-jars, each fit to hold the +contents of a slaughter-house; they swallowed up whole sheep and hid +them away in their insides without showing any more sign of them +than if they were pigeons. Countless were the hares ready skinned +and the plucked fowls that hung on the trees for burial in the pots, +numberless the wildfowl and game of various sorts suspended from the +branches that the air might keep them cool. Sancho counted more than +sixty wine skins of over six gallons each, and all filled, as it +proved afterwards, with generous wines. There were, besides, piles +of the whitest bread, like the heaps of corn one sees on the +threshing-floors. There was a wall made of cheeses arranged like +open brick-work, and two cauldrons full of oil, bigger than those of a +dyer's shop, served for cooking fritters, which when fried were +taken out with two mighty shovels, and plunged into another cauldron +of prepared honey that stood close by. Of cooks and cook-maids there +were over fifty, all clean, brisk, and blithe. In the capacious +belly of the ox were a dozen soft little sucking-pigs, which, sewn +up there, served to give it tenderness and flavour. The spices of +different kinds did not seem to have been bought by the pound but by +the quarter, and all lay open to view in a great chest. In short, +all the preparations made for the wedding were in rustic style, but +abundant enough to feed an army.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p20c"></a><img alt="p20c.jpg (415K)" src="images/p20c.jpg" height="514" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p20c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>Sancho observed all, contemplated all, and everything won his heart. +The first to captivate and take his fancy were the pots, out of +which he would have very gladly helped himself to a moderate +pipkinful; then the wine skins secured his affections; and lastly, the +produce of the frying-pans, if, indeed, such imposing cauldrons may be +called frying-pans; and unable to control himself or bear it any +longer, he approached one of the busy cooks and civilly but hungrily +begged permission to soak a scrap of bread in one of the pots; to +which the cook made answer, "Brother, this is not a day on which +hunger is to have any sway, thanks to the rich Camacho; get down and +look about for a ladle and skim off a hen or two, and much good may +they do you."</p> + +<p>"I don't see one," said Sancho.</p> + +<p>"Wait a bit," said the cook; "sinner that I am! how particular and +bashful you are!" and so saying, he seized a bucket and plunging it +into one of the half jars took up three hens and a couple of geese, +and said to Sancho, "Fall to, friend, and take the edge off your +appetite with these skimmings until dinner-time comes."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p20d"></a><img alt="p20d.jpg (351K)" src="images/p20d.jpg" height="819" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p20d.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"I have nothing to put them in," said Sancho.</p> + +<p>"Well then," said the cook, "take spoon and all; for Camacho's +wealth and happiness furnish everything."</p> + +<p>While Sancho fared thus, Don Quixote was watching the entrance, at +one end of the arcade, of some twelve peasants, all in holiday and +gala dress, mounted on twelve beautiful mares with rich handsome field +trappings and a number of little bells attached to their petrals, who, +marshalled in regular order, ran not one but several courses over +the meadow, with jubilant shouts and cries of "Long live Camacho and +Quiteria! he as rich as she is fair; and she the fairest on earth!"</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Don Quixote said to himself, "It is easy to see +these folk have never seen my Dulcinea del Toboso; for if they had +they would be more moderate in their praises of this Quiteria of +theirs."</p> + +<p>Shortly after this, several bands of dancers of various sorts +began to enter the arcade at different points, and among them one of +sword-dancers composed of some four-and-twenty lads of gallant and +high-spirited mien, clad in the finest and whitest of linen, and +with handkerchiefs embroidered in various colours with fine silk; +and one of those on the mares asked an active youth who led them if +any of the dancers had been wounded. "As yet, thank God, no one has +been wounded," said he, "we are all safe and sound;" and he at once +began to execute complicated figures with the rest of his comrades, +with so many turns and so great dexterity, that although Don Quixote +was well used to see dances of the same kind, he thought he had +never seen any so good as this. He also admired another that came in +composed of fair young maidens, none of whom seemed to be under +fourteen or over eighteen years of age, all clad in green stuff, +with their locks partly braided, partly flowing loose, but all of such +bright gold as to vie with the sunbeams, and over them they wore +garlands of jessamine, roses, amaranth, and honeysuckle. At their head +were a venerable old man and an ancient dame, more brisk and active, +however, than might have been expected from their years. The notes +of a Zamora bagpipe accompanied them, and with modesty in their +countenances and in their eyes, and lightness in their feet, they +looked the best dancers in the world.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p20e"></a><img alt="p20e.jpg (361K)" src="images/p20e.jpg" height="509" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p20e.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>Following these there came an artistic dance of the sort they call +"speaking dances." It was composed of eight nymphs in two files, +with the god Cupid leading one and Interest the other, the former +furnished with wings, bow, quiver and arrows, the latter in a rich +dress of gold and silk of divers colours. The nymphs that followed +Love bore their names written on white parchment in large letters on +their backs. "Poetry" was the name of the first, "Wit" of the +second, "Birth" of the third, and "Valour" of the fourth. Those that +followed Interest were distinguished in the same way; the badge of the +first announced "Liberality," that of the second "Largess," the +third "Treasure," and the fourth "Peaceful Possession." In front of +them all came a wooden castle drawn by four wild men, all clad in +ivy and hemp stained green, and looking so natural that they nearly +terrified Sancho. On the front of the castle and on each of the four +sides of its frame it bore the inscription "Castle of Caution." Four +skillful tabor and flute players accompanied them, and the dance +having been opened, Cupid, after executing two figures, raised his +eyes and bent his bow against a damsel who stood between the turrets +of the castle, and thus addressed her:</p> + +<pre> +I am the mighty God whose sway + Is potent over land and sea. +The heavens above us own me; nay, + The shades below acknowledge me. +I know not fear, I have my will, + Whate'er my whim or fancy be; +For me there's no impossible, + I order, bind, forbid, set free. + +</pre> + +<p>Having concluded the stanza he discharged an arrow at the top of the +castle, and went back to his place. Interest then came forward and +went through two more figures, and as soon as the tabors ceased, he said:</p> + +<pre> +But mightier than Love am I, + Though Love it be that leads me on, +Than mine no lineage is more high, + Or older, underneath the sun. +To use me rightly few know how, + To act without me fewer still, +For I am Interest, and I vow + For evermore to do thy will. + +</pre> + + +<p>Interest retired, and Poetry came forward, and when she had gone +through her figures like the others, fixing her eyes on the damsel +of the castle, she said:</p> + + +<pre> +With many a fanciful conceit, + Fair Lady, winsome Poesy +Her soul, an offering at thy feet, + Presents in sonnets unto thee. +If thou my homage wilt not scorn, + Thy fortune, watched by envious eyes, +On wings of poesy upborne + Shall be exalted to the skies. + +</pre> + +<p>Poetry withdrew, and on the side of Interest Liberality advanced, +and after having gone through her figures, said:</p> + +<pre> +To give, while shunning each extreme, + The sparing hand, the over-free, +Therein consists, so wise men deem, + The virtue Liberality. +But thee, fair lady, to enrich, + Myself a prodigal I'll prove, +A vice not wholly shameful, which + May find its fair excuse in love. + +</pre> + +<p> +In the same manner all the characters of the two bands advanced +and retired, and each executed its figures, and delivered its +verses, some of them graceful, some burlesque, but Don Quixote's +memory (though he had an excellent one) only carried away those that +have been just quoted. All then mingled together, forming chains and +breaking off again with graceful, unconstrained gaiety; and whenever +Love passed in front of the castle he shot his arrows up at it, +while Interest broke gilded pellets against it. At length, after +they had danced a good while, Interest drew out a great purse, made of +the skin of a large brindled cat and to all appearance full of +money, and flung it at the castle, and with the force of the blow +the boards fell asunder and tumbled down, leaving the damsel exposed +and unprotected. Interest and the characters of his band advanced, and +throwing a great chain of gold over her neck pretended to take her and +lead her away captive, on seeing which, Love and his supporters made +as though they would release her, the whole action being to the +accompaniment of the tabors and in the form of a regular dance. The +wild men made peace between them, and with great dexterity +readjusted and fixed the boards of the castle, and the damsel once +more ensconced herself within; and with this the dance wound up, to +the great enjoyment of the beholders.</p> + +<p>Don Quixote asked one of the nymphs who it was that had composed and +arranged it. She replied that it was a beneficiary of the town who had +a nice taste in devising things of the sort. "I will lay a wager," +said Don Quixote, "that the same bachelor or beneficiary is a +greater friend of Camacho's than of Basilio's, and that he is better +at satire than at vespers; he has introduced the accomplishments of +Basilio and the riches of Camacho very neatly into the dance." +Sancho Panza, who was listening to all this, exclaimed, "The king is +my cock; I stick to Camacho." "It is easy to see thou art a clown, +Sancho," said Don Quixote, "and one of that sort that cry 'Long life +to the conqueror.'"</p> + +<p>"I don't know of what sort I am," returned Sancho, "but I know +very well I'll never get such elegant skimmings off Basilio's pots +as these I have got off Camacho's;" and he showed him the bucketful of +geese and hens, and seizing one began to eat with great gaiety and +appetite, saying, "A fig for the accomplishments of Basilio! As much +as thou hast so much art thou worth, and as much as thou art worth +so much hast thou. As a grandmother of mine used to say, there are +only two families in the world, the Haves and the Haven'ts; and she +stuck to the Haves; and to this day, Senor Don Quixote, people would +sooner feel the pulse of 'Have,' than of 'Know;' an ass covered with +gold looks better than a horse with a pack-saddle. So once more I +say I stick to Camacho, the bountiful skimmings of whose pots are +geese and hens, hares and rabbits; but of Basilio's, if any ever +come to hand, or even to foot, they'll be only rinsings."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou finished thy harangue, Sancho?" said Don Quixote. "Of +course I have finished it," replied Sancho, "because I see your +worship takes offence at it; but if it was not for that, there was +work enough cut out for three days."</p> + +<p>"God grant I may see thee dumb before I die, Sancho," said Don +Quixote.</p> + +<p>"At the rate we are going," said Sancho, "I'll be chewing clay +before your worship dies; and then, maybe, I'll be so dumb that I'll +not say a word until the end of the world, or, at least, till the +day of judgment."</p> + +<p>"Even should that happen, O Sancho," said Don Quixote, "thy +silence will never come up to all thou hast talked, art talking, and +wilt talk all thy life; moreover, it naturally stands to reason, +that my death will come before thine; so I never expect to see thee +dumb, not even when thou art drinking or sleeping, and that is the +utmost I can say."</p> + +<p>"In good faith, senor," replied Sancho, "there's no trusting that +fleshless one, I mean Death, who devours the lamb as soon as the +sheep, and, as I have heard our curate say, treads with equal foot +upon the lofty towers of kings and the lowly huts of the poor. That +lady is more mighty than dainty, she is no way squeamish, she +devours all and is ready for all, and fills her alforjas with people +of all sorts, ages, and ranks. She is no reaper that sleeps out the +noontide; at all times she is reaping and cutting down, as well the +dry grass as the green; she never seems to chew, but bolts and +swallows all that is put before her, for she has a canine appetite +that is never satisfied; and though she has no belly, she shows she +has a dropsy and is athirst to drink the lives of all that live, as +one would drink a jug of cold water."</p> + +<p>"Say no more, Sancho," said Don Quixote at this; "don't try to +better it, and risk a fall; for in truth what thou hast said about +death in thy rustic phrase is what a good preacher might have said. +I tell thee, Sancho, if thou hadst discretion equal to thy mother wit, +thou mightst take a pulpit in hand, and go about the world preaching +fine sermons." "He preaches well who lives well," said Sancho, "and +I know no more theology than that."</p> + +<p>"Nor needst thou," said Don Quixote, "but I cannot conceive or +make out how it is that, the fear of God being the beginning of +wisdom, thou, who art more afraid of a lizard than of him, knowest +so much."</p> + +<p>"Pass judgment on your chivalries, senor," returned Sancho, "and +don't set yourself up to judge of other men's fears or braveries, +for I am as good a fearer of God as my neighbours; but leave me to +despatch these skimmings, for all the rest is only idle talk that we +shall be called to account for in the other world;" and so saying, +he began a fresh attack on the bucket, with such a hearty appetite +that he aroused Don Quixote's, who no doubt would have helped him +had he not been prevented by what must be told farther on.</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="p20f"></a><img alt="p20f.jpg (41K)" src="images/p20f.jpg" height="503" width="525"> +</center> + + + + +<br> +<br> + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p22.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5946-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p24.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +</body> +</html> + |