And I would give thee pearls that shouldAs big as oak-galls show;So matchless big that each might wellBe called the great "Alone."

Manchegan Nero, look not downFrom thy Tarpeian RockUpon this burning heart, nor addThe fuel of thy wrath.

A virgin soft and young am I,Not yet fifteen years old;(I'm only three months past fourteen,I swear upon my soul).I hobble not nor do I limp,All blemish I'm without,And as I walk my lily locksAre trailing on the ground.

And though my nose be rather flat,And though my mouth be wide,My teeth like topazes exaltMy beauty to the sky.

Thou knowest that my voice is sweet,That is if thou dost hear;And I am moulded in a formSomewhat below the mean.

These charms, and many more, are thine,Spoils to thy spear and bow all;A damsel of this house am I,By name Altisidora.

Here the lay of the heart-stricken Altisidora came to an end,while the warmly wooed Don Quixote began to feel alarm; and with adeep sigh he said to himself, "O that I should be such an unluckyknight that no damsel can set eyes on me but falls in love with me!O that the peerless Dulcinea should be so unfortunate that they cannotlet her enjoy my incomparable constancy in peace! What would ye withher, ye queens? Why do ye persecute her, ye empresses? Why ye pursueher, ye virgins of from fourteen to fifteen? Leave the unhappy beingto triumph, rejoice and glory in the lot love has been pleased tobestow upon her in surrendering my heart and yielding up my soul toher. Ye love-smitten host, know that to Dulcinea only I am dough andsugar-paste, flint to all others; for her I am honey, for you aloes.For me Dulcinea alone is beautiful, wise, virtuous, graceful, andhigh-bred, and all others are ill-favoured, foolish, light, andlow-born. Nature sent me into the world to be hers and no other's;Altisidora may weep or sing, the lady for whose sake they belabouredme in the castle of the enchanted Moor may give way to despair, butI must be Dulcinea's, boiled or roast, pure, courteous, and chaste, inspite of all the magic-working powers on earth." And with that he shutthe window with a bang, and, as much out of temper and out of sorts asif some great misfortune had befallen him, stretched himself on hisbed, where we will leave him for the present, as the great SanchoPanza, who is about to set up his famous government, now demands ourattention.

CHAPTER XLV

OF HOW THE GREAT SANCHO PANZA TOOK POSSESSION OF HIS ISLAND, ANDOF HOW HE MADE A BEGINNING IN GOVERNING

O perpetual discoverer of the antipodes, torch of the world, eyeof heaven, sweet stimulator of the water-coolers! Thimbraeus here,Phoebus there, now archer, now physician, father of poetry, inventorof music; thou that always risest and, notwithstanding appearances,never settest! To thee, O Sun, by whose aid man begetteth man, to theeI appeal to help me and lighten the darkness of my wit that I may beable to proceed with scrupulous exactitude in giving an account of thegreat Sancho Panza's government; for without thee I feel myselfweak, feeble, and uncertain.

To come to the point, then- Sancho with all his attendants arrivedat a village of some thousand inhabitants, and one of the largestthe duke possessed. They informed him that it was called the island ofBarataria, either because the name of the village was Baratario, orbecause of the joke by way of which the government had beenconferred upon him. On reaching the gates of the town, which was awalled one, the municipality came forth to meet him, the bells rangout a peal, and the inhabitants showed every sign of generalsatisfaction; and with great pomp they conducted him to theprincipal church to give thanks to God, and then with burlesqueceremonies they presented him with the keys of the town, andacknowledged him as perpetual governor of the island of Barataria. Thecostume, the beard, and the fat squat figure of the new governorastonished all those who were not in the secret, and even all whowere, and they were not a few. Finally, leading him out of thechurch they carried him to the judgment seat and seated him on it, andthe duke's majordomo said to him, "It is an ancient custom in thisisland, senor governor, that he who comes to take possession of thisfamous island is bound to answer a question which shall be put to him,and which must he a somewhat knotty and difficult one; and by hisanswer the people take the measure of their new governor's wit, andhail with joy or deplore his arrival accordingly."

While the majordomo was making this speech Sancho was gazing atseveral large letters inscribed on the wall opposite his seat, andas he could not read he asked what that was that was painted on thewall. The answer was, "Senor, there is written and recorded the day onwhich your lordship took possession of this island, and theinscription says, 'This day, the so-and-so of such-and-such a monthand year, Senor Don Sancho Panza took possession of this island;many years may he enjoy it.'"

"And whom do they call Don Sancho Panza?" asked Sancho.

"Your lordship," replied the majordomo; "for no other Panza butthe one who is now seated in that chair has ever entered this island."

"Well then, let me tell you, brother," said Sancho, "I haven't gotthe 'Don,' nor has any one of my family ever had it; my name isplain Sancho Panza, and Sancho was my father's name, and Sancho was mygrandfather's and they were all Panzas, without any Dons or Donastacked on; I suspect that in this island there are more Dons thanstones; but never mind; God knows what I mean, and maybe if mygovernment lasts four days I'll weed out these Dons that no doubtare as great a nuisance as the midges, they're so plenty. Let themajordomo go on with his question, and I'll give the best answer Ican, whether the people deplore or not."

At this instant there came into court two old men, one carrying acane by way of a walking-stick, and the one who had no stick said,"Senor, some time ago I lent this good man ten gold-crowns in goldto gratify him and do him a service, on the condition that he was toreturn them to me whenever I should ask for them. A long time passedbefore I asked for them, for I would not put him to any greaterstraits to return them than he was in when I lent them to him; butthinking he was growing careless about payment I asked for them onceand several times; and not only will he not give them back, but hedenies that he owes them, and says I never lent him any such crowns;or if I did, that he repaid them; and I have no witnesses either ofthe loan, or the payment, for he never paid me; I want your worship toput him to his oath, and if he swears he returned them to me I forgivehim the debt here and before God."

"What say you to this, good old man, you with the stick?" saidSancho.

To which the old man replied, "I admit, senor, that he lent themto me; but let your worship lower your staff, and as he leaves it tomy oath, I'll swear that I gave them back, and paid him really andtruly."

The governor lowered the staff, and as he did so the old man who hadthe stick handed it to the other old man to hold for him while heswore, as if he found it in his way; and then laid his hand on thecross of the staff, saying that it was true the ten crowns that weredemanded of him had been lent him; but that he had with his own handgiven them back into the hand of the other, and that he, notrecollecting it, was always asking for them.

Seeing this the great governor asked the creditor what answer he hadto make to what his opponent said. He said that no doubt his debtorhad told the truth, for he believed him to be an honest man and a goodChristian, and he himself must have forgotten when and how he hadgiven him back the crowns; and that from that time forth he would makeno further demand upon him.

The debtor took his stick again, and bowing his head left the court.Observing this, and how, without another word, he made off, andobserving too the resignation of the plaintiff, Sancho buried his headin his bosom and remained for a short space in deep thought, withthe forefinger of his right hand on his brow and nose; then heraised his head and bade them call back the old man with the stick,for he had already taken his departure. They brought him back, andas soon as Sancho saw him he said, "Honest man, give me that stick,for I want it."

"Willingly," said the old man; "here it is senor," and he put itinto his hand.

Sancho took it and, handing it to the other old man, said to him,"Go, and God be with you; for now you are paid."

"I, senor!" returned the old man; "why, is this cane worth tengold-crowns?"

"Yes," said the governor, "or if not I am the greatest dolt in theworld; now you will see whether I have got the headpiece to govern awhole kingdom;" and he ordered the cane to be broken in two, there, inthe presence of all. It was done, and in the middle of it they foundten gold-crowns. All were filled with amazement, and looked upon theirgovernor as another Solomon. They asked him how he had come to theconclusion that the ten crowns were in the cane; he replied, thatobserving how the old man who swore gave the stick to his opponentwhile he was taking the oath, and swore that he had really and trulygiven him the crowns, and how as soon as he had done swearing he askedfor the stick again, it came into his head that the sum demandedmust be inside it; and from this he said it might be seen that Godsometimes guides those who govern in their judgments, even though theymay be fools; besides he had himself heard the curate of his villagemention just such another case, and he had so good a memory, that ifit was not that he forgot everything he wished to remember, therewould not be such a memory in all the island. To conclude, the old menwent off, one crestfallen, and the other in high contentment, allwho were present were astonished, and he who was recording thewords, deeds, and movements of Sancho could not make up his mindwhether he was to look upon him and set him down as a fool or as a manof sense.

As soon as this case was disposed of, there came into court awoman holding on with a tight grip to a man dressed like awell-to-do cattle dealer, and she came forward making a great outcryand exclaiming, "Justice, senor governor, justice! and if I don'tget it on earth I'll go look for it in heaven. Senor governor of mysoul, this wicked man caught me in the middle of the fields here andused my body as if it was an ill-washed rag, and, woe is me! gotfrom me what I had kept these three-and-twenty years and more,defending it against Moors and Christians, natives and strangers;and I always as hard as an oak, and keeping myself as pure as asalamander in the fire, or wool among the brambles, for this goodfellow to come now with clean hands to handle me!"

"It remains to be proved whether this gallant has clean hands ornot," said Sancho; and turning to the man he asked him what he hadto say in answer to the woman's charge.

He all in confusion made answer, "Sirs, I am a poor pig dealer,and this morning I left the village to sell (saving your presence)four pigs, and between dues and cribbings they got out of me littleless than the worth of them. As I was returning to my village I fellin on the road with this good dame, and the devil who makes a coil anda mess out of everything, yoked us together. I paid her fairly, butshe not contented laid hold of me and never let go until she broughtme here; she says I forced her, but she lies by the oath I swear or amready to swear; and this is the whole truth and every particle of it."

The governor on this asked him if he had any money in silver abouthim; he said he had about twenty ducats in a leather purse in hisbosom. The governor bade him take it out and hand it to thecomplainant; he obeyed trembling; the woman took it, and making athousand salaams to all and praying to God for the long life andhealth of the senor governor who had such regard for distressedorphans and virgins, she hurried out of court with the purse graspedin both her hands, first looking, however, to see if the money itcontained was silver.

As soon as she was gone Sancho said to the cattle dealer, whosetears were already starting and whose eyes and heart were followinghis purse, "Good fellow, go after that woman and take the purse fromher, by force even, and come back with it here;" and he did not say itto one who was a fool or deaf, for the man was off like a flash oflightning, and ran to do as he was bid.

All the bystanders waited anxiously to see the end of the case,and presently both man and woman came back at even closer grips thanbefore, she with her petticoat up and the purse in the lap of it,and he struggling hard to take it from her, but all to no purpose,so stout was the woman's defence, she all the while crying out,"Justice from God and the world! see here, senor governor, theshamelessness and boldness of this villain, who in the middle of thetown, in the middle of the street, wanted to take from me the purseyour worship bade him give me."

"And did he take it?" asked the governor.

"Take it!" said the woman; "I'd let my life be taken from mesooner than the purse. A pretty child I'd be! It's another sort of catthey must throw in my face, and not that poor scurvy knave. Pincersand hammers, mallets and chisels would not get it out of my grip;no, nor lions' claws; the soul from out of my body first!"

"She is right," said the man; "I own myself beaten and powerless;I confess I haven't the strength to take it from her;" and he let gohis hold of her.

Upon this the governor said to the woman, "Let me see that purse, myworthy and sturdy friend." She handed it to him at once, and thegovernor returned it to the man, and said to the unforced mistressof force, "Sister, if you had shown as much, or only half as much,spirit and vigour in defending your body as you have shown indefending that purse, the strength of Hercules could not have forcedyou. Be off, and God speed you, and bad luck to you, and don't showyour face in all this island, or within six leagues of it on any side,under pain of two hundred lashes; be off at once, I say, youshameless, cheating shrew."

Title: Don Quixote
Author: Miqeul de Cervantes
Viewed 406658 times

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