Story of Don Quixote

Clayton Edwards

Description

WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN, DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 23 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819907404
• Langue: English

Extrait

VOLUME I - CHAPTER I
W HICH TREATS OFTHE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN, DON QUIXOTE OFLA MANCHA
Nearly four hundred years ago, there lived in thevillage of La Mancha in Spain an old gentleman of few worldlypossessions but many books, who was given to a hardy andadventurous way of life, and who beguiled his spare time by readingthe many tales of chivalry and knighthood that were in hispossession.
This old gentleman was a tall, gaunt man of aboutfifty, with a lantern jaw and straggling gray hair, and eyes thathad a sparkle of madness in them. His surname was Quixada orQuesada, and though not rich, he was well known to the country folkand had some reputation in the community where he lived.
In his younger days he was a great sportsman andused to get up before the sun to follow his favorite pursuits ofhunting and hawking, but as he grew older he spent almost all histime in reading books on chivalry and knighthood with which hislibrary was stocked; and at last he grew so fond of these booksthat he forgot to follow the hounds or even to look after hisproperty, but spent all his time in his library, mulling over thefamous deeds and love affairs of knights who conquered dragons andvanquished wicked enchanters.
At the time when Quesada lived, Spain was saturatedwith this sort of literature, and everybody wasted much time inreading books which had no merit or value of any kind and whichwere full of the most ridiculous and impossible adventures. On thewhole they were the most utter rubbish that it was possible toprint. They told about impossible deeds in the most impossiblelanguage, and were filled with ambitious sentences that meantnothing under the sun. Señor Quesada spent hours racking his brainsto puzzle out the meaning of something like this:
"The reason of the unreason with which my reason isafflicted so weakens my reason that with reason I murmur at yourbeauty."
Or again:
"The high heavens that of your divinity divinelyfortify you with the stars, render you deserving of the desert yourgreatness deserves."
Poor Señor Quesada could not understand thesesentences. Who could? No man in his right mind certainly, it wouldhave taken a madman to read any real meaning into them. And hewasted so much time in puzzling over them that at last he becamequite mad and the words in the books would appear on the walls ofhis room, written in letters of fire, with so bright a light thatthey prevented him from sleeping. From trying to read a meaninginto things that had no meaning whatever, Señor Quesada was mad –as mad as the books he had been reading.
Señor Quesada lived with his niece and hishousekeeper, both sensible women who loved him and who were muchgrieved over the havoc his books of chivalry had worked with hissenses. They believed that to talk about these books made the oldgentleman worse, so they refused to answer him when he argued aboutknights and dragons and whether this fair lady was an enchantressin disguise or only a mortal woman, and whether that dragonactually did breathe forth fire from his nostrils, or only sulphurfumes and smoke. His niece and the housekeeper would run away whenhe started upon one of his favorite subjects; so he turned to thesociety of the village curate, a learned man for those times, whoknew almost as much about books of chivalry as Señor Quesadahimself, and to that of Master Nicholas, the village barber. Andthese three friends would sit up until dawn arguing as to who wasthe better knight, Sir Lancelot or Amadis of Gaul, and how theseboth compared with the Knight of the Burning Sword, who with oneback stroke cut in half two fierce and monstrous giants.
After he had become thoroughly mad from reading, andmore so from such arguments and discussions, Señor Quesada hit uponthe strangest notion that ever entered the head of a lunatic. Hebelieved that he and no other was called upon to restore the entireworld to the ancient conditions of chivalry, and bring back thetournaments and the courteous knights and fair ladies whose likehad existed in the times of the famous King Arthur of Britain.Believing this, it was an easy step for him to think that the worldwas still full of giants and fierce dragons for him to vanquish,and that as a man of honor and skill at arms he must leave hiscomfortable home and do battle with them. To his disordered sensesthings took on a different appearance than was actually the case –inns seemed castles, and towers and hills appeared as giants thatmoved about in the distance; and Señor Quesada could hardly waitbefore he could meet them on horseback and overthrow them inbattle.
To become a knight and encounter all these strangeand visionary dangers it was necessary for him, however, to have awar horse, a stout lance and a suit of armor, and he cast aboutamong his possessions to see what he could find that would answerthe purpose – for he had no money to buy them, and no shop couldhave furnished them for him if he had possessed all the money inSpain. In his attic he found an old suit of armor that had belongedto his great-grandfather and had been lying there for ages, rottingwith rust and mildew in company with old chests, bedding and otherfamily treasures. He brought it out and scoured it as best he couldand at last made it shine with considerable brightness. But thehelmet was only partially complete, for it lacked a beaver and avisor to protect his face, so Señor Quesada constructed these frompasteboard and painted them to resemble the armor as closely aspossible. He tried their strength with his rusty sword, and on thefirst stroke cut them entirely away; so he rebuilt them and forboreto try them again, hoping they would be strong enough, but fearingto make a test that might undo once more all the troublesome workthat he had spent upon them.
His armor now complete, he looked in his stables fora horse to carry him, and found there his old hack, whose everybone was visible and who was more used to carrying sacks ofpotatoes and onions to market than to bearing the weight of aknight or a man at arms. This horse must have been at least twentyyears old into the bargain, but to Quixada's brain it appeared amettlesome charger and he was quite sure that his new steed wouldprove equal to any fatigue or danger that might come its way in thecourse of his adventures. And remembering that all the horses offamous warriors had possessed high-sounding names he called hishorse Rocinante and adopted for himself the title of Don Quixote ofLa Mancha, under which name he will be known through the rest ofthe present history.
Another thing, however, remained wanting – alady-love for whose sake he might do battle and whose affectionsmight inspire him to endure all sorts of dangers and hardships. SoDon Quixote straightway searched through his recollection to findone that might answer, and hit at last upon a peasant girl namedAldonza Lorenzo, with whom it is supposed he had been in love whenhe was a young man. And though Aldonza Lorenzo was more used towinnowing wheat and caring for the live-stock than to fine phrasesand courtly manners, and though she was no better than any of theother peasant girls who lived in her locality, Don Quixote believedthat she was a lady of high lineage and noble birth and christenedher in his mind Dulcinea del Toboso. And he was ready to fight withany man in Spain who would not acknowledge that she was theloveliest and most gifted lady in the world.
A lance was easily made, and now, possessed of warhorse, armor, weapons, and a glorious lady to do battle for, thepoor old man was ready, so he believed, to go forth and meet thehigh adventures that he felt sure were awaiting him.
CHAPTERS II-III
W HICH TREATS OFTHE FIRST SALLY DON QUIXOTE MADE FROM HOME
All things being ready, Don Quixote wished for nodelay, and before sunrise on one of the hottest days of midsummer,he stole from his bed – taking care not to awaken his niece or hishousekeeper – put on his ancient armor, saddled Rocinante, and withlance in hand and sword clattering beside him made his way acrossthe fields in the highest state of content and satisfaction at theease with which his purpose had been accomplished. He could hardlywait for his adventures to begin, or for the chance to try thestrength of his mighty arm upon some wicked warrior or, betterstill, some dragon or giant; but scarcely did he find himself uponthe open plain before a terrible thought came to his mind and onethat nearly made him abandon his adventure before it was wellbegun. He reflected that, according to the rules of chivalry, hemust be dubbed a knight before he could undertake any battles orengagements, and afterward he must wear white armor without anydevice upon his shield, until he had proved by bravery andendurance his right to these privileges of knighthood. He consoledhimself, however, by resolving to have himself dubbed a knight bythe first person who came along; and as for white armor, hedetermined to make his own rival the brightness of the moon byindustrious scouring.
Comforting himself with thoughts such as these, hepursued his way, which he allowed his horse to choose for him,thinking that in so doing he would be guided more surely and morequickly to the adventures that were awaiting him. And as he rodealong he amused himself by quoting imaginary passages from thebooks that he felt sure would be written about his noble deeds –deeds that he would soon accomplish and that would astonish theentire world by their bravery and hardihood. At times he wouldbreak into wild speech, calling his lady Dulcinea by name andsaying: "O Princess Dulcinea, lady of this captive heart, agrievous wrong hast thou done me to drive me forth with scorn andbanish me from the presence of thy beauty!"
And so he went along, stringing such absurd phrasestogether, while the hot sun rose and grew hotter, until it wouldhave melted his brains in his helmet, if he had any. He travelednearly all day without seein