PART I - CHAPTER XXVIII.

by Miguel de Cervantes

　　WHICH TREATS OF THE STRANGE AND DELIGHTFUL ADVENTURE THAT BEFELL THECURATE AND THE BARBER IN THE SAME SIERRAHappy and fortunate were the times when that most daring knight DonQuixote of La Mancha was sent into the world; for by reason of his havingformed a resolution so honourable as that of seeking to revive andrestore to the world the long-lost and almost defunct order ofknight-errantry, we now enjoy in this age of ours, so poor in lightentertainment, not only the charm of his veracious history, but also ofthe tales and episodes contained in it which are, in a measure, no lesspleasing, ingenious, and truthful, than the history itself; which,resuming its thread, carded, spun, and wound, relates that just as thecurate was going to offer consolation to Cardenio, he was interrupted bya voice that fell upon his ear saying in plaintive tones:"O God! is it possible I have found a place that may serve as a secretgrave for the weary load of this body that I support so unwillingly? Ifthe solitude these mountains promise deceives me not, it is so; ah! woeis me! how much more grateful to my mind will be the society of theserocks and brakes that permit me to complain of my misfortune to Heaven,than that of any human being, for there is none on earth to look to forcounsel in doubt, comfort in sorrow, or relief in distress!"All this was heard distinctly by the curate and those with him, and as itseemed to them to be uttered close by, as indeed it was, they got up tolook for the speaker, and before they had gone twenty paces theydiscovered behind a rock, seated at the foot of an ash tree, a youth inthe dress of a peasant, whose face they were unable at the moment to seeas he was leaning forward, bathing his feet in the brook that flowedpast. They approached so silently that he did not perceive them, beingfully occupied in bathing his feet, which were so fair that they lookedlike two pieces of shining crystal brought forth among the other stonesof the brook. The whiteness and beauty of these feet struck them withsurprise, for they did not seem to have been made to crush clods or tofollow the plough and the oxen as their owner's dress suggested; and so,finding they had not been noticed, the curate, who was in front, made asign to the other two to conceal themselves behind some fragments of rockthat lay there; which they did, observing closely what the youth wasabout. He had on a loose double-skirted dark brown jacket bound tight tohis body with a white cloth; he wore besides breeches and gaiters ofbrown cloth, and on his head a brown montera; and he had the gaitersturned up as far as the middle of the leg, which verily seemed to be ofpure alabaster.As soon as he had done bathing his beautiful feet, he wiped them with atowel he took from under the montera, on taking off which he raised hisface, and those who were watching him had an opportunity of seeing abeauty so exquisite that Cardenio said to the curate in a whisper:"As this is not Luscinda, it is no human creature but a divine being."The youth then took off the montera, and shaking his head from side toside there broke loose and spread out a mass of hair that the beams ofthe sun might have envied; by this they knew that what had seemed apeasant was a lovely woman, nay the most beautiful the eyes of two ofthem had ever beheld, or even Cardenio's if they had not seen and knownLuscinda, for he afterwards declared that only the beauty of Luscindacould compare with this. The long auburn tresses not only covered hershoulders, but such was their length and abundance, concealed her allround beneath their masses, so that except the feet nothing of her formwas visible. She now used her hands as a comb, and if her feet had seemedlike bits of crystal in the water, her hands looked like pieces of drivensnow among her locks; all which increased not only the admiration of thethree beholders, but their anxiety to learn who she was. With this objectthey resolved to show themselves, and at the stir they made in gettingupon their feet the fair damsel raised her head, and parting her hairfrom before her eyes with both hands, she looked to see who had made thenoise, and the instant she perceived them she started to her feet, andwithout waiting to put on her shoes or gather up her hair, hastilysnatched up a bundle as though of clothes that she had beside her, and,scared and alarmed, endeavoured to take flight; but before she had gonesix paces she fell to the ground, her delicate feet being unable to bearthe roughness of the stones; seeing which, the three hastened towardsher, and the curate addressing her first said:"Stay, senora, whoever you may be, for those whom you see here onlydesire to be of service to you; you have no need to attempt a flight soheedless, for neither can your feet bear it, nor we allow it."Taken by surprise and bewildered, she made no reply to these words. They,however, came towards her, and the curate taking her hand went on to say:"What your dress would hide, senora, is made known to us by your hair; aclear proof that it can be no trifling cause that has disguised yourbeauty in a garb so unworthy of it, and sent it into solitudes like thesewhere we have had the good fortune to find you, if not to relieve yourdistress, at least to offer you comfort; for no distress, so long as lifelasts, can be so oppressive or reach such a height as to make thesufferer refuse to listen to comfort offered with good intention. And so,senora, or senor, or whatever you prefer to be, dismiss the fears thatour appearance has caused you and make us acquainted with your good orevil fortunes, for from all of us together, or from each one of us, youwill receive sympathy in your trouble."While the curate was speaking, the disguised damsel stood as ifspell-bound, looking at them without opening her lips or uttering a word,just like a village rustic to whom something strange that he has neverseen before has been suddenly shown; but on the curate addressing somefurther words to the same effect to her, sighing deeply she broke silenceand said:"Since the solitude of these mountains has been unable to conceal me, andthe escape of my dishevelled tresses will not allow my tongue to deal infalsehoods, it would be idle for me now to make any further pretence ofwhat, if you were to believe me, you would believe more out of courtesythan for any other reason. This being so, I say I thank you, sirs, forthe offer you have made me, which places me under the obligation ofcomplying with the request you have made of me; though I fear the accountI shall give you of my misfortunes will excite in you as much concern ascompassion, for you will be unable to suggest anything to remedy them orany consolation to alleviate them. However, that my honour may not beleft a matter of doubt in your minds, now that you have discovered me tobe a woman, and see that I am young, alone, and in this dress, thingsthat taken together or separately would be enough to destroy any goodname, I feel bound to tell what I would willingly keep secret if Icould."All this she who was now seen to be a lovely woman delivered without anyhesitation, with so much ease and in so sweet a voice that they were notless charmed by her intelligence than by her beauty, and as they againrepeated their offers and entreaties to her to fulfil her promise, shewithout further pressing, first modestly covering her feet and gatheringup her hair, seated herself on a stone with the three placed around her,and, after an effort to restrain some tears that came to her eyes, in aclear and steady voice began her story thus:"In this Andalusia there is a town from which a duke takes a title whichmakes him one of those that are called Grandees of Spain. This noblemanhas two sons, the elder heir to his dignity and apparently to his goodqualities; the younger heir to I know not what, unless it be thetreachery of Vellido and the falsehood of Ganelon. My parents are thislord's vassals, lowly in origin, but so wealthy that if birth hadconferred as much on them as fortune, they would have had nothing left todesire, nor should I have had reason to fear trouble like that in which Ifind myself now; for it may be that my ill fortune came of theirs in nothaving been nobly born. It is true they are not so low that they have anyreason to be ashamed of their condition, but neither are they so high asto remove from my mind the impression that my mishap comes of theirhumble birth. They are, in short, peasants, plain homely people, withoutany taint of disreputable blood, and, as the saying is, old rustyChristians, but so rich that by their wealth and free-handed way of lifethey are coming by degrees to be considered gentlefolk by birth, and evenby position; though the wealth and nobility they thought most of washaving me for their daughter; and as they have no other child to maketheir heir, and are affectionate parents, I was one of the most indulgeddaughters that ever parents indulged."I was the mirror in which they beheld themselves, the staff of their oldage, and the object in which, with submission to Heaven, all their wishescentred, and mine were in accordance with theirs, for I knew their worth;and as I was mistress of their hearts, so was I also of theirpossessions. Through me they engaged or dismissed their servants; throughmy hands passed the accounts and returns of what was sown and reaped; theoil-mills, the wine-presses, the count of the flocks and herds, thebeehives, all in short that a rich farmer like my father has or can have,I had under my care, and I acted as steward and mistress with anassiduity on my part and satisfaction on theirs that I cannot welldescribe to you. The leisure hours left to me after I had given therequisite orders to the head-shepherds, overseers, and other labourers, Ipassed in such employments as are not only allowable but necessary foryoung girls, those that the needle, embroidery cushion, and spinningwheel usually afford, and if to refresh my mind I quitted them for awhile, I found recreation in reading some devotional book or playing theharp, for experience taught me that music soothes the troubled mind andrelieves weariness of spirit. Such was the life I led in my parents'house and if I have depicted it thus minutely, it is not out ofostentation, or to let you know that I am rich, but that you may see how,without any fault of mine, I have fallen from the happy condition I havedescribed, to the misery I am in at present. The truth is, that while Iwas leading this busy life, in a retirement that might compare with thatof a monastery, and unseen as I thought by any except the servants of thehouse (for when I went to Mass it was so early in the morning, and I wasso closely attended by my mother and the women of the household, and sothickly veiled and so shy, that my eyes scarcely saw more ground than Itrod on), in spite of all this, the eyes of love, or idleness, moreproperly speaking, that the lynx's cannot rival, discovered me, with thehelp of the assiduity of Don Fernando; for that is the name of theyounger son of the duke I told of."The moment the speaker mentioned the name of Don Fernando, Cardeniochanged colour and broke into a sweat, with such signs of emotion thatthe curate and the barber, who observed it, feared that one of the madfits which they heard attacked him sometimes was coming upon him; butCardenio showed no further agitation and remained quiet, regarding thepeasant girl with fixed attention, for he began to suspect who she was.She, however, without noticing the excitement of Cardenio, continuing herstory, went on to say:"And they had hardly discovered me, when, as he owned afterwards, he wassmitten with a violent love for me, as the manner in which it displayeditself plainly showed. But to shorten the long recital of my woes, I willpass over in silence all the artifices employed by Don Fernando fordeclaring his passion for me. He bribed all the household, he gave andoffered gifts and presents to my parents; every day was like a holiday ora merry-making in our street; by night no one could sleep for the music;the love letters that used to come to my hand, no one knew how, wereinnumerable, full of tender pleadings and pledges, containing morepromises and oaths than there were letters in them; all which not onlydid not soften me, but hardened my heart against him, as if he had beenmy mortal enemy, and as if everything he did to make me yield were donewith the opposite intention. Not that the high-bred bearing of DonFernando was disagreeable to me, or that I found his importunitieswearisome; for it gave me a certain sort of satisfaction to find myselfso sought and prized by a gentleman of such distinction, and I was notdispleased at seeing my praises in his letters (for however ugly we womenmay be, it seems to me it always pleases us to hear ourselves calledbeautiful) but that my own sense of right was opposed to all this, aswell as the repeated advice of my parents, who now very plainly perceivedDon Fernando's purpose, for he cared very little if all the world knewit. They told me they trusted and confided their honour and good name tomy virtue and rectitude alone, and bade me consider the disparity betweenDon Fernando and myself, from which I might conclude that his intentions,whatever he might say to the contrary, had for their aim his own pleasurerather than my advantage; and if I were at all desirous of opposing anobstacle to his unreasonable suit, they were ready, they said, to marryme at once to anyone I preferred, either among the leading people of ourown town, or of any of those in the neighbourhood; for with their wealthand my good name, a match might be looked for in any quarter. This offer,and their sound advice strengthened my resolution, and I never gave DonFernando a word in reply that could hold out to him any hope of success,however remote."All this caution of mine, which he must have taken for coyness, hadapparently the effect of increasing his wanton appetite--for that is thename I give to his passion for me; had it been what he declared it to be,you would not know of it now, because there would have been no occasionto tell you of it. At length he learned that my parents werecontemplating marriage for me in order to put an end to his hopes ofobtaining possession of me, or at least to secure additional protectorsto watch over me, and this intelligence or suspicion made him act as youshall hear. One night, as I was in my chamber with no other companionthan a damsel who waited on me, with the doors carefully locked lest myhonour should be imperilled through any carelessness, I know not nor canconceive how it happened, but, with all this seclusion and theseprecautions, and in the solitude and silence of my retirement, I foundhim standing before me, a vision that so astounded me that it deprived myeyes of sight, and my tongue of speech. I had no power to utter a cry,nor, I think, did he give me time to utter one, as he immediatelyapproached me, and taking me in his arms (for, overwhelmed as I was, Iwas powerless, I say, to help myself), he began to make such professionsto me that I know not how falsehood could have had the power of dressingthem up to seem so like truth; and the traitor contrived that his tearsshould vouch for his words, and his sighs for his sincerity."I, a poor young creature alone, ill versed among my people in cases suchas this, began, I know not how, to think all these lying protestationstrue, though without being moved by his sighs and tears to anything morethan pure compassion; and so, as the first feeling of bewilderment passedaway, and I began in some degree to recover myself, I said to him withmore courage than I thought I could have possessed, 'If, as I am now inyour arms, senor, I were in the claws of a fierce lion, and mydeliverance could be procured by doing or saying anything to theprejudice of my honour, it would no more be in my power to do it or sayit, than it would be possible that what was should not have been; sothen, if you hold my body clasped in your arms, I hold my soul secured byvirtuous intentions, very different from yours, as you will see if youattempt to carry them into effect by force. I am your vassal, but I amnot your slave; your nobility neither has nor should have any right todishonour or degrade my humble birth; and low-born peasant as I am, Ihave my self-respect as much as you, a lord and gentleman: with me yourviolence will be to no purpose, your wealth will have no weight, yourwords will have no power to deceive me, nor your sighs or tears to softenme: were I to see any of the things I speak of in him whom my parentsgave me as a husband, his will should be mine, and mine should be boundedby his; and my honour being preserved even though my inclinations werenot would willingly yield him what you, senor, would now obtain by force;and this I say lest you should suppose that any but my lawful husbandshall ever win anything of me.' 'If that,' said this disloyal gentleman,'be the only scruple you feel, fairest Dorothea' (for that is the name ofthis unhappy being), 'see here I give you my hand to be yours, and letHeaven, from which nothing is hid, and this image of Our Lady you havehere, be witnesses of this pledge.'"When Cardenio heard her say she was called Dorothea, he showed freshagitation and felt convinced of the truth of his former suspicion, but hewas unwilling to interrupt the story, and wished to hear the end of whathe already all but knew, so he merely said:"What! is Dorothea your name, senora? I have heard of another of the samename who can perhaps match your misfortunes. But proceed; by-and-by I maytell you something that will astonish you as much as it will excite yourcompassion."Dorothea was struck by Cardenio's words as well as by his strange andmiserable attire, and begged him if he knew anything concerning her totell it to her at once, for if fortune had left her any blessing it wascourage to bear whatever calamity might fall upon her, as she felt surethat none could reach her capable of increasing in any degree what sheendured already."I would not let the occasion pass, senora," replied Cardenio, "oftelling you what I think, if what I suspect were the truth, but so farthere has been no opportunity, nor is it of any importance to you to knowit.""Be it as it may," replied Dorothea, "what happened in my story was thatDon Fernando, taking an image that stood in the chamber, placed it as awitness of our betrothal, and with the most binding words and extravagantoaths gave me his promise to become my husband; though before he had madean end of pledging himself I bade him consider well what he was doing,and think of the anger his father would feel at seeing him married to apeasant girl and one of his vassals; I told him not to let my beauty,such as it was, blind him, for that was not enough to furnish an excusefor his transgression; and if in the love he bore me he wished to do meany kindness, it would be to leave my lot to follow its course at thelevel my condition required; for marriages so unequal never broughthappiness, nor did they continue long to afford the enjoyment they beganwith."All this that I have now repeated I said to him, and much more which Icannot recollect; but it had no effect in inducing him to forego hispurpose; he who has no intention of paying does not trouble himself aboutdifficulties when he is striking the bargain. At the same time I arguedthe matter briefly in my own mind, saying to myself, 'I shall not be thefirst who has risen through marriage from a lowly to a lofty station, norwill Don Fernando be the first whom beauty or, as is more likely, a blindattachment, has led to mate himself below his rank. Then, since I amintroducing no new usage or practice, I may as well avail myself of thehonour that chance offers me, for even though his inclination for meshould not outlast the attainment of his wishes, I shall be, after all,his wife before God. And if I strive to repel him by scorn, I can seethat, fair means failing, he is in a mood to use force, and I shall beleft dishonoured and without any means of proving my innocence to thosewho cannot know how innocently I have come to be in this position; forwhat arguments would persuade my parents that this gentleman entered mychamber without my consent?'"All these questions and answers passed through my mind in a moment; butthe oaths of Don Fernando, the witnesses he appealed to, the tears heshed, and lastly the charms of his person and his high-bred grace, which,accompanied by such signs of genuine love, might well have conquered aheart even more free and coy than mine--these were the things that morethan all began to influence me and lead me unawares to my ruin. I calledmy waiting-maid to me, that there might be a witness on earth besidesthose in Heaven, and again Don Fernando renewed and repeated his oaths,invoked as witnesses fresh saints in addition to the former ones, calleddown upon himself a thousand curses hereafter should he fail to keep hispromise, shed more tears, redoubled his sighs and pressed me closer inhis arms, from which he had never allowed me to escape; and so I was leftby my maid, and ceased to be one, and he became a traitor and a perjuredman."The day which followed the night of my misfortune did not come soquickly, I imagine, as Don Fernando wished, for when desire has attainedits object, the greatest pleasure is to fly from the scene of pleasure. Isay so because Don Fernando made all haste to leave me, and by theadroitness of my maid, who was indeed the one who had admitted him,gained the street before daybreak; but on taking leave of me he told me,though not with as much earnestness and fervour as when he came, that Imight rest assured of his faith and of the sanctity and sincerity of hisoaths; and to confirm his words he drew a rich ring off his finger andplaced it upon mine. He then took his departure and I was left, I knownot whether sorrowful or happy; all I can say is, I was left agitated andtroubled in mind and almost bewildered by what had taken place, and I hadnot the spirit, or else it did not occur to me, to chide my maid for thetreachery she had been guilty of in concealing Don Fernando in mychamber; for as yet I was unable to make up my mind whether what hadbefallen me was for good or evil. I told Don Fernando at parting, that asI was now his, he might see me on other nights in the same way, until itshould be his pleasure to let the matter become known; but, except thefollowing night, he came no more, nor for more than a month could I catcha glimpse of him in the street or in church, while I wearied myself withwatching for one; although I knew he was in the town, and almost everyday went out hunting, a pastime he was very fond of. I remember well howsad and dreary those days and hours were to me; I remember well how Ibegan to doubt as they went by, and even to lose confidence in the faithof Don Fernando; and I remember, too, how my maid heard those words inreproof of her audacity that she had not heard before, and how I wasforced to put a constraint on my tears and on the expression of mycountenance, not to give my parents cause to ask me why I was somelancholy, and drive me to invent falsehoods in reply. But all this wassuddenly brought to an end, for the time came when all suchconsiderations were disregarded, and there was no further question ofhonour, when my patience gave way and the secret of my heart became knownabroad. The reason was, that a few days later it was reported in the townthat Don Fernando had been married in a neighbouring city to a maiden ofrare beauty, the daughter of parents of distinguished position, thoughnot so rich that her portion would entitle her to look for so brilliant amatch; it was said, too, that her name was Luscinda, and that at thebetrothal some strange things had happened."Cardenio heard the name of Luscinda, but he only shrugged his shoulders,bit his lips, bent his brows, and before long two streams of tearsescaped from his eyes. Dorothea, however, did not interrupt her story,but went on in these words:"This sad intelligence reached my ears, and, instead of being struck witha chill, with such wrath and fury did my heart burn that I scarcelyrestrained myself from rushing out into the streets, crying aloud andproclaiming openly the perfidy and treachery of which I was the victim;but this transport of rage was for the time checked by a resolution Iformed, to be carried out the same night, and that was to assume thisdress, which I got from a servant of my father's, one of the zagals, asthey are called in farmhouses, to whom I confided the whole of mymisfortune, and whom I entreated to accompany me to the city where Iheard my enemy was. He, though he remonstrated with me for my boldness,and condemned my resolution, when he saw me bent upon my purpose, offeredto bear me company, as he said, to the end of the world. I at once packedup in a linen pillow-case a woman's dress, and some jewels and money toprovide for emergencies, and in the silence of the night, without lettingmy treacherous maid know, I sallied forth from the house, accompanied bymy servant and abundant anxieties, and on foot set out for the city, butborne as it were on wings by my eagerness to reach it, if not to preventwhat I presumed to be already done, at least to call upon Don Fernando totell me with what conscience he had done it. I reached my destination intwo days and a half, and on entering the city inquired for the house ofLuscinda's parents. The first person I asked gave me more in reply than Isought to know; he showed me the house, and told me all that had occurredat the betrothal of the daughter of the family, an affair of suchnotoriety in the city that it was the talk of every knot of idlers in thestreet. He said that on the night of Don Fernando's betrothal withLuscinda, as soon as she had consented to be his bride by saying 'Yes,'she was taken with a sudden fainting fit, and that on the bridegroomapproaching to unlace the bosom of her dress to give her air, he found apaper in her own handwriting, in which she said and declared that shecould not be Don Fernando's bride, because she was already Cardenio's,who, according to the man's account, was a gentleman of distinction ofthe same city; and that if she had accepted Don Fernando, it was only inobedience to her parents. In short, he said, the words of the paper madeit clear she meant to kill herself on the completion of the betrothal,and gave her reasons for putting an end to herself all which wasconfirmed, it was said, by a dagger they found somewhere in her clothes.On seeing this, Don Fernando, persuaded that Luscinda had befooled,slighted, and trifled with him, assailed her before she had recoveredfrom her swoon, and tried to stab her with the dagger that had beenfound, and would have succeeded had not her parents and those who werepresent prevented him. It was said, moreover, that Don Fernando went awayat once, and that Luscinda did not recover from her prostration until thenext day, when she told her parents how she was really the bride of thatCardenio I have mentioned. I learned besides that Cardenio, according toreport, had been present at the betrothal; and that upon seeing herbetrothed contrary to his expectation, he had quitted the city indespair, leaving behind him a letter declaring the wrong Luscinda haddone him, and his intention of going where no one should ever see himagain. All this was a matter of notoriety in the city, and everyone spokeof it; especially when it became known that Luscinda was missing from herfather's house and from the city, for she was not to be found anywhere,to the distraction of her parents, who knew not what steps to take torecover her. What I learned revived my hopes, and I was better pleasednot to have found Don Fernando than to find him married, for it seemed tome that the door was not yet entirely shut upon relief in my case, and Ithought that perhaps Heaven had put this impediment in the way of thesecond marriage, to lead him to recognise his obligations under theformer one, and reflect that as a Christian he was bound to consider hissoul above all human objects. All this passed through my mind, and Istrove to comfort myself without comfort, indulging in faint and distanthopes of cherishing that life that I now abhor."But while I was in the city, uncertain what to do, as I could not findDon Fernando, I heard notice given by the public crier offering a greatreward to anyone who should find me, and giving the particulars of my ageand of the very dress I wore; and I heard it said that the lad who camewith me had taken me away from my father's house; a thing that cut me tothe heart, showing how low my good name had fallen, since it was notenough that I should lose it by my flight, but they must add with whom Ihad fled, and that one so much beneath me and so unworthy of myconsideration. The instant I heard the notice I quitted the city with myservant, who now began to show signs of wavering in his fidelity to me,and the same night, for fear of discovery, we entered the most thicklywooded part of these mountains. But, as is commonly said, one evil callsup another and the end of one misfortune is apt to be the beginning ofone still greater, and so it proved in my case; for my worthy servant,until then so faithful and trusty when he found me in this lonely spot,moved more by his own villainy than by my beauty, sought to takeadvantage of the opportunity which these solitudes seemed to present him,and with little shame and less fear of God and respect for me, began tomake overtures to me; and finding that I replied to the effrontery of hisproposals with justly severe language, he laid aside the entreaties whichhe had employed at first, and began to use violence."But just Heaven, that seldom fails to watch over and aid good intentions,so aided mine that with my slight strength and with little exertion Ipushed him over a precipice, where I left him, whether dead or alive Iknow not; and then, with greater speed than seemed possible in my terrorand fatigue, I made my way into the mountains, without any other thoughtor purpose save that of hiding myself among them, and escaping my fatherand those despatched in search of me by his orders. It is now I know nothow many months since with this object I came here, where I met aherdsman who engaged me as his servant at a place in the heart of thisSierra, and all this time I have been serving him as herd, striving tokeep always afield to hide these locks which have now unexpectedlybetrayed me. But all my care and pains were unavailing, for my mastermade the discovery that I was not a man, and harboured the same basedesigns as my servant; and as fortune does not always supply a remedy incases of difficulty, and I had no precipice or ravine at hand down whichto fling the master and cure his passion, as I had in the servant's case,I thought it a lesser evil to leave him and again conceal myself amongthese crags, than make trial of my strength and argument with him. So, asI say, once more I went into hiding to seek for some place where I mightwith sighs and tears implore Heaven to have pity on my misery, and grantme help and strength to escape from it, or let me die among thesolitudes, leaving no trace of an unhappy being who, by no fault of hers,has furnished matter for talk and scandal at home and abroad."