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The Fourth BookChapter XXIV.
Chapter XXIV.
Relating That Which the Goatherd Told to Those That Carried Away Don Quixote
`There is a village distant some three leagues from this valley, which,
albeit it be little, is one of the richest of this commark: therein some time
did dwell a wealthy farmer of good respect, and so good, as although
reputation and riches are commonly joined together, yet that which he had was
rather got him by his virtue than by any wealth he possessed; but that which
did most accumulate his happiness (as he himself was wont to say) was, that he
had a daughter of so accomplished beauty, so rare discretion, comeliness, and
virtue, that as many as knew and beheld her admired to see the passing
endowments wherewith Heaven and nature had enriched her. Being a child she was
fair; and, increasing daily in feature, she was at the age of sixteen most
beautiful: the fame whereof extended itself over all the bordering villages.
But why say I the bordering villages alone, if it spread itself over the
furthest cities, yea, and entered into the king`s palace, and into the ears of
all kind of people, so that they came from all parts to behold her, as a rare
thing and pattern of miracles? Her father did carefully keep her, and she
likewise heeded herself; for there is neither guard, lock, nor bolt able to
keep a maiden better than is her own wariness and care. The wealth of the
father and worth of the daughter moved divers, as well of his own village as
strangers, to demand her to wife; but he (as one whom the disposal of so rich
a jewel most nearly concerned) was much perplexed, and unable to determine on
whom, among such an infinite number of importunate wooers, he might bestow
her. Among others that bore this goodwill towards her, I myself was one to
whom they gave many and very great hopes of good success; the knowledge that
her father had of me, my birth in the same village, my descent honest, and
blood untainted, flourishing in years, very rich in goods, and no less in
gifts of the mind. Another of the same village and qualities was also a suitor
unto her; which was an occasion to hold her in suspense, and put his will in
the balance, deeming, as he did, that she might be bestowed on either of us
two. And that he might be rid of that doubt, he resolved to tell it to Leandra
(for so do they call the rich maid which hath brought me to extreme misery),
noting discreetly that, seeing we both were equals, it would not be amiss to
leave in her dear daughter`s power the making choice of whether she liked
best: a thing worthy to be noted by all those parents that would have their
children marry; wherein my meaning is not that they should permit them to make
a bad or a base choice but that they propound certain good ones, and refer to
their liking which of them they will take. I know not what was the liking of
Leandra, but only know this that the father posted us off, by alleging the
over - green years of his daughter, and using general terms, which neither
obliged him nor discharged us. My rival was called Anselmo, and myself
Eugenio, that you may also have some knowledge of the persons which were
actors in this tragedy, whose conclusion is yet depending, but threatens much
future disaster.
About the very same time there arrived to our village one Vincent de la
Rosa, son to a poor labourer of the same place, which Vincent returned as then
from Italy and divers other countries, wherein he had been a soldier; for,
being of some twelve years of age, a certain captain, that with his company
passed along by our village, did carry him away with him; and the youth, after
a dozen years more, came back again attired like a soldier, and painted with a
hundred colours, full of a thousand devices of crystal [and with] five steel
chains. To - day he would put on some gay thing, the next day some other, but
all of them slight, painted, and of little weight, less worth. The clownish
people, which are naturally malicious, and if they have but ever so little
idleness or leisure become malice itself, did note and reckon up all his
braveries and jewels, and found that he had but three suits of apparel of
different colours, with garters and stockings answerable to them; but he used
so many disguisements, varieties, transformations, and inventions, which they,
as if they had not counted them all, some one would have sworn that he had
made show of more than ten suits of apparel, and more than twenty plumes of
feathers; and let not that which I tell you of the apparel be counted
impertinent, or from the matter, for it makes a principal part in the history.
He would sit on a bench that stood under a great poplar - tree in the midst of
the market - place, and there would hold us all with gaping mouths, listening
to the gallant adventures and resolute acts he recounted unto us. There was no
land in all the world whose soil he had not trodden on, no battle wherein he
had not been present; he had slain more Moors than the kingdoms of Morocco and
Tunis contained, and undertaken more single combats, as he said, than ever did
either Gante, Luna, or Diego Garcia de Paredes, and a thousand others whom he
named; and yet he still came away with victory, without having ever left one
drop of blood. On the other side, he would show us signs of wounds, which,
although they could not be discerned, yet would he persuade us that they were
the marks of bullets which he received in divers skirmishes and wars. Finally,
he would "thou" his equals, and those which knew him very well, with
marvellous arrogancy; and said that his arm was his father, his works his
lineage, and that beside his being a soldier he owed not a whit to the king.
To these his arrogancies was annexed some superficial skill in music, for he
could scratch a little on a gittern, and some would say that he made it speak;
but his many graces made not a stop there, for he had likewise some shadows of
poetry, and so would make a ballad of a league and a - half long upon every
toy that happened in the village.
`This soldier, therefore, whom I have deciphered, this Vincent of the
Rose, this braggart, this musician, this poet, eyed and beheld many times by
Leandra, from a certain window of her house that looked into the market -
place; and the golden show of his attire enamoured her, and his ditties
enchanted her; for he would give twenty copies of every one he composed. The
report of his worthy acts, beautified by himself, came also unto her ears; and
finally (for so it is likely the devil had ordered the matter) she became in
love with him, before he presumed to think once of soliciting her. And, as in
love - adventures no one is accomplished with more facility than that which is
favoured by the woman`s desire, Leandra and Vincent made a short and easy
agreement; and ere any one of her suitors could once suspect her desires, she
had fully satisfied them, abandoned her dear and loving father`s house (for
her mother lives not), and running away from the village with the soldier, who
departed with more triumph from that enterprise than from all the others which
he had arrogated to himself. The accident amazed all the town; yea, and all
those to whom the rumour thereof arrived were astonished, Anselmo amazed, her
father sorrowful, her kinsfolk ashamed, the ministers of justice careful, and
the troopers ready to make pursuit. All the ways were laid, and the woods and
every other place nearly searched; and at the end of three days they found the
lustful Leandra hidden in a cave within a wood, naked in her smock, and
despoiled of a great sum of money and many precious jewels which she had
brought away with her. They returned her to her doleful father`s presence,
where, asking how she became so despoiled, she presently confessed that
Vincent de la Rosa had deceived her; for, having passed his word to make her
his wife, he persuaded her to leave her father`s house, and made her believe
that he would carry her to the richest and most delightful city of the world,
which was Naples; and that she, though indiscretion and his fraud, had given
credit to his words, and, robbing her father, stole away with him the very
same night that she was missed; and that he carried her to a very rough
thicket, and shut her up in that cave wherein they found her. She also
recounted how the soldier, without touching her honour, had robbed her of all
that she carried, and, leaving her in that cave, was fled away; which success
struck us into greater admiration than all the rest, for we could hardly be
induced to believe the young gallant`s continency; but she did so earnestly
protest it as it did not a little comfort her comfortless father, who made no
reckoning of the riches he had lost, seeing his daughter had yet reserved that
jewel which, being once gone, could never again be recovered. The same day
that Leandra appeared, she also vanished out of our sights, being conveyed
away by her father, and shut up in a nunnery at a certain town not far off,
hoping that time would illiterate some part of the bad opinion already
conceived of his daughter`s facility. Leandra her youth served to excuse her
error, at least with those which gained nothing by her being good or ill; but
such as knew her discretion and great wit did not attribute her sin to
ignorance, but rather to her too much lightness, and the natural infirmity of
that sex, which for the most part is inconsiderate and slippery. Leandra being
shut up, Anselmo`s eyes lost their light, or at least beheld not anything that
could delight them; and mine remained in darkness without light that could
address them to any pleasing object, in Leandra`s absence. Our griefs
increased, our patience diminished; we cursed the soldier`s ornaments, and
abhorred her father`s want of looking to her. To be brief, Anselmo and myself
resolved to abandon the village and come to this valley, where, he feeding a
great flock of sheep of his own, and I as copious a herd of goats of mine, we
pass our lives among these trees, giving vent to our passions, either by
singing together the beautiful Leandra`s praises or dispraises, or by sighing
alone, and alone communicating our quarrelsome complaints with Heaven. Many
others of Leandra`s suitors have since, by our example, come to these
intricate woods, where they use our very exercise; and they are so many as it
seems that this place is converted into the pastoral Arcadia; it is full of
shepherds and sheepfolds, and there is no one part thereof wherein the name of
the beautiful Leandra resoundeth not. There one doth curse her, and termeth
her humours inconstant and dishonest; another condemns her of being so facile
and light; some one absolves and pardons her; another condemns and despises
her, and celebrates her beauty; another execrates her disposition; and
finally, all blame, but yet adore her; and the raving distraction of them all
doth so far extend itself, as some one complains of disdain that never spoke
word unto her, and some one laments and feels the enraged fits of jealousy
though she never ministered any occasion thereof; for, as I have said, her sin
was known before her desires. There is no cleft of a rock, no bank of a
stream, nor shadow of a tree, without some shepherd or other, that breathes
out his misfortunes to the silent air. The echo repeats Leandra`s name
wheresoever it can be formed; the woods resound Leandra; the brooks do murmur
Leandra; and Leandra holds us all perplexed and enchanted, hoping without
hope, and fearing without knowledge what we fear.
`And among all this flock of frantic men, none shows more or less
judgment than my companion, Anselmo, who, having so many other titles under
which he might plain him, only complains of absence, and doth to the sound of
a rebec (which he handles admirably well) sing certain doleful verses, which
fully discover the excellency of his conceit. I follow a more easy and, in
mine opinion, a more certain way - to wit, I rail on the lightness of women,
on their inconstancy, double-dealing, dead promises, cracked trust, and the
small discretion they show in placing of their affections; and this, sir, was
the occasion of the words and reasons I lately used to this goat, whom I do
esteem but little because she is a female, although she be otherwise the best
of all my herd. And this is the history which I promised to tell you, wherein,
if I have been prolix, I will be altogether as large in doing you any service;
for I have here at hand my cabin, and therein store of fresh milk and savoury
cheese, with many sorts of excellent fruit, no less agreeable to the sight
than pleasing to the taste.`
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