Don Quixote_ Translation by Edith Grossman (HarperCollins) - Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra [482]
Sancho said this to himself on the day of their departure, and Don Quixote, having taken his leave of the duke and duchess the night before, came out in the morning and appeared in his armor on the castle square. All the people in the castle watched him from the passageways, and the duke and duchess also came out to see him. Sancho was on his gray, with his saddlebags, traveling case, and provisions, and he was very happy because the duke’s steward, the one who had played Countess Trifaldi, had given him a purse with two hundred gold escudos for expenses on the road, and Don Quixote did not know about this yet.
While everyone was looking at Don Quixote, as has been said, suddenly, from among the duchess’s duennas and maidens who were watching him, the bold and clever Altisidora raised her voice, and in woeful tones she said:
“Oh listen, most wicked knight;
pull up your reins for a while;
do not belabor the flanks
of your uncontrollable steed.
Consider, false one, no fearsome
serpent pursues you, you flee
nothing but a gentle lamb,
one far from being a ewe.
O monster, you have deceived
the fairest, most comely maid
Diana saw in her forests,
or Venus saw in her woods.
Vireno most cruel, O fugitive Aeneas, 1
may Barabbas go with you; you belong with him.
You take with you, oh cruel taking,
clutched in your bloodthirsty claws
the loving heart of a damsel enamored,
humble, and young.
You have taken her three nightcaps,
and garters both black and white
from legs that rival the purest
marble in their smooth whiteness.
You have taken two thousand sighs
that could, if they were of fire,
burn and destroy two thousand Troys
if there were two thousand Troys.
Vireno most cruel, oh fugitive Aeneas,
may Barabbas go with you; you belong with him.
As for your squire named Sancho,
may his heart be as hard as stone,
as cold as ice: then Dulcinea
will ne’er be freed of enchantment.
The fault is no one’s but yours,
but let her pay for your crime;
perhaps in my land the just
must pay and suffer for sinners.
May your most noble adventures
be nothing but misadventures,
your pleasures, nothing but dreams,
your courage, gone and forgotten.
Cruel Vireno, fugitive Aeneas,
May Barabbas go with you; you belong with him.
May you be known as false-hearted
from Sevilla to Marchena,
from Granada to far Loja,
from fair London throughout England.
If you ever play reinado,
los cientos, or la primera,2
may all the kings fly from you,
as well as aces and sevens.
If you ever trim your corns,
may the blood spurt from the wounds,
and if you have your molars pulled
may they break off at the roots.
Cruel Vireno, fugitive Aeneas,
May Barabbas go with you; you belong with him.”
While the piteous Altisidora lamented her aforementioned fate, Don Quixote stared fixedly at her, not saying a word, and then he turned to Sancho and said:
“By all the years of your forebears, Sancho my friend, I implore you to tell me the truth. Tell me, have you, by any chance, taken the three nightcaps and the garters that this enamored maiden has mentioned?”
To which Sancho responded:
“I do have the three nightcaps, but the garters—that’s really crazy.”
The duchess was amazed at the boldness of Altisidora, for although she considered her audacious, lively, and bold, she did not think she would dare carry things so far, and since she had not been told about this joke, her amazement grew even more. The duke wanted to go on with the clever deception, and he said:
“It does not seem right to me, Señor Knight, that after receiving in this castle the warm welcome that was offered to you, you have