登陆注册
4907800000342

第342章

BY EVERY word that Sancho uttered, the duchess was as much delighted as Don Quixote was driven to desperation. He bade him hold his tongue, and the Distressed One went on to say: "At length, after much questioning and answering, as the princess held to her story, without changing or varying her previous declaration, the Vicar gave his decision in favour of Don Clavijo, and she was delivered over to him as his lawful wife; which the Queen Dona Maguncia, the Princess Antonomasia's mother, so took to heart, that within the space of three days we buried her."

"She died, no doubt," said Sancho.

"Of course," said Trifaldin; "they don't bury living people in Kandy, only the dead."

"Senor Squire," said Sancho, "a man in a swoon has been known to be buried before now, in the belief that he was dead; and it struck me that Queen Maguncia ought to have swooned rather than died; because with life a great many things come right, and the princess's folly was not so great that she need feel it so keenly. If the lady had married some page of hers, or some other servant of the house, as many another has done, so I have heard say, then the mischief would have been past curing. But to marry such an elegant accomplished gentleman as has been just now described to us- indeed, indeed, though it was a folly, it was not such a great one as you think; for according to the rules of my master here- and he won't allow me to lie- as of men of letters bishops are made, so of gentlemen knights, specially if they be errant, kings and emperors may be made."

"Thou art right, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "for with a knight-errant, if he has but two fingers' breadth of good fortune, it is on the cards to become the mightiest lord on earth. But let senora the Distressed One proceed; for I suspect she has got yet to tell us the bitter part of this so far sweet story."

"The bitter is indeed to come," said the countess; "and such bitter that colocynth is sweet and oleander toothsome in comparison.

The queen, then, being dead, and not in a swoon, we buried her; and hardly had we covered her with earth, hardly had we said our last farewells, when, quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis? over the queen's grave there appeared, mounted upon a wooden horse, the giant Malambruno, Maguncia's first cousin, who besides being cruel is an enchanter; and he, to revenge the death of his cousin, punish the audacity of Don Clavijo, and in wrath at the contumacy of Antonomasia, left them both enchanted by his art on the grave itself; she being changed into an ape of brass, and he into a horrible crocodile of some unknown metal; while between the two there stands a pillar, also of metal, with certain characters in the Syriac language inscribed upon it, which, being translated into Kandian, and now into Castilian, contain the following sentence: 'These two rash lovers shall not recover their former shape until the valiant Manchegan comes to do battle with me in single combat; for the Fates reserve this unexampled adventure for his mighty valour alone.' This done, he drew from its sheath a huge broad scimitar, and seizing me by the hair he made as though he meant to cut my throat and shear my head clean off. I was terror-stricken, my voice stuck in my throat, and I was in the deepest distress; nevertheless I summoned up my strength as well as I could, and in a trembling and piteous voice I addressed such words to him as induced him to stay the infliction of a punishment so severe. He then caused all the duennas of the palace, those that are here present, to be brought before him; and after having dwelt upon the enormity of our offence, and denounced duennas, their characters, their evil ways and worse intrigues, laying to the charge of all what I alone was guilty of, he said he would not visit us with capital punishment, but with others of a slow nature which would be in effect civil death for ever; and the very instant he ceased speaking we all felt the pores of our faces opening, and pricking us, as if with the points of needles. We at once put our hands up to our faces and found ourselves in the state you now see."

Here the Distressed One and the other duennas raised the veils with which they were covered, and disclosed countenances all bristling with beards, some red, some black, some white, and some grizzled, at which spectacle the duke and duchess made a show of being filled with wonder. Don Quixote and Sancho were overwhelmed with amazement, and the bystanders lost in astonishment, while the Trifaldi went on to say: "Thus did that malevolent villain Malambruno punish us, covering the tenderness and softness of our faces with these rough bristles! Would to heaven that he had swept off our heads with his enormous scimitar instead of obscuring the light of our countenances with these wool-combings that cover us! For if we look into the matter, sirs (and what I am now going to say I would say with eyes flowing like fountains, only that the thought of our misfortune and the oceans they have already wept, keep them as dry as barley spears, and so I say it without tears), where, I ask, can a duenna with a beard to to? What father or mother will feel pity for her?

Who will help her? For, if even when she has a smooth skin, and a face tortured by a thousand kinds of washes and cosmetics, she can hardly get anybody to love her, what will she do when she shows a countenace turned into a thicket? Oh duennas, companions mine! it was an unlucky moment when we were born and an ill-starred hour when our fathers begot us!" And as she said this she showed signs of being about to faint.

同类推荐
  • 九转灵砂大丹

    九转灵砂大丹

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Northanger Abbey

    Northanger Abbey

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大唐贞元续开元释教录

    大唐贞元续开元释教录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 彭文宪公笔记

    彭文宪公笔记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Old Peabody Pew

    The Old Peabody Pew

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 我能改写数据

    我能改写数据

    现在已经是凌晨两点,陈耳东还目不转睛地坐在办公室的电脑前,手指飞快地操作着键盘和鼠标。作为一……
  • 道鉴天图

    道鉴天图

    九州十域,苍茫浩瀚,大道昌隆。强者以修习自身先天孕育的道图为主,天玄道鉴为辅,竞逐大道,成就无上果位。不屈的意志,不服于徒做嫁衣的命运,逆天而行,少年闯出了一条属于自己的大道。沉睡万古的战灵,湮灭了无尽岁月的武魂,那虚无缥缈的传说,都终将觉醒,进行一场跨越大时代的博弈。万道为鉴,诸天为图,谁是主宰苍生万灵的无上存在,谁又是打破规则禁锢的逍遥超脱者。
  • 赠你一场盛世繁华

    赠你一场盛世繁华

    我的未婚夫赵彦有了外遇,我跟踪外遇对象的哥哥贺子华。我高傲的甩了赵彦,又用肚子逼贺子华娶我。豪门婚姻里,充斥着刀光剑影的算计,贺子华的前女友屡次置我于不义,我的前男友又到处给我使绊子。贺子华说:“沈珂,你太让我失望了,我一直忍你,就是看在你肚子的份上,没想到你根本不能生育!”他还说:“你走吧,别再让我见到你。”我拿着离婚协议,净身出户。三年后,我支教归来,为了生计入职了一家广告公司。岂料他竟然是幕后BOSS!他逼问我那个和他一个模子刻出来的孩子,到底是谁的?我高傲的笑笑:“石头里蹦出来的!”他把我推到:“你倒是再蹦个我看看!”有种爱情,由恨起,因爱终,有种婚姻,路坎坷,终圆满。
  • 角儿

    角儿

    这套四本影视原创小说自选集,包括了我的九部被改编成影视作品的小说。影视作品注重的是故事性,有了一定的故事,再加上其文学性,也就是鲜活的人物和文学的命题,自然会得到更多观众的喜爱。也就是说,一部成功的影视作品离不开文学的支持。影视制片人经过十几年来的生产制作经验,已经意识到剧本在一部戏中的重要性。另外我的创作主张是,一定要有较强的可读性和当代性。作家都希望自己的作品被更多的读者接受,这是一个不争的事实,试想,任何一部文学名著,不论中外,都是首先有较强的可读性以后,才一代代地流传下来,然后才是不朽。假设一部作品的出版,只有一小部分人在看,又怎么能流传下来呢?难以流传下来的作品,又何谈名著呢?
  • 倾慕记

    倾慕记

    话说将军盯着自己宠出来的这货很久了……贪财好色……还要继续宠么?…………
  • 魔改全世界

    魔改全世界

    (新书《戏精的诞生》已发,欢迎收藏。)“您是本游戏在无尽位面中唯一玩家,祝您游戏愉快。”手机里多出了一款号称游戏,实则为简易改图的PS软件。颜安青用它修改了一下毕业照之后,现实中的自己突然成了修改后的模样!沉吟片刻,他把手机摄像头对准了月亮……这是一个魔改地球的故事!(本书首发起点,若君有意,不妨前来追更!)(群号602814829)
  • 舌尖上的私房菜

    舌尖上的私房菜

    在书中我们窥见傻兮兮的土豆、暴躁的洋葱、美艳的汤,美食之外作者以细腻的笔调,通过对美食的坚持和追求,向我们呈现了精致的生活态度和悠然的人生趣味。
  • 诸天神话入侵

    诸天神话入侵

    系统降临,神话入侵。人类只有获得恩赐,才有资格与神话生物斗争。被广大游戏玩家誉为游戏攻略之神的林源,在获得恩赐后,却不这么想。望着蜂拥而至,将自己包围的神话生物,林源只能默默说道:“我不是天生要强,我这是八成要凉……”
  • 穿越秦朝之祖龙的管事

    穿越秦朝之祖龙的管事

    嫪隘,一名与大秦始皇母亲身边宦官名字相像的学生,因为一场梦境开启了一场历史的征程。嫪毐之乱,车裂极刑能否重新改写。
  • 奋斗在洪武末年

    奋斗在洪武末年

    驱逐北元,扫清天下,明太祖固有一死。书生当国,藩王虎视,削藩靖难,血火刀锋中,杀出凛凛新明朝。一个失业的锦衣卫,一个卑微的小人物,左持剑,右握锄,一剑平天下,一锄养万民。这是个小特工,奋斗成为盛世大豪的曲折故事。大明盛世有千钧,锦衣卫担八百!翻开《永乐大典》,尽是我的传说!——————————读者群:284427642