Candide — Chapter 12 in Spanish
By Voltaire
Continuacion de las aventuras de la Vieja. The Adventures of the Old Woman Continued
Atónita quanto alborozada de oir el idioma de mi patria, extrañando empero las palabras que decia aquel hombre, le respondí que mayores desgracias habia que el desman de que se lamentaba, informándole en pocas razones de los horrores que habia sufrido; despues de esto me volví á desmayar. “Astonished and delighted to hear my native language, and no less surprised at the young man’s words, I told him that there were far greater misfortunes in the world than what he complained of. Y para convencerle de ello, le dí una breve historia de los horribles desastres que habia sufrido; y me volví á desmayar. And to convince him of it, I gave him a short history of the horrible disasters that had befallen me; and again fell into a swoon. Llevóme á una casa inmediata, hizo que me metieran en la cama, y me dieran de comer, me sirvió, me consoló, me halagó, me dixo que no habia visto en su vida criatura mas hermosa, ni habia nunca sentido mas que le faltara lo que nadie podia suplir. He carried me in his arms to a neighbouring cottage, where he had me put to bed, procured me something to eat, waited on me, comforted me, caressed me, told me that he had never seen anything so perfectly beautiful as myself, and that he had never so much regretted the loss of what no one could restore to him.
Nací en Nápoles, me dixo, donde capan todos los años dos ó tres mil chiquillos: unos se mueren, otros sacan mejor voz que las mugeres, y otros van á gobernar estados. “ ‘I was born at Naples,’ said he, ‘where they caponize two or three thousand children every year: several die of the operation; some acquire voices far beyond the most tuneful of your ladies; and others are sent to govern states and empires. Me hiciéron la operacion susodicha con suma felicidad, y he sido músico de la capilla de la señora princesa de Palestrina. I underwent this operation very happily, and was one of the singers in the Princess of Palestrina’s chapel.’
¡Cómo! exclamé, ¡en la capilla de mi madre! “ ‘How,’ cried I, ‘in my mother’s chapel!’