Don Quixote — Chapter 126 in Spanish
By Miguel de Cervantes
Como las cosas humanas no sean eternas, yendo siempre en declinación de sus principios hasta llegar a su último fin, especialmente las vidas de los hombres, y como la de don Quijote no tuviese privilegio del cielo para detener el curso de la suya, llegó su fin y acabamiento cuando él menos lo pensaba; porque, o ya fuese de la melancolía que le causaba el verse vencido, o ya por la disposición del cielo, que así lo ordenaba, se le arraigó una calentura que le tuvo seis días en la cama, en los cuales fue visitado muchas veces del cura, del bachiller y del barbero, sus amigos, sin quitársele de la cabecera Sancho Panza, su buen escudero. As nothing that is man's can last for ever, but all tends ever downwards from its beginning to its end, and above all man's life, and as Don Quixote's enjoyed no special dispensation from heaven to stay its course, its end and close came when he least looked for it. For-whether it was of the dejection the thought of his defeat produced, or of heaven's will that so ordered it--a fever settled upon him and kept him in his bed for six days, during which he was often visited by his friends the curate, the bachelor, and the barber, while his good squire Sancho Panza never quitted his bedside. Éstos, creyendo que la pesadumbre de verse vencido y de no ver cumplido su deseo en la libertad y desencanto de Dulcinea le tenía de aquella suerte, por todas las vías posibles procuraban alegrarle, diciéndole el bachiller que se animase y levantase, para comenzar su pastoral ejercicio, para el cual tenía ya compuesta una écloga, que mal año para cuantas Sanazaro había compuesto, y que ya tenía comprados de su propio dinero dos famosos perros para guardar el ganado: el uno llamado Barcino, y el otro Butrón, que se los había vendido un ganadero del Quintanar. They, persuaded that it was grief at finding himself vanquished, and the object of his heart, the liberation and disenchantment of Dulcinea, unattained, that kept him in this state, strove by all the means in their power to cheer him up; the bachelor bidding him take heart and get up to begin his pastoral life, for which he himself, he said, had already composed an eclogue that would take the shine out of all Sannazaro had ever written, and had bought with his own money two famous dogs to guard the flock, one called Barcino and the other Butron, which a herdsman of Quintanar had sold him.
Pero no por esto dejaba don Quijote sus tristezas. But for all this Don Quixote could not shake off his sadness. Llamaron sus amigos al médico, tomóle el pulso, y no le contentó mucho, y dijo que, por sí o por no, atendiese a la salud de su alma, porque la del cuerpo corría peligro. His friends called in the doctor, who felt his pulse and was not very well satisfied with it, and said that in any case it would be well for him to attend to the health of his soul, as that of his body was in a bad way. Oyólo don Quijote con ánimo sosegado, pero no lo oyeron así su ama, su sobrina y su escudero, los cuales comenzaron a llorar tiernamente, como si ya le tuvieran muerto delante. Don Quixote heard this calmly; but not so his housekeeper, his niece, and his squire, who fell weeping bitterly, as if they had him lying dead before them. Fue el parecer del médico que melancolías y desabrimientos le acababan. The doctor's opinion was that melancholy and depression were bringing him to his end. Rogó don Quijote que le dejasen solo, porque quería dormir un poco. Don Quixote begged them to leave him to himself, as he had a wish to sleep a little. Hiciéronlo así y durmió de un tirón, como dicen, más de seis horas; tanto, que pensaron el ama y la sobrina que se había de quedar en el sueño. They obeyed, and he slept at one stretch, as the saying is, more than six hours, so that the housekeeper and niece thought he was going to sleep for ever. Despertó al cabo del tiempo dicho, y, dando una gran voz, dijo: — ¡Bendito sea el poderoso Dios, que tanto bien me ha hecho! But at the end of that time he woke up, and in a loud voice exclaimed, "Blessed be Almighty God, who has shown me such goodness. En fin, sus misericordias no tienen límite, ni las abrevian ni impiden los pecados de los hombres. In truth his mercies are boundless, and the sins of men can neither limit them nor keep them back!"
Estuvo atenta la sobrina a las razones del tío, y pareciéronle más concertadas que él solía decirlas, a lo menos, en aquella enfermedad, y preguntóle: The niece listened with attention to her uncle's words, and they struck her as more coherent than what usually fell from him, at least during his illness, so she asked, "What are you saying, senor? ¿Ha sucedido algo extraño? Has anything strange occurred? ¿Qué misericordias son éstas, o qué pecados de los hombres? What mercies or what sins of men are you talking of?"
— Las misericordias —respondió don Quijote—, sobrina, son las que en este instante ha usado Dios conmigo, a quien, como dije, no las impiden mis pecados. "The mercies, niece," said Don Quixote, "are those that God has this moment shown me, and with him, as I said, my sins are no impediment to them. Yo tengo juicio ya, libre y claro, sin las sombras caliginosas de la ignorancia, que sobre él me pusieron mi amarga y continua leyenda de los detestables libros de las caballerías. My reason is now free and clear, rid of the dark shadows of ignorance that my unhappy constant study of those detestable books of chivalry cast over it. Ya conozco sus disparates y sus embelecos, y no me pesa sino que este desengaño ha llegado tan tarde, que no me deja tiempo para hacer alguna recompensa, leyendo otros que sean luz del alma. Now I see through their absurdities and deceptions, and it only grieves me that this destruction of my illusions has come so late that it leaves me no time to make some amends by reading other books that might be a light to my soul. Yo me siento, sobrina, a punto de muerte; querría hacerla de tal modo, que diese a entender que no había sido mi vida tan mala que dejase renombre de loco, que, puesto que lo he sido, no querría confirmar esta verdad en mi muerte. Niece, I feel myself at the point of death, and I would fain meet it in such a way as to show that my life has not been so ill that I should leave behind me the name of a madman; for though I have been one, I would not that the fact should be made plainer at my death. Llámame, amiga, a mis buenos amigos: el cura, al bachiller Sansón Carrasco y a maese Nicolás, el barbero, que quiero confesarme y hacer mi testamento. Call in to me, my dear, my good friends the curate, the bachelor Samson Carrasco, and Master Nicholas the barber, for I wish to confess and make my will." Pero de este trabajo se escusó la sobrina con la entrada de los tres. But his niece was saved the trouble by the entrance of the three. — Dadme albricias, buenos señores, de que ya yo no soy don Quijote de la Mancha, sino Alonso Quijano, a quien mis costumbres me dieron renombre de Bueno. The instant Don Quixote saw them he exclaimed, "Good news for you, good sirs, that I am no longer Don Quixote of La Mancha, but Alonso Quixano, whose way of life won for him the name of Good. Ahora soy enemigo de Amadís de Gaula y de toda la innumerable tropa de sus descendientes; odiosas me son ahora todas las profanas historias de caballerías; ahora conozco mi locura y el peligro en que su leyenda me puso; ahora, por misericordia divina, recobrados ya mis sentidos, las aborrezco. Now am I the enemy of Amadis of Gaul and of the whole countless troop of his descendants; odious to me now are all the profane stories of knight-errantry; now I perceive my folly, and the peril into which reading them brought me; now, by God's mercy schooled into my right senses, I loathe them."