Don Quixote — Chapter 40 in French
By Miguel de Cervantes
— C’est précisément ainsi que je le sais, dit le captif. "That is it exactly, according to my recollection," said the captive.
— Quant à celui du Fort, reprit le gentilhomme, si j’ai bonne mémoire, voici comment il est conçu : "Well then, that on the fort," said the gentleman, "if my memory serves me, goes thus:
Les sonnets ne furent pas trouvés mauvais, et le captif, après s’être réjoui des bonnes nouvelles qu’on lui donnait de son compagnon, reprit le fil de son histoire. The sonnets were not disliked, and the captive was rejoiced at the tidings they gave him of his comrade, and continuing his tale, he went on to say:
« Après la reddition de la Goulette et du Fort, dit-il, les Turcs ordonnèrent que la Goulette fût démantelée ; car, pour le Fort, il n’en restait plus rien à jeter par terre. Afin d’aller plus vite en besogne, on la mina par trois côtés ; mais on ne put en aucun endroit faire sauter ce qui semblait le moins solide, c’est-à-dire les murailles antiques, tandis que toutes les nouvelles fortifications qu’avait élevées le Fratin furent aisément abattues. The Goletta and the fort being thus in their hands, the Turks gave orders to dismantle the Goletta--for the fort was reduced to such a state that there was nothing left to level--and to do the work more quickly and easily they mined it in three places; but nowhere were they able to blow up the part which seemed to be the least strong, that is to say, the old walls, while all that remained standing of the new fortifications that the Fratin had made came to the ground with the greatest ease. On l’appelait Uchali Fartax, qui veut dire, en langue turque, le renégat teigneux, parce qu’il l’était effectivement, et c’est l’usage parmi les Turcs de donner aux gens les noms des défauts ou des qualités qu’ils peuvent avoir. Chez eux, en effet, il n’y a que quatre noms de famille, qui viennent également de la maison ottomane ; les autres, comme je l’ai dit, prennent leurs noms des vices du corps ou des vertus de l’âme. Finally the fleet returned victorious and triumphant to Constantinople, and a few months later died my master, El Uchali, otherwise Uchali Fartax, which means in Turkish "the scabby renegade;" for that he was; it is the practice with the Turks to name people from some defect or virtue they may possess; the reason being that there are among them only four surnames belonging to families tracing their descent from the Ottoman house, and the others, as I have said, take their names and surnames either from bodily blemishes or moral qualities. Ce teigneux, étant esclave, avait ramé quatorze ans sur les galères du grand-seigneur ; et quand il eut trente-quatre ans passés, il se fit renégat, de dépit de ce qu’un Turc lui avait donné un soufflet pendant qu’il ramait ; et, pour s’en pouvoir venger, il renia sa foi. Sa valeur fut si grande que, sans passer par les routes viles et basses que prennent pour s’élever la plupart des favoris du grand-seigneur, il devint roi d’Alger, et ensuite général de la mer, ce qui est la troisième charge de l’empire. This "scabby one" rowed at the oar as a slave of the Grand Signor's for fourteen years, and when over thirty-four years of age, in resentment at having been struck by a Turk while at the oar, turned renegade and renounced his faith in order to be able to revenge himself; and such was his valour that, without owing his advancement to the base ways and means by which most favourites of the Grand Signor rise to power, he came to be king of Algiers, and afterwards general-on-sea, which is the third place of trust in the realm. Il était Calabrais de nation, et fut moralement homme de bien ; il traitait avec beaucoup d’humanité ses captifs, dont le nombre s’éleva jusqu’à trois mille. He was a Calabrian by birth, and a worthy man morally, and he treated his slaves with great humanity. Après sa mort, et suivant l’ordre qu’il en donna dans son testament, ceux-ci furent répartis entre ses renégats et le grand-seigneur (qui est aussi l’héritier de tous ceux qui meurent, et qui prend part comme les autres enfants à la succession du défunt). He had three thousand of them, and after his death they were divided, as he directed by his will, between the Grand Signor (who is heir of all who die and shares with the children of the deceased) and his renegades. Je tombai en partage à un renégat vénitien, qu’Uchali avait fait prisonnier étant mousse sur un vaisseau chrétien, et qu’il aima tant qu’il en fit un de ses plus chers mignons. I fell to the lot of a Venetian renegade who, when a cabin boy on board a ship, had been taken by Uchali and was so much beloved by him that he became one of his most favoured youths. Celui-ci, le plus cruel renégat qu’on vît jamais, s’appelait Hassan-Aga : il devint très-riche, et fut fait roi d’Alger. He came to be the most cruel renegade I ever saw: his name was Hassan Aga, and he grew very rich and became king of Algiers. Je le suivis de Constantinople à cette ville, satisfait d’être si près de l’Espagne ; non que je pensasse à écrire à personne ma douloureuse situation, mais pour voir si la fortune ne me serait pas plus favorable à Alger qu’à Constantinople, où j’avais, de mille manières, essayé de m’enfuir, sans qu’aucune eût réussi. Je pensais, une fois dans Alger, chercher d’autres moyens d’arriver à ce que je désirais tant, car jamais l’espoir de recouvrer la liberté ne m’abandonna ; et quand, en ce que j’imaginais ou mettais en œuvre, le succès ne répondait pas à l’intention, aussitôt, sans m’abandonner à la douleur, je me forgeais une autre espérance qui, toute faible qu’elle fût, soutînt mon courage. With him I went there from Constantinople, rather glad to be so near Spain, not that I intended to write to anyone about my unhappy lot, but to try if fortune would be kinder to me in Algiers than in Constantinople, where I had attempted in a thousand ways to escape without ever finding a favourable time or chance; but in Algiers I resolved to seek for other means of effecting the purpose I cherished so dearly; for the hope of obtaining my liberty never deserted me; and when in my plots and schemes and attempts the result did not answer my expectations, without giving way to despair I immediately began to look out for or conjure up some new hope to support me, however faint or feeble it might be.