Don Quixote — Chapter 51 in French
By Miguel de Cervantes
À trois lieues de cette vallée, il y a un village qui, bien que petit, est l'un des plus riches de tout ce voisinage; il y demeurait un fermier, un homme fort respectable, et si respecté que, bien que cela soit naturellement une conséquence de la richesse, il l'était d'autant plus pour sa vertu que pour les richesses qu'il avait acquises. Three leagues from this valley there is a village which, though small, is one of the richest in all this neighbourhood, and in it there lived a farmer, a very worthy man, and so much respected that, although to be so is the natural consequence of being rich, he was even more respected for his virtue than for the wealth he had acquired. de si rare intelligence, de tant de grâce et de vertu, que tous ceux qui la voyaient s’étonnaient de voir de quelles merveilleuses qualités le ciel et la nature l’avaient enrichie. But what made him still more fortunate, as he said himself, was having a daughter of such exceeding beauty, rare intelligence, gracefulness, and virtue, that everyone who knew her and beheld her marvelled at the extraordinary gifts with which heaven and nature had endowed her. Toute petite, elle était belle, et, grandissant toujours en attraits, à seize ans c’était un prodige de beauté. As a child she was beautiful, she continued to grow in beauty, and at the age of sixteen she was most lovely. La renommée de ses charmes commença à s’étendre dans les villages voisins ; que dis-je, dans les villages ? The fame of her beauty began to spread abroad through all the villages around--but why do I say the villages around, merely, when it spread to distant cities, and even made its way into the halls of royalty and reached the ears of people of every class, who came from all sides to see her as if to see something rare and curious, or some wonder-working image?
Son père veillait sur elle, et elle veillait sur elle-même; car il n'y a point de serrures, de gardes, ou de verrous qui puissent mieux protéger une jeune fille que sa propre modestie. Her father watched over her and she watched over herself; for there are no locks, or guards, or bolts that can protect a young girl better than her own modesty. » Un autre jeune homme du même village, et doué des mêmes qualités, fit aussi la demande de sa main, ce qui tint en suspens la volonté du père, auquel il semblait qu’avec l’un ou l’autre de nous deux sa fille serait également bien établie. The wealth of the father and the beauty of the daughter led many neighbours as well as strangers to seek her for a wife; but he, as one might well be who had the disposal of so rich a jewel, was perplexed and unable to make up his mind to which of her countless suitors he should entrust her. I was one among the many who felt a desire so natural, and, as her father knew who I was, and I was of the same town, of pure blood, in the bloom of life, and very rich in possessions, I had great hopes of success. Pour sortir de cette incertitude, il résolut de tout confier à Léandra (c’est ainsi que s’appelle la riche prétendue qui m’a réduit à la misère), faisant réflexion que, puisque nous étions égaux, il ferait bien de laisser à sa fille chérie le droit de choisir à son goût : chose digne d’être imitée de tous les parents qui ont des enfants à marier. There was another of the same place and qualifications who also sought her, and this made her father's choice hang in the balance, for he felt that on either of us his daughter would be well bestowed; so to escape from this state of perplexity he resolved to refer the matter to Leandra (for that is the name of the rich damsel who has reduced me to misery), reflecting that as we were both equal it would be best to leave it to his dear daughter to choose according to her inclination--a course that is worthy of imitation by all fathers who wish to settle their children in life. Je ne dis pas qu’ils doivent les laisser choisir entre de mauvais partis, mais leur en proposer de bons et de sortables, et les laisser ensuite prendre à leur gré. I do not mean that they ought to leave them to make a choice of what is contemptible and bad, but that they should place before them what is good and then allow them to make a good choice as they please. Je ne sais quel choix fit Léandra ; je sais seulement que le père nous amusa tous les deux avec la grande jeunesse de sa fille, et d’autres paroles générales qui, sans l’obliger, ne nous désobligeaient pas non plus. I do not know which Leandra chose; I only know her father put us both off with the tender age of his daughter and vague words that neither bound him nor dismissed us. Mon rival se nomme Anselme, et moi je m’appelle Eugénio, afin que vous preniez connaissance des noms des personnages qui figurent dans cette tragédie, dont le dénoûment n’est pas encore venu, mais qui ne peut manquer d’être sanglant et désastreux. My rival is called Anselmo and I myself Eugenio--that you may know the names of the personages that figure in this tragedy, the end of which is still in suspense, though it is plain to see it must be disastrous.
» À cette époque, il arriva dans notre village un certain Vincent de la Roca, fils d’un pauvre paysan de l’endroit, lequel Vincent revenait des Italies et d’autres pays où il avait servi à la guerre. About this time there arrived in our town one Vicente de la Roca, the son of a poor peasant of the same town, the said Vicente having returned from service as a soldier in Italy and divers other parts. Il n’avait pas plus d’une douzaine d’années quand il fut emmené du village par un capitaine qui vint à passer avec sa compagnie, et, douze ans plus tard, le jeune homme revint au pays, habillé à la militaire, chamarré de mille couleurs, et tout historié de joyaux, de verroteries et de chaînettes d’acier. A captain who chanced to pass that way with his company had carried him off from our village when he was a boy of about twelve years, and now twelve years later the young man came back in a soldier's uniform, arrayed in a thousand colours, and all over glass trinkets and fine steel chains. Aujourd’hui il mettait une parure, demain une autre, mais c’étaient toujours des fanfreluches de faible poids et de moindre valeur. To-day he would appear in one gay dress, to-morrow in another; but all flimsy and gaudy, of little substance and less worth. Les gens de la campagne, qui sont naturellement malicieux, et plus que la malice même quand le loisir ne leur manque pas, notèrent et comptèrent point à point ses hardes et ses bijoux ; ils trouvèrent que, de compte fait, il avait trois habillements de différentes couleurs, avec les bas et les jarretières ; mais il en faisant tant de mélanges et de combinaisons, que, si on ne les eût pas comptés, on aurait bien juré qu’il avait étalé à la file au moins dix paires d’habits et plus de vingt panaches. The peasant folk, who are naturally malicious, and when they have nothing to do can be malice itself, remarked all this, and took note of his finery and jewellery, piece by piece, and discovered that he had three suits of different colours, with garters and stockings to match; but he made so many arrangements and combinations out of them, that if they had not counted them, anyone would have sworn that he had made a display of more than ten suits of clothes and twenty plumes. Et n’allez pas croire qu’il y ait de l’indiscrétion et du bavardage en ce que je vous conte de ses habits, car ils jouent un grand rôle dans cette histoire. Do not look upon all this that I am telling you about the clothes as uncalled for or spun out, for they have a great deal to do with the story. Il s’asseyait sur un banc de pierre qui est sous le grand peuplier de la place, et il nous tenait tous la bouche ouverte, au récit des exploits qu’il se mettait à nous raconter. He used to seat himself on a bench under the great poplar in our plaza, and there he would keep us all hanging open-mouthed on the stories he told us of his exploits. Il avait tué plus de Mores, à ce qu’il disait, que n’en contiennent Maroc et Tunis, et livré plus de combats singuliers que Gante et Luna, plus que Diégo Garcia de Parédès, plus que mille autres guerriers qu’il nommait ; et de tous ces combats il était sorti victorieux, sans qu’on lui eût tiré une seule goutte de sang. There was no country on the face of the globe he had not seen, nor battle he had not been engaged in; he had killed more Moors than there are in Morocco and Tunis, and fought more single combats, according to his own account, than Garcilaso, Diego Garcia de Paredes and a thousand others he named, and out of all he had come victorious without losing a drop of blood. Il avait tué plus de Mores, à ce qu’il disait, que n’en contiennent Maroc et Tunis, et livré plus de combats singuliers que Gante et Luna, plus que Diégo Garcia de Parédès, plus que mille autres guerriers qu’il nommait ; et de tous ces combats il était sorti victorieux, sans qu’on lui eût tiré une seule goutte de sang. D’un autre côté, il nous montrait des marques de blessures auxquelles personne ne voyait rien, D’un autre côté, il nous montrait des marques de blessures auxquelles personne ne voyait rien, On the other hand he showed marks of wounds, which, though they could not be made out, he said were gunshot wounds received in divers encounters and actions. Enfin, avec une impudence monstrueuse, il avait l'habitude de tutoyer ses égaux et même ceux qui savaient ce qu'il était, et de déclarer que son bras était son père et ses exploits sa généalogie, et qu'étant soldat il valait autant que le roi lui-même. Lastly, with monstrous impudence he used to say "you" to his equals and even those who knew what he was, and declare that his arm was his father and his deeds his pedigree, and that being a soldier he was as good as the king himself. Et pour ajouter à ces allures fanfaronnes, il était quelque peu musicien et jouait de la guitare avec tant de grâce que certains disaient qu'il la faisait parler; ses talents ne s'arrêtaient pas là, car il était aussi un peu poète, et sur chaque bagatelle qui survenait dans la ville, il composait une ballade longue comme une lieue. And to add to these swaggering ways he was a trifle of a musician, and played the guitar with such a flourish that some said he made it speak; nor did his accomplishments end here, for he was something of a poet too, and on every trifle that happened in the town he made a ballad a league long.
Ce soldat donc que j'ai dépeint, ce Vicente de la Roca, ce brave, ce galant, ce musicien, ce poète, était souvent vu et observé par Léandra d'une fenêtre de sa demeure qui donnait sur la place. This soldier, then, that I have described, this Vicente de la Roca, this bravo, gallant, musician, poet, was often seen and watched by Leandra from a window of her house which looked out on the plaza. L'éclat de sa toilette voyante lui plut, ses couplets l'ensorcelèrent (car il distribuait vingt copies de chacun de ceux qu'il composait), les récits de ses exploits qu'il débitait de lui-même parvinrent à ses oreilles ; et, pour tout dire, comme le diable sans doute l'avait arrangé, elle en devint amoureuse avant qu'il lui vînt l'idée de chercher à lui plaire ; et comme dans les affaires de galanterie aucune n'est plus aisément conclue que celle qui a la dame pour alliée, Léandra et Vicente s'entendirent sans la moindre difficulté ; et avant qu'aucun de ses nombreux prétendants ne soupçonnât son dessein, elle l'avait déjà exécuté, ayant quitté la demeure de son père bien-aimé (car elle n'avait point de mère), et disparue du village avec le soldat, qui sortit plus triomphalement de cette aventure que de tous les exploits dont il se glorifiait. The glitter of his showy attire took her fancy, his ballads bewitched her (for he gave away twenty copies of every one he made), the tales of his exploits which he told about himself came to her ears; and in short, as the devil no doubt had arranged it, she fell in love with him before the presumption of making love to her had suggested itself to him; and as in love-affairs none are more easily brought to an issue than those which have the inclination of the lady for an ally, Leandra and Vicente came to an understanding without any difficulty; and before any of her numerous suitors had any suspicion of her design, she had already carried it into effect, having left the house of her dearly beloved father (for mother she had none), and disappeared from the village with the soldier, who came more triumphantly out of this enterprise than out of any of the large number he laid claim to. Je restai stupéfait, Anselme confondu, le père triste, les parents outragés, la justice éveillée, et les archers en campagne. All the village and all who heard of it were amazed at the affair; I was aghast, Anselmo thunderstruck, her father full of grief, her relations indignant, the authorities all in a ferment, the officers of the Brotherhood in arms. On battit les chemins, on fouilla les bois ; et enfin, au bout de trois jours, on trouva la capricieuse Léandra dans le fond d’une caverne de la montagne, nue en chemise, et dépouillée de la somme d’argent et des They scoured the roads, they searched the woods and all quarters, and at the end of three days they found the flighty Leandra in a mountain cave, stript to her shift, and robbed of all the money and precious jewels she had carried away from home with her.