Don Quixote — Chapter 86 in French
By Miguel de Cervantes
Le duc et la duchesse trouvaient un plaisir extrême à la conversation de Don Quichotte et à celle de Sancho. Great was the pleasure the duke and duchess took in the conversation of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; and, more bent than ever upon the plan they had of practising some jokes upon them that should have the look and appearance of adventures, they took as their basis of action what Don Quixote had already told them about the cave of Montesinos, in order to play him a famous one. Mais ce qui étonnait le plus la duchesse c’était que la simplicité de Sancho fût telle qu’il arrivât à croire comme une vérité infaillible que Dulcinée du Toboso était enchantée, tandis qu’il avait été lui-même l’enchanteur et le machinateur de toute l’affaire. But what the duchess marvelled at above all was that Sancho's simplicity could be so great as to make him believe as absolute truth that Dulcinea had been enchanted, when it was he himself who had been the enchanter and trickster in the business. Après avoir donné des ordres et des instructions à leurs gens sur ce qu’ils avaient à faire, au bout de six jours ils conduisirent le chevalier à la chasse de la grosse bête, avec un équipage de piqueurs et de chiens, tel que l’aurait pu mener un roi couronné. Having, therefore, instructed their servants in everything they were to do, six days afterwards they took him out to hunt, with as great a retinue of huntsmen and beaters as a crowned king.
On donna à Don Quichotte un habit de chasse, et un autre à Sancho, en drap vert de la plus grande finesse. Don Quichotte ne voulut point accepter ni mettre le sien, disant qu’il aurait bientôt à reprendre le dur exercice des armes, et qu’il ne pouvait porter une garde-robe avec lui. They presented Don Quixote with a hunting suit, and Sancho with another of the finest green cloth; but Don Quixote declined to put his on, saying that he must soon return to the hard pursuit of arms, and could not carry wardrobes or stores with him. Quant à Sancho, il prit celui qu’on lui donna, dans l’intention de le vendre à la première occasion qui s’offrirait. Sancho, however, took what they gave him, meaning to sell it the first opportunity.
Le jour venu, Don Quichotte s’arma de toutes pièces, Sancho mit son habit de chasse, et, monté sur le grison, qu’il ne voulut point abandonner, quoiqu’on lui offrît un cheval, il se mêla dans la foule des chasseurs. The appointed day having arrived, Don Quixote armed himself, and Sancho arrayed himself, and mounted on his Dapple (for he would not give him up though they offered him a horse), he placed himself in the midst of the troop of huntsmen. La duchesse se présenta élégamment parée, et Don Quichotte, toujours courtois et galant, prit la bride de son palefroi, quoique le duc voulût s’y opposer. Finalement, ils arrivèrent à un bois situé entre deux hautes montagnes ; puis, les postes étant pris, les sentiers occupés, et toute la troupe répartie dans les différents passages, on commença la chasse à cor et à cri, tellement qu’on ne pouvait s’entendre les uns les autres, tant à cause des aboiements des chiens que du bruit des cors de chasse. The duchess came out splendidly attired, and Don Quixote, in pure courtesy and politeness, held the rein of her palfrey, though the duke wanted not to allow him; and at last they reached a wood that lay between two high mountains, where, after occupying various posts, ambushes, and paths, and distributing the party in different positions, the hunt began with great noise, shouting, and hallooing, so that, between the baying of the hounds and the blowing of the horns, they could not hear one another. La duchesse mit pied à terre, et prenant à la main un épieu aigu, elle se plaça dans un poste où elle savait que les sangliers avaient coutume de venir passer. The duchess dismounted, and with a sharp boar-spear in her hand posted herself where she knew the wild boars were in the habit of passing. Le duc et Don Quichotte descendirent également de leurs montures, et se placèrent à ses côtés. The duke and Don Quixote likewise dismounted and placed themselves one at each side of her. Pour Sancho, il se mit derrière tout le monde, sans descendre du grison, qu’il n’osait point abandonner, crainte de quelque mésaventure. Sancho took up a position in the rear of all without dismounting from Dapple, whom he dared not desert lest some mischief should befall him. À peine occupaient-ils leur poste, après avoir rangé sur les ailes un grand nombre de leurs gens, qu’ils virent accourir sur eux, poursuivi par les chasseurs et harcelé par les chiens, un énorme sanglier, qui faisait craquer ses dents et ses défenses, et jetait l’écume par la bouche. Scarcely had they taken their stand in a line with several of their servants, when they saw a huge boar, closely pressed by the hounds and followed by the huntsmen, making towards them, grinding his teeth and tusks, and scattering foam from his mouth. Aussitôt que Don Quichotte l’aperçut, mettant l’épée à la main, et embrassant son écu, il s’avança bravement à sa rencontre. As soon as he saw him Don Quixote, bracing his shield on his arm, and drawing his sword, advanced to meet him; the duke with boar-spear did the same; but the duchess would have gone in front of them all had not the duke prevented her. Le seul Sancho, à la vue du terrible animal, lâcha le grison, et se mit à courir de toutes ses forces ; puis il essaya de grimper sur un grand chêne ; mais ce fut en vain, car étant parvenu à la moitié du tronc, et saisissant une branche pour gagner la cime, il fut si mal chanceux que la branche rompit, et qu’en tombant par terre il resta suspendu à un tronçon, sans pouvoir arriver jusqu’en bas. Sancho alone, deserting Dapple at the sight of the mighty beast, took to his heels as hard as he could and strove in vain to mount a tall oak. As he was clinging to a branch, however, half-way up in his struggle to reach the top, the bough, such was his ill-luck and hard fate, gave way, and caught in his fall by a broken limb of the oak, he hung suspended in the air unable to reach the ground. Quand il se vit accroché de la sorte ; quand il s’aperçut que son pourpoint vert se déchirait, et qu’en passant le formidable animal pourrait bien l’atteindre, il se mit à jeter de tels cris, et à demander secours avec tant d’instance, que tous ceux qui l’entendaient et ne le voyaient pas crurent qu’il était sous la dent de quelque bête féroce. Finding himself in this position, and that the green coat was beginning to tear, and reflecting that if the fierce animal came that way he might be able to get at him, he began to utter such cries, and call for help so earnestly, that all who heard him and did not see him felt sure he must be in the teeth of some wild beast. Finalement, le sanglier aux longues défenses tomba sous le fer d’une foule d’épieux qu’on lui opposa, et Don Quichotte, tournant alors la tête aux cris de Sancho (car il avait reconnu sa voix), le vit pendu au chêne, la tête en bas, et près de lui le grison, qui ne l’avait point abandonné dans sa détresse. Et Cid Hamet dit à ce propos qu’il a vu bien rarement Sancho Panza sans voir le grison, ni le grison sans voir Sancho ; tant grande était l’amitié qu’ils avaient l’un pour l’autre, et la fidélité qu’ils se gardaient. In the end the tusked boar fell pierced by the blades of the many spears they held in front of him; and Don Quixote, turning round at the cries of Sancho, for he knew by them that it was he, saw him hanging from the oak head downwards, with Dapple, who did not forsake him in his distress, close beside him; and Cide Hamete observes that he seldom saw Sancho Panza without seeing Dapple, or Dapple without seeing Sancho Panza; such was their attachment and loyalty one to the other. Don Quichotte arriva et décrocha Sancho, lequel, dès qu’il se vit libre et les pieds sur la terre, examina la déchirure de son habit de chasse, qu’il ressentit au fond de l’âme, car il croyait avoir un majorat dans cet habit. Don Quixote went over and unhooked Sancho, who, as soon as he found himself on the ground, looked at the rent in his huntingcoat and was grieved to the heart, for he thought he had got a patrimonial estate in that suit.
Enfin, on posa l’énorme sanglier sur le dos d’un mulet de bât ; et l’ayant couvert avec des branches de romarin et des bouquets de myrte, les chasseurs triomphants le conduisirent, comme dépouille opime, à de grandes tentes de campagne qu’on avait dressées au milieu du bois. Là, on trouva la table mise et le repas servi, si abondant, si somptueux, qu’on y reconnaissait bien la grandeur et la magnificence de ceux qui le donnaient. Meanwhile they had slung the mighty boar across the back of a mule, and having covered it with sprigs of rosemary and branches of myrtle, they bore it away as the spoils of victory to some large field-tents which had been pitched in the middle of the wood, where they found the tables laid and dinner served, in such grand and sumptuous style that it was easy to see the rank and magnificence of those who had provided it. Sancho, montrant à la duchesse les plaies de son habit déchiré : « Si cette chasse, dit-il, eût été aux lièvres ou aux petits oiseaux, mon pourpoint ne serait pas en cet état. Je ne sais vraiment quel plaisir on trouve à attendre un animal, qui, s’il vous attrape avec ses crochets, peut vous ôter la vie. Sancho, as he showed the rents in his torn suit to the duchess, observed, "If we had been hunting hares, or after small birds, my coat would have been safe from being in the plight it's in; I don't know what pleasure one can find in lying in wait for an animal that may take your life with his tusk if he gets at you. Je me rappelle avoir entendu chanter un vieux romance qui dit : « Sois-tu mangé des ours comme Favila le Renommé ! I recollect having heard an old ballad sung that says,