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• The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay : Extract from Dawn Smith’s translation, pp. 85-87 , Extract from Dawn Smith’s translation, pp. 89-91

The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay (1996), translated by Dawn Smith

Extract from Dawn Smith’s translation, pp. 85-87

Edition

Cervantes, Miguel de. 1996. ‘The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay’. In Eight Interludes, trans. Dawn Smith, pp. 73-91. London, Everyman

pp. 85-87

Context:

In this scene, Cristina is taken in by Solorzano’s swindle and introduced to the man who pretends to be from Biscay, who speaks in a made-up language in order to seem ‘foreign’.

Further information:

Used by permission of Dawn Smith and JM Dent, a division of the Orion Publishing Group, London.

Sample text

CRISTINA returns.

CRISTINA:

Here are the ten ducats, Mr Solorzano. The dinner tonight will be fit for a prince.

SOLORZANO:

Our ass is waiting outside in the street, so I’ll fetch him in. For my sake be kind to him, madam, even if he’s hard to swallow.

[Exit SOLORZANO.]

BRIGIDA:

My dear, I asked him to bring someone to entertain me and he said that he would, by and by.

CRISTINA:

By and by there’ll be no one left to entertain us, my friend. There’s much to be gained when one is young and much to lose when one is old.

BRIGIDA:

I also told him how healthy and pretty and charming you are –like a bouquet of ambergris, musk and civet wrapped in silk.

CRISTINA:

My dear, I well know the compliments you pay people behind their backs!

BRIGIDA: (Aside.)

To think that she has so many suitors! Why, the sole of my boot is worth more than the hoops round her neck! Once again I say, ugly women have all the luck ...

Enter QUIÑONES and SOLORZANO.

QUIÑONES:

Biscay, hands kiss me, madam. Serve me.

SOLORZANO:

The gentleman from Biscay says that he kisses your hands, madam, and is at your service.

BRIGIDA:

Ah, what a pretty language! Of course, I can’t understand it, but it sounds very pretty.

CRISTINA:

I kiss the gentleman’s hands, too, and more if he wishes.

QUIÑONES:

Seem good, beautiful. Also night this we dine. Chain you keep, sleep never, enough I give it.

SOLORZANO:

My friend says that he thinks you are good and beautiful, madam. He asks you to prepare the dinner and says the chain is yours without any further obligation. He just wants to give it to you.

BRIGIDA:

Did you ever see such generosity? What a stroke of luck – a real godsend!

SOLORZANO:

If there are any preserves and a little sip of wine for my friend from Biscay, I know he’ll return the favour with interest.

CRISTINA:

Of course, there’s plenty of both! I’ll go and fetch some. You couldn’t be better treated if you were Prester John of the Indies!

[Exit CRISTINA.]

QUIÑONES:

Lady that stays, as good as left.

BRIGIDA:

What did he say, Mr Solorzano?

SOLORZANO:

He said that the lady who remains here (he means you, madam) is as good as the one who went in.

BRIGIDA:

How truthful the gentleman is! On that score he’s no fool!

QUIÑONES:

Fool the devil. Biscayan clever you want when to have him.

BRIGIDA:

I understand him. He’s saying that the devil is the fool and that Biscayans are clever when they want to be.

SOLORZANO:

You’ve hit the nail on the head!

   

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay (1996) by Dawn Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Extract from Dawn Smith’s translation, pp. 89-91

Edition

Cervantes, Miguel de. 1996. ‘The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay’. In Eight Interludes, trans. Dawn Smith, pp. 73-91. London, Everyman

pp. 89-91

Context:

This is the very end of the play. A Constable hears the dispute between Cristina and Solorzano and comes to make the peace. As she already has a bad reputation, Cristina fears a run-in with the law, and Solorzano comes up with a crafty solution.

Further information:

Used by permission of Dawn Smith and JM Dent, a division of the Orion Publishing Group, London.

Sample text

Enter a CONSTABLE.

SERGEANT:

What’s all this shouting? Who’s that cursing and crying?

SOLORZANO:

Constable, you’ve come along in the nick of time. An hour ago I left a chain with this trollop from Seville as security against a loan of ten ducats. When I came back to claim my chain (which weighs twenty-two carats in gold and is worth a hundred and fifty gold ducats) she gave me this fake that isn’t worth two ducats. Now she wants to make my complaint public by shouting it from the rooftops, even though she knows that this lady, who saw everything, will testify that what I say is true.

BRIGIDA:

Indeed I saw everything happen – as large as life. As God is my witness, I swear this gentleman is telling the truth. Yet I can’t imagine where the switch was made: that chain has never left this room.

SOLROZANO:

The constable can do me the favour of taking this lady to the magistrate and we’ll all find out.

CRISTINA:

I tell you again, if you take me before the magistrate, I’m a dead duck.

BRIGIDA:

That’s right, she’s in his bad books.

CRISTINA:

I’ll hang myself right now; I’ll commit suicide; the witches will have my blood.

SOLORZANO:

Well now, Mistress Cristina, I’d like to do something for you, if only to deprive the witches of your blood; at the very least, to stop you from hanging yourself. This chain is very like the good one that belongs to the Biscayan. He’s a fool and a bit of a drunkard. I’ll take it to him and pretend it’s his. So, madam, just make sure you show the constable your gratitude and pay for tonight’s dinner. Then you can rest easy, for it’s no great loss.

CRISTINA:

May Heaven reward you, sir! The constable shall have six ducats and I’ll spend one on the dinner. As for you, Mr Solorzano, I’m your slave for ever!

BRIGIDA:

I’m going to dance until I drop!

SERGEANT:

Sir, you have shown yourself to be a fine, generous gentleman: one who knows how to serve the ladies.

SOLORZANO:

Let me have the ten ducats I paid you in addition to what was owed.

CRISTINA:

Here they are, as well as the six that I promised the constable.

Enter TWO MUSICIANS and the Biscayan, QUIÑONES.

MUSICIANS:

We’ve heard everything you’ve been saying and here we are!

QUIÑONES:

Now I can tell Mistress Cristina that she swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker!

BRIGIDA:

Do you notice how clearly our Biscayan friend is speaking?

QUIÑONES:

I only garble my words when it suits me.

CRISTINA:

I’ll be damned if those rascals haven’t completely bamboozled me!

QUIÑONES:

(To the musicians.) Gentlemen, do you remember that ballad I taught you? What are we waiting for?

MUSICIANS:

When women think they know what’s what

They nothing know – or not a lot.

The women who aspire to use

Words affected and quite fancy,

To cut a swath with rapier tongue

And hold their own in lofty talk;

Or those who claim to know by heart

The plots of novels, good and bad:

To know which Phoebe loves which swain,

Or which true knights complete their quest;

Women who are fond of reading

Six times a month the strange exploits

of Don Quixote and his squire.

When women think they know what’s what,

They nothing know – or not a lot.

Those who trust to wits and cunning,

Full of wiles and snares and ruses,

Spurred by ambition or by greed,

To reach for power beyond their grasp;

Those who venture into water

Thinking it peaceful, safe and calm,

Before they find the hidden depths

That quickly draw them down inside;

Those who think themselves the winners,

The highest peak that tops the cream,

Conquering all with happy charm ...

When women think they know what’s what,

They nothing know – or not a lot.

CRISTINA:

Very well, I confess I was taken in. Be that as it may, I invite you all to dine tonight.

QUIÑONES:

We accept your invitation, and everything will come out clean in the wash!

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation The Man who Pretended to be from Biscay (1996) by Dawn Smith is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Entry written by Kathleen Jeffs. Last updated on 1 May 2012.

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