This is the third reading I wrote after reading the world-famous book, Cervantes's Don Quixote. Reading the 1775 English translation, the text is difficult and progress is slow. But this time I was determined to die to the end, and I must finish reading it. I have now read the first part, to page 434.
Content Overview
Tang Knight and his henchman Ban Sancho slept in a hotel. The three young, beautiful ladies, though strangers to each other, lived in the same room. In another room, the ladies' male companions gathered around a French man and listened to him tell stories. The Story of the French goes like this:
One day, my father called the three brothers together, and it was time for you to go out and have a break. The best, most ideal way is for one to become a priest, one to practice law, and one to go to the army. I was the eldest and went to join the army; the second was studying law; the third was studying theology.
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The father sold the estate and divided it into four parts, four thousand francs each; he kept one for himself, and four thousand francs each for the three sons. All three brothers were only a thousand francs. My father bought back a house and a small piece of land and still lives in the village.
After I joined the army, I fought in the East and the West, won military merit, and was promoted to lieutenant. During a battle, I was unfortunately captured by the Arabs, first as a slave rowing oar in a boat, and then taken to Algiers to be a slave in a public bath. In a building in front of the bath, there lived a very wealthy father and daughter. Daughter Zoleda is inspired by a Christian maid who believes in the Virgin Mary and wants to escape to the Christian world.
Zoletta saw from the small window that I looked good, like a person who could be entrusted for life, so she sent letters and money. In the end, he redeemed himself for our group of four and bought a boat. While the father and daughter were on vacation at the seashore, I took Zoleda to the boat to row across the Mediterranean and ashore from Spain. On the way, he encountered a French pirate and snatched all his belongings. But the pirates did not embarrass us and gave us a small boat near Spain. So we rowed to Spain. Several of our companions went home, leaving only Zoleida and I to continue to France, not knowing what fate awaited us.
Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao will arrive. Just after the story was told, a justice came to the hotel with a beautiful young girl, surrounded by her retinue, to ask for accommodation. The man who told the story was thrilled to discover that the judge was his brother. He now had nothing, worried that his brother would not recognize him. So the priest volunteered to come forward and tell the story he had just heard to the Justices, saying that the man who had escaped from Algiers was his best friend for many years. When the judge heard about it, he burst into tears and said that the man must have been his brother. The man who told the story stepped forward, and the brothers met and cried.
The beautiful maiden was the judge's daughter. Women live in one room; men live in another. Because there was no way to sleep, I chatted in the house until dawn. Tang Knight said that he wanted to defend the castle, so he was dressed in his body, and immediately held a spear and guarded the door of the hotel.
The gang stopped for a moment. At two o'clock in the morning, a beautiful song came from outside the door. Everyone said it was a mule herder singing. But the judge's daughter said she knew who it was, the young man who lived across the street from her house. He was clearly in love with her and often sang for her. This time, her father was going to Be a justice in Mexico, and the young man was certainly reluctant to separate, so he followed.
At night, the maid of the hotel and the daughter of the innkeeper joked with Tang Knight, designing a long rope, one end tied to his hands, and the other pair tied to the door. Early the next morning, four more men came to the hotel, not staying at the hotel, to inquire about people. Witnessed by several women, they found the teenager who was singing in the middle of the night. Four men were entrusted by their masters to look for a fifteen-year-old boy who had run away from home. The teenager came to the judge and said that he would marry the judge's daughter, hoping to get his permission and blessing. The judge knew that the juvenile family was particularly wealthy, and that the marriage between the two families was a completely door-to-door match. But he hopes that young people will first seek their parents' consent and not be so hasty.
At this moment, a group of sergeants came to the shop, and the barber who had been robbed of the copper basin and the donkey by the Tang knight also came, and robbed Sancho of the basin and the cushion laid on the donkey. The sergeants also discovered that Tang Knight was the big robber who forcibly released a group of criminals in the middle of the road.
After a burst of tearing, tang knights were put into wooden cages and put on ox carts; three of the four male servants went home to make errands, one stayed behind to follow the young master; two sergeants stayed behind to escort Tang knights home; Fernando compensated the hotel owner for the damage caused by Tang knights in the shop; the others went back to their homes to find their mothers.
After The Tang Knights' oxen convoy, a group of priests followed. The priesthood and the priest of the same village as Tang Knight chatted about Ranger literature and drama. On the way, I met a shepherd and listened to him tell a sad love story. Tang Knight wrestled with the shepherd, and Sancho went to help. Then the crowd encountered a group of peasants dressed in strange costumes carrying the image of the Virgin Mary to pray for rain. Tang Knight rushed over to rescue the noble lady who had been kidnapped by the gangsters, but was knocked over by a stick under the horse. Whether he liked it or not, Tang Knight appeared on the street of Dung Pit Village on Market Day, sitting in a wooden cage on an ox cart.
After reading it, I think about it
1 The experience of redemption
This part of the novel is only 34 pages, telling the stories of other people, and Tang Knight has almost become an outsider who plays soy sauce. The conjecture may have been written by the author Cervantes based on his own experience. He was also captured and enslaved in Africa for many years, escaping several times and being captured. In the end, the family borrowed from East to West, and finally enough ransom was collected, and Cervantes was freed.
2 Punctuation
One editor said that punctuation is best done with only commas and periods. In Teacher Mo Yan's "Frog", all the dialogues do not use quotation marks. In this way, the text looks clean and tidy. Punctuation is rampant in today's web articles, and even a lot of punctuation is used in long titles.
But in this version of Don Quixote, the punctuation of the novel is simply too strange. Maybe that's how punctuation was done in ancient English. For example, on page 430 Sancho's wife asks Sancho:
“Thanks be to god, cried she, for that and all his other mercies. But, now tell me, friend, what good have got by your squireship? Have you brought home a new petticoat for me, or shoes for your children?”
Thank goodness, she shouted, thank God for his special care. But, now tell me, friend, what benefits did you get from following the shift? Did you bring me a new petticoat or did you buy shoes for the kids? ”
“I have brought no such matters, my dear, replied Sancho, but, things of greater consideration and importance.”
"I didn't bring these things, my dear," Sancho replied, but, with more important and meaningful things."
The above two paragraphs, changed to modern punctuation, should be like this:
"Thank goodness," she shouted, "thank God for your special care." But, now tell me, friend, what benefits did you get from following the shift? Did you bring me a new petticoat or did you buy shoes for the kids? ”
"I didn't bring these things, my dear," replied Sancho, "but, with me something more important and meaningful." ”
3 Thoughts on whether the translation should be faithful to the original text
First example: Where did the donkey go?
In the tenth chapter, Don Quixote encounters a group of soldiers escorting a group of criminals. He had to know the crimes of every criminal. The soldier asked him to ask himself, and the criminals answered one by one, and as a result, the group was either stealing or stealing, and there was no good person.
Don Quixote or the soldiers fought. With the cooperation of the criminals, Tang Knight successfully defeated the soldiers and rescued all the criminals. The criminal is unwilling to accede to Don Quixote's request to serve his beautiful lover, The Muddy Man. The criminals smashed the two masters and servants of the Tang Knights with stones and fled in all directions.
At night, Tang Knight and the two slept in the woods. The leading prisoner of the day also happened to come here and stole Sancho's donkey. Early the next morning, Sancho couldn't find the donkey and shouted and scolded. Don Quixote comforted him and went back to pay him three donkeys. Sancho was overjoyed. Behind, Sancho sat on her side on a donkey like a woman.
The English version of the translation notes that the author made a mistake here, apparently forgetting that the donkey had been stolen.
And I happen to have a Chinese version on hand. In this version, there is no mention of the donkey being stolen. The translator covered up the errors of the original work. Is this beautification good or bad?
Second example: the profession of the three brothers
When the Justice met his brother, he said that his brother had gone to South America. The English translator notes at the bottom of the page that Cervantes has apparently forgotten, and that he said earlier that the eldest of the three brothers went to join the army, the second went to South America, and the third was the judge.
In Xu Yan's Chinese version, the justice said that the eldest brother joined the army, the second brother went to South America, and he was the third oldest, automatically correcting the author's mistake.
4 The Magical Inn is actually a container for stories
This hostel is very important, don Quijote has been there twice before and after. There are many stories happening here, many stories have been told, and it is the place where there is the highest concentration of famous and surnamed people in the whole novel.
The hostel is also strange and the rooms are stocked with the owner's stuff. For example, one night, Tang Knight, Sancho and a shepherd lived in the same room. Tang Knight dreamed of the giant, got up and swung his sword, and spilled the wine that the boss had put in a sheepskin bag.
Don Quijote 1 | Read the original English version 260 years ago barefoot on a brick wall
don Quijote 2 | Is this the world's first modern novel?
Don Quijote 3 | Magic Inn Magical Story Container (this article)