Читать книгу The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda - Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Страница 16

CHAPTER VIII.

Table of Contents

In which Rutilio gives an account of his Life.

"My name is Rutilio, my native place Sienna, one of the most famous of Italian cities, my profession that of a dancing-master: I excelled in this, and if I had pleased I might have been fortunate in it. There lived in Sienna a rich gentleman, to whom Heaven had given a daughter, more beautiful than discreet. Her father intended her to marry a Florentine gentleman, and that she might be adorned with every accomplishment that could be acquired, since the gifts of the understanding were wanting, he wished that I should teach her to dance, as grace and elegance of motion is more displayed in modest dances than in anything, and is indispensable for all ladies of quality. I began by teaching her how to move the body, but ended in also moving her heart. She having, as I said before, but little discretion, gave hers to me, and destiny, which then began the long current of my misfortunes, so willed it that I carried her off from her father's house, and we set out intending to go to Rome, that we might enjoy one another's company. But as love does not bestow his favours cheaply, and crimes ever bring punishment in their train (which should always be kept in mind), we were overtaken on the road by her father, so great was the diligence he made to seek for us. Her defence and mine, which was simply that I was carrying off my wife, and her's, that she was going with her husband, was only an aggravation of my crime, which moved and disposed the judge to sentence me to death. I was thrown into prison with those condemned for other crimes more dishonourable than mine. In the prison I was visited by a woman who was accused of "fatucherie," which would in the Castilian tongue be called witchcraft. She had been taken out of her confinement by the jailor's wife, in order that she might cure her daughter of a complaint which the doctors failed in comprehending, by her herbs and spells. Finally, to make my story short, since there is no reason why being good it should also be long; seeing me thus fast-bound, the cord at my throat, sentenced to death, without a hope, or chance of mercy, the witch said that if I would consent to marry her and take her for my wife, she would release me from this peril. She told me not to fear, for that on the very same night of the day when we held our conversation, she would break the chains and manacles, and in spite of all other obstacles, would set me at liberty, and in a place where I should be quite safe from the pursuit of my enemies, however great and powerful they might be.

"To me she seemed no witch, but an angel sent from Heaven, to rescue and save me. I waited for night, and in the depth of its silence she came; she bade me grasp the end of a cane, which she put into my hand, telling me to follow her. I felt somewhat alarmed, but as the case was urgent, I rose to comply, and followed her, finding myself free from chains, and bolts and bars removed, everywhere the prison doors were open, and prisoners and jailors, all alike, wrapt in profound sleep. When we reached the street, my guide spread upon the ground a cloak, and desired me to stand upon it, bidding me be of good heart, but that for a time I must suspend my devotions. I instantly perceived that this was a bad sign; instantly I knew that she was going to carry me through the air; and although as a well-educated Christian, I had been taught that there was no truth in all the stories of witchcraft, and considered them as mere fictions, which was very natural, still the danger I had been in, and the fear of speedy death, hurried me so much, that I set my foot upon the mantle, and she, murmuring some words I did not hear, the cloak, with us upon it, began to rise into the air, and I began to be horribly afraid, and in my heart there was not a saint in the Litany I did not call to my aid: she seemed aware of my fear, and suspected my invocations, for again she bade me leave them off. Miserable as I am, said I, what good can I expect, if I refuse to ask it of God, from whom all good comes? However, I shut my eyes, and resigned myself to be carried away by demons, for such are the post horses of witches; it seemed to me about four hours or more that we had travelled, when at the dawn of day, I found myself in an unknown country.

"The cloak touched the ground, and my guide said, 'You are now safe, friend Rutilio, and in a place, where none of human race can harm you;' and saying this, she clasped me in her arms, to embrace me in a very shameless manner. I repulsed her, when, as it appeared to me, she, who had just embraced me, bore the shape of a wolf, which sight made my blood freeze within me, and disturbed my senses; but, as it often happens that in the worst perils, the very absence of hope makes one gain strength from despair, so mine impelled me to seize a knife I had with me by chance, which I plunged into the heart of what seemed to me a wolf, with such fury, that she fell on the earth, and in falling she lost her enchanted form, and I saw the miserable sorceress lying before me a bleeding corpse.

"Conceive, sirs, what a condition for me, alone, in an unknown land, without any one to guide me. I remained expecting that day would dawn at last, but it came not, nor could I discern the faintest sign in the horizon that the sun was rising. I removed to a distance from the corpse of the sorceress, for it caused me a feeling of horror to be near it. Frequently I raised my eyes to heaven, contemplating the motions of the stars, and it seemed to me by the course they had made that it ought to be day. I was in this dilemma, when I suddenly heard voices, and hastening towards the place whence these sounds proceeded, I called out in the Italian tongue, and asked, what country I was in. I was answered in the same language, 'This land is Norway; but who art thou that askest this question, and in a language few here understand?'

"'I am,' I replied, 'a miserable wretch, who, to escape death, have come here to meet it in another shape;' and then I briefly related the history of my journey, and also the death of the witch. He to whom I spoke seemed to compassionate me, and said, 'Then, good man, return infinite thanks to Heaven for having saved thee from the power of these accursed witches, of whom there is an abundance in these northern parts. It is said of them, that they change themselves into wolves, male and female, for there are both sorcerers and sorceresses. How this can be I know not, and, as a good Catholic Christian, I do not believe it; but nevertheless, experience proves the contrary, and all I can make out of it is, that such transformations are illusions of the evil one, and by God's permission as a punishment for the abominable sins of this accursed sort of persons.'

"I asked him what hour it might be, for it appeared to me the night was long, and the day slow in coming. He told me, that the year in these countries was divided into four parts; three months of total night, when the sun never shone upon the earth at all; and three months of twilight, neither night nor day; there were also three months of perpetual day, when the sun was never hid, and three more of a night twilight; that the present season was the day twilight, and it was a vain hope to look for the light of the sun; and that it would be equally hopeless to look for a return to my own country, except during the season when it was always day, at which time ships sailed from these parts to England, France, and Spain, with various sorts of merchandise. He asked me if I knew of any way of gaining my bread, till the time should arrive when I could hope to return home to my own land. I told him I was a dancer, and a wonderful man for cutting capers, and that I knew a good many sleight of hand tricks. The man laughed aloud, and told me that these exercises, or employments, or whatever I was pleased to call them, would not avail me much, in Norway, or in any of these parts. He asked me if I knew what a goldsmith's business was. I told him I had skill to learn anything he could teach me.

"'Then come along brother,' said he, 'but first, let us go and bury this miserable creature.'

"We did so, and then he took me to a city where all the inhabitants walked about the streets, carrying lighted pine-branches in their hands, and so transacting the business of daily life. As we went along I enquired how and when he had come to this country, and if he really was Italian. He replied that one of his ancestors had married and settled here, having come to transact some important business, and that he had taught all his children his native language, and so it had descended to all his posterity until it had reached him, who was one of his cousins four times removed.... I could tell you much of the house where I was received, of the wife and children I found there, and servants of whom he had many, of his immense possessions, of the kind and hospitable reception I met with, but it would be to go on for ever; enough to tell you briefly that I learned his business, and in the space of a few months, could gain my own livelihood.

"At last there came a day when my master and patron, for so I might call him, gave orders that a quantity of his merchandise should be got ready to carry to some of the neighbouring islands, and to some which were very far distant. I accompanied him as much out of curiosity as a desire to sell what I had of my own property, in which voyage I saw many wonderful and fearful things, and others amusing and pleasant. I took note of manners, and customs, and ceremonies, unknown elsewhere. In fine, at the end of two months, we were overtaken by a tempest that lasted nearly forty days, at the end of which we were cast upon the island, from whence we have just escaped, among some rocks whereon our vessel went to pieces, and not one of its crew escaped alive but myself."