Transcriber’s note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
Small capitals are represented in upper case as in
SMALL CAPS.
THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO DE TORMES
* * * * * *
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THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO DE TORMES
[Illustration: _Lazarillo begging._]
THE LIFE OF LAZARILLO DE TORMES
His Fortunes & Adversities
Translated from the Edition of 1554
(Printed at Burgos)
by
SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B.
D.SC. (CAMB.)
With a Notice of the Mendoza Family,
a Short Life of the Author, Don Diego
Hurtado De Mendoza, a Notice of
the Work, and Some Remarks on the
Character of Lazarillo de Tormes
London
Adam and Charles Black
1908
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY
THE FAMILY OF MENDOZA
PAGE
Descent of the author of Lazarillo de Tormes xv
A Mendoza saved the life of King Juan I. of Castille xvi
The poet Marquis of Santillana xvii
Children of the Marquis xviii
Counts of Tendilla xix
Antiquity of the family xxi
DON DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA, AUTHOR OF “LAZARILLO DE TORMES”
Born in the Alhambra xxiii
At Salamanca xxiv
Services in Italy xxiv
Library xxiv
The “Guerra de Granada” xxv
Last days xxv
Death xxv
THE BOOK, “LAZARILLO DE TORMES”
Ticknor’s opinion xxvii
First edition xxvii
Value of copies xxviii
Spurious second parts xxviii
English translations xxix
NOTES ON THE CHARACTER OF LAZARO
His age coincides with the Author’s xxxi
Two destinies xxxii
Baneful surroundings as a child xxxiii
Good stories well told xxxiii
Higher qualities xxxv
Development of character xxxv
Merits of the work xxxvi
PROLOGUE
Lazaro’s reason for relating all the circumstances of
his life 1
Motives _not_ to gain money but to win fame 2
Success of the poor should be a lesson to the rich 3
I
LAZARO RELATES THE WAY OF HIS BIRTH AND TELLS WHOSE SON HE IS
Parentage of Lazaro 4
Reason of his surname 4
Death of father. Mother in service 6
Stepfather. Little brown brother 6
Living on stolen goods 7
Helps at the inn 8
FIRST MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A BLIND MAN
Service with the blind man 11
Farewell to his mother 11
Cruel trick of the blind man 12
Sagacity of the blind man 15
The blind man’s resources and avarice 16
Inside of the knapsack 17
Contrivance with half blancas 17
Ways of getting at the wine 18
Blind man’s cruel revenge 19
Coolness between them 20
Lazaro beaten. Blind man in the mud 21
Sharing a bunch of grapes 22
Trouble about the sausage 25
Lazaro’s revenge 28
SECOND MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A CLERGYMAN, AND OF THE THINGS
THAT HAPPENED TO HIM
Out of the frying-pan into the fire 31
Nothing to eat in the house 31
Lazaro sinking into the silent tomb 32
Stinginess of the clergyman 33
Lazaro longs for the funeral feasts 33
An angel in form of a locksmith 35
Lazaro happy for a time 35
The priest counts the loaves 36
It was the rats 37
Rat-hole boarded up 38
Rat-hole reappears 41
Lazaro undid the repairs at night 41
Rat-trap adds cheese to Lazaro’s meal 42
It must be a snake 42
The key turns traitor 43
Lazaro half killed, and shown the door 44
THIRD MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A GENTLEMAN, AND WHAT
HAPPENED TO HIM
Lazaro reaches Toledo and seeks for a master 47
He enters the service of an esquire 48
Taken to the esquire’s house 51
Nothing to eat in the house 51
Trouble ahead about food 52
Shares his bread with his master 53
Philosophical views of starvation 55
A wretched night 55
The esquire’s outward appearance 56
Secrets under the esquire’s cloak 59
Lazaro goes for water. What he sees 60
Lazaro waits for his master and food 61
Successful begging expedition 61
What touches the esquire’s honour 65
The esquire longs to share with Lazaro 65
Lazaro’s kindness and tact 66
Provides a supper for his master 67
Examines the esquire’s clothes 68
Kindly feeling for his master 68
Begging prohibited 69
Kept alive by shop-girls 69
Misery and starvation 70
The esquire bemoans his fate 70
Lazaro’s terror at the dead body coming 71
Lazaro bars the door 72
Door unbarred 73
The esquire’s story 73
His ideas of honour 74
The esquire disappears when asked for the rent 77
Creditors search the house 78
Lazaro taken into custody 81
Lazaro deserted by his master 82
FOURTH MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A FRIAR OF THE ORDER
OF MERCY, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM
The fourth master does not suit 83
FIFTH MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A SELLER OF PAPAL
INDULGENCES
The seller of Indulgences curries favour with the
parochial clergy 84
Subtle contrivances 85
A sham quarrel 85
The sermon begun 87
Interruption 87
Hypocritical prayer 88
Sham miracle 89
The people taken in 90
The farce continued 91
Lazaro behind the scenes 92
SIXTH MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A CHAPLAIN, AND HOW
HE PROSPERED
Lazaro becomes a water-carrier 95
Is able to wear good clothes 96
SEVENTH MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A CONSTABLE, AND WHAT
HAPPENED AFTERWARDS
Lazaro’s prosperity continues 97
Gets a Government appointment 97
The archpriest of St. Saviour’s 98
Lazaro married 98
Evil tongues 99
A good understanding 100
Conclusion 103
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BY STEPHEN BAGHOT DE LA BERE
PAGE
Lazarillo begging _Frontispiece_
Lazarillo helps at the Inn 9
“He answered that he received me, not as his servant but
as his son” 13
Tailpiece 29
“‘It is the rats,’ he declared” 39
Tailpiece 46
“I followed him over a great part of the city” 49
“What there was we spread out” 57
“Gave me a piece of a cow’s foot and several pieces of
boiled tripe” 63
“They returned in the afternoon” 79
“The news soon spread to the neighbouring villages” 93
Tailpiece 96
“But evil tongues are never wanting” 101
_Sketch Map of Route at end of Volume._
INTRODUCTORY
THE FAMILY OF MENDOZA
[Sidenote: Descent of the author of _Lazarillo de Tormes_.]
The author of _Lazarillo de Tormes_ was a scion of one of the noblest
families of Spain, and some account of it should precede a notice of
the author’s life.[1]
[1] Doubt has been thrown on the authorship, but without
sufficient reason. See Antonio, _Bib. Nov._ i. 291.
Don Diego Lopez, Lord of Mendoza, in 1170 married Doña Eleanor Hurtado,
heiress of Mendibil. She was the daughter of Fernan Perez de Lara
called Hurtado, son of Pedro Gonzalez de Lara and of the Queen Urraca
of Castille and Leon.
Don Lopez and Eleanor Hurtado had four sons: Inigo, Lord of Mendoza;
Diego, Lord of Mendibil; Pedro Diaz, who was ancestor of the Mendozas
of Seville; and Fernando, who founded the line in Portugal.
Inigo Lopez de Mendoza married Maria de Haro, and was father of Maria,
the wife of her first cousin, Juan de Mendoza, son of her uncle Diego.
Their son, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, in the time of Fernando II.,
married Maria Gonzalez de Aguero, and had a son Gonzalo.
This Gonzalo Hurtado de Mendoza married Juana Fernandez de Orozco, and
was the father of a very distinguished son--of Pedro Gonzalez.
[Sidenote: A Mendoza saved the life of King Juan I. of Castille.]
Pedro Gonzalez Hurtado de Mendoza married Aldonza, daughter of Fernan
Perez de Ayala. He was with Juan I., of Castille, at the battle of
Aljubarrota. In the flight the King’s horse was killed. Mendoza
dismounted and said to the King:--
El cavallo vos han muerto,[2]
Subid Rey en mi cavallo.
[2]
They have killed the horse of thine,
Save _thy_ life and mount on mine.
The King rode away. Mendoza was overtaken and slain. The date of the
battle was August 14, 1385. His father survived him, dying in 1405.
The son of this chivalrous knight and successor to his grandfather was
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, married first to Maria, daughter of Enrique
II., King of Castille, and secondly to Eleanor de la Vega. His son,
Inigo Lopez, was by his second wife.
[Sidenote: The Poet Marquis of Santillana.]
Inigo Lopez Hurtado de Mendoza was born in 1396. He served with
distinction at the battle of Olmedo, and was created Marquis of
Santillana in 1445. He was opposed to Alvaro de Luna, the famous
Minister of Juan II.
Born in the Asturias, the Marquis was a poet. Among his writings was a
little _Serranilla_.
Moza tan fermosa
No vi en la frontera
Como una vaquera
De la Finojosa.
En un verde prado
De rosas y flores
Guardando ganado
Con otros pastores,
La vi tan fermosa
Que apenas creyera
Que fuese vaquera
De la Finojosa.
TRANSLATION
The sweetest girl without compare
In all my days I’ve ever seen
Was that young maid, so lithe and fair,
On Finojosa’s frontier green.
In pleasant shade of beech and pine
A verdant meadow did appear;
And here she watched the browsing kine
With other girls, but none like her.
By nature deck’d and well arrayed
She looked like some bright Summer Queen;
And not a common village maid
Of Finojosa’s frontier green.
But the chief poetical work of the Marquis of Santillana was the
_Comedieta de Ponza_, founded on the story of a great sea-fight, near
the island of Ponza, in 1435, between the Aragon fleet and the Genoese.
At the request of King Juan II. he also made a _collection of proverbs_
for his son Enrique IV. This was the earliest collection of proverbs
made in modern times.
[Sidenote: Children of the Marquis of Santillana.]
The noble poet married Catalina Suarez de Figueroa, daughter of Don
Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, Lord of Feria and Zafra. The Marquis died
in 1454, leaving ten children:--
1. Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, first Duke of Infantado.
2. Don Pedro Laso de Mendoza, married to Ines Carillo, Lady of
Mondejar. They had two daughters:--
1. Maria, married to the second Count of Tendilla.
2. Catalina, married to Luis de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Celi.
3. Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, first Count of Tendilla, of whom we
treat.
4. Don Lorenzo de Mendoza, first Count of Coruña.
5. Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Archbishop of Toledo and Cardinal.
6. Don Juan de Mendoza, Lord of Colmenar.
7. Don Pedro de Mendoza, Lord of Sazedon.
8. Doña Mencia, wife of Don Pedro de Velasco, Count of Haro, Constable
of Spain.
9. Doña Maria, married to Don Ajan de Ribero.
10. Doña Eleanor, wife of Gaston de la Cerda, second Count of Medina
Celi, representative of the eldest son of Alfonso X. and therefore
rightful King of Spain; the reigning family descending from the second
son, the usurper Sancho.
Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza was created first Count of Tendilla in
1465. He was Captain-General of Andalusia. [Sidenote: The Counts of
Tendilla.] He married Doña Elvira de Quiñones, daughter of Don Diego
Fernandez, Lord of Luna. Their children were:--
1. Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, second Count of Tendilla.
2. Don Diego de Mendoza, Archbishop of Seville.
3. Don Pedro de Mendoza, married to Juana Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca.
4. Doña Catalina, wife of Don Diego de Sandoval, Marquis of Denia.
5. Doña Mencia, wife of Don Pedro Carillo, Lord of Toralva.
Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, second Count of Tendilla and first Marquis
of Mondejar, Grandee of Spain and Viceroy of Granada. He married his
first cousin, Doña Maria Laso de Mendoza, but had no children by her.
He married, secondly, Doña Francisca Pacheco, daughter of the Duke of
Escalona, by whom he had eight children:--
1. Don Luis de Mendoza, third Count of Tendilla, Viceroy of
Navarre, President of the Council of the Indies, second Marquis
of Mondejar, Captain-General of Granada.
2. Don Bernardo de Mendoza, slain at St. Quentin, 1557.
3. Don Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of Peru, 1550.
4. Don Francisco de Mendoza, Bishop of Jaen.
5. Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, of whom we treat.
6. Don Bernardino de Mendoza, General of the galleys.
7. Doña Maria de Mendoza, wife of the Count of Monteagudo.
8. Doña Maria Pacheco, married to Don Juan de Padilla.
Veinte y tres generaciones
La prosapia de Mendoza
No hay linage en toda España
De quien conozca
Tan notable antiguedad.
LOPE DE VEGA.
DON DIEGO HURTADO DE MENDOZA, AUTHOR OF “LAZARILLO DE TORMES”
Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was the fifth son of the Marquis of
Mondejar and Count of Tendilla, first Spanish Governor of Granada, by
Francisca Pacheco, daughter of the Duke of Escalona.
The Governor had a palace in the Alhambra near the Torre de Picos,
which is now demolished. But the smaller house of his esquire, Antasio
de Bracamonte, still stands in a garden, built against the exquisite
little mosque on the walls. There are three shields of arms carved on
the walls of Bracamonte’s house.
The palace and the esquire’s house, both within the walls of the
Alhambra, looked across the valley of the Darro to the Albaicín. Both
buildings were surrounded by gardens and fruit-trees. [Sidenote: Birth
of Don Diego in the Alhambra.] In this romantic spot Diego was born
in the year 1503, and he passed his early years with his brothers and
sisters there. Pedro Martir de Angleria was his tutor. At an early age
he went to the university of Salamanca, where he learnt Latin, Greek,
and Arabic, and studied canon and civil law.
[Sidenote: Don Diego at Salamanca.]
While he was a student at Salamanca Don Diego wrote _Lazarillo de
Tormes_.
On leaving the university Don Diego went to serve with the Spanish
armies in Italy. [Sidenote: His services in Italy.] He also attended
lectures at Rome, Bologna, and Padua, and was a profound scholar as
well as a statesman and a soldier. Charles V. appreciated his ability
and his acquirements. In 1538, at the age of thirty-five, he was
appointed Ambassador at Venice. He assisted and patronised the Aldi,
and Josephus was first printed complete from his library. Afterwards
he was for some time Military Governor of Sienna; and he was sent to
the Council of Trent to maintain the imperial interests there. His
next employment was at Rome, as special Plenipotentiary to rebuke and
overawe Pope Julius III., which he did.
Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza returned to Spain in 1554 at the age of
fifty. [Sidenote: The library.] He was not appreciated by Philip II.
and seldom came to Court, living, with his splendid library, in his
house at Granada.
In his retirement he wrote a good deal of poetry. But his great work
was the _Guerra de Granada_, a narrative of the rebellion of the Moors
in 1568-1570. [Sidenote: The _Guerra de Granada_.] He did the Moors
such impartial justice that his book could not be published until
many years after his death. Sallust was his model. The first edition
appeared in 1610, and the second more complete edition at Valencia in
1776. It is one of the finest pieces of prose-writing in the Spanish
language.
In his last years Don Diego found much pleasant employment in his
library. [Sidenote: Last days.] He corresponded with Zurita, the
historian of Aragon, telling him how the work of looking over his books
reminded him of many long-forgotten things, and supplied him with much
food for thought. While in Italy he had been diligent in obtaining
Greek MSS., and in other respects his library was quite unique. He
bequeathed it to Philip II., and it is now in the Escurial.
[Sidenote: Death of Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.]
Don Diego died at Madrid in April 1575, aged 72.
THE BOOK, “LAZARILLO DE TORMES”
Ticknor[3] describes _Lazarillo de Tormes_ as “a work of genius
unlike anything that had preceded it. [Sidenote: Ticknor’s opinion of
the work.] Its object is to give a pungent satire on all classes of
society. It is written in a very bold, rich, and idiomatic Castilian
style. Some of its sketches are among the most fresh and spirited
that can be found in the whole range of prose works of fiction. Those
of the friar and the seller of Indulgences were put under the ban of
the Church.” They were expurgated by the Inquisition in 1573, when
an expurgated edition was published at Madrid, and in the _Index
Expurgatorius_ of 1667.
[3] _History of Spanish Literature_, i. 469-71.
The first edition in Spain was published at Burgos in 1554.[4] It
is excessively rare. [Sidenote: First edition.] There is a copy at
Chatsworth, but none in the British Museum. The Duke of Devonshire
allowed the late Mr. H. Butler Clarke to transcribe his copy of
the first edition. This was done with great care, exactly as it was
printed. In 1897 Mr. Butler Clarke printed 250 copies at Oxford, with a
facsimile of the old title-page.
[4] Brunet mentions an Antwerp edition of 1553.
Many other editions followed the first of 1554.[5] In Mr. Grenville’s
library there is an Antwerp edition (12mo) of 1555, [Sidenote: Value
of copies.] for which he paid seven guineas. Colonel Stanley’s copy
fetched £31:10s.; Mr. Hanroth’s, £20:10s. The Paris editor of 1827
could only find a 1595 edition.
[5] At Tarragona, 1586; Zaragoza, 1595; Medina del Campo and
Valladolid, 1603; Zaragoza again, 1652, with Luna’s second part;
Madrid, 1664, without the second part. There was a new edition
published at Paris in 1847, with the second parts.
A second part, by some wretched scribbler, soon appeared, without any
merit. It makes Lazarillo go to sea in the Algiers expedition of 1541.
The ship founders, he sinks to the bottom, crawls into a cave, and is
turned into a tunny fish. [Sidenote: Spurious second parts.] He is then
caught in a seine, returns by an effort of will to the human form, and
finally goes to live at Salamanca. There was another second part by
Juan de Luna, a teacher of Spanish at Paris. It continues the story by
making Lazaro serve several other masters, and then become a religious
recluse. Both second parts are miserable rubbish, and ought never to
be reprinted.
Yet they are included in recent Spanish editions, which is much to be
deplored. For the work itself is a classic. In at least two instances
the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy refers to _Lazarillo de Tormes_
as an authority for the meaning of words.
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
_Lazarillo de Tormes_ was first translated into English by David
Rowlands of Anglesey. He called it _The Pleasant History of Lazarillo
de Tormes drawn out of Spanish_. It was published by Abel Jeffes in
the Fore Street without Grepell-gate near Groube Street at the sign
of the Bell, and dedicated to Sir Thomas Gresham. It contains the
Prologue, and a short chapter at the end about Lazaro’s continued
prosperity, which is not in the first edition of 1554. This is the best
translation. It was published in 1586.
A new edition appeared in 1596, also published by Abel Jeffes, who had
then removed to the Blacke Fryers near Puddle Wharfe. There were twenty
editions or reprints, and _Lazarillo_ was exceedingly popular with the
Elizabethan reading public.
James Blakiston brought out a new edition in 1653 dedicated to Lord
Chandos. It consists of the translation by David Rowlands, omitting the
Prologue, and of a translation of the spurious second part by Juan de
Luna. Another edition appeared in 1669, another in 1677. The title is
_The Excellent History of Lazarillo de Tormes, the witty Spaniard_.
In 1726 there appeared _The Life and Adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes,
with twenty curious copper cuts_. In 1727 the nineteenth edition was
published. This version is a bad translation, omits the Prologue, and
includes the spurious second parts.
The worst performance of all was the edition of 1789 in two volumes.
The type is better, but it is a very careless reprint of a bad
translation. It omits the execrable illustrations of the earlier
editions. Spanish names are scarcely recognisable. Gelves is called
“the battle of Geleas!” for Escalona we have “Evealona.”
All these translations are from late editions; none from the first
edition.
NOTES ON THE CHARACTER OF LAZARO
The conception of the author, Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, was first
to portray a boy, with everything against him, rising from the lowest
rank of society to a prosperous condition, and to give a humorous
account of his adventures; and secondly, to satirise certain types of
men, the products of the age in which he wrote, through the medium of
his boy hero.
The author himself was a boy at the time, or at least a very young man,
a student at Salamanca. He had no model, and the conception was quite
original. He makes Lazarillo de Tormes a boy of his own age. [Sidenote:
The author made Lazaro’s age coincide with his own.] Don Diego was born
in 1503. Assuming Lazarillo to have been born in 1503,[6] he was about
10 years old when he took service with the blind man, three years with
his first three masters, and 14 years old when he took service with
the seller of Indulgences. He carried on the business of water-carrier
from the ages of 15 to 19, and was 20 when he married. That would bring
him to 1523. The next year, when the Cortes met at Toledo, is made
to be the year when Lazarillo de Tormes wrote the story of his life.
Doubtless it was the year when Don Diego really completed his little
romance, also aged 21.
[6] Lazarillo was about eight years old when his father went in
the Gelves expedition in 1510.
In conceiving the character of Lazaro it is likely that the young
student had in his mind what he himself might have been, if he had been
born in the same obscurity. [Sidenote: The author’s conception of the
two destinies.] “The two destinies”[7] were framed out of a noble and
an ignoble birth, success in the latter case being far more meritorious
than in the former. We find this reflection in the last sentence of the
Prologue, where Don Diego points out how much more those have done who,
not being favoured by noble birth, have, nevertheless, by cleverness
and force of character, arrived at a good estate. If this idea of a boy
such as the author, but without his noble birth and other advantages,
was in Don Diego’s mind, we should expect to find Lazaro portrayed as
a boy of a naturally good disposition and fine instincts, whose bad
qualities were due to his lowly birth and vicious surroundings. It is
just such a boy as this that Don Diego presents to us.
[7] See Sir Francis Doyle’s poem.
Nothing could be worse than poor Lazaro’s home. His mother was a widow
who had intimacies with a groom of Moorish blood, had a child by him,
and lived on the proceeds of his thieving, while Lazaro was employed to
dispose of the stolen goods. [Sidenote: Lazaro’s baneful surroundings
as a child. His mother not unfeeling.] When they were found out, the
widow’s position became most precarious. Just then the wonderfully
clever and plausible blind man appeared on the scene. He offered what,
in comparison with the boy’s lot with his mother, seemed to be a decent
provision. She is accused of unfeeling conduct in thus parting with
her son. I do not think this is intended. The poor woman did what she
thought was best for the child, and their parting was sorrowful and
affectionate. Don Diego made her a thief and worse, but not a mother
without feeling.
The account of the professional cleverness and knowledge of the blind
man is very interesting, but, in spite of it all, the little boy seems
to have held his own to some extent with the old rascal. [Sidenote:
Capital stories most amusingly told.] The trick with the half blancas,
the story of the wine, and of the bunch of grapes, are capitally
told and very amusing. It is true that the old man was handicapped by
his blindness, though his strength, cleverness, and experience made
up for it. He treated Lazaro abominably, but it must be acknowledged
that, great as the provocation was, the boy’s revenge was cruel and
unfeeling. He was sorry afterwards, for he wrote that his understanding
was blinded in that hour.
The boy’s ingenious ways of getting at the provisions of his second
master, who was starving him, are capitally and most amusingly told.
But the funniest and most witty story in the book is the boy’s terror
at the coffin he believed to be coming to the house, and the reason he
thought so.
With the first two masters it was an incessant fight against
starvation. Lazaro’s resourceful ingenuity was conspicuous, and, under
the circumstances, he had a perfect right to use all his wits against
the wretches who ill-treated him. But there was no opportunity of
bringing out his finer qualities.
With the third master it was very different. He was a penniless
esquire, starving himself, and so excessively proud that he thought
only of concealing his poverty. Lazaro had to resort to begging, and so
he kept his poor master, as well as himself, alive. Here Lazaro comes
out in an excellent light. [Sidenote: Lazaro’s higher qualities shown
in his intercourse with the esquire.] He was not only kind-hearted
and generous, but he showed tact and a wish to avoid hurting the poor
proud creature’s feelings. Don Diego thus shows his hero in the light
of one of nature’s gentlemen. The esquire’s account of himself, and
his views of honour and its obligations are interesting, as showing a
type of character which was common in Spain in those days. It was more
elaborately portrayed by Cervantes.
Lazaro is made to tell the story of the seller of Indulgences, and a
very amusing story it is, no doubt true to life. For it aroused the
anger of the Inquisition, and was expurgated from future editions.
But Lazaro merely appears as a narrator; and his character is not
developed; though it is in the rapid sketch of his rise to prosperity.
[Sidenote: Development of Lazaro’s character.] He was a lad who was
liked. His girl-friends who were kind to him in adversity, as well as
the archpriest and many others who were good friends when he rose to
prosperity, showed that he was a favourite among those with whom he
came in contact.
His marriage brought him great advantages. Critics have called it
disgraceful, because we are told that evil tongues suggested that the
girl had been the archpriest’s mistress. But there is nothing in the
narrative to justify the belief that the evil tongues did not lie. On
the contrary, the conclusion is the other way, and the story ends with
a defence of his wife by Lazaro himself.
The work is the production of a genius. [Sidenote: Merits of the work.]
Its originality, and the admirable way in which the stories in it are
told make it deserving of a wider audience, though of course it is well
known to students of the literature of Europe. Seldom has so much wit,
fun, and wisdom been gathered into so small a compass.
PROLOGUE
I hold it to be good that such remarkable things as have happened to
me, perhaps never before seen or heard of, should not be buried in the
tomb of oblivion. [Sidenote: Reasons for relating all the circumstances
of his life.] It may be that some one who reads may find something
that pleases him. For those who do not go very deep into the matter
there is a saying of Pliny “_that there is no book so bad that it does
not contain something that is good_.”[8] Moreover, all tastes are not
the same, and what one does not eat another will. Thus we see things
that are thought much of by some, depreciated by others. Hence no
circumstance ought to be omitted, how insignificant soever it may be,
but all should be made known, especially as some fruit might be plucked
from such a tree.
[8] Cervantes knew his _Lazarillo_ well. He copies this quotation
and puts it into the mouth of the curate when he was examining
the books of Don Quixote.
If this were not so, very few would write at all, for it cannot be
done without hard work.
[Sidenote: Motives of authors not to gain money, but to win fame.]
Authors do not wish to be recompensed with money, but by seeing that
their work is known and read, and, if it contains anything that is
worthy, that it is praised. On this point Tully says: “Honour creates
the arts.” Think you that the soldier who is first on the ladder cares
less for his life than the others? Certainly not. It is the desire for
fame that leads him to seek such danger. It is the same in the arts
and in letters. We say: “The Doctor preaches very well and he is one
who desires much the welfare of souls,” but ask him whether he is much
offended when they say, “How wonderfully your reverence has done it!”
So also in arms, men report how such an one has jousted wretchedly, and
he has given his arms to a jester because he praised him for using his
lances so well. What would he have given if he had been told the truth?
Now that all things go in this manner, I confess that I am not more
righteous than my neighbours. I write in this rough style, and all who
may find any pleasure in it will be satisfied to know that there lives
a man who has met with such fortunes, encountered such dangers, and
suffered such adversities. I beseech your Honour that you will accept
the poor service of one who would be richer if his power was equal to
his desire. Well, your Honour! This author writes what he writes, and
relates his story very fully.
It seemed to him that he should not begin in the middle, but quite at
the beginning, [Sidenote: Success of the poor should be a lesson to
the rich.] so that there might be a full notice of his personality,
and also that those who inherit noble estates may consider how little
fortune owes them, having been so very partial to them in its gifts;
and how much more those have done who, not being so favoured, have, by
force and management, arrived at a good estate.
I
LAZARO RELATES THE WAY OF HIS BIRTH AND TELLS WHOSE SON HE IS
Well! your Honour must know, before anything else, that they call
me Lazarillo de Tormes, and that I am the son of Thomé Gonçales and
Antonia Perez, natives of Tejares,[9] a village near Salamanca. My
birth was in the river Tormes,[10] for which reason I have the river
for a surname, and it was in this manner.
[9] Tejares is a small village on the left bank of the river
Tormes, about two miles from Salamanca. It consists of a church
dedicated to San Pedro, and about fifty houses on the skirts of a
hill.
[10] The river Tormes rises in the Sierra de Gredos, a range of
hills dividing Estremadura from Old Castille, on the confines
of the province of Avila. Its chief sources are a large sheet
of water called the “Laguna de Gredos,” and a perennial stream
called “Tornella.” Receiving several streams from the Gredos
hills, the Tormes flows north, passing by Alba de Tormes, where
there is a stone bridge; and then turns north-west, passing
Salamanca, where there is another fine stone bridge, and Ledesma.
Finally, it falls into the Douro, on the Portuguese frontier. The
Tormes turns many flour mills.
My father, whom God pardon, had charge of a flour mill which was on the
banks of that river. He was the miller there for over fifteen years,
and my mother, being one night taken with me in the mill, she gave
birth to me there. So that I may say with truth that I was born in the
river.
When I was a child of eight years old, they accused my father of
certain misdeeds done to the sacks of those who came to have their
corn ground. He was taken into custody, and confessed and denied not,
suffering persecution for justice’s sake. So I trust in God that he is
in glory, for the Evangelist tells us that such are blessed. At that
time there was a certain expedition against the Moors[11] and among the
adventurers was my father, who was banished for the affair already
mentioned. He went in the position of attendant on a knight who also
went, and, with his master, like a loyal servant, he ended his life.
[11] This expedition against the Moors started from Malaga under
the command of Don Garcia de Toledo in 1510, when Lazarillo was
seven years old. The fleet first touched at Sicily and then made
for the island of Los Gelves, off the African coast, between
Tunis and Tripoli, now called Zerbi. With Toledo were Diego
de Vera and Count Pedro Navarro. Zerbi was a low sandy island
covered with palm-trees, ruled by a Sheikh of its own. The army
landed on the 8th of August 1510. But the Spaniards fell into an
ambuscade and were defeated, Toledo being among the slain. Four
thousand were killed or taken prisoners. The rest escaped to the
ships and returned to Sicily. Toledo was a grandson of the first
Duke of Alva.
[Sidenote: Death of Lazaro’s father, and his mother goes into service.]
My widowed mother, finding herself without husband or home, determined
to betake herself to the good things so as to be among them; so she
went to live in the city. She hired a small house, and was employed to
prepare victuals for certain students. She also washed the clothes of
the stable-boys who had charge of the horses of the Comendador de la
Magdalena.[12] Thus she frequented the stables, she and a dark-coloured
man, who was one of those who had the care of the horses. They came to
know each other. [Sidenote: Flitting.] Sometimes he came to our house
late, and went away in the morning. At other times he came to the door
in the day-time, with the excuse that he wanted to buy eggs, and walked
into the house. At first I did not like him, for I was afraid of his
colour and his ugly face. But when I saw that his coming was the sign
of better living, I began to like him, for he always brought pieces of
meat, bread, and in the winter, fuel to warm us.
[12] Comendadores were knights of the Orders of Santiago,
Calatrava, and Alcantara. Each had a title affixed to their
knighthood. The Comendador of La Magdalena was a knight of the
Order of Alcantara.
[Sidenote: A swarthy stepfather and a little brown brother.]
This intercourse went on until one day my mother gave me a pretty
little brown brother, whom I played with and helped to keep warm.
I remember once that when my stepfather was fondling the child, it
noticed that my mother and I were white, and that he was not. It
frightened the child, who ran to my mother, pointing with its finger
and saying, “Mother, he is ugly!” To this he replied laughing; but I
noticed the words of my little brother, and, though so young, I said to
myself, “How many there are in the world who run from others because
they do not see themselves in them.”
It was our fate that the intimacy of the Zayde, for so they called my
stepfather, came to the ears of the steward. [Sidenote: The punishment
for receiving and living on stolen goods.] On looking into the matter
he found that half the corn he gave out for the horses was stolen,
also that the fuel, aprons, pillions, horse-cloths, and blankets were
missing, and that when nothing else was left, the horse-shoes were
taken. With all this my mother was helped to bring up the child. We
need not wonder at a priest or a friar, when one robs the poor, and the
other his female devotees to help a friend such as himself, when the
love of a poor stable-lad brings him to this.
All I have related was proved, because they cross-questioned me with
threats, and being a child I answered and let out all I knew from
fear, [Sidenote: Stolen horse-shoes.] down to certain horse-shoes
which, by my mother’s order, I sold to a blacksmith. They flogged my
unhappy stepfather, and put my mother on the accustomed penance as a
punishment. An order was given that she was not to enter the stables of
the Comendador, nor to receive the flogged Zayde in her house.
The poor woman complied with the sentence that she might not lose
all; and to avoid danger and silence evil tongues she went away into
service. [Sidenote: Lazaro helps at the inn. Takes service with a
blind man.] She was employed in the open gallery of an inn, and so
she contrived to rear the little brother, though suffering from many
difficulties. She raised him until he could walk, and me until I was a
fine little boy, who went for wine and lights for the guests, and for
anything else they wanted.
[Illustration: _Lazarillo helps at the Inn._]
FIRST MASTER
HOW LAZARO TOOK SERVICE WITH A BLIND MAN
At that time a blind man came to lodge at the inn, who, seeing that I
would do to lead him, asked for me from my mother. [Sidenote: Lazaro
enters the service of a blind man.] She gave me to him, saying that
I was the son of a good father, and boasting that he had been killed
at the Island of Gelves.[13] She told the blind man that she trusted
in God that I would not turn out a worse man than my father, and she
begged him to treat me well and look after me, as I was an orphan.
He answered that he would do so, and that he received me not as his
servant but as his son. Thus it was that I began to serve and to lead
my new master. We were in Salamanca for some days, but, as the earnings
were not to my master’s liking, he determined to go somewhere else.
[Sidenote: Lazaro’s farewell to his mother.] When we were about to
depart, I went to see my mother, and, both weeping, she gave me her
blessing and said, “I shall see you no more. Strive to be good, and may
God direct your ways. You have been brought up, and are now put with a
good master. Farewell!” And so I went away to my master who was waiting
for me.
[13] See note, p. 5.
[Sidenote: A cruel trick of the wicked old blind man.]
We went out of Salamanca and came to the bridge. There is, at the
entrance of it, an animal of stone[14] which almost has the shape of a
bull. The blind man told me to go near this animal, and, being there,
he said, “Lazaro, put your ear against this bull, and you will hear a
great noise inside.” I did so, like a simpleton, believing it to be as
he said. When he felt that my head was against the stone, he raised his
hand and gave me a tremendous blow against the devil of a bull, so that
I felt the pain for more than three days. [Sidenote: Lazaro and the
blind man.] Then he said to me, “This will teach you that a blind man’s
boy ought to be one point more knowing than the devil himself”; and he
laughed heartily at his joke. It seemed to me that, in an instant, I
awoke from my simplicity in which I had reposed from childhood. I
said to myself, “This man says truly that it behoves me to keep my eyes
open, for I am alone and have to think for myself.”
[Illustration: “_He answered that he received me, not as his servant
but as his son._”]
[14] There was a huge mass of granite rudely carved in the shape
of an animal, which had been on the bridge from time immemorial;
and which Lazarillo thought was like a bull. Its great weight
was considered a danger, and it was removed about thirty years
ago. It is now in the vestibule of the cloister of San Domingo at
Salamanca, but without a head.
We set out on our road, and in a very few days I showed myself to
be sprightly, which pleased the blind man, and he said, “I can give
you neither gold nor silver, but I can teach you much in the ways of
getting a livelihood.” [Sidenote: Wonderful sagacity and cleverness of
the blind man.] It was so that, after a few days, he showed me many
things, and being blind himself, he enlightened and guided me in the
ways of life. I mention these trifles to your Honour to show how much
knowledge men must have when they are down, and to keep from falling
when they are exalted.
Speaking of the good there was in my blind man, your Honour must
know that since God created the world He has not made a being more
astute and sagacious. In his own line he was unequalled. He knew a
hundred or more prayers of the choir, he recited in a low and very
tuneful voice, he put on a devout and very humble countenance when
he recited, without making faces or gestures as others usually do.
Besides this he had a hundred other ways and means of getting money. He
knew how to make prayers on different occasions, for women who were
childless, for those who were about to bear children, and for those
who had married unhappily, that their husbands might like them well.
He foretold whether a woman would have a boy or a girl. In the matter
of medicine he said that Galen did not possess half his knowledge for
curing toothaches, fainting fits, or illnesses of mothers. Finally, no
one mentioned what pain or illness he or she was suffering from, but
he told them at once--do this, you should do that, gather such a herb,
take such a root. In this way he went with all the world after him,
especially the women. They believed whatever he said, and from them he
drew great profits by the arts I have described, for he gained more in
a month than a hundred other blind men would in a year. I also desire
that your Honour should know that, in spite of all he acquired and had,
I never met a man so avaricious and stingy, insomuch that he nearly
killed me with hunger, depriving me of the necessaries of life.
[Sidenote: The blind man’s way of making money and his avarice.]
I tell the truth, that if, by way of subtlety and cunning, I had not
found a remedy, I should many times have succumbed to starvation. With
all his knowledge and experience, I managed so well that, oftener than
not, I got the best of it. On account of these matters, there were
infernal rows between us, of which I will relate some but not all.
He carried the bread, and all the rest of his things, in a linen
knapsack, closing the mouth with an iron chain having a padlock and
key. He put in and took out his things himself, using great vigilance,
and he kept such a close account that there was not a man in all the
world who could have taken so much as a crumb without his knowing
it. [Sidenote: Lazaro finds his way into the blind man’s knapsack.]
Well, I had to take the lazar’s allowance which he gave me. It was all
despatched in less than two mouthfuls. After he had locked the bag and
was not looking out, thinking that I was attending to other things, by
a little unstitching I often opened one side of the bag and sewed it up
again; bleeding the avaricious knapsack not only of bread but of good
pieces of bacon and sausage. Thus I watched for convenient times to
make up for the infernal wrong that the wicked blind man inflicted on
me.
[Sidenote: Lazaro’s adroit contrivance with the half “blancas.”]
All that I could pilfer and steal I carried in half “blancas.” When
they paid him for saying prayers for them, they gave him a whole
“blanca.” But as he could not see, I had got it in my mouth, and put
a half blanca in its place, before his hand had reached it, quick
as he was, so that he only got half-price. The evil-minded blind man
complained when he found that it was not a whole “blanca.” He said to
me: “How the devil is it that since you have been with me they only
give half ‘blancas,’ and before it used to be a whole ‘blanca’ or even
a ‘maravedi’ that they gave me?[15] The ill-luck has come with you.”
So he shortened up the prayers and did not give them more than half,
ordering me to remind him to stop by pulling his sleeve. Then he began
to cry out that they had called for such and such a prayer from him,
such as he used to recite, and that he had given it.
[15] The copper _maravedi_ was a coin the value of which varied.
It may be taken as a penny. The _blanca_ was so called from the
whiteness of the metal of which it was made. In the time of
Alonso XI. there were three blancas to the maravedi. From 1497
the maravedi was worth two blancas. The great dictionary of the
Spanish Academy quotes _Lazarillo de Tormes_ as the authority for
the value of the blanca and half blanca, or farthing.
The blind man used to have a small jug of wine near him when he dined;
and quick as thought I gave it silent kisses when I put it down for
him. But it was not long before he noticed the loss in what he drank,
so he never let the jug out of his hand, but always kept it by him.
[Sidenote: Various ways of getting at the wine.] However, he had no
magnet to point to what went on, while I had a long oaten straw which I
prepared for this need of mine. Slipping it into the mouth of the jug
I sucked up the wine to my heart’s content. The old rascal, being very
astute, suspected something. So he put the jug between his knees and,
covering the mouth with his hand, drank in security. Seeing the wine
go I craved for it. The straw being no longer of any avail, I hit upon
another plan. I succeeded in making a tiny hole in the bottom of the
jug, and stopped it with a small piece of wax. When dinner-time came
I pretended to be cold, and got between the old man’s legs, to warm
myself at the poor little light we had. With the same light I melted
the wax, and very soon a little fountain began to drain into my mouth,
which I placed so that I should not lose a drop. When the poor old
man wanted to drink he got nothing. His astonishment was expressed in
curses, devoting the wine and the jug to the devil. “You cannot think
that I have been drinking, uncle!” I said, “for you have not let the
jug out of your hand.” But he gave the jug so many twists and turns
that at last he found the hole. He said nothing. [Sidenote: The wicked
blind man’s cruel revenge.] Next day I was sucking at my hole as usual,
thinking no evil, and little dreaming of what he was getting ready for
me. I was seated on the ground, taking in those delicious draughts, my
face turned up to heaven, my eyes half closed the better to enjoy the
toothsome liquor, when the wicked blind man took his revenge. He raised
the jug with both hands, and, with all his might, sent it crashing
down on my mouth. Poor Lazaro was quite off his guard, being careless
and joyous as at other times. Truly it seemed to me as if the sky and
all that was in it had fallen upon me. The blow was so great that the
pieces of the jug cut my face in several parts and broke my teeth, so
that I remain without them to this day.
[Sidenote: A coolness arises between Lazaro and the blind man.]
From that time I wished evil to the cruel blind man, and, although
he was kind to me afterwards and cured me, I saw very well that he
enjoyed my cruel punishment. He washed the bruises and places torn by
the bits of the broken jug, but he smiled as he did so, saying, “What
would you have, Lazaro? If I wish you ill I cure you and restore you
to health,” with other jokes which were not to my taste, when I had
only half recovered from my wounds. I now wanted to free myself from
him, thinking that a few more such blows might free him from me. He was
not much inclined to see to my health and welfare, and even if I had
wished to forgive him the blow with the jug, his evil treatment of me
from that time would have prevented it.
Without cause or reason, the malignant blind man was always beating me
and knocking me about. If any one asked him why he treated me so badly,
he told the story of the jug, adding: “Think you that my boy is a
little innocent? Well, listen and judge whether the devil himself could
have played such tricks. Who could believe that such a small boy could
be so depraved.” Then they said: “Chastise him in God’s name,” and he
never did anything else.
So I led him by the worst ways, seeking to do him harm, taking him over
stony places and into mud. [Sidenote: Lazaro is beaten, so the blind
man is led into the mud.] He always beat me on the back of my head, so
that it was covered with bruises, and although I cried out that I did
not do it on purpose, but only because there was no better road, he did
not believe me, such was the astuteness and intelligence of the old
ruffian.
In order that your Honour may judge of the cleverness of this knowing
old man I will relate one thing out of many that happened while I
was with him. When we left Salamanca his intention was to go to
Toledo, for he said that the people there were richer, though not very
charitable. He repeated this saying, “The hard man gives more than the
penniless man.” We took the road by the best places, where we were well
received. It happened that we came to a place called Almorox[16] at the
time of the vintage. A grape-gatherer gave us a bunch out of charity.
As the baskets are knocked about, and the grapes at that time are very
hard, the blind man kept the bunch in his hand and, to content me, he
determined to have a banquet with it, instead of putting it in his bag.
For on that day he had given me many blows and kicks.
[16] Almorox is a village with three hundred houses formed in
irregular streets and an open square. The church of San Cristoval
has a fine north door. The place belonged to the Duke of
Escalona. Its vineyards produce wine like Valdepeñas. It is about
twelve miles from the town of Escalona.