I was born in Venice the renowned. When I had completed my twenty
Aprils, my father called me to him one day, and said to me, "Dear
son, I have overflowing wealth of possessions, and in silver and gold
twenty thousand doubloons fully told; you are my only heir, and I am
infirm and stricken in years. I am thinking of selling the good ship,
that even now lies anchored in port."
To which I replied, "Father and lord, observe, the possessions,
silver and gold, may all in an instant be reduced to nothing. But
freight the good ship now with rich merchandise and wares which shall
profit in exchange."
A few days after this, I sailed forth in the good ship, well freighted
with precious stores; her linen sails filled out with the soft wind,
and her keel ploughing the berdinegros [79] waters of the crystal main.
Thus to Tunis we came, where my affairs succeeded prosperously. My
merchandise was all disposed of to great advantage in a short time,
and before leaving the port I wandered forth to see the town. Passing
by one of the great public squares, I saw some Turkish sentinels
walking up and down, guarding a dead body; I addressed them, asking
why they did not inter it.
"Because," said they, "he was of the Christian people, and in his days
of life traded with his ship, wherefore a Turk of great consideration
in our city, and a friend of his, entrusted to him a thousand ducats
in silver, with which he bought great provision of cloth, and sent
his servants to trade with it, while he remained in Tunis. The ship
left the port with a prosperous wind, but before four days were out,
a balandra [80] came in, bearing the news that the ship had been
overtaken by a tempest, and all the merchandise had gone down into
the boiling deep. With that the Christian merchant was so overcome,
that he fainted and fell down dead, and we hold his body in bail for
the thousand ducats he owed the Turk."
To which I replied, "I will pay the sum you have named." And then,
taking the body on my shoulders, I carried it to the church of Serafic
Francis, which there is in Tunis, to give it burial, and paid the
stipend of the priest who should say a hundred masses for the soul's
rest. Then I returned to pay the debt to the Turk.
Scarcely had I passed the threshold of his house, when I heard the
sound of great wailing and lamentation, as of one taking leave of life.
So I turned and asked two turbaned renegades who stood in waiting, what
meant the wail. And they said, "There came to Tunis a female slave,
a captive Christian, causing envy to all the womanhood of this place,
so beauteously had Heaven arrayed her. Her our master bought, with the
intention of making her recant and marrying her. But she said to him,
'Señor, it is vain you weary yourself, to persuade me to do this thing,
for never will I deny my God and His laws, though to lay down my life
I am ready.'
"When the master heard this he was wroth, and taking her by the
shoulders let her down into a mazmorra [81] under his house, binding
her with a heavy chain, and feeding her day by day with but six ounces
of coarse bread and half a pint of water."
Hearing that, I said I would buy the maid, and redeem her; but they
answered it was vain. The Turk would not part with her to any one,
and in mockery he had set her price at a hundred millions. So I saw
I must have recourse to stratagem, and asked accordingly whether
the maid had declared herself a Christian, and they answered,
"No, she had only spoken of her God and of His law," then, while
I bethought me how to arrange my plan, they exclaimed suddenly,
"Here comes the master;" and the moment that he entered the house,
eagerly prostrating themselves at his feet, they said:--
"Great lord of this mighty alcázar [82], behold a man who comes to
pay the debt of the dead Christian, and who is also desirous to buy
the maiden, the slave."
Nor was I sorry to find myself thus launched into the middle of the
business, but I stood perplexed, praying in my own mind that God
would give me some well-conceived idea which should serve for the
redemption of the maiden.
Meantime, I counted out the sum that was due from the dead man; and
then I said, "Know you that this Mustafa, my sister, whom you keep in
your mazmorra, feeding her with the bread of affliction, is the most
pious Jewess of our nation, and that in this you do a great wrong?"
I could proceed no further, for the Moors think it a terrible discredit
to have any Jew within their precincts; and this one flew into an
ungovernable rage at the bare idea that he had been harbouring one;
plucking out his beard by handfuls, he cried out with a loud voice
of desolation,--
"Woe is me, for my fame and my honour before my people is gone, now
that I have suffered this scum of the earth to be with me! Let her
be thrust forth from my gates."
So his servants ran and took her up, more dead than alive, and putting
her into my arms drove us forth with ignominy and imprecations.
I was no sooner in the street, than I gave great thanks to God for
the rescue He had provided, and then I bore her along to the church,
thinking she needed the rites of sepulture; but I had scarcely entered
the sacred place, than she opened her eyes and breathed. So I gave
her such means of refreshment as I had about me, and by degrees the
sad lady came to herself; and to give her greater consolation, I bid
her observe she was no longer in the estate of a slave, but that by
the mercy of Heaven she was redeemed and free.
As soon as her strength had begun to return, I deemed it prudent to
run no risk of danger from the Turk, and therefore used every possible
diligence to conduct her to the harbour, where at once we went down
into my good ship, and giving the crew word to get to sea with all
despatch, we were soon steering swiftly between two azure fields.
Thus we came to Venice, my country, where I found that during my
absence my dear old father had died; and I should well-nigh have died
of sorrow too, but that I had the charge of the beautiful captive
lady upon me, and I had to provide for her welfare.
One day I took her aside, and asked her respectfully to tell me what
country she was of, and who were her people; but she shook her head
in a melancholy way, and bid me ask her nothing, but that with time
I should learn all her eventful history. For she came from a far
country, and she was not bold enough to propose to me the travail
and peril of bearing her home.
"But," I replied, "most beauteous Diana, I asked the question that
in the end I might have become thy beloved husband, and if I am not
worthy to know thy country, what shall become of my hope."
And she--"From this day I will be thy beloved wife, for it is thus
meet that love should be paid with love."
When I heard this answer, I was beside myself with joy, and instantly
arranged every thing for the marriage festival, which was celebrated
with great pomp and rejoicing, cañas [83] and alcancías [84], music,
jousts, and dancing. Among the people who collected from all parts to
enjoy the sports, was the captain of one of the ships in port, and he
fastened himself on to me with every exterior token of friendship:
I too was taken with him, and we were soon inseparable. Nothing
would satisfy him, but that one fair bright morning when our fêtes
were over, we should come down to this vessel that he might give us
a banquet there.
After this there was dancing, and singing, and much merry-making;
and while we were enchanted with the dulcet tones of the marvellous
instruments his minstrels played, we failed to perceive we were being
carried out to sea.
It was about six in the evening when my beloved bride came and took
me by the hand, and said, "Without doubt there is some perfidy,
for my heart is filled with fear, and my soul is troubled."
So I took her hand, thinking to reassure her by taking her on
shore. But when we came upon the deck, there was nothing to be seen
all around but sea and sky, and sea and sky.
My bride, when she saw that, fell into my arms in a swoon; and the
cruel captain and half-a-dozen of his men urged by his command,
fell upon me, and tore her from me, and cast me into the sea.
"O Holy Virgin of Carmel," I cried, "and thou S. Anthony of Padua,
and Santa Barbara the glorious, and thou my guardian angel, pray for
me now, that I perish not in this dire distress!"
As I uttered this petition, I felt a plank of wood strike against my
breast; and on it I skimmed the waters all night, and by the first
streak of dawn merciful Heaven commanded the waves to throw me upon a
soft sandy shore. I could not refrain from kissing the ground which
brought me safety; and as I rose up again, I beheld a holy hermit
coming towards me, who led me to a little hut, where every day he
brought me a basket of sufficient food.
At the end of six months, the hermit came to me very early one morning,
and bid me go stand upon the shore, for there a vessel awaited me in
which my passage-money was paid.
At the shore I found the vessel, and embarked as the hermit had
directed me, not knowing whither we were bound.
At last, after six months' sailing, we came opposite the coast of
Ireland, and as we drew near shore, "Friends," said the captain, "it
is necessary that this letter and this folded paper be taken to the
illustrious King of Ireland; which of you will undertake the charge?"