QuixoteSpanish

Level C2 · Part Two, Chapter 26

Llaneza, muchacho: Cervantes against prose that shows off

A boy narrates a puppet show in the language of the old ballads, with every flourish he knows, and his master stops him with ten words that have become a rule of Spanish style. This unit sets the two side by side: the subjunctive of wishing piled high, and the plain sentence that cuts it down.

The passage, exactly as Cervantes wrote it

Miguel de Cervantes, Part Two, Chapter 26. Public domain, and not adapted, shortened or modernised in any way.

¡Vais en paz, oh par sin par de verdaderos amantes! ¡Lleguéis a salvamento a vuestra deseada patria, sin que la fortuna ponga estorbo en vuestro felice viaje! ¡Los ojos de vuestros amigos y parientes os vean gozar en paz tranquila los días, que los de Néstor sean, que os quedan de la vida! Aquí alzó otra vez la voz maese Pedro, y dijo: — Llaneza, muchacho; no te encumbres, que toda afectación es mala.

Go in peace, O peerless pair of true lovers! May you reach your longed for homeland in safety, with fortune putting no obstacle in the way of your happy journey! May the eyes of your friends and kin see you enjoy in tranquil peace the days of life that remain to you, and may they be as many as Nestor's! Here master Pedro raised his voice again and said: Plainness, boy. Do not get above yourself, for all affectation is bad.

The same thing in Spanish as it is written today

Read the two side by side. What has changed between them is the syllabus of this level.

¡Id en paz, pareja sin igual de verdaderos amantes! ¡Que lleguéis sanos y salvos a vuestra querida patria, sin que la suerte ponga obstáculos a vuestro feliz viaje! ¡Que los ojos de vuestros amigos y parientes os vean disfrutar en paz los días que os quedan de vida, y que sean tantos como los de Néstor! Aquí maese Pedro volvió a alzar la voz y dijo: Sencillez, chico. No te pongas estupendo, que toda afectación es mala.

What changed, form by form

In the textTodayWhy it matters
Vais en pazid en paz, que vayáis en pazA subjunctive of wishing, vais for vayáis, used with no que in front.
par sin parpareja sin igualA pun on par, pair and equal. The boy is showing off.
¡Lleguéis¡que lleguéisAnother wish in the subjunctive with no que. Today it needs que or ojalá.
a salvamentosanos y salvosSafely. The word survives in the name of the Spanish sea rescue service, Salvamento Marítimo.
felicefelizThe poetic form with a final e, already an affectation in 1615.
que los de Néstor seany que sean tantos como los de NéstorA wish pushed into the middle of another wish, cutting los días off from its relative clause.
Llanezasencillez, naturalidadPlainness. The word Spanish still uses for unaffected manners.
no te encumbresno te pongas estupendoEncumbrarse, to climb to the top. Here, to go high flown.
afectaciónlo mismo hoyThe name of the fault. The line is still quoted whenever Spaniards talk about style.

The syntax

The boy's three sentences are exclamations built on the subjunctive of wishing, vais, lleguéis, vean, sean, with no que or ojalá to introduce them. The last one tangles itself: the relative clause que os quedan de la vida belongs to los días, and the boy has pushed another wish, que los de Néstor sean, into the gap between them. Master Pedro's correction is the opposite: ten words, an imperative and a reason.

What a Spanish reader hears

The boy is narrating a puppet show and he has been doing it in the style of the ballads and the books of chivalry. His master stops him with a sentence that has become a rule of Spanish prose: toda afectación es mala. It sounds like Cervantes talking about himself, since the whole novel is a campaign against inflated language. But look at who gives the lesson. Master Pedro is Ginés de Pasamonte in disguise, the galley slave who led the stoning of the man who set him free, and the lecture on honest plain style comes from the biggest fraud in the book. The boy takes no notice and carries on.

Where the course prepares you for this