C2 · Part One, Chapter 6
The best book in the world: the priest on Tirant lo Blanc
While the priest and the barber burn don Quixote's library, one book makes the priest shout for joy. His praise contains what may be the most argued over sentence in the whole novel, and nobody has settled what it means. This unit reads it, and shows why the grammar will not decide.
The passage, exactly as Cervantes wrote it
Miguel de Cervantes, Part One, Chapter 6. Unadapted.
¡Válame Dios! —dijo el cura, dando una gran voz—. ¡Que aquí esté Tirante el Blanco! Dádmele acá, compadre; que hago cuenta que he hallado en él un tesoro de contento y una mina de pasatiempos. Aquí está don Quirieleisón de Montalbán, valeroso caballero, y su hermano Tomás de Montalbán, y el caballero Fonseca, con la batalla que el valiente de Tirante hizo con el alano, y las agudezas de la doncella Placerdemivida, con los amores y embustes de la viuda Reposada, y la señora Emperatriz, enamorada de Hipólito, su escudero. Dígoos verdad, señor compadre, que, por su estilo, es éste el mejor libro del mundo: aquí comen los caballeros, y duermen, y mueren en sus camas, y hacen testamento antes de su muerte, con estas cosas de que todos los demás libros deste género carecen. Con todo eso, os digo que merecía el que le compuso, pues no hizo tantas necedades de industria, que le echaran a galeras por todos los días de su vida. Llevadle a casa y leedle, y veréis que es verdad cuanto dél os he dicho.
God help me! said the priest with a great shout. Tirant lo Blanc here! Give it to me, friend, for I reckon I have found in it a treasure of delight and a mine of entertainment. Here is don Kyrieleison of Montalbán, a valiant knight, and his brother Thomas of Montalbán, and the knight Fonseca, with the battle the brave Tirant fought with the mastiff, and the witticisms of the damsel Pleasureofmylife, with the loves and tricks of the widow Reposada, and the lady Empress in love with her squire Hipólito. I tell you truly, friend, that for its style this is the best book in the world. Here knights eat, and sleep, and die in their beds, and make their wills before they die, with all those things that every other book of this kind lacks. For all that, I tell you that the man who wrote it deserved, since he did not commit so many follies on purpose, to be sent to the galleys for all the days of his life. Take it home and read it, and you will see that everything I have told you of it is true.
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.
¡Válgame Dios!, dijo el cura dando una gran voz. ¡Que esté aquí Tirante el Blanco! Dádmelo, compadre, que me parece que he encontrado en él un tesoro de alegría y una mina de entretenimiento. Aquí está don Quirieleisón de Montalbán, valeroso caballero, y su hermano Tomás de Montalbán, y el caballero Fonseca, con la batalla que el valiente Tirante tuvo con el perro alano, y las agudezas de la doncella Placerdemivida, con los amores y engaños de la viuda Reposada, y la señora Emperatriz, enamorada de su escudero Hipólito. Os digo la verdad, compadre: por su estilo, este es el mejor libro del mundo. Aquí los caballeros comen, duermen, mueren en la cama y hacen testamento antes de morir, cosas que les faltan a todos los demás libros de este género. Aun así, os digo que el que lo escribió merecía, pues no hizo tantas tonterías a propósito, que lo mandaran a galeras de por vida. Llevadlo a casa y leedlo, y veréis que es verdad todo lo que os he dicho de él.
What changed, form by form
| In the text | Today | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ¡Válame Dios! | ¡Válgame Dios! | An older form of the subjunctive of valer. Válgame is still said. |
| Dádmele | dádmelo | Le for a thing, here a book. The leísmo of Castile, far more widespread then. |
| hago cuenta que | me parece que, calculo que | Hacer cuenta, to reckon. Still heard as hacer de cuenta in parts of Latin America. |
| el valiente de Tirante | el valiente Tirante | Adjective, then de, then the name. Still alive in el tonto de Juan. |
| Placerdemivida | lo mismo hoy | A character's name that is also a sentence, pleasure of my life. The priest enjoys saying it. |
| Dígoos verdad | os digo la verdad | Two pronouns on the verb at the head of the sentence. |
| de industria | a propósito, adrede | Industria meaning intention or cunning. The phrase is the heart of the puzzle. |
| que le echaran a galeras | que lo mandaran a galeras | The standard sentence for serious crimes. Here nobody knows whether it is praise or blame. |
| dél | de él | De plus él run together. |
The syntax
The problem sentence is merecía el que le compuso, pues no hizo tantas necedades de industria, que le echaran a galeras. Everything turns on pues and on de industria. If pues means since, the author deserves the galleys for writing nonsense without meaning to, which makes little sense straight after calling the book the best in the world. If the sentence is ironic, he deserves the galleys for writing so well that he is dangerous. If de industria is read with the galleys rather than with the follies, the meaning shifts again. The syntax allows every reading and rules out none, and four centuries of editors have not agreed.
What a Spanish reader hears
What the priest praises is the realism. In Tirant lo Blanc knights eat, sleep, make their wills and die in bed, which is exactly what they never do in Amadís, and exactly what don Quixote will do in the last chapter of this book. So the one book of chivalry the priest saves is the one most like the novel he is standing in. Then comes the sentence about the galleys, and the praise turns into a riddle. It may be a joke about a book too good to be allowed, or Cervantes being deliberately obscure about a rival he admired. Either way, the most famous piece of criticism in the novel is a sentence nobody can parse.
Where the course prepares you for this
- The present perfect and the participleLesson 18The priest and the barber open the library