Level B1 · Chapter 60
The Third Sally
The graduate encourages Don Quixote to set out again, with a plan of his own. Master and squire leave by night for El Toboso.
What you will learn
- Talk about something that has not happened yet with cuando and en cuanto.
- Tell cuando plus subjunctive from cuando plus indicative.
- Describe plans and travel conditions without naming a date.
Before you read
Everything in this lesson is still in the future: the sally, the arrival, the meeting with Dulcinea. Watch the verb that follows cuando and en cuanto every time, because Spanish uses a different form there from the one English leads you to expect. Then compare it with the sentences about what used to happen, where the same word cuando behaves completely normally.The story in easy Spanish
Don Quijote llevaba un mes en la cama, pero ya tenía la decisión tomada.
Don Quixote had spent a month in bed, but his mind was already made up.
Quería salir por tercera vez, y esta vez nadie iba a detenerlo.
He wanted to set out a third time, and this time nobody was going to stop him.
El bachiller Sansón Carrasco, en lugar de quitarle la idea, se la encendió más.
The graduate Sansón Carrasco, instead of talking him out of it, fired the idea up further.
«Cuando el mundo lea la segunda parte, hará falta que haya batallas», le dijo.
"When the world reads the second part, there will have to be battles in it," he told him.
«Salid al camino, señor, y que las haya, que yo os lo pido».
"Take to the road, sir, and let there be some. I am asking you myself."
Sansón hablaba en broma y tenía un plan suyo que no contó a nadie.
Sansón was joking and had a plan of his own that he told nobody about.
Don Quijote se lo tomó todo en serio, como se tomaba siempre las palabras.
Don Quixote took it all seriously, the way he always took words.
Preparó las armas, limpió el yelmo y mandó a Sancho ensillar el rucio.
He got his arms ready, cleaned the helmet and told Sancho to saddle the donkey.
Salieron una noche cualquiera, sin despedirse de nadie y sin hacer ruido.
They left on an ordinary night, saying goodbye to nobody and making no noise.
Cuando el ama y la sobrina se despertaran, ellos ya estarían muy lejos.
By the time the housekeeper and the niece woke up, they would already be far away.
El camino de El Toboso olía a tierra seca y a romero mojado.
The road to El Toboso smelled of dry earth and wet rosemary.
«Iremos primero a ver a Dulcinea», dijo el caballero en cuanto amaneció.
"We will go and see Dulcinea first," said the knight as soon as day broke.
«Cuando reciba su bendición, no habrá aventura que se me resista».
"Once I have her blessing, there will be no adventure I cannot take on."
Sancho no dijo nada, aunque el corazón le empezó a andar deprisa.
Sancho said nothing, though his heart began to move quickly.
En la primera parte se había inventado una carta y una visita que nunca existieron.
In the first part he had made up a letter and a visit that never happened.
Ahora no sabía qué haría cuando llegaran de verdad a aquel pueblo.
Now he did not know what he would do when they actually reached that village.
«En cuanto lleguemos, me llevarás a su palacio», siguió su amo, muy seguro.
"As soon as we arrive, you will take me to her palace," his master went on, quite sure.
«Y en cuanto la vea, le pediré permiso para todas mis aventuras».
"And the moment I see her, I will ask her leave for all my adventures."
Sancho asintió despacio y miró el camino, que empezaba a hacerse largo.
Sancho nodded slowly and looked at the road, which was starting to feel long.
Pensó que hablaría con ella cuando su amo se descuidara un momento.
He thought he would talk to her when his master was off his guard for a moment.
Después pensó que lo mejor sería no hablar con nadie en absoluto.
Then he thought the best thing would be to talk to nobody at all.
Rocinante caminaba contento y el aire de la mañana olía a campo.
Rocinante walked along happily and the morning air smelled of open country.
El caballero iba feliz, contando en voz alta lo que pensaba hacer.
The knight rode along cheerfully, saying out loud what he meant to do.
Todo iría bien hasta que hubiera que enseñar un palacio que no existía.
Everything would go well until somebody had to point out a palace that did not exist.
Sancho miraba el horizonte y calculaba cuántas horas le quedaban de paz.
Sancho watched the horizon and worked out how many hours of peace he had left.
Aquella tarde, cuando el sol bajó, se vieron ya las torres de El Toboso.
That afternoon, when the sun went down, the towers of El Toboso came into view.
Vocabulary
Setting out
- ensillar
- to saddle
- el yelmo
- the helmet
- las armas
- the arms
- despedirse
- to say goodbye
- amanecer
- to dawn
- el horizonte
- the horizon
- la legua
- the league
- de madrugada
- at first light
When something happens
- cuando
- when
- en cuanto
- as soon as
- hasta que
- until
- antes de que
- before
- después de que
- after
- mientras
- while
- siempre que
- whenever
- una vez que
- once
What a person decides
- la decisión
- the decision
- asentir
- to nod
- calcular
- to reckon
- descuidarse
- to be off your guard
- resistirse
- to hold out
- la bendición
- the blessing
- en broma
- as a joke
- en absoluto
- not at all
Cuando plus the subjunctive
Cuando reciba su bendición, saldremos.
En cuanto lleguemos, me llevarás allí.
Cuando el sol bajó, vieron las torres.
This is one of the two or three points where Spanish and English simply do not line up, and it has to be learnt as a mechanism rather than a translation.
1. The rule
After cuando and its relatives, Spanish asks one question: has this happened, or does it happen regularly? If yes, indicative. If it is still ahead, subjunctive.
| still ahead: subjunctive | habitual or past: indicative |
|---|---|
| Cuando llegue, te llamo. | Cuando llego, te llamo. |
| When I arrive, I will call you. | Whenever I arrive, I call you. |
| Cuando reciba su bendición… | Cuando recibió su bendición… |
| Once I have her blessing… | When he got her blessing… |
English hides this distinction completely. When I arrive I will call you and when I arrive I call you differ only in the main verb. Spanish marks it inside the time clause itself.
2. Which words behave this way
| Spanish | English | example |
|---|---|---|
| cuando | when | Cuando vuelvas, hablamos. |
| en cuanto | as soon as | En cuanto lleguemos, comeremos. |
| hasta que | until | Esperaré hasta que salgas. |
| mientras | as long as | Mientras haya luz, seguimos. |
| siempre que | whenever | Siempre que puedas, escribe. |
| una vez que | once | Una vez que estemos dentro, veremos. |
| después de que | after | Después de que coman, saldremos. |
And one that does not play by the rule at all: antes de que always takes the subjunctive, past or future, because whatever comes after it had not happened yet at the moment described. Salieron antes de que amaneciera.
3. In the past, the same mechanism moves back
Sancho does not know what he will do cuando lleguen. Told from inside the past, that becomes no sabía qué haría cuando llegaran, with the imperfect subjunctive. The logic has not changed: the arrival was still ahead of him at the time. This is why the past subjunctive turns up so often in narrative.
| from now | from inside the past |
|---|---|
| Cuando lleguemos, te lo diré. | Cuando llegáramos, se lo diría. |
| Cuando se despierten, estaremos lejos. | Cuando se despertaran, estarían lejos. |
The graduate has a plan of his own
The encouragement Sansón gives here looks like the good-humoured indulgence of a young man who finds the old knight entertaining. It is not. He has agreed with the priest and the barber on a plan, and the plan is to follow Don Quixote down the road, dress as a knight errant, challenge him, beat him, and impose as the loser’s penance that he go home and stay there for a year. In Part One the cure was a cage on an ox cart. In Part Two the cure is a piece of theatre, and it is administered by a graduate of twenty-four with a taste for practical jokes.
This is the structural difference between the two halves of the novel. In 1605 Don Quixote rides into a world that has no idea who he is, and the collisions are accidents. In 1615 he rides into a world that has read the book, knows what he responds to, and stages things for him on purpose. From here to the end, almost every adventure has been arranged in advance by somebody who has done their reading.
Whether that makes the second part crueller than the first is one of the standing arguments about the novel. What is certain is that Cervantes noticed the problem: the people who set up these entertainments come off worse and worse as the book goes on, and the ones who laugh loudest end up looking emptier than the man they are laughing at.
Cervantes in the original
No es nada, señor Sansón mío, sino que mi amo se sale; ¡sálese sin duda!
It is nothing, my dear Señor Sansón, except that my master is getting out. He is getting out, no doubt about it!
Don Quixote’s niece, in II, 7, running to the graduate in tears at the first sign of the third sally. The line is a small masterpiece of spoken panic. She opens with no es nada, it is nothing, and then immediately says the thing that is not nothing at all. Then the verb arrives twice: se sale in the ordinary order, and sálese with the pronoun stuck on the end, which is an older placement that survives today mainly in fixed expressions. The repetition is how you shout in Spanish without capital letters. What follows in the chapter is a joke built on the same verb. Sansón asks where exactly he is getting out from, as though something had burst, and the niece answers that he is getting out through the door of his madness. The verb salir then carries the whole of Part Two: the third salida is both a departure and, for everyone trying to keep him at home, an escape.