Level B2 · Chapter 86
Roque Guinart the Bandit
On the road to Barcelona forty bandits take them. Their captain shares out the haul with perfect fairness and explains how he ended up living this way.
What you will learn
- Explain how somebody ended up where they are, chaining causes together.
- State a consequence with five different connectors, and know which one takes a subjunctive.
- Talk about a crime and a share-out without calling anybody good or bad.
Before you read
Almost every sentence in this chapter is a link in a chain of cause and effect, because the chapter exists to explain how a decent man became a bandit. Watch the connectors. There are about ten different ones, and exactly one of them puts the verb that follows into the subjunctive.The story in easy Spanish
Camino de Barcelona, don Quijote y Sancho durmieron una noche entre unos árboles.
On the road to Barcelona, Don Quixote and Sancho slept one night among some trees.
Al amanecer, don Quijote sintió que algo blando le rozaba la cabeza.
At dawn, Don Quixote felt something soft brushing against his head.
Alzó los ojos y vio pies y piernas colgando de las ramas de encima.
He raised his eyes and saw feet and legs hanging from the branches above.
Eran cuerpos de bandoleros ahorcados, más de cuarenta, dejados allí por la justicia.
They were the bodies of hanged bandits, more than forty, left there by the law.
Le dijo a Sancho que no tuviera miedo, porque por allí se ahorcaba mucho.
He told Sancho not to be afraid, because they did a lot of hanging in those parts.
Y como se ahorcaba de veinte en veinte, aquello quería decir que Barcelona estaba cerca.
And since they hanged them twenty at a time, that meant Barcelona was close.
Los muertos los habían espantado, pero más los espantaron cuarenta bandoleros vivos.
The dead men had frightened them, but forty living bandits frightened them more.
Los rodearon de repente y les mandaron en catalán que no se movieran.
They surrounded them all at once and ordered them in Catalan not to move.
Tenían que esperar allí quietos hasta que llegara el capitán de la cuadrilla.
They had to wait there without moving until the captain of the band arrived.
Don Quijote estaba a pie, con el caballo sin freno y la lanza arrimada a un árbol.
Don Quixote was on foot, his horse unbridled and his lance propped against a tree.
Como no tenía defensa ninguna, cruzó las manos y bajó la cabeza sin decir nada.
Since he had no defence at all, he folded his hands and bowed his head without a word.
Los hombres vaciaron las alforjas del rucio y le quitaron a Sancho cuanto llevaba.
The men emptied the donkey’s saddlebags and took from Sancho everything he had.
Sancho llevaba los escudos del duque en una faja ceñida debajo de la ropa.
Sancho was carrying the duke’s crowns in a belt worn tight under his clothes.
Se echó encima de ella y se quedó quieto, seguro de que aquello le costaría caro.
He threw himself on top of it and lay still, certain the business would cost him dear.
Ya iban a registrarlo hasta la piel cuando llegó el capitán a caballo.
They were about to search him to the skin when the captain arrived on horseback.
Tenía unos treinta y cuatro años, era robusto, moreno y de mirar grave.
He was about thirty-four, sturdy, dark, and grave in his look.
Llevaba cota de acero y cuatro pistoletes a los lados, y ningún adorno.
He wore a steel coat of mail and four small pistols at his sides, and no ornament.
Se llamaba Roque Guinart, y lo primero que mandó fue que soltaran a Sancho.
His name was Roque Guinart, and the first thing he ordered was that Sancho be let go.
Le extrañó ver a un hombre armado, triste y pensativo entre sus soldados.
It struck him as odd to see a man armed, sad and thoughtful among his soldiers.
Le dijo que no estuviera triste, porque no había caído en manos crueles.
He told him not to be sad, because he had not fallen into cruel hands.
Don Quijote contestó que su tristeza no venía de eso, sino de su propio descuido.
Don Quixote answered that his sadness did not come from that but from his own carelessness.
Como caballero andante tenía que vivir alerta, y lo habían cogido dormido y a pie.
As a knight errant he had to live on the alert, and they had caught him asleep and on foot.
Roque entendió enseguida que aquello tocaba más en locura que en valentía.
Roque understood at once that this had more of madness in it than of courage.
Le contó luego que su propia vida no era la que él habría escogido.
He then told him that his own life was not the one he would have chosen.
Un agravio le pidió venganza, de aquella venganza salió otra, y luego otra más.
One wrong called for revenge, out of that revenge came another, and then another.
Como un abismo llama a otro, se le habían eslabonado hasta las venganzas ajenas.
As one abyss calls to another, even other people’s revenges had linked themselves to his.
De ahí que ya no supiera cómo salir de aquella cadena, por mucho que quisiera.
Hence he no longer knew how to get out of that chain, however much he wanted to.
Mientras hablaban, sus hombres trajeron lo tomado en los caminos aquella mañana.
While they were talking, his men brought in what had been taken on the roads that morning.
Traían dos capitanes de infantería, dos peregrinos a pie y un coche de señoras.
They brought two infantry captains, two pilgrims on foot and a coach full of ladies.
Roque preguntó a cada uno quién era, adónde iba y cuánto dinero llevaba encima.
Roque asked each of them who they were, where they were going and how much money they had.
A los capitanes les pidió sesenta escudos prestados y a la señora del coche ochenta.
From the captains he asked sixty crowns as a loan, and eighty from the lady in the coach.
Como el abad come de lo que canta, dijo, había que contentar a la escuadra.
Since the abbot eats from what he sings, he said, the squad had to be kept happy.
A los peregrinos no les quitó nada, y encima les dio diez escudos del montón.
From the pilgrims he took nothing, and on top of that he gave them ten crowns from the pile.
Luego les dio un salvoconducto escrito para las otras cuadrillas de aquellos montes.
Then he gave them a written safe conduct for the other bands in those hills.
Repartió el botín por cabezas, contando con tanto cuidado que nadie pudo quejarse.
He divided the loot by heads, counting so carefully that nobody could complain.
Con aquella gente no se podía vivir si no se guardaba esa puntualidad, dijo.
With people like these there was no living unless that exactness was kept, he said.
Uno murmuró que su capitán era mejor para fraile que para bandolero.
One man muttered that their captain was better suited to be a friar than a bandit.
Roque le abrió la cabeza de un revés con la espada, delante de todos.
Roque split his head open with a backhanded stroke of his sword, in front of everyone.
Dijo que así castigaba él a los deslenguados, y nadie volvió a abrir la boca.
He said that was how he punished loose tongues, and nobody opened his mouth again.
Tuvo a sus huéspedes tres días entre peñas y bosques, comiendo de lo que había.
He kept his guests three days among rocks and woods, eating whatever there was.
Después los llevó de noche hasta la playa y se despidió sin pedirles nada.
Afterwards he took them by night down to the shore and said goodbye without asking anything.
Roque Guinart existió de verdad y andaba entonces de verdad por aquellas sierras.
Roque Guinart really existed and really was roaming those hills at that time.
Vocabulary
The band and the road
- el bandolero
- the highwayman
- la cuadrilla
- the band, the gang
- la escopeta
- the musket
- las alforjas
- the saddlebags
- el peregrino
- the pilgrim
- la peña
- the crag
- el salvoconducto
- the safe conduct
- registrar
- to search someone
Crime and punishment
- ahorcar
- to hang someone
- el agravio
- the wrong done to you
- la venganza
- the revenge
- vengarse de
- to take revenge for
- deslenguado
- foul-mouthed
- castigar
- to punish
- la justicia
- the law, justice
- el descuido
- the lapse, the carelessness
Sharing out what was taken
- el botín
- the loot
- el reparto
- the share-out
- repartir por cabezas
- to divide by heads
- el montón
- the pile
- quejarse
- to complain
- la puntualidad
- exactness, strict fairness
- eslabonarse
- to link up like a chain
- la cadena
- the chain
Cause and consequence: how a man ends up where he is
Como no tenía defensa ninguna, cruzó las manos.
Contaba con tanto cuidado que nadie podía quejarse.
De ahí que ya no supiera cómo salir de la cadena.
The whole chapter is one long answer to the question of how a compassionate man ended up hanging in effigy from a tree, so it is built out of causal connectors. Spanish has many more of them than English and keeps them in registers, which is why a learner who only owns porque sounds like a child in writing.
1. Giving the cause
| connector | example | where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| porque | No se movió porque no tenía defensa. | never first in the sentence |
| como | Como no tenía defensa, no se movió. | always first, never second |
| ya que | Ya que estás aquí, ayúdame. | either place, cause already known |
| puesto que | Puesto que nadie protestó, siguió. | written, formal |
| por | Lo mataron por hablar de más. | plus a noun or an infinitive |
| gracias a / por culpa de | Por culpa de un agravio se hizo bandolero. | good cause and bad cause |
The pair worth drilling is como against porque. They translate the same English word and they are in complementary distribution. Como opens the sentence and presents the cause as already agreed. Porque comes second and presents the cause as the new information, which is why it is the only one that can answer a ¿por qué? on its own.
2. Giving the consequence
| connector | example | register |
|---|---|---|
| así que | No tenía armas, así que se rindió. | spoken, the everyday one |
| de modo que | Repartió bien, de modo que nadie se quejó. | neutral |
| por eso | Ahorcan mucho, por eso Barcelona está cerca. | spoken |
| por lo tanto | Es un delito, por lo tanto hay castigo. | written, argument |
| de ahí que | Se eslabonaron las venganzas, de ahí que no supiera salir. | written, and subjunctive |
3. The one that takes the subjunctive
De ahí que is the single most useful thing in this lesson, and it is worth learning as a fixed block with the mood attached. It means hence, and that is why, and the verb after it is always subjunctive: de ahí que sea tan difícil, de ahí que no quisiera hablar. There is no good explanation of why. Historically the consequence is presented as a comment rather than as a fresh assertion, and the mood follows the comment. In practice you learn it whole, and it instantly lifts a piece of written Spanish.
4. Intensity plus consequence
| pattern | example |
|---|---|
| tan + adjective + que | Era tan justo que nadie protestaba. |
| tanto + noun + que | Tenía tanto miedo que no habló. |
| verb + tanto que | Contó tanto que se le hizo de noche. |
| tal + noun + que | Hubo tal silencio que se oía el viento. |
Tan goes with adjectives and adverbs. Tanto goes with nouns and verbs, and agrees when it sits in front of a noun: tanta gente, tantos años.
A bandit with a real name
Every other figure in the book is invented or dead. This one was alive, and readers in 1615 knew his name. Perot Rocaguinarda led one of the two rival bands that ran the Catalan hills at the turn of the century, the Nyerros against the Cadells, a feud that was half banditry and half a war between local factions with noble families on both sides. Cervantes even keeps the two faction names in Roque’s letter to Barcelona. Rocaguinarda took a royal pardon in 1611, went to Naples as a captain in the Spanish army, and was still alive somewhere when the second part of the novel was printed.
What Cervantes does with him is careful and slightly dangerous. He does not make him a villain and he does not make him a hero. Roque gives money back to pilgrims, is scrupulous with a share-out, weeps at another man’s misfortune, and in the same afternoon opens a man’s skull for a joke about his generosity. The chapter refuses to settle, and the refusal is the point: a man can run a fair court and a killing operation at the same time, and Cervantes had seen enough of Spain to know it.
Notice too where the justice is. The state hangs bandits twenty at a time and leaves them in the trees as a notice board. The bandit counts out shares to the last coin so that nobody is cheated. Sancho says the obvious thing out loud, that justice is so good a thing it has to be used even among thieves, and almost gets his head broken for saying it. It is the most political page in the novel and it lasts about four minutes.
Cervantes in the original
Según lo que aquí he visto, es tan buena la justicia, que es necesaria que se use aun entre los mesmos ladrones
From what I have seen here, justice is so good a thing that it is needed even among thieves themselves
From II, 60, said by Sancho as he watches the loot counted out, and one of Roque’s men immediately raises a musket butt to break his head for it. Two things are going on. Grammatically it is the pattern this lesson drills, tan plus an adjective plus que plus the consequence, in the mouth of a man who has never studied anything. The old spelling mesmos for mismos is standard in this edition. What makes the line dangerous is what it implies. Sancho is not praising Roque. He is saying that fairness is not the property of the law, since here it is the criminals who are practising it and the state that is stringing bodies up in trees by the score. Cervantes puts the observation in the mouth of the least educated man on the page, has an armed thief nearly kill him for it, and moves on to the next paragraph without comment. That is the technique of the whole book in four lines.