The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
a funeral with many priests and mourners. I got up against the wall to
let them pass. Presently they came, one in deep mourning, apparently
the wife of the deceased, with other women. She was crying with a loud
voice and saying, “O my lord and husband, whither are they taking you,
to the sad and empty house, to the dark and wretched place, to the
house where there is nothing to eat and drink.” When I heard this the
heaven and earth seemed to be joined together. I exclaimed, “O unhappy
me! it is to our house that they are taking this dead body.” I turned
back, slipped through the crowd of people, and ran down the street
as fast as I could to our house. [Sidenote: Lazaro bars the door to
keep out the dead body.] When I got there I began to close the door in
great haste, calling on my master to come and help, and to defend the
entrance. He was rather surprised, thinking it was something else, and
said to me, “What is this, my boy, what are you making a noise about,
what are you doing, why are you shutting the door in such a fury?” “Oh
sir,” I cried, “they are bringing a dead body here!” “How do you know?”
he said. “I met it in the street,” I replied, “and the dead man’s wife
was crying and shouting, ‘My lord and husband, whither do they take
you, to the dark and dismal house, to the sad and wretched place, to
the house where they never eat nor drink.’ It must be here, sir, that
they are bringing it.” Certainly when my master heard this, though he
had no great reason to be merry, he laughed so heartily that it was a
long time before he could speak. By this time I had got the beam across
the door and put my shoulder against it, to make it more secure.
[Sidenote: Lazaro barring the door.]
The people passed with their corpse, and all the time I pushed against
the door, to prevent them from getting into the house. At last, when he
had had much more of laughing than of eating, my good master said to
me, “In truth, Lazaro, seeing what the widow was saying, you were right
to think as you did. But God has been good to us, and they have passed.
So open, open, and go and get the food.” “Let me wait, sir, until
they are out of the street,” I begged. [Sidenote: At last the esquire
unbars the door, and Lazaro does his marketing.] At last my master
came and opened the door in spite of me, which was necessary, because
I was so upset with fear and excitement. I then went out. We ate well
on that day, but I took no pleasure in it, nor did my colour come back
for three more days, while my master smiled a good deal, whenever he
noticed the state I had been in.
In this way I continued with my third and poorest master, the esquire,
for several succeeding days, always longing to know the reason of his
coming and remaining in this place. For, from the first day that I
took service with him, I saw that he was a stranger, from the little
intercourse he had with the inhabitants. [Sidenote: The esquire tells
his story to Lazaro.] At last I accomplished my desire, and came to
know what I wanted. It was one day when we had eaten reasonably well,
and were rather well satisfied. He told me about his affairs, and said
that he came from Old Castille. He said he had left his home for no
other reason than that he had not taken off his cap to a knight who
was his neighbour. “Sir,” I said, “if that was what happened, and he
was greater than you, were you not wrong in not having doffed your
cap first? but he ought to have taken his off as well.” He went on
to say that the knight did take off his cap to him; but that he had
taken his off first so many times, that it was well to see what the
other would do. “It seems to me, sir,” said I, “that you should have
doffed to one greater and richer than yourself.” [Sidenote: The esquire
expounds his views of honour to Lazaro.] “You are only a boy,” he
replied, “and cannot understand the things appertaining to honour in
which, at the present time, is all the wealth of respectable people.
You must remember that I am, as you know, an esquire. I swear to God
that if I met a count in the street and he did not salute me, I would
not salute him if I met him again. I should enter some house as if I
had business there, or turn down another street before he came near me.
For a gentleman owes nothing to any one but God and the king; nor is
it right for a man of honour to forego his self-respect. I remember
that one day, in my country, I affronted and nearly came to blows with
an officer, because whenever I saluted him he said, ‘May God preserve
your honour!’ ‘You are a wretch,’ I said, ‘for you are not well bred.
You said to me “God preserve you,” as if I was nobody.’ From that time
he took off his cap, and behaved properly.” [Sidenote: The esquire
continues to discourse on the same subject.] “Is it not good manners
for one man to salute another,” I asked, “or to say ‘God preserve
you’?” He answered, “It is only underbred people who talk thus. To
gentlemen like myself, it should be not less than ‘I kiss the hands
of your honour!’ or at the very least, ‘I kiss your hand, sir!’ if he
who speaks is a knight. In my own land I would not suffer a mere ‘God
preserve you,’ nor will I suffer it from any man in the world, from
the king downwards.” “Sinner that I am,” said I, “for having taken so
little care about it. But will you not suffer any one to pray for you?”
He continued: “Above all, I am not so poor but that I possess, in my
own country, an estate of houses which are well-built, sixteen leagues
from where I was born, in the vicinity of Valladolid. They would be
worth two hundred times a thousand maravedis if they were in good
repair; and I also have a pigeon-cote which, if it was not demolished,
would give out two hundred pigeons every year, as well as other things
about which I am silent, as it might touch my honour.
[Sidenote: The esquire’s honour makes him fastidious in accepting
employment.]
“I came to this city because I expected to find a good appointment, but
things have not turned out as I thought. Canons and other Churchmen
find plenty, because their profession is not overcrowded. Careless
gentlemen also seek me, but to serve with such people involves great
trouble, for a man must lose his self-respect with them. If not
they tell you to go in God’s name, while the pay is usually at long
intervals; when they wish to clear their consciences, and pay for your
work, they make you free of a wardrobe containing a worn doublet and
a frayed cloak. [Sidenote: Service with a great lord is not to the
esquire’s liking.] When a man takes service with a titled lord there is
also misery. I cannot undertake to serve or content such. By the Lord!
if I should engage myself to one, I think that I should be a great
favourite, and that he would confer great favours on me; but I should
have to like his habits and customs though not the best in the world; I
should be expected never to say a word that would displease, to be very
careful in word and deed, not to kill myself in doing things which
the great man would not see, never to consort with those who would do
him disservice because it would behove me to guard his interests. If
some servant of his excites his anger by neglecting his duties, and
it should appear that something might be said for the accused, on the
contrary you must scoff at the poor fellow maliciously. It is a duty
to inform against those in the house, and to find out what is done
outside, so as to report it. Many other things of a like kind are the
custom in a palace, and with the lord of it, who appears honourable.
But such lords do not want to see virtuous men in their houses. On
the contrary, they hate and despise them, calling them useless and
unacquainted with business. I do not wish to trust my fortunes with
such people.”
[Sidenote: When the people came for their rent, the esquire
disappeared.]
In this way my master was lamenting his ill-fortune, and giving me an
account of his valorous person. While he was thus employed a man and an
old woman came in by the door. The man asked for the rent of the house,
and the old woman for the rent of the bed, saying that they were hired
from two months to two months. I think the sum required was twelve to
thirteen reals. My master gave them a very civil answer, saying that
he would go out and get change, and return in the afternoon.
But his departure was without any return. They returned in the
afternoon when it was late, and I told them that he had not yet come
back. The night came, but he did not. I was afraid to stay in the house
alone, so I went to my girl-friends, told them what had happened, and
slept there. When morning came the creditors returned and asked for the
lodger. The girls answered that his boy was there, and that the key was
in the door. They asked me where my master was, and I answered that I
did not know where he was, but that he had gone out to get change. I
thought that he had gone with the change from me as well as from them.
[Sidenote: Creditors search for the esquire’s effects, but there are
none.]
When they had heard what I had to say they went for an officer and a
scrivener. Presently they returned with them. They took the key, called
me and some witnesses, opened the door and went in to take possession
of my master’s effects until he had paid his debts. They went all over
the house and found it empty. Then they asked me where my master’s
effects were, his chest, clothes, and jewelry. I said that I did not
know. No doubt, they said, they have got up in the night and taken
them somewhere else. [Sidenote: Lazaro is taken into custody.] “Sir,”
they said to the officer, “take this boy into custody, for he knows
where the effects are.” On this the officer came and took me by the
collar, saying, “Boy, you are my prisoner if you do not show us the
goods of your master.”
I never was in such a plight as this, though I had been taken by the
collar many times. I was dreadfully frightened and began to cry,
promising to tell them all they might ask. “That is well,” they said,
“tell all you know and you have nothing to fear.”
The scrivener then sat down on the bench to write out the inventory,
asking me what there was. I said, “What my master has, according to
what he told me, is a very good estate consisting of houses and a
demolished pigeon-cote.” “This is worth little,” they said, “but it
will do for the payment of his debts. In what part of the town is
it?” “In his own country,” I replied. “By the Lord! this is a fine
business,” they exclaimed, “and where is his country?” “He told me that
it was in Old Castille,” I said. The officer and the scrivener laughed
a good deal, and said, “This is a good story to cover your debts!”
[Sidenote: Lazaro is released, at the intercession of his girl-friends.]
The girls who were my neighbours, and who were present, then said:
“Sirs! this is an innocent child, and has only been a few days with
that esquire, and knows no more than your worships. He used to come to
our house and we gave him to eat what we could spare, for the love of
God, and at night he went to sleep with the esquire.”
Seeing that I was innocent they let me go. Then the officer and the
scrivener asked for their fees from the man and the old woman, over
which there was much contention and noise. They declared that they
ought not to be forced to pay, for they had got nothing to pay with,
and that the seizure of goods had not been made. The others maintained
that they had been taken away from other business of more consequence.
Finally, after making a great noise, they went away, and I do not know
how it ended.
[Sidenote: Lazaro finds himself deserted by his master.]
Having rested from my past troubles I went about to seek employment.