1.1.30
Don Quixote 1.1.30 · A look at the nag1.1.30A look at the nag
His armor patched, the gentleman turns to his horse, and sees it as far finer than it is.
· · ·
Fue1
fue
went
luego2
LUE·go
thenat once
a3
a
to
ver4
ver
see
su5
su
his
rocín6
ro·CÍN
nag
, y7
y
and
, aunque8
AUN·que
although
tenía9
te·NÍ·a
had
más10
más
more
cuartos11
CUAR·tos
cracksquarters / small coins
que12
que
than
un13
un
a
real14
re·AL
reala silver coin
y15
y
and
más16
más
more
tachas17
TA·chas
flawsblemishes
que18
que
than
el19
el
the
caballo20
ca·BA·llo
horse
de21
de
of
Gonela22
go·NE·la
Gonela
, que23
que
which
tantum24
tan·TUM
onlyso much
pellis25
PE·llis
skin
et26
et
and
ossa27
OS·sa
bones
fuit28
fuit
was
, le29
le
himto him
pareció30
pa·re·CIÓ
seemed
que31
que
that
ni32
ni
neither
el33
el
the
Bucéfalo34
bu·CÉ·fa·lo
Bucephalus
de35
de
of
Alejandro36
a·le·JAN·dro
Alexander
ni37
ni
nor
Babieca38
ba·BIE·ca
Babieca
el39
el
the one
del40
del
of the
Cid41
cid
Cid
con44
con
with
él45
él
him
se42
se
themselves
igualaban43
i·gua·LA·ban
were a matchwere equal
. He went then to see his nag, and although it had more cracks than a real and more flaws than the horse of Gonela, which was only skin and bones, it seemed to him that neither the Bucephalus of Alexander nor Babieca, the one of the Cid, were a match for him.
He went then to see his nag, and although it had more cracks than a real and more flaws than the horse of Gonela, which was only skin and bones, it seemed to him that neither the Bucephalus of Alexander nor Babieca, the one of the Cid, were a match for him.
Interpretation
Then he went to look at his nag. It had more cracks in its hooves than a real has cuartos, and more faults than the horse of Gonela, which was nothing but skin and bone, and yet it seemed to him that neither Alexander’s Bucephalus nor the Cid’s Babieca could match it.
The joke turns on two senses of cuartos. A cuarto was a small copper coin, and a silver real was worth several of them; cuartos are also cracks in a horse’s hoof. So the nag has more cracks than a real has coins. Then comes a scrap of schoolroom Latin, tantum pellis et ossa fuit, “it was only skin and bones”, said of the horse of Gonela, an Italian court jester whose bony mount was a stock joke.
Against this the gentleman sets the two great horses of history and legend: Bucephalus, the horse Alexander the Great tamed as a boy, and Babieca, the Cid’s horse in the Castilian epic. As a common noun, babieca means a simpleton, a second sense a Spanish reader would catch at once.
1.1.31
Don Quixote 1.1.31 · Four days to name a horse1.1.31Four days to name a horse
Before he can ride out, the would-be knight decides his horse needs a proper name.
· · ·
Four days went by for him in imagining what name he would give it; because, as he told himself, it was not right that the horse of a knight so famous, and so good in itself, should be without a known name;