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.
· · ·
Cuatro1
CUA·tro
Four
días2
DÍ·as
days
se3
se
bythemselves
le4
le
for him
pasaron5
pa·SA·ron
went
en6
en
in
imaginar7
i·ma·gi·NAR
imagining
qué8
qué
what
nombre9
NOM·bre
name
le10
le
it
pondría11
pon·DRÍ·a
would givewould put
; porque12
POR·que
because
, según13
se·GÚN
as
se14
se
himself
decía15
de·CÍ·a
told
él16
él
he
a17
a
to
sí18
sí
him
mesmo19
MES·mo
selfsame
, no20
no
not
era21
E·ra
was
razón22
ra·ZÓN
rightreason
que23
que
that
caballo24
ca·BA·llo
the horse
de25
de
of
caballero26
ca·ba·LLE·ro
a knight
tan27
tan
so
famoso28
fa·MO·so
famous
, y29
y
and
tan30
tan
so
bueno31
BUE·no
good
él32
él
it
por33
por
in
sí34
sí
itself
, estuviese35
es·tu·VIE·se
should bewere
sin36
sin
without
nombre37
NOM·bre
a name
conocido38
co·no·CI·do
known
; 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;
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;
Interpretation
Four days went by while he imagined what name to give it, because, as he told himself, it was not right that the horse of so famous a knight, and a horse so good in itself, should go without a name people knew;
In the romances a knight’s horse often has a name of its own, and the gentleman reasons that a famous knight cannot ride a nameless one. Four days go into the question. The phrase no era razón, “it was not right”, belongs to the lawyer and the moralist, and here it is spent on a nag.
Se decía él a sí mesmo, “he said to himself”, uses the old form mesmo; a few lines later Cervantes writes a sí mismo. Both were current in 1605, and mesmo is still heard in rural Spanish speech; in Portuguese it is the standard form.
1.1.32
Don Quixote 1.1.32 · A name to match the new calling1.1.32A name to match the new calling
The sentence runs on: the horse’s new name must fit its master’s new life.
· · ·
and so, he tried to fit one to it so that it would show what it had been before it belonged to a knight errant, and what it was then; for it was only right that, with its master changing his station, it should change its name too, and win one famous and resounding, as befitted the new order and the new calling he now professed.