Exemplary Stories (Classics) by Miguel Cervantes

Author:Miguel Cervantes [Cervantes, Miguel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141960289
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2006-05-24T23:00:00+00:00

The Jealous Extremaduran

Not many years ago a gentleman born of noble parents set out from a village in Extremadura, and like a second Prodigal Son went off through various parts of Spain, Italy and Flanders, wasting his time and his substance. After much wandering, his parents having died and his inheritance spent, he came to live in the great city of Seville, where he found plenty of opportunity to get through the little that he had left. So, seeing himself so short of money, and with few friends left, he had recourse to the solution to which many ruined people of that city are driven, namely that of going to the Indies, the refuge and shelter of all desperate folk in Spain, the sanctuary of bankrupts, the safe-conduct of murderers, the protection and cover of those gamblers known by the experts in the craft as sharpers, the general decoy for loose women, where many go to be deceived, and few find a way out of their difficulties. In short, when there was a fleet leaving for Tierrafirme, he came to terms with the commander, got together a store of provisions and an esparto mat; and embarking at Cadiz, and saying good-bye to Spain, he set off with the fleet. Amid general rejoicing the ship hoisted sail, and was carried off by a fair wind that soon took them out of sight of land and opened up to them the broad and ample plains of that great father of all waters, the Atlantic Ocean.

Our passenger was thoughtful, turning over in his memory the many and varied dangers which he had passed through in the years of his wandering, and the lack of direction which had characterized the whole of his life; and from his stock-taking he came to a firm decision to change his way of life and to adopt another manner of looking after whatever fortune God might be pleased to give him. He also determined to proceed with more caution towards women than hitherto. The fleet was almost becalmed when Filipo de Carrizales, which was the name of the man who is the subject of our story, was passing through this storm in his mind. The wind blew again, driving the ships on with such force that everyone was tossed hither and thither; and so Carrizales had to leave his ponderings and allow himself to be preoccupied simply by the problems of the voyage. This voyage was so successful that without suffering any set-back or shift in the wind they reached the port of Cartagena. And to cut out all the details which have nothing to do with our purpose, I should tell you that when Filipo went to the Indies he would be about forty-eight years old, and during the twenty he spent overseas, by his industry and diligence, he managed to make a hundred and fifty thousand good solid pesos.

So, seeing himself rich and prosperous, and feeling the natural desire which everyone has to return to his

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