The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story

by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Among those who were listening to the long story, were the two Alcaldes of the town, both old men, but one rather younger than the other. The freed captive was thus saying:—"Here, gentlemen, you may see the picture of the town of Algiers, that bugbear and terror of all the shores of the Mediterranean Sea; the harbour of all pirates; the shelter and refuge of thieves and robbers, who, from this little port you here see pictured, go forth with their vessels to disturb the world, for they are bold enough even to pass the ne plus ultra of the pillars of Hercules, and attack and pillage the scattered islands that lie up and down in the immense ocean, fancying themselves secure, at least from the Turkish ships. This vessel, which is here painted so small because the size of the painting obliges it to be reduced, is a galley of two and twenty oars;—the master and captain of her is the Turk you see there, standing up in the gangway with an arm in his hand that he has just cut off from the body of the Christian you see there also, and which he is using as a whip or a rope's end for the other Christians who are bound fast to the benches. He is fearing lest those four galleys that you perceive here giving chase, should reach him. This first captive of the foremost row of benches, whose countenance is disfigured by the blood that has dripped over it from the severed arm, is myself, who served as stern-rower in this galley. The other who is next to me, is my companion, less bloody, because less wounded. Listen, gentlemen, and pay attention, and you may possibly hear the threats and abusive words uttered by this Dog, Dragut, for that is the name of the captain of the galley. A pirate as famous as he is cruel, and as cruel as Phalaris, or Busiris, the Sicilian tyrants, I seem to hear now sounding in my ears, the fierce Moorish oaths which he was then uttering with the air of a demon; Moorish oaths and words, all expressing contempt and abuse against the Christians, calling them Jews, worthless, vile, and faithless, and to make the terror and horror greater, he beat the living bodies with the dead arms severed from them."

It seems that one of the two Alcaldes had been an Algerine captive for a long period, and in a low voice he said to his companion, "This captive has seemed to speak the truth so far, and so appears to be really what he says he is; but I will examine him in a few particulars, and we will see how he can answer me, for I would have you know that I was in this very galley, and I do not recollect any man as first oar, except one Alonzo Moclin, a native of Vélez Málaga," and turning to the captive, he said to him, "Pray tell me, friend, whose galleys were those that chased yours? and did you obtain the freedom you desired by their means?" "The galleys," answered he, "were Don Sancho de Leiva's; we did not obtain our liberty, for they did not come up with us. We gained it afterwards, for we fell in with a ship, bound to Algiers from Sargel, laden with wheat. We came in her to Oran, and from thence to Málaga, from whence my companion and I set out for Italy, in the intention of serving his majesty (whom may God preserve!) as soldiers." "Tell me, friends," said the Alcalde, "you two captives, were you taken to Algiers at first, or to any other part of Barbary?"

"We were not made prisoners together," replied the other captive, "for I was taken near Alicant in a vessel laden with wool, going to Genoa,—my companion in the Percheles[N] of Málaga, where he was a fisherman. We became acquainted in a dungeon at Tetuan; we have been friends and shared the same fortune for a long while, and for ten or twelve quartos,[O] which is all you have offered us, we have given full information to my lord Alcalde."

"Not much, my young gentleman," replied the Alcalde, "you have not gone through the whole ordeal of the question yet. Listen to me, and say, how many doors are there in Algiers? how many fountains, and how many wells of sweet water?"

"A foolish question," answered the first captive. "As many doors as houses;—I do not know how many fountains, and so many wells, that I have not seen half; and the troubles I underwent there have gone nigh to take away almost the memory of myself; and if my lord Alcalde wishes to be uncharitable, we will gather up our pence, and strike our tent and say adieu, for there's as good bread to be got elsewhere as here."[P]

Then the Alcalde called to a man among the bystanders looking in, who held the office of the town's crier sometimes, and sometimes that of executioner when needful, and said, "Gil Berrueco, go and fetch me here the first two asses you can catch; for by the life of our lord the king, I will make these two captive gentlemen ride through the streets, who have taken the liberty of usurping the alms of the charitable, which belong of right to the real poor, and telling lies and inventions, whilst they are all the time as whole and sound as an apple, and more able and fit to use their spades than to be flourishing whips senselessly in the air. I was a slave in Algiers five years, and I know that they have said no one thing to show they ever were there."

"Body o' me!" cried the captive; "is it possible that my lord Alcalde can expect that poor as we are in worldly gifts, we should be so rich in those of memory, and that for a folly not worth three farthings, he will put to shame two such insignificant students as ourselves, and deprive his majesty of two brave soldiers on their way to Italy and Flanders to rout and destroy, and wound and kill, all the enemies of our holy Catholic faith that we may encounter. For if we must needs tell the truth, who is of heavenly birth, my lord Alcalde must know that we are no captives, but students from Salamanca, who, in the midst of our studies, felt a desire to see the world, and to know a little of the life of a soldier, as we were acquainted sufficiently with a peaceful life. To carry our scheme the better into effect, we happened to light upon a party of captives, who might be true, or false, like ourselves; I cannot say if they were or not. From them we bought the canvass and picture, and obtained information respecting Algiers, and such things as seemed necessary to us to render our fraud credible. We sold our books and our furniture at a low price, and laden with this apparatus, have travelled thus far, and we think of going on, if your worship does not forbid it."

"What I am thinking of doing," said the Alcalde, "is to give each of you a hundred lashes, and in lieu of the pike you talk of wielding in Flanders, put an oar into your hands to work with at the galleys, with which you may perhaps be as serviceable to his majesty as you would be with the pike."

"I could wish," rejoined the young man, who had been the principal speaker, "that my lord Alcalde was an Athenian legislator, and that the severity of his office reached the ears of the other lords of the council, where, obtaining credit from them, they would hold him as a severe and rigid judge, and commit to him matters of importance, wherein he might show his severity and his justice. But my lord Alcalde knows that 'Summum jus summa injuria.'"

"See how you talk, friend," replied the second Alcalde; "here there is no justice without reason; but all the Alcaldes of this place, have ever been, are, and will be, pure and faithful, and it will be better for you to talk less."