Scene-Barataria: The Law Courts.
Characters-Sancho Panza, Usher, Tailor, Farmer, 1st Man, 2nd Man.
usher.-Lord governor, here are two men who have a dispute. Will it please your Excellency to have them brought before you?
Sancho.-Let them be brought.
[Two men, one a farmer and the other a tailor with a pair of shears in his hand, are brought forward.]
Sancho.-What is this quarrel between you?
Tailor.-My lord governor, some few days agone this fellow came into my shop with a piece of cloth, which he spread out before me on the table. Then he inquired of me whether there was enough of it to make a cap. I answered, " Yes. " He then began to suppose, I dare say, that I had a mind to rob him of some of the material, judging of my honesty by his own baseness, and influenced, maybe, by the general ill-opinion held regarding men of my trade; hence he made further inquiry of me whether, perchance, there was enough in the piece for the making of two caps.Judging of his intention, I told him there was. This folly went on, therefore, until we came to thenumber of five caps.
Sancho.-Well?
Tailor.-To-day, my lord governor, he comes in for his caps, which I offer him; but now he refuses to pay me for them, stating that I must either make good the cloth I have used, or else pay him for it.
Sancho.-Is all that this man hath said true, brother?
Farmer.-Yea, my lord. But I would have him produce the five caps, my lord, that thou mayest judge of them for thyself.
Tailor.-With all my heart. Only, remember, my lordgovernor, I pray thee, the terms of our bargain, and the circumstances of my promise.
[He draws out his hand from beneath his cloak, and displays thefive caps upon the ends of his fingers and thumb, on which they fit to a nicety.]
Tailor.-And I assure thee, sir, there is not so much as athread of the cloth left.
[Don Sancho Panza regards the two men steadfastly for a moment or two; then he deliberates in his mind for some moments more concerning the matter.]
Sancho.-I perceive that there is malice on both sides; and, in order that I may prove to you that the end of malice is always loss, I declare that ye shall both make forfeit, the tailor of his time and labour in the making, and the farmer of his cloth. Then shall the caps become the property of the court, to be disposed of according to our will.
[The caps are handed over to the Usher, and the two men depart.]
Usher.-There is still another case, my lord.
[He brings forward two men, one of whom carries a stout cane very carefully.]
Usher.-Here are two men old enough to know better, for they are both grey-bearded and grey-headed.
1st Man. -My lord, it is some months now since I lent thisman ten golden crowns, which he undertook to repay upon demand. After I had waited many days, and had received nothing, I began to fear that he had f o r g o t t e n t h e m a t t e r , being all the more anxious since we had made no written agreement, receipt, or promise to pay. For, mylord, I had trusted to his
The Ten Gold Piece Found
honour, as between friend and friend. I therefore approached him many times. But he says I never lent him the money; or, if I did, he has certainly paid me long ago. Now, my lord, seeing that there were no witnesses to the agreement, I pray that thou wouldst have recourse to the oath; and, if he swears to having refunded the loan, then, though he be forsworn, I shall have no other course open but to absolve him of the debt.
Sancho.-What hast thou to say to this, old man with the cane?
2nd Man.-I confess to having borrowed the sum of money,my lord governor, and I am fully prepared to swear that I have duly repaid it. If your worship will but lower thy wand of office, so that I may kiss it, I will take the oath immediately.
[The old man hands his heavy cane to his creditor, and places thejudge"s wand, which Sancho has lowered, to his lips.]
2nd Man.-I declare, on oath, that I gave the ten crowns into my neighbour"s hand. I suppose that he has forgotten it, for he is always asking me for the money.
Sancho (turning to the other man).-What hast thou to say?
1st Man.-Lord governor, I must accept the oath of my friend as being in good faith, and I must suppose that I myself have forgotten receiving the golden crowns.
Sancho.-Then there is nothing to do but to dismiss the case. [The 1st man returns the cane, and the two go towards the door.] Sancho.-Stop! Return here to me.
[The men return.]
Sancho.-Give me that stout cane of thine, honest fellow.
2nd Man.-With all my heart. [Sancho gives the cane to the 1st man.]
Sancho.-Go, friend; now thou art fully paid indeed.
1st Man.-How! Is this staff worth ten crowns of gold?
Sancho.-Assuredly it is, else I am no judge, nor am I worthy to govern this or any other island. Break it in my presence, and see for thyself.
[The cane is broken, and the ten gold pieces fall from inside it.]
Sancho (to 1st Man).-Take thou the ten pieces, honest friend. (To Usher).-Take this thief and beat him with the brokenpieces until he repents him of his knavery.
[The Usher takes the miserable debtor out, and the honest creditor departs joyfully with his ten golden pieces.]
From Don Quixote, by Cervantes
Author.-Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), generally known as Cervantes, was a Spanish novelist, dramatist, and poet. He had an adventurous career as soldier and sailor, and was once captured by Moorish pirates and sold as a slave. His Don Quixote was intended as a satire on the ridiculous romances of chivalry then being written by Spanish writers. It has been translated into many languages.
General-Why can you not find Barataria on the map? Could a shrewdpeasant take the place of a judge in one of our law courts? What diffi- culties would arise? In which of the two cases was Sancho"s sagacity seen to better advantage? Do you agree with his judgments?
