Pedro de Alarcón - El Capitán Veneno

vicio de Pero Grullo: a perogrulladais an explanation of something already clear, a definition of self-evident facts, and repeats the thought in other words without adding anything much. You might as well kill a fellow as scare him to death is a perogrullada. For a whole set of perogrulladas, see Goldsmith's Madam Blaise . Hamlet's Words, words, words is of the same nature, and many times in Hamlet besides: cf. There isn't in all Denmark an infamous man who isn't a great villain , Hamlet I. 3. If the king likes not the comedy, why then he likes it not, perdy , Hamlet III. 2. Or take the phrase attributed to Lincoln: If people like that sort of a thing that is about the sort of a thing they will like. There is also the proverbial phrase in Spanish: Es una verdad de Perogrullo(or Pero Grullo), que a la mano cerrada llamaba puño. Cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch: Personajes, personas y personillas , etc., Sevilla, 1912, vol. II, pp. 304-5.

quebrantarle: the third word for break .

por conocer, because he knew .

quedó en, agreed : cf. English they left it that way ; and German dabei blieb es , so it was settled . The verb quedarmeans remain , but in the phrase quedar engets the meaning agree , much as the English words settle [ a matter ], rest [ the case ], developed a sense of conclusion or agreement.

por si, for fear that = por si acaso.

al+ infinitive, at nightfall : good example of temporal use of this construction.

Serían las tres de la madrugada, It must have been about three A.M. : cf. Yo tendría diez años, I was about ten years old . This form in -ría(conditional) is made up of the infinitive of the verb and the endings of había, and so corresponds in meaning to the use of the future in such a case as ¿Qué hora será? What time do you suppose it is?

sinventura, one without luck ; so una sinvergüenza, a shameless girl ; un sinnúmero, a host of , a lot of ; so humorously el sin-hueso, the tongue . sin ventura: printed separately in the 10th edition.

dichosísima: like dichosabefore: blessed (i.e. confounded ).

roncaba, si había que roncar, snored if ever there was snoring : cf. nevaba si había que nevar, it snowed if it ever did , in Alarcón's story Moros y Cristianos ; Guillermo y Julia reían si había que reír, William and Julia laughed if ever any one did , La Pródiga , p. 193.

por no haber, because she had not .

occipucio, occiput : Alarcón often playfully throws in an odd or big word, or even slang.

habían cruzado, had exchanged : the mother and daughter were discussing the unconscious man. Could observacionesbe the subject here?

que declarasen, such as might declare : an example of the subjunctive of characteristic; or in a relative clause with an indefinite antecedent.

asegurando: segurandoin the 10th edition.

sentado muy mal, had offended : by the manner of it quite as much as by the word itself, for such words are common.

Guía de Forasteros , Strangers' Guide or Directory (giving names and titles, like our Red Books and Blue Books).

caiga que caiga, come what may ; and later quiera o no quiera, whether or no : subjunctives, used optatively or imperatively.

Dejémosle: the pronouns -leand -meare unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the following verb.

permíteme: the pronouns -leand -meare unnecessary, but add a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the following verb.

Convenio de Vergara, Treaty of Vergara , i.e. the terms of agreement between General Espartero for the queen, and General Maroto for the Carlists.

Tieneand (21) hain this same sentence: what is the difference?

teniendo… habiendo: let the student note the distinct meanings.

que maldito…, accursed , condemned : translate, and blamed if I deserve them .

nos agradezca cosa alguna, that you thank us for anything : the construction is nosdative, and cosa algunaaccusative, and the subjunctive in a subordinate clause dependent upon necesitamos.

convenido , signer , party to : sense of convenirse, fall in with , adjust oneself .

des cuerda: the figure is of winding an old-style clock.

a que me traten con bondad, to their treating me with kindness : Alarcón admired the Spanish general O'Donnell greatly, and seems to have taken him as the prototype of Captain Veneno. Alarcón was with O'Donnell in Africa, and wrote, in the Diario de un testigo , in detail of O'Donnell's frank, abrupt, even harsh bearing. The wound in the head was possibly suggested also by a great scar on an Arab's head, of which Alarcón tells in the Diario .

He dicho, I have done , or I have spoken : at the end of a speech, like amen at the end of a prayer; it is the dixi of the Roman orators.

¡Jesús…!all the characters of this story use oaths and asseverations, except the servant girl. Translate here: Heavens!

condolido: this verb 'pity' repeated becomes comical; poor rhetoric. Like Ormulum's Alls iff þu drunnke waterrdrinnch , As if thou drankest a waterdrink .

entre las tres, we three , where entreis losing its prepositional force, as it has in entrambos, entre usted y yo. Rubén Darío says ( Autobiografía , p. 61): Entre él y otros amigos me arreglaron mi viaje a Chile, He and other friends provided ( money ) for my trip to Chile . Entre ellos y los soldados… lo cogieron, they and the soldiers caught him .