Count Lucanor | Page 9

not bread and water; and since you said that, would it have been right to disobey your wishes? and for this have I eaten only bread and water.'
"Pero Nu?±ez, arriving at his house, was received by his wife and friends with great joy, and so great was their pleasure that they could not look at him without laughing, so much so, that Pero Nu?±ez was impressed with the feeling that they laughed because he had lost an eye; so, with an air of chagrin, he covered his head with his cloak and threw himself on the bed. His good wife, seeing him so sad, was greatly afflicted, and so earnestly did she urge him to tell her the cause of his grief, that he was constrained to say he thought they laughed at him for having lost his eye. No sooner had she heard this than, seizing a needle, she thrust it into her own eye, thereby destroying it, and exclaiming, -- 'Henceforth if any one laughs it cannot be in contempt of you.' And so God rewarded these trusty knights for their fidelity and honour.
"And now, my lord, I say as before, -- if those of whom you complain had been like these three knights, or had even known what happened to them, they would not have conducted themselves as they have done.
"But to you, Count Lucanor, permit me to say that the evil conduct of these people must not prevent you from doing good when it is in your power. It is not necessary to separate those to whom you have been serviceable from those you may have injured; but were you to do so, you would probably find that you have received more good from the first than evil from the latter. It would be foolish to expect gratitude from all men to whom you have rendered service; but it might so happen that one of those people may so remunerate you with his devotion, as would compensate you for all the good you have done to others."
The Count estimated this as a wise and virtuous precept. And it being considered by Don Juan as a narrative worthy to be retained, he ordered it to be written in this book, and made these lines:
Though others injure thee, or spite,
Yet cease not thou to do aright.
NOTES
Although each age and country may have its distinguishing glory, whether it be the wisdom of Athens, the arts of Greece, or the heroism of Rome, or the chivalry of the Crusaders, none is perhaps more attractive in its character then the last-named, and it is in this that Don Manuel has depicted that patient and devoted fidelity displayed by his three knights to their degraded and expatriated lord, in which their feudal honour and allegiance knew no check until their mission was completely fulfilled. The little interlude of gallantry displayed by Pero Nu?±ez, so neatly introduced, showing that even an evil intention not carried into effect brings with it always a certain punishment, demands our approval.
The names and chivalric deeds of these three knights have been handed down to posterity in the Nobiliare of Argote de Molina.

CHAPTER IV.
Of a Hermit who fought to know whom he should have for his companion in Paradise, and of the leap made by King Richard of England.
ONE day Count Lucanor having called Patronio, said to him, "Patronio, I have great faith in your understanding, and believe that in any matter which you could not comprehend or give advice about no other man could succeed; I beg therefore that you will advise me as best you can on that which I am now going to tell you."
"You know very well that I am no longer young and that I have been engaged all my life in one war or another; sometimes against the Christians, at other times the Moors, or kings to whom I owe allegiance, and again, with my more powerful neighbours. Now, whenever I chanced to be engaged against the Christians I always carefully avoided, as far as possible, being the aggressor; nevertheless, it was difficult to act without sometimes inflicting serious damage on many who did not deserve it. Now, for these and the other sins which I have committed, I know I shall one day have to answer; and as death is certain, and at my age cannot be very far distant, I desire, while I have yet time, to obliterate by good works and deeds of penance my numerous offences, so that, when I appear in the presence of God, I may be worthy of His mercy and a place in Paradise. I pray you, Patronio, as you know how I have hitherto lived, to counsel me now how to act, so as to make reparation for past errors, and attain the