Lazarillo of Tormes | Page 8

be entertained.
Pliny says along these lines that there is no book--no matter how bad it
is--that doesn't have something good in it. And this is all the more true
since all tastes are not the same: what one man won't even touch,
another will be dying to get. And so there are things that some people
don't care for, while others do. The point is that nothing should be
destroyed or thrown away unless it is really detestable; instead, it
should be shown to everybody, especially if it won't do any harm and
they might get some good out of it.
If this weren't so, there would be very few people who would write for
only one reader, because writing is hardly a simple thing to do. But
since writers go ahead with it, they want to be rewarded, not with
money but with people seeing and reading their works, and if there is
something worthwhile in them, they would like some praise. Along
these lines too, Cicero says: "Honor promotes the arts."
Does anyone think that the first soldier to stand up and charge the
enemy hates life? Of course not; a craving for glory is what makes him
expose himself to danger. And the same is true in arts and letters. The
young preacher gives a very good sermon and is really interested in the
improvement of people's souls, but ask his grace if he minds when they
tell him, "Oh, what an excellent sermon you gave today, Reverend!"
And So-and-so was terrible in jousting today, but when some rascal
praised him for the way he had handled his weapons, he gave him his

armor. What would he have done if it had really been true?
And so everything goes: I confess that I'm no more saintly than my
neighbors, but I would not mind it at all if those people who find some
pleasure in this little trifle of mine (written in my crude style) would
get wrapped up in it and be entertained by it, and if they could see that
a man who has had so much bad luck and so many misfortunes and
troubles does exist.
Please take this poor effort from a person who would have liked to
make it richer if only his ability had been as great as his desire. And
since you told me that you wanted me to write down all the details of
the matter, I have decided not to start out in the middle but at the
beginning. That way you will have a complete picture of me, and at the
same time those people who received a large inheritance will see how
little they had to do with it, since fortune favored them, and they will
also see how much more those people accomplished whose luck was
going against them, since they rowed hard and well and brought their
ship safely into port.

I. Lazaro Tells about His Life and His Parents
You should know first of all that I'm called Lazaro of Tormes, and that
I'm the son of Tome Gonzales and Antona Perez, who were born in
Tejares, a village near Salamanca. I was actually born in the Tormes
River, and that's how I got my name. It happened this way: My father
(God rest his soul) was in charge of a mill on the bank of that river, and
he was the miller there for more than fifteen years. Well, one night
while my mother was in the mill, carrying me around in her belly, she
went into labor and gave birth to me right there. So I can really say I
was born in the river.
Then when I was eight years old, they accused my father of gutting the
sacks that people were bringing to the mill. They took him to jail, and
without a word of protest he went ahead and confessed everything, and
he suffered persecution for righteousness' sake. But I trust God that he's
in heaven because the Bible calls that kind of man blessed. At that time
they were getting together an expedition to go fight the Moors, and my
father went with them. They had exiled him because of the bad luck
that I've already told about, so he went along as a muleteer for one of
the men, and like a loyal servant, he ended his life with his master.

My widowed mother, finding herself without a husband or anyone to
take care of her, decided to lie at the side--I mean, stay on the side--of
good men and be like them. So she came to the city to live. She rented
a little house and began to cook for some students. She washed clothes
for some stableboys who served the Commander of La Magdalena,