by Lope de Vega, translated and abridged by William Dutton
published 1621
Upon the shore of Barcelona, between the planks of a ship which had sufferedwreck, there appeared as if it had been a parcel of cloth covered with weed:which being perceived by some fishermen, they took it into their bark, andcarried it along the shore about the space of two miles, where under the shadeof some trees, they cleaned away the weeds and mud, and found that it was aman in a trance, who was almost past sense, and without life. These fishers,moved with compassion, kindled a fire with some branches cut from an old oak,and he who had been so near the losing of his life, now recovering it, letthem know what countryman he was, by his complaint: discovered his admirationby his looks; and the feeling he had of the good which they had done him, bythe fire with which he had to acknowledge it. Nature, doing the accustomedoffice of a pitiful mother, sent his blood to restore the more enfeebledparts; and having brought him almost to his former strength, he was about tohave revealed himself: but thinking it did not fit in so strange a fortune, heconcealed his birth and name, only saying that his ship suffered wreck in thesea, and seizing of these planks which the waves had cast upon the shore, hewas two days floating amongst the billows of the sea, who sometimes mercifuland then again cruel, did bring him nearer and then farther from the land,until such time that the reflux of the water vanquishing the impetuosity ofthe tempest, he was cast upon the sands, where the violence of the strokehaving as it were ploughed up his tomb, he thought himself buried. His return(he said) was from Italy, and the occasion of his voyage the indulgences ofthe Jubilee, which was while Clement the Eighth sat as Pope. And sighing much,amongst the broken speeches of his story, he let them understand that hemissed a companion of his travels, of whom there was no news to be had, as itseldom happens that those who do free us from bodily misfortunes can also easethose of the mind. So he rested this day within one of their cabins, while thecold night descending, all crowned with stars, did impart unto mortalcreatures rest in conformity with the quality of their lives, giving desiresunto the poor, cares unto the rich, complaints unto the sad, unto thecontented sleep, and jealousy to the amorous. In the midst thereof he heard alyre played upon, and according with a voice, which in singing complained of ashepherdess’s cruelty. The pilgrim, although weary, loved music more thanrest, and went out of his cabin into a meadow, from whence seeing about adozen houses, and among some osiers the author of those plaints, called himfrom a distance. The singer replied fearfully, but the pale light of the moon,revealing the secrets of the night, made him see that it was a poor man, andwithout arms. He then showed him a plank lying amongst reeds over a littlebrook, giving its murmuring unto the solitariness of the place and silence ofthe night; which when he had passed, they saluted one the other courteously,especially he which came (for strangers are always courteous out ofnecessity); and they sat down together upon the grass.
No sooner had the pilgrim informed himself of the name of the village, of thelord thereof, and how far it was distant from Barcelona, when they saw two menapproaching, who instead of saluting them presented two arquebuses to theirfaces, and instilled a thousand fears in their hearts. The stranger told themthat they could take nothing from them but his life--which he esteemed little(and six hours ago much less): the other said that he was the son of aseaman--between a fisherman and a pilot--and that all his goods consisted of thishis in