21. [21] dejara de, should fail to: preposition echoes theprefix.
22. [22] prendarse de, be taken with: a common construction.
23. [23] luego que fijase en ella la atención, as soon as heobserved her; literally, as soon as he fixed his attention on her.Cf. parar atención en, parar mientes en.
24. [24] Preste Juan, Prester John: anglicized form of the nameof a medieval king in Asia, whom missionaries reported as converted.About the name grew up fanciful and extravagant stories.
25. [25] hasta que, till that [we form an opinion]: note the quefor the preposition to lean on; so, following note.
26. [26] de que, of [ the fact] that: the preposition needsque.
27. [27] Dijérase, It might be said: Alarcón very often puts thepronoun as an enclitic, at the end of the verb.
28. [28] pagada, paid, satisfied, then self-satisfied. Cf. pagarse de meras palabras, be satisfied with mere words, Bello-Cuervo, Gramática, p. 1.
29. [29] esas calles de Dios: say these blessed streets.
30. [30] detengamos en: cf. second note 6, 7.
31. [31] disparaban, were firing: other words in the text forshoot are tirar, fusilar, hacer fuego, hacer descarga.
32. [32] de modo... que, so that: the student will note how thesense decides for indicative (as here) or subjunctive.
33. [33] dar en = dar golpes en, strike on: dar and echar, verbsvery short and very common, are used for many other verbs, just asEnglish uses get and make for other verbs: get hurt, make atrain, make a dollar, etc.
34. [34] pellejo, hide: properly of animals; shows the author'sscorn for the poor servant.
35. [35] Galicia: not the Galicia we heard of so often in thefirst year of the Great War, and later, but the Galicia that forms thenorthwest corner of Spain.
36. [36] desoyendo (des-oír), as though not hearing, i.e. disregarding; so later, desatender and desentendiendo, ignoring. Cf.our ignore, with a special meaning not felt in ignorant. Nadie sedio por entendido, Nobody let on.
37. [37] daban a, opened on: cf. note 8, 7 for dar.
38. [38] haciendo fuego: six or eight verbs replace estar and gowith -ndo forms; so continuar here, and seguir often in the text.
39. [39] medio, half: one of the adverbs without the ending-mente.
40. [40] por considerarlo = porque lo consideraban, because theyregarded him as.
41. [41] echaban a, began: echar a has become almost an auxiliaryverb with infinitives, and serves for several other verbs.
42. [42] Quedó, Remained, was [ left]: subject follows, asoften. For another use of quedar, cf. quedamos en lo dicho, we willleave it that way, or it's agreed as said (Alarcón in Buenaventura,p. 5).
43. [43] en medio: as usual without el.
44. [44] piadosas: here the adjective follows, for emphasis.
45. [45] informe, unshapely: complimentary or derogatory senseputs the adjective before its noun.
46. [46] conocer, perceive: shows here the typical (inceptive)meaning of verbs in -
cer.
47. [47] balazo, a shot, literally, a blow with a bullet (bala+ -azo): lately in Kansas City, a woman entered a saloon (where herhusband got drunk), seized a chair (silla) and damaged the place " asillazos", as the Spanish weekly Cosmopolita reported.
48. [48] atravesada, pierced; fracturada, broken: the pastparticiple must show gender and number, except with haber.
49. [49] reparando en, noticing: the idea is first stop: sopararse, posarse; cf. also the noun reparos, remarks, objections,where one stops or hesitates.
50. [50] primero is one of the few adverbs without -mente.
51. [51] volver a (tornar a): again is often expressed as herewithout an adverb, otra vez, de nuevo, etc.
52. [52] muy altas: note adjective for English adverb, as often.
53. [53] dejásemos morir and (15,4) déjame ir: dejar, to leave, allow, let, becomes an auxiliary verb like may, can, etc., sotakes the infinitive: déjalo dormir, hacérmelo ver in Alarcón's Sombrero, and so often. Also deja que te dé un abrazo, let me giveyou a hug. Like dejar, its opposite impedir is construed: me impedíadesahogar, kept me from soothing [ my soul in yours].
54. [54] se diría, would be said: the reflexive form is commonerthan the passive.
The little bootblacks in Buenos Aires, instead ofsaying "Shine, Mister?" say:
¿Quiere el señor servirse? Cf. the strikingcase quoted by Bello, §908: Llevose el cadáver al templo.
55. [55] dichosas, literally, happy, but meaning unhappy, awful, accursed. This story is full of the disguised (encubierto)oath, or euphemism, as well as of real oaths: say here these blessedwars. Cf. the use of santa, 85, 2.
56. [56] no vas, you are not going: the indicative either presentor future (cf. the future in the ten commandments) is strong for theimperative. But notice that here, and through the story, Angustias hasher own way.
57. [57] de qué poco: de because with servir, how little use areyour bandages.
58. [58] tu... marido, thy husband: in plays and novels theauthor must make sure the reader or hearer gets the point; hence theinsistence here upon the two relationships of the one man.
59. [59] no habría... si... hubiese: in this text there are manysubstitutes for this typical or chief form of the condition [si-clause]and conclusion [habría here].
60. [60] medio (or mitad in the sense of medio) seldom has thearticle.
61. [61] haya: even such words as creer, ver, saber, verbs thatusually have que and the indicative, will take the subjunctive after anegative word or sense.
62. [62] hermosa: adjective here for our adverb, as usual with ir, venir, etc. So to a waiter: mi sopa, y ligero [ bring] my soup and[ bring it] quick.
63. [63] viera, saw: here Latin viderat, had seen, withindicative sense survives, as in Portuguese. Common in Spanish along theborder of Portugal.
64. [64] ¡No diéronle! and (18, 7) ¡Diéronle!—exclamó con sugramática de Mondoñedo; but Alarcón himself doesn't need to scoldMondoñedo; post-placed pronouns are frequent in Alarcón's own style. Theorder with the negative is especially noteworthy.
65. [65] medio: This form serves as noun, adjective, or adverb. Inline 11 it is adverbial, whereas in line 12 it is substantive.
66. [66] seguida del, followed by: a true passive.
67. [67] sin que... se enterase nadie, without that any onenoticed or knew, without any one's noticing.
68. [68] de que, of [ the fact] that; so hasta que, till;but según regularly without que.
69. [69] justificola: this order with la at the end is almost amannerism with Alarcón. Inconsistently, the Academy leaves the markedaccent here, but marks the preterit in díjole, as it does all verb formswhose accented syllable, by reason of the post-placing of pronouns,comes to occupy proparoxytonic or anteproparoxytonic position: toma, tómalo, tómatelo; tomar, tomarlo, tomárselo; tomando, tomándolo, tomándoselo, etc.
70. [70] fractura = rotura.
71. [71] vicio de Pero Grullo: a perogrullada is an explanation ofsomething already clear, a definition of self-evident facts, and repeatsthe thought in other words without adding anything much. You might aswell kill a fellow as scare him to death is a perogrullada. For a wholeset 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 greatvillain, Hamlet I. 3. If the king likes not the comedy, why then helikes it not, perdy, Hamlet III. 2. Or take the phrase attributed toLincoln: If people like that sort of a thing that is about the sort ofa thing they will like. There is also the proverbial phrase in Spanish:Es una verdad de Perogrullo (or Pero Grullo), que a la mano cerradallamaba puño. Cf. Luis Montoto y Rautenstrauch: Personajes, personas ypersonillas, etc., Sevilla, 1912, vol. II, pp. 304-5.
72. [72] quebrantarle: the third word for break.
73. [73] por conocer, because he knew.
74. [74] quedó en, agreed: cf. English they left it that way;and German dabei blieb es, so it was settled. The verb quedar means remain, but in the phrase quedar en gets the meaning agree, much asthe English words settle [ a matter], rest [ the case], developeda sense of conclusion or agreement.
75. [75] por si, for fear that = por si acaso.
76. [76] al + infinitive, at nightfall: good example of temporaluse of this construction.
77. [77] Serían las tres de la madrugada, It must have been aboutthree A.M. : cf.
Yo tendría diez años, I was about ten years old. Thisform in -ría (conditional) is made up of the infinitive of the verb andthe endings of había, and so corresponds in meaning to the use of thefuture in such a case as ¿Qué hora será? What time do you suppose itis?
78. [78] sinventura, one without luck; so una sinvergüenza, ashameless girl; un sinnúmero, a host of, a lot of; so humorously elsin-hueso, the tongue. sin ventura: printed separately in the 10thedition.
79. [79] dichosísima: like dichosa before: blessed (i.e. confounded).
80. [80] roncaba, si había que roncar, snored if ever there wassnoring: cf.
nevaba si había que nevar, it snowed if it ever did, inAlarcón's story Moros y Cristianos; Guillermo y Julia reían si habíaque reír, William and Julia laughed if ever any one did, La Pródiga,p. 193.
81. [81] por no haber, because she had not.
82. [82] occipucio, occiput: Alarcón often playfully throws in anodd or big word, or even slang.
83. [83] habían cruzado, had exchanged: the mother and daughterwere discussing the unconscious man. Could observaciones be the subjecthere?
84. [84] que declarasen, such as might declare: an example of thesubjunctive of characteristic; or in a relative clause with anindefinite antecedent.
85. [85] asegurando: segurando in the 10th edition.
86. [86] sentado muy mal, had offended: by the manner of it quiteas much as by the word itself, for such words are common.
87. [87] Guía de Forasteros, Strangers' Guide or Directory(giving names and titles, like our Red Books and Blue Books).
88. [88] caiga que caiga, come what may; and later quiera o noquiera, whether or no: subjunctives, used optatively or imperatively.
89. [89] Dejémosle: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, butadd a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the followingverb.
90. [90] permíteme: the pronouns -le and -me are unnecessary, butadd a personal touch by showing who is the subject of the followingverb.
91. [91] Convenio de Vergara, Treaty of Vergara, i.e. the termsof agreement between General Espartero for the queen, and General Marotofor the Carlists.
92. [92] Tiene and (21) ha in this same sentence: what is thedifference?
93. [93] teniendo... habiendo: let the student note the distinctmeanings.
94. [94] que maldito... , accursed, condemned: translate, andblamed if I deserve them.
95. [95] nos agradezca cosa alguna, that you thank us foranything: the construction is nos dative, and cosa alguna accusative,and the subjunctive in a subordinate clause dependent upon necesitamos.
96. [96] convenido, signer, party to: sense of convenirse, fall in with, adjust oneself.
97. [97] des cuerda: the figure is of winding an old-style clock.
98. [98] a que me traten con bondad, to their treating me withkindness: Alarcón admired the Spanish general O'Donnell greatly, andseems to have taken him as the prototype of Captain Veneno. Alarcón waswith O'Donnell in Africa, and wrote, in the Diario de un testigo, indetail of O'Donnell's frank, abrupt, even harsh bearing. The wound inthe head was possibly suggested also by a great scar on an Arab's head,of which Alarcón tells in the Diario.
99. [99] He dicho, I have done, or I have spoken: at the end ofa speech, like amen at the end of a prayer; it is the dixi of theRoman orators.
100. [100] ¡Jesús...! all the characters of this story use oaths andasseverations, except the servant girl. Translate here: Heavens!
101. [101] condolido: this verb 'pity' repeated becomes comical;poor rhetoric. Like Ormulum's Alls iff þu drunnke waterrdrinnch, Asif thou drankest a waterdrink.
102. [102] entre las tres, we three, where entre is losing itsprepositional force, as it has in entrambos, entre usted y yo. RubénDarío says ( Autobiografía, p. 61): Entre él y otros amigos mearreglaron mi viaje a Chile, He and other friends provided ( money) for my trip to Chile. Entre ellos y los soldados... lo cogieron, theyand the soldiers caught him.
103. [103] ¡vaya si pesa...! my but you are heavy! cf. ¡Vaya quesusto me has dado! Oh, what a scare you gave me! Una carta de tu tío,y ¡vaya si es gorda! A letter from your uncle, and my but it's big! Alarcón in Moros y Cristianos. ¡Vaya si me lo llevaré! Surely I'lltake it ( the secret) to the grave with me! Moros y Cristianos.Novelas Cortas, Giese ed., p. 109.
104. [104] amostazarse: from mostaza, mustard: cf. pepper, ginger, in familiar parlance.
105. [105] tiráronle un tiro, they shot her a shot: cf. English"killed him dead"; poor rhetoric again.
106. [106] perdone: asking him to pardon her for frightening hermother, seems far-fetched, a false note; but it does inform the captainof the facts in the case; que is omitted here as often with words likesuplicar, pedir, rogar, etc.
107. [107] os: this second person plural is not always familiar.
108. [108] hazmerreír, make-me-laugh, laughing-stock; a wholesentence become a word, like hand-me-down for ready-made and like Hoosier (if from "Who-is-yer") and forget-me-not. Spanish has alsocorre-ve-i-dile, tattle-tale; va-i-ven, pendulum motion; gana-pierde, give-away (at checkers).
109. [109] faltaba = faltaría: a common idiomatic use of theimperfect indicative for the conditional.
110. [110] mismo: in mañana mismo, ahora mismo, the adverb is usedas a neuter noun.
111. [111] después de acostada, after you are in bed: very commonusage; no suppressed word need be assumed. The form has becomeidiomatic. Cf. the English usage of certain localities: he wants in, he wants out