Tales of Count Lucanor
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Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio ("Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio"), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first published in 1335.
The book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales. Story 28, "Of what happened to a woman called Truhana", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.
Tales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.
Story 12, "Of that which happened to a Dean of Santiago, with Don Illan, the Magician, who lived at Toledo" is the basis for Jorge Luis Borges's "The Wizard Postponed".
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Purpose and structure
A didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem ("Some man has made me a proposition..." or "I fear that such and such person intends to...") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are "examples" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.
Each chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: "And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses." A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.
Treatments derived from Tales of Count Lucanor
Tale 44, "Of what happened to a young Man on his Wedding Day" has the basic elements of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Tale 7, "Of that which happened to a King and three Impostors" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.
The stories
The titles in the following list are those given in James York's 1868 translation into English.
- The Prologue
- 1. Relates to what happened to a Moorish king of Cordova. This story is based on the life of Al-Hakam II: his battles repulsing the last Norman attacks, and the struggle against the Zirids and the Fatimids in northern Morocco.
- 2. Treats of that which happened to Lorenzo Suarez Gallinato, and Garciperez of Vargas, and another knight
- 3. Treats of that which happened to Don Rodrigo el Franco and his knights
- 4. Of a Hermit who sought to know whom he should have for his companion in Paradise, and of the leap made by King Richard of England
- 5. Of that which happened to the Emperor Frederick and Don Alvar Fañez, with their wives
- 6. Of that which happened to the Count of Provence and Saladin the Sultan of Babylon
- 7. Of that which happened to a King and three Impostors
- 8. What happened to a King with a man who called himself an Alchymist
- 9. Of that which happened to two Cavaliers who were in the service of the Infant Prince Henry
- 10. Concerning what happened to a Seneschal of Carcasona
- 11. Of that which happened to a Moor who had a Sister pretending to be alarmed at any ordinary occurrence
- 12. Of that which happened to a Dean of Santiago, with Don Illan, the Magician, who lived at Toledo
- 13. What happened to King Ben Abit, of Seville, with Queen Romaquia, his wife
- 14. Concerning what happened to a Lombardian, in Bologna
- 15. What Count Fernan Gonzales said to Nuno Lainez
- 16. Of what happened to Don Rodrigo Melendez de Valdez
- 17. Concerning that which happened to a great Philosopher and a young King, his pupil
- 18. Relates what happened to a Moorish King, who had three Sons, and who desired to know which would become the best Man
- 19. Of that which happened to the Canons of the Cathedral Church of Paris, and to the Friars of Saint Francis, called Minors
- 20. Of that which happened to a Falcon and a Heron, and, more particularly, to a cunning Falcon, which belonged to the Infant Don Manuel
- 21. Recounts what happened to Count Fernan Gonzalez, and the Reply which he gave to his Vassals
- 22. Of that which happened to a King and his Favourite
- 23. What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market
- 24. Of what a Genovese said to his soul when about to die
- 25. What happened to the Crow, with the Fox
- 26. What happened to the Swallow, with the other birds, when he saw the flax sown
- 27. Relates what happened to a Man who carried a very precious Treasure hung round his neck, and who had to pass a River
- 28. Of what happened to a woman called Truhana
- 29. Of that which happened to a Man who was suffering from a malady and whose liver had to be cleansed
- 30. Of what happened to a man who through poverty and lack of other food, was reduced to eat some peas
- 31 What happened to a Cock and a Fox
- 32. What happened to a Man catching Partridges
- 33. Relates to what happened to a Man with his Friend who had invited him to dinner
- 34. What happened to the Owls and the Crows
- 35. The advice which Patronio gave to Count Lucanor, when he said he wished to enjoy himself, illustrated by the example of that which happened to the Ants
- 36. Of that which happened to a good Man and his Son, who boasted of having many Friends
- 37. Relates to what happened to the Lion and the Bull
- 38. Relates to the advice which Patronio gave to Count Lucanor, when he expressed a desire to obtain a good reputation; and the example was what happened to a Philosopher who was suffering from a severe illness
- 39. Of what happened to a man who was made Governor of a large territory
- 40. Of that which happened to Good and Evil, illustrated by what occurred to a Man with a Madman
- 41. Of the association between Truth and Falsehood
- 42. Of what happened to a Fox who pretended to be dead
- 43. What happened to two blind Men travelling together
- 44. Of what happened to a young Man on his Wedding Day
- 45. Of what happened to a Merchant who went to buy brains
- 46. What happened to a Man with a grey Sandpiper and a Swallow
- 47. What happened to the Devil, with a Woman who went on a pilgrimage
- 48. The advice which Patronio gave to Count Lucanor when informed that a Man had offered to teach him the art of foretelling coming events, which he exemplified by what happened to a good Man who became first rich and afterwards poor by the intervention of the Devil
- 49. What happened to Don Lorenzo Xuares Gallinato, when he beheaded the renegade Priest
- 50. Concerning that which happened to Saladin and a Lady, wife of a Knight in his service
See also
