'My son,' said the old Gascon gentleman, in that
pure Béarn patois of which Henry IV could
never rid himself, 'this horse was born in the house
of your father about thirteen years ago, and has
remained in it ever since, which ought to make you
love it. Never sell it; allow it to die tranquilly
and honorably of old age, and if you make a campaign
with it, take as much care of it as you would
of an old servant. At court, provided you have ever
the honor to go there,' continued M.
DÃArtagnan the elder, '--an honor to which, remember,
your ancient nobility gives you the
right--sustain worthily your name of gentleman,
which has been worthily borne by your ancestors
for five hundred years, both for your own sake and
the sake of those who belong to you. By the
latter I mean your relatives and friends. Endure
nothing from anyone except Monsieur the Cardinal
and the king. It is by his courage, please observe,
by his courage alone, that a gentleman can make
his way nowadays. Whoever hesitates for a second
perhaps allows the bait to escape which during
that exact second fortune held out to him. You are
young. You ought to be brave for two reasons:
the first is that you are a Gascon, and the second
is that you are my son. Never fear quarrels, but
seek adventures. I have taught you how to handle
a sword; you have thews of iron, a wrist of steel.
Fight on all occasions. Fight the more for duels
being forbidden, since consequently there is twice
as much courage in fighting. I have nothing to give
you, my son, but fifteen crowns, my horse, and
the counsels you have just heard. Your mother will
add to them a recipe for a certain balsam, which
she had from a Bohemian and which has the miraculous
virtue of curing all wounds that do not
reach the heart. Take advantage of all, and live
happily and long. I have but one word to add, and
that is to propose an example to you-- not mine,
for I myself have never appeared at court, and
have only taken part in religious wars as a volunteer;
I speak of Monsieur de Tréville, who was
formerly my neighbor, and who had the honor to be,
as a child, the play-fellow of our king, Louis
XIII, whom God preserve! Sometimes their play degenerated
into battles, and in these battles the
king was not always the stronger. The blows which
he received increased greatly his esteem and
friendship for Monsieur de Tréville. Afterward,
Monsieur de Tréville fought with others: in his first
journey to Paris, five times; from the death of
the late king till the young one came of age, without
reckoning wars and sieges, seven times; and from
that date up to the present day, a hundred times,
perhaps! So that in spite of edicts, ordinances,
and decrees, there he is, captain of the Musketeers;
that is to say, chief of a legion of Caesars, whom
the king holds in great esteem and whom the
Cardinal dreads--he who dreads nothing, as it is
said. Still further, Monsieur de Tréville gains ten
thousand crowns a year; he is therefore a great
noble. He began as you begin. Go to him with this
letter, and make him your model in order that you
may do as he has done.'
Upon which M. DÃArtagnan the elder girded his own
sword round his son, kissed him tenderly on
both cheeks, and gave him his benediction.
-The Three Musketeers
Like every boy, I'm sure, I grew up addicted to swashbucklers. Pretty much all you had to do was put a sword in a book or movie and you had me hooked. Of course, the greatest of all these tales of derring-do was The Three Musketeers. But there are so many abridged versions, bad translations, comic book and juvenile versions, that beyond the "all for one, one for all" motto, you never knew what kind of story you were going to get when you picked up a book or sat down for a movie. Which is why it was such a revelation when our Mom took my little brother and me and two neighbor's kids to see the Richard Lester film version in 1973. The movie--with a screenplay by the novelist George MacDonald Fraser, creator of the very amusing Flashman series of books--was not only a faithful adaptation, it was also funny and sexy, but without ever losing track of great themes of the book : honor, duty, loyalty, friendship. It's almost thirty years ago now, but I remember, as if it were yesterday, racing out of the theatre and fake swordfighting our way to the car. The movie had been so different from what we were used to having presented to us, that I found an unabridged version and read it; and, lo and behold, it was just as much fun as the movie. Though it does darken considerably toward the end, as does the movie sequel, The Four Musketeers. But it had everything--swords, duels, political manuevering, treachery, loyalty, sacrifice, love, comedy, villains, heroes, kings, queens, commoners, rescues, escapes, revenge,...--everything you could want to get a twelve-year-old's heart racing (or a man-of-forty's). Of such experiences are our love affairs with great literature made.
If you have been so unfortunate in your life as to never have read The
Three Musketeers, do so now. If you've read it before, but not
in awhile, it's time to read it again. If you just finished reading
it, time to move on to the rest of the series.
(Reviewed:)
Grade: (A+)
