Out of the Wings

El sí de las niñas (c.1801), Leandro Fernández de Moratín

When a Girl Says 'Yes' : ACT ONE Scene One , ACT ONE Scene Four , ACT THREE Scene One

When a Girl Says 'Yes' (1991), translated by William Davis

ACT ONE Scene One

Edition

Moratín, Leandro Fernández de. 1991. ‘When a Girl Says ‘Yes’ ’, trans. William M. Davis. In Great Spanish Plays in English Translation, ed. Angel Flores, pp. 243-96. New York, Dover. Unabridged and corrected re-publication of the Bantam World Drama edition (1968) of Spanish Drama, originally published by Bantam Books, Inc., New York, 1962

p. 247

Context:

Wealthy Don Diego and his manservant Simon have been discussing the many charms of 16 year-old Francisca. Simon assumes that Don Diego plans to have his nephew, Don Carlos, marry her. He soon realises his mistake, as it is in fact Don Diego who plans to marry the young girl.

Sample text

SIMON:: But if you’re both willing, what can they say?
DON DIEGO:: I’ll tell you what they’ll say, only ... They’ll say it’s a poor match, that there’s too much difference in age, that there’s ...
SIMON:: Well, I don’t think it’s so great: seven or eight years at most.
DON DIEGO:: What? Seven or eight years? When she was sixteen only a few months ago?
SIMON:: What of it?
DON DIEGO:: And I, though thank God I’m strong and ... but even so, I’ll never be fifty-nine again.
SIMON:: Who’s talking about that?
DON DIEGO:: Then what are you talking about?
SIMON:: I mean ... Well, either you can’t quite explain yourself, or I understood you wrong. In short, who is this dear Doña Paquita supposed to marry?
DON DIEGO:: Now you ask? Why, me, of course!
SIMON:: You?
DON DIEGO:: Yes, me.
SIMON:: Well, I’ll be damned.
DON DIEGO:: What! What’s that?
SIMON:: And to think I guessed wrong.
DON DIEGO:: Well, out with it. Who did you think I meant?
SIMON:: Your nephew, Don Carlos. He’s a talented young man with a good education, a fine soldier, and attractive in every way. I thought you’d keep such a girl for him.
DON DIEGO:: Not on your life.
SIMON:: All right, then.
DON DIEGO:: Marry her to him, what an idea! Not on your life. Let him study his mathematics.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation When a Girl Says 'Yes' (1991) by William Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT ONE Scene Four

Edition

pp. 252-3

Context:

Doña Francisca (here called by the term of endearment, Paquita) has just met Don Diego for the first time. She is polite and sweet, but leaves the scene without revealing anything about her own feelings regarding the marriage. Don Diego is left to converse with her mother, Doña Irene. He is eager to hear what his future wife thinks, but has to make do with second-hand information from Doña Irene.

Sample text

DOÑA PAQUITA:: Would you like to see me curtsy as they do in France, Don Diego?
DON DIEGO:: Yes, child, do.
DOÑA PAQUITA: (curtsying.): Like this, see?
DON DIEGO:: Charming! Hooray for Paquita, hooray!
DOÑA PAQUITA:: A curtsy for you, and a kiss for mamma!; (She kisses DOÑA IRENE and goes to the latter’s room.)
DOÑA IRENE:: She’s oh so cute and clever.
DON DIEGO:: Her natural charm is captivating.
DOÑA IRENE:: What did you expect? Raised unpretentiously and far from worldly pleasures, happy to be back beside her mother, and even happier to be settled so soon, is it any wonder that whatever she says or does is a delight, and especially to one who has been so eager to favor her?
DON DIEGO:: I only wish she would express herself freely about our projected union, and …
DOÑA IRENE:: She would only repeat what I’ve been telling you.
DON DIEGO:: I don’t doubt it. But knowing she deems me worthy of her affection, and hearing her say so with that pretty little mouth of hers, would give me untold satisfaction.
DOÑA IRENE:: Don’t trouble yourself the slightest on that account. You must realize that it’s not right for a girl to state frankly what she feels. It would look bad for a well-bred young lady raised in a God-fearing home to be so bold as to say to a man, ‘I love you.’
DON DIEGO:: Yes, if he were a man she happened to find on the street and surprised him with such a favor straight away, of course it would be very bad. But to the man she’s about to marry in just a few days, she could at least say something that … Besides, there are certain ways of expressing oneself …
DOÑA IRENE:: She’s franker with me. We talk about you constantly, and she shows her special love for you in everything. How sensibly she spoke last night after you retired. I would have given anything for you to have heard her.
DON DIEGO:: What? She spoke of me?
DOÑA IRENE:: And about how much wiser it is for a child her age to have a middle-aged husband, a mature man of experience, whose conduct …
DON DIEGO:: Really? She said that?
DOÑA IRENE:: No, but that’s what I told her, and she listened to me more carefully than a woman of forty … I told her plenty. And she has lots of insight, though it’s wrong of me to say so … But isn’t it a shame, sir, to see the way marriages are made today? A girl of fifteen gets married off to some young puppy of eighteen, a girl of seventeen to a boy of twenty-two: she, a mere child without judgment or experience, and he, a child, too, without an ounce of common sense or knowledge of the world. Well, sir, I ask you, who would run the house? Who’d give orders to the servants? Who would teach and correct the children? Because it just so happens that such giddy children are usually plagued with babies at a moment’s notice, which is a pity.

Copyright

The above sample taken from the translation When a Girl Says 'Yes' (1991) by William Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

ACT THREE Scene One

Edition

pp. 280-1

Context:

It is late at night and most of the inn’s guests are asleep. Simon and Don Diego are still awake and hear music coming from the streets. Francisca and Rita also hear it and sneak to the window to listen. It is Don Carlos – and Francisca is able to speak briefly to him before he throws a love letter through the open window. Rita and Francisca are startled by Simon in the dark, and run and hide before they can retrieve the letter. Instead, Don Diego and Simon find the letter which reveals Francisca’s true feelings.

Sample text

SIMON:: Looks like we’ll have some music.
DON DIEGO:: Yes, if they can play.
SIMON:: What unhappy lover do you suppose would be serenading at this time of night in this filthy alley? I’ll bet someone has a crush on the maid at the inn – the one who looks like a monkey.
DON DIEGO:: Maybe so.
SIMON:: They’re starting. Listen. (A sonata is played from within.) Well, I must say, that rogue of a barber plays very well.
DON DIEGO:: No, no barber could play that, however well he shaves.
SIMON:: Shall we peek out a little and see?
DON DIEGO:: No, leave them alone. Poor folks! Who knows what importance they give to such music! I don’t like to embarrass anybody. (DOÑA PAQUITA and RITA leave their room and go to the window. DON DIEGO and SIMON retire to one side, and watch.)
SIMON:: Sir! ... Psst! ... Quick, stand aside.
DON DIEGO:: What is it?
SIMON:: They’ve opened the door to that bedroom. It smells of skirts, and no mistake.
DON DIEGO:: It does? Let’s go before they see us.; (DOÑA PAQUITA enters with RITA.)
RITA:: Careful, Miss!
DOÑA PAQUITA:: Follow the wall, right? (Guitar playing resumes.)
RITA:: Yes, madam ... They’re playing again ... Shhh.
DOÑA PAQUITA:: Wait. Let’s find out first if it’s he.
RITA:: Of course it is. Signals don’t lie.
DOÑA PAQUITA:: Shhh. Yes, it’s he. Goodness! (RITA goes to the window, opens the sash, and claps three times. The music stops.) Hurry, answer. Oh joy, my heart! It’s he.
SIMON:: Hear that?
DON DIEGO:: Yes.
SIMON:: What do you suppose it means?
DON DIEGO:: Quiet.
DOÑA PAQUITA:: (Leans out the window. RITA remains behind her. The dots indicate more or less lengthy pauses.) Here I am ... And what was I to think, seeing what you’d just done ... What flight is this? (turns away from the window, then looks out again.) (HE: For Heaven’s sake, be careful, and if you hear any noise, warn me right away ...) Forever? Woe is me! All right, throw it ... But I don’t quite understand ... Ay, Don Felix! I’ve never seen you so timid! (A letter is thrown from inside the scenes. It falls from the window onto the stage. DOÑA PAQUITA starts to look for it, and not finding it, leans out again.) No, I didn’t find it; but it must be here ... And must I wait until daybreak for you to tell me why you left me here dying? ... Yes, I want to hear it from your own lips. Your Paquita demands it ... And how do you think mine is? ... There’s no room in my breast for it ... Tell me. (SIMON takes a few steps forward, stumbles on the birdcage, and lets it fall.)
RITA:: Let’s get out of here, Miss ... Quick, someone’s coming.
DOÑA PAQUITA:: Oh dear ... Guide me.
RITA:: Let’s go. (RITA stumbles against SIMON. The two girls hurry to DOÑA PAQUITA’s room.) Alas!
DOÑA PAQUITA:: I’m dead. (They leave.)
DON DIEGO:: What was that scream?
SIMON:: One of the lady ghosts, who bumped into me in retreat.
DON DIEGO:: Come over to this window, and see if you can find a note on the floor ... What a pickle!
SIMON:: (Groping along the floor, near the window.) Can’t find a thing, sir.
DON DIEGO:: Look carefully. It must be there.
SIMON:: Did they throw it in from the street?
DON DIEGO:: Yes ... What lover is this? Only sixteen and brought up in a convent! All my illusions have vanished.

Copyright