(Covielle, disguised; Monsieur Jourdain, Lackey) COVIELLE Sir, I don't know if I have the honor to be known to you?
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN No, sir.
COVIELLE I saw you when you were no taller than that.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Me?
COVIELLE Yes. You were the most beautiful child in the world, and all the ladies took you in their arms to kiss you.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN To kiss me?
COVIELLE Yes, I was a great friend of your late father.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Of my late father?
COVIELLE Yes. He was a very honorable gentleman.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN What did you say?
COVIELLE I said that he was a very honorable gentleman.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN My father?
COVIELLE Yes.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN You knew him very well?
COVIELLE Assuredly.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN And you knew him as a gentleman?
COVIELLE Without doubt.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Then I don't know what is going on!
COVIELLE What?
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN There are some fools who want to tell me that he was a tradesman.
COVIELLE Him, a tradesman! It's pure slander, he never was one. All that he did was to be very obliging, very ready to help; and, since he was a connoisseur in cloth, he went all over to choose them, had them brought to his house, and gave them to his friends for money.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN I'm delighted to know you, so you can testify to the fact that my father was a gentleman.
COVIELLE I'll attest to it before all the world.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN You'll oblige me. What business brings you here?
COVIELLE Since knowing your late father, honorable gentleman, as I told you, I have traveled through all the world.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Through all the world!
COVIELLE Yes.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN I imagine it's a long way from here to there.
COVIELLE Assuredly. I returned from all my long voyages only four days ago; and because of the interest I take in all that concerns you, I come to announce to you the best news in the world.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN What?
COVIELLE You know that the son of the Grand Turk is here?
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Me? No.
COVIELLE What! He has a very magnificent retinue; everybody goes to see it, and he has been received in this country as an important lord.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN By my faith! I didn't know that.
COVIELLE The advantage to you in this is that he is in love with your daughter.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN The son of the Grand Turk?
COVIELLE Yes. And he wants to be your son-in-law.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN My son-in-law, the son of the Grand Turk?
COVIELLE The son of the Grand Turk your son-in-law. As I went to see him, and as I perfectly understand his language, he conversed with me; and, after some other discourse, he said to me
, "Acciam croc soler ouch alla moustaph gidelum amanahem varahini oussere carbulath," that is to say, "Haven't you seen a beautiful young person who is the daughter of Monsieur Jourdain, gentleman of Paris?"
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN The son of the Grand Turk said that of me?
COVIELLE Yes. Inasmuch as I told him in reply that I knew you particularly well and that I had seen your daughter:
"Ah!" he said to me,
"marababa sahem;" Which is to say, "Ah, how I am enamored of her!"
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN "Marababa sahem" means "Ah, how I am enamored of her"?
COVIELLE Yes.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN By my faith, you do well to tell me, since, as for me, I would never have believed that
"marababa sahem" could have meant to say "Oh, how I am enamored of her!" What an admirable language Turkish is!
COVIELLE More admirable than one can believe. Do you know what
Cacaracamouchen means?
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Cacaracamouchen? No.
COVIELLE It means: It means, "My dear soul."
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Cacaracamouchen means "My dear soul?"
COVIELLE Yes.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN That's marvelous!
Cacaracamouchen, my dear soul. Who would have thought? I'm dumbfounded.
COVIELLE Finally, to complete my assignment, he comes to ask for your daughter in marriage; and in order to have a father-in-law who should be worthy of him, he wants to make you a
Mamamouchi, which is a certain high rank in his country.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN Mamamouchi?' COVIELLE Yes,
Mamamouchi; that is to say, in our language, a Paladin. Paladin is one of those ancient . . . Well, Paladin! There is none nobler than that in the world, and you will be equal to the greatest lords of the earth.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN The son of the Grand Turk honors me greatly. Please take me to him in order to express my thanks.
COVIELLE What! He is going to come here.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN He's coming here?
COVIELLE Yes. And he is bringing everything for the ceremony of bestowing your rank.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN That seems very quick.
COVIELLE His love can suffer no delay.
MONSIEUR JOURDAIN All that embarrasses me here is that my daughter is a stubborn one who has gotten into her head a certain Cleonte, and she swears she'll marry no one but him.
COVIELLE She'll change her mind when she sees the son of the Grand Turk; and then there is a remarkable coincidence here, it is that the son of the Grand Turk resembles this Cléonte very closely. I just saw him, someone showed him to me; and the love she has for the one can easily pass to the other, and . . . I hear him coming. There he is.