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Chapter XVIII
Chapter XVIII of 30. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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Ce qu’ils virent dans le pays d’Eldorado.
Cacambo témoigna à son hôte toute sa curiosité; l’hôte lui dit: Je suis fort ignorant, et je m’en trouve bien; mais nous avons ici un vieillard retiré de la cour qui est le plus savant homme du royaume, et le plus communicatif. Aussitôt il mène Cacambo chez le vieillard. Candide ne jouait plus que le second personnage, et accompagnait son valet. Ils entrèrent dans une maison fort simple, car la porte n’était que d’argent, et les lambris des appartements n’étaient que d’or, mais travaillés avec tant de goût, que les plus riches lambris ne l’effaçaient pas. L’antichambre n’était à la vérité incrustée que de rubis et d’émeraudes; mais l’ordre dans lequel tout était arrangé réparait bien cette extrême simplicité.
Le vieillard reçut les deux étrangers sur un sofa matelassé de plumes de colibri, et leur fit présenter des liqueurs dans des vases de diamant; après quoi il satisfit à leur curiosité en ces termes:
Je suis âgé de cent soixante et douze ans, et j’ai appris de feu mon père, écuyer du roi, les étonnantes révolutions du Pérou dont il avait été témoin. Le royaume où nous sommes est l’ancienne patrie des incas, qui en sortirent très imprudemment pour aller subjuguer une partie du monde, et qui furent enfin détruits par les Espagnols.
Les princes de leur famille qui restèrent dans leur pays natal furent plus sages; ils ordonnèrent, du consentement de la nation, qu’aucun habitant ne sortirait jamais de notre petit royaume; et c’est ce qui nous a conservé notre innocence et notre félicité. Les Espagnols ont eu une connaissance confuse de ce pays, ils l’ont appelé Eldorado; et un Anglais, nommé le chevalier Raleigh, en a même approché il y a environ cent années; mais, comme nous sommes entourés de rochers inabordables et de précipices, nous avons toujours été jusqu’à présent à l’abri de la rapacité des nations de l’Europe, qui ont une fureur inconcevable pour les cailloux et pour la fange de notre terre, et qui, pour en avoir, nous tueraient tous jusqu’au dernier.
La conversation fut longue; elle roula sur la forme du gouvernement, sur les moeurs, sur les femmes, sur les spectacles publics, sur les arts. Enfin Candide, qui avait toujours du goût pour la métaphysique, fit demander par Cacambo si dans le pays il y avait une religion.
Le vieillard rougit un peu. Comment donc! dit-il, en pouvez-vous douter? Est-ce que vous nous prenez pour des ingrats? Cacambo demanda humblement quelle était la religion d’Eldorado. Le vieillard rougit encore: Est-ce qu’il peut y avoir deux religions? dit-il. Nous avons, je crois, la religion de tout le monde; nous adorons Dieu du soir jusqu’au matin. N’adorez vous qu’un seul Dieu? dit Cacambo, qui servait toujours d’interprète aux doutes de Candide. Apparemment, dit le vieillard, qu’il n’y en a ni deux, ni trois, ni quatre. Je vous avoue que les gens de votre monde font des questions bien singulières. Candide ne se lassait pas de faire interroger ce bon vieillard; il voulut savoir comment on priait Dieu dans Eldorado. Nous ne le prions point, dit le bon et respectable sage; nous n’avons rien à lui demander, il nous a donné tout ce qu’il nous faut; nous le remercions sans cesse. Candide eut la curiosité de voir des prêtres; il fit demander où ils étaient. Le bon vieillard sourit. Mes amis, dit-il, nous sommes tous prêtres; le roi et tous les chefs de famille chantent des cantiques d’actions de grâces solennellement tous les matins, et cinq ou six mille musiciens les accompagnent.—Quoi! vous n’avez point de moines qui enseignent, qui disputent, qui gouvernent, qui cabalent, et qui font brûler les gens qui ne sont pas de leur avis?—Il faudrait que nous fussions fous, dit le vieillard; nous sommes tous ici du même avis, et nous n’entendons pas ce que vous voulez dire avec vos moines. Candide à tous ces discours demeurait en extase, et disait en lui-même: Ceci est bien différent de la Vestphalie et du château de monsieur le baron: si notre ami Pangloss avait vu Eldorado, il n’aurait plus dit que le château de Thunder-ten-tronckh était ce qu’il y avait de mieux sur la terre; il est certain qu’il faut voyager.
Après cette longue conversation, le bon vieillard fit atteler un carrosse à six moutons, et donna douze de ses domestiques aux deux voyageurs pour les conduire à la cour. Excusez-moi, leur dit-il, si mon âge me prive de l’honneur de vous accompagner. Le roi vous recevra d’une manière dont vous ne serez pas mécontents, et vous pardonnerez sans doute aux usages du pays, s’il y en a quelques uns qui vous déplaisent.
Candide et Cacambo montent en carrosse; les six moutons volaient, et en moins de quatre heures on arriva au palais du roi, situé à un bout de la capitale. Le portail était de deux cent vingt pieds de haut, et de cent de large; il est impossible d’exprimer quelle en était la matière. On voit assez quelle supériorité prodigieuse elle devait avoir sur ces cailloux et sur ce sable que nous nommons or et pierreries.
Vingt belles filles de la garde reçurent Candide et Cacambo à la descente du carrosse, les conduisirent aux bains, les vêtirent de robes d’un tissu de duvet de colibri; après quoi les grands officiers et les grandes officières de la couronne les menèrent à l’appartement de sa majesté au milieu de deux files, chacune de mille musiciens, selon l’usage ordinaire. Quand ils approchèrent de la salle du trône, Cacambo demanda à un grand officier comment il fallait s’y prendre pour saluer sa majesté: si on se jetait à genoux ou ventre à terre; si on mettait les mains sur la tête ou sur le derrière; si on léchait la poussière de la salle: en un mot, quelle était la cérémonie. L’usage, dit le grand-officier, est d’embrasser le roi et de le baiser des deux côtés. Candide et Cacambo sautèrent au cou de sa majesté, qui les reçut avec toute la grâce imaginable, et qui les pria poliment à souper.
En attendant, on leur fit voir la ville, les édifices publics élevés jusqu’aux nues, les marchés ornés de mille colonnes, les fontaines d’eau pure, les fontaines d’eau-rose, celles de liqueurs de cannes de sucre qui coulaient continuellement dans de grandes places pavées d’une espèce de pierreries qui répandaient une odeur semblable à celle du girofle et de la cannelle. Candide demanda à voir la cour de justice, le parlement; on lui dit qu’il n’y en avait point, et qu’on ne plaidait jamais. Il s’informa s’il y avait des prisons, et on lui dit que non. Ce qui le surprit davantage, et qui lui fit le plus de plaisir, ce fut le palais des sciences, dans lequel il vit une galerie de deux mille pas, toute pleine d’instruments de mathématiques et de physique.
Après avoir parcouru toute l’après-dinée à peu près la millième partie de la ville, on les remena chez le roi. Candide se mit à table entre sa majesté, son valet Cacambo, et plusieurs dames. Jamais on ne fit meilleure chère, et jamais on n’eut plus d’esprit à souper qu’en eut sa majesté. Cacambo expliquait les bons mots du roi à Candide, et quoique traduits, ils paraissaient toujours des bons mots. De tout ce qui étonnait Candide, ce n’était pas ce qui l’étonna le moins.
Ils passèrent un mois dans cet hospice. Candide ne cessait de dire à Cacambo: Il est vrai, mon ami, encore une fois, que le château où je suis né ne vaut pas le pays où nous sommes; mais enfin mademoiselle Cunégonde n’y est pas, et vous avez sans doute quelque maîtresse en Europe. Si nous restons ici, nous n’y serons que comme les autres; au lieu que si nous retournons dans notre monde, seulement avec douze moutons chargés de cailloux d’Eldorado, nous serons plus riches que tous les rois ensemble, nous n’aurons plus d’inquisiteurs à craindre, et nous pourrons aisément reprendre mademoiselle Cunégonde.
Ce discours plut à Cacambo; on aime tant à courir, à se faire valoir chez les siens, à faire parade de ce qu’on a vu dans ses voyages, que les deux heureux résolurent de ne plus l’être, et de demander leur congé à sa majesté.
Vous faites une sottise, leur dit le roi: je sais bien que mon pays est peu de chose; mais, quand on est passablement quelque part, il faut y rester. Je n’ai pas assurément le droit de retenir des étrangers; c’est une tyrannie qui n’est ni dans nos moeurs ni dans nos lois; tous les hommes sont libres; partez quand vous voudrez, mais la sortie est bien difficile. Il est impossible de remonter la rivière rapide sur laquelle vous êtes arrivés par miracle, et qui court sous des voûtes de rochers. Les montagnes qui entourent tout mon royaume ont dix mille pieds de hauteur, et sont droites comme des murailles: elles occupent chacune en largeur un espace de plus de dix lieues; on ne peut en descendre que par des précipices. Cependant, puisque vous voulez absolument partir, je vais donner ordre aux intendants des machines d’en faire une qui puisse vous transporter commodément. Quand on vous aura conduits au revers des montagnes, personne ne pourra vous accompagner; car mes sujets ont fait voeu de ne jamais sortir de leur enceinte, et ils sont trop sages pour rompre leur voeu. Demandez-moi d’ailleurs tout ce qu’il vous plaira. Nous ne demandons à votre majesté, dit Cacambo, que quelques moutons chargés de vivres, de cailloux, et de la boue du pays. Le roi rit: Je ne conçois pas, dit-il, quel goût vos gens d’Europe ont pour notre boue jaune: mais emportez-en tant que vous voudrez, et grand bien vous fasse.
Il donna l’ordre sur-le-champ à ses ingénieurs de faire une machine pour guinder ces deux hommes extraordinaires hors du royaume. Trois mille bons physiciens y travaillèrent; elle fut prête au bout de quinze jours, et ne coûta pas plus de vingt millions de livres sterling, monnaie du pays. On mit sur la machine Candide et Cacambo; il y avait deux grands moutons rouges sellés et bridés pour leur servir de monture quand ils auraient franchi les montagnes, vingt moutons de bât chargés de vivres, trente qui portaient des présents de ce que le pays a de plus curieux, et cinquante chargés d’or, de pierreries, et de diamants. Le roi embrassa tendrement les deux vagabonds.
Ce fut un beau spectacle que leur départ, et la manière ingénieuse dont ils furent hissés eux et leurs moutons au haut des montagnes. Les physiciens prirent congé d’eux après les avoir mis en sûreté, et Candide n’eut plus d’autre désir et d’autre objet que d’aller présenter ses moutons à mademoiselle Cunégonde. Nous avons, dit-il, de quoi payer le gouverneur de Buénos-Ayres, si mademoiselle Cunégonde peut être mise à prix. Marchons vers la Cayenne, embarquons-nous, et nous verrons ensuite quel royaume nous pourrons acheter.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the French text of all thirty chapters (Beuchot edition, 1829) for fidelity, the author’s force and cadence, and modern clarity. The editor’s notes are omitted.
What They Saw in the Country of Eldorado.
Cacambo showed his host the full extent of his curiosity. The host said to him, “I am profoundly ignorant, and very happy that way; but we have here an old man, retired from court, who is the most learned man in the kingdom and the most willing to share his knowledge.” He promptly took Cacambo to the old man. Candide now played only the second part, and accompanied his servant. They entered a very simple house, for the door was merely silver and the paneling of the rooms merely gold, but worked with such taste that the richest paneling could not have outshone it. The antechamber, it is true, was inlaid with nothing but rubies and emeralds; yet the order in which everything was arranged more than made up for this extreme simplicity.
The old man received the two strangers on a sofa padded with hummingbird feathers and had liqueurs served to them in diamond vessels; then he satisfied their curiosity in these words:
“I am one hundred and seventy-two years old, and from my late father, a squire to the king, I learned of the astonishing upheavals in Peru which he had witnessed. The kingdom where we are is the ancient homeland of the Incas, who most imprudently left it to subjugate part of the world, and who were finally destroyed by the Spaniards.
“The princes of their family who remained in their native land were wiser; with the consent of the nation they decreed that no inhabitant should ever leave our little kingdom, and that is what has preserved our innocence and happiness. The Spaniards have had some vague knowledge of this country and have called it Eldorado; an Englishman named Sir Raleigh even came close to it about a hundred years ago. But as we are surrounded by impassable rocks and precipices, we have always been safe, up to now, from the rapacity of the nations of Europe. They have an inconceivable passion for the stones and mud of our soil, and would kill every last one of us to get them.”
The conversation was long; it ranged over the form of government, customs, women, public entertainments, and the arts. Finally Candide, who had always had a taste for metaphysics, had Cacambo ask whether there was a religion in the country.
The old man blushed a little. “What do you mean?” he said. “Can you doubt it? Do you take us for ingrates?” Cacambo humbly asked what the religion of Eldorado was. The old man blushed again. “Could there be two religions?” he said. “We have, I believe, the religion of everyone; we worship God from evening until morning.” “Do you worship only one God?” said Cacambo, still interpreting Candide’s doubts. “It seems,” said the old man, “that there are not two, or three, or four. I confess the people of your world ask very strange questions.” Candide never tired of having this good old man questioned; he wanted to know how they prayed to God in Eldorado. “We do not pray to him,” said the good and venerable sage. “We have nothing to ask of him; he has given us everything we need. We thank him constantly.” Candide was curious to see the priests; he had Cacambo ask where they were. The good old man smiled. “My friends,” he said, “we are all priests; the king and all the heads of families solemnly sing hymns of thanksgiving every morning, accompanied by five or six thousand musicians.” “What! You have no monks who teach, argue, govern, scheme, and have people burned for disagreeing with them?” “We would have to be mad,” said the old man. “Here we all agree, and we have no idea what you mean by your monks.” Candide was in raptures at all this talk, and said to himself, “This is very different from Westphalia and the Baron’s castle. If our friend Pangloss had seen Eldorado, he would no longer have said that the castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh was the best place on earth. Clearly one must travel.”
After this long conversation the good old man ordered a carriage drawn by six sheep and assigned twelve of his servants to take the two travelers to court. “Forgive me,” he told them, “if my age deprives me of the honor of accompanying you. The king will receive you in a way that will not disappoint you, and you will doubtless pardon the customs of the country if any of them displease you.”
Candide and Cacambo climbed into the carriage; the six sheep flew along, and in less than four hours they reached the king’s palace at one end of the capital. The gateway was two hundred and twenty feet high and one hundred wide; it is impossible to say what it was made of. One can readily imagine how vastly superior its substance must have been to the stones and sand we call gold and precious gems.
Twenty beautiful girls of the guard welcomed Candide and Cacambo as they stepped down from the carriage, led them to the baths, and dressed them in robes woven of hummingbird down. Then the great officers of the crown, men and women, conducted them to his majesty’s apartments between two ranks of musicians, a thousand in each, according to the usual custom. As they approached the throne room, Cacambo asked a senior officer how they should greet his majesty: whether they should fall to their knees or flat on their faces; whether they should put their hands on their heads or on their backsides; whether they should lick the dust from the floor—in short, what the ceremony was. “The custom,” said the officer, “is to embrace the king and kiss him on both cheeks.” Candide and Cacambo flung their arms around his majesty’s neck. He received them with every imaginable grace and politely invited them to supper.
Meanwhile they were shown the city: public buildings rising to the clouds, markets adorned with a thousand columns, fountains of pure water, fountains of rosewater, others of sugarcane liquor flowing continually through great squares paved with a kind of precious stone that gave off a scent like cloves and cinnamon. Candide asked to see the court of justice, the parliament; he was told there was none, and that no one ever went to law. He inquired whether there were prisons, and was told there were not. What surprised him still more, and gave him the greatest pleasure, was the palace of sciences, where he saw a gallery two thousand paces long, entirely filled with instruments of mathematics and physics.
After spending the whole afternoon covering roughly one-thousandth of the city, they were brought back to the king. Candide sat at table between his majesty, his servant Cacambo, and several ladies. Never was a finer meal served, and never was there more wit at supper than his majesty displayed. Cacambo explained the king’s witticisms to Candide, and even in translation they still seemed witty. Of all that astonished Candide, this was not the least astonishing.
They spent a month in this hospitable place. Candide kept saying to Cacambo, “It is true, my friend—I say it again—that the castle where I was born cannot compare with the country where we are. But Miss Cunégonde is not here, after all, and no doubt you have a sweetheart somewhere in Europe. If we stay here, we shall be no different from anyone else; whereas if we go back to our world with just twelve sheep laden with stones from Eldorado, we shall be richer than all its kings put together, we shall no longer have inquisitors to fear, and we can easily win back Miss Cunégonde.”
This speech pleased Cacambo. People so love roaming the world, distinguishing themselves among their own people, and showing off what they have seen on their travels that these two happy men resolved to be happy no longer, and to ask his majesty’s permission to leave.
“You are being foolish,” said the king. “I know very well that my country is nothing much; but when one is reasonably comfortable somewhere, one should stay. I certainly have no right to detain foreigners. Such tyranny belongs neither to our customs nor to our laws. All men are free; leave whenever you wish, though getting out is very difficult. You cannot go back up the swift river by which you miraculously arrived and which runs under vaults of rock. The mountains surrounding my entire kingdom are ten thousand feet high and sheer as walls; each of them stretches more than ten leagues across, and one can descend only by way of precipices. Yet since you absolutely wish to leave, I shall order the directors of our machinery to build one that can carry you across in comfort. Once you have been taken to the far side of the mountains, no one will be able to accompany you: my subjects have sworn never to leave their boundaries, and they are too wise to break their vow. Ask me for anything else you please.” “All we ask of your majesty,” said Cacambo, “is a few sheep loaded with provisions, stones, and the mud of the country.” The king laughed. “I cannot understand,” he said, “what taste you Europeans have for our yellow mud. But take as much as you like, and may it do you good.”
He immediately ordered his engineers to make a machine to hoist these two extraordinary men out of the kingdom. Three thousand capable physicists worked on it; it was ready after fifteen days and cost no more than twenty million pounds sterling in the currency of the country. Candide and Cacambo were placed on the machine. There were two large red sheep, saddled and bridled for them to ride after crossing the mountains; twenty pack sheep loaded with food; thirty bearing gifts of the most remarkable things the country had to offer; and fifty loaded with gold, precious stones, and diamonds. The king embraced the two wanderers tenderly.
Their departure made a splendid spectacle, as did the ingenious way in which they and their sheep were hauled to the summit of the mountains. The physicists took leave of them once they had set them safely down, and Candide now had no desire or purpose but to present his sheep to Miss Cunégonde. “We have enough,” he said, “to pay off the governor of Buenos Aires, if a price can be put on Miss Cunégonde. Let us head for Cayenne, take ship, and then see what kingdom we can buy.”
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the French text of all thirty chapters (Beuchot edition, 1829). The editor’s notes are omitted.
What they saw in Eldorado.
Cacambo told their host how curious he was about everything. The host said, "I know very little, and I'm happy that way. But we have an old man here who has retired from the court. He knows more than anyone else in the kingdom and is more willing to share what he knows." He immediately took Cacambo to the old man. Candide now played only a supporting role and went along with his servant. They entered a very simple house. Its door was only made of silver, and the rooms were only paneled in gold. But the work was so tasteful that even the richest paneling could not outshine it. The entryway, it is true, was inlaid only with rubies and emeralds. But the way everything was arranged more than made up for this extreme simplicity.
The old man welcomed the two strangers onto a sofa padded with hummingbird feathers and had drinks served to them in diamond vessels. Then he answered their questions as follows:
"I am one hundred and seventy-two years old. My late father, a royal attendant, told me about the astonishing upheavals in Peru that he had seen himself. The kingdom we are in is the original home of the Incas. They very unwisely left it to conquer part of the world, and in the end the Spaniards destroyed them.
"The princes of their family who stayed in their homeland were wiser. With the nation's consent, they ordered that no inhabitant should ever leave our little kingdom. This has preserved our innocence and happiness. The Spaniards have some vague knowledge of this country and have called it Eldorado. An Englishman named Sir Raleigh even came close to it about a hundred years ago. But because we are surrounded by impassable rocks and cliffs, we have always been safe, up to now, from the greed of the nations of Europe. They have an unbelievable obsession with the stones and mud of our land, and would kill every last one of us to get them."
They talked for a long time about the form of government, customs, women, public entertainments, and the arts. Finally Candide, who still had a taste for metaphysics, had Cacambo ask whether the people of the country had a religion.
The old man blushed a little. "What do you mean?" he said. "Can you doubt it? Do you take us for ungrateful people?" Cacambo politely asked what the religion of Eldorado was. The old man blushed again. "Could there be two religions?" he said. "I believe we have the same religion as everyone else. We worship God from evening until morning." "Do you worship only one God?" asked Cacambo, still acting as interpreter for Candide's doubts. "Obviously," the old man said, "there aren't two or three or four. I must say, people from your part of the world ask very strange questions." Candide kept having Cacambo question the good old man. He wanted to know how they prayed to God in Eldorado. "We don't pray to him," said the good and respected wise man. "We have nothing to ask him for. He has given us everything we need, and we thank him constantly." Candide was curious to see the priests and had Cacambo ask where they were. The good old man smiled. "My friends," he said, "we are all priests. Every morning the king and all the heads of families solemnly sing songs of thanksgiving, with five or six thousand musicians accompanying them." "What! You have no monks who teach, argue, govern, plot, and have people who disagree with them burned?" "We would have to be mad," said the old man. "We all agree here, and we don't understand what you mean by your monks." Candide was delighted by everything he heard and said to himself, "This is very different from Westphalia and the Baron's castle. If our friend Pangloss had seen Eldorado, he would no longer have said that the castle of Thunder-ten-tronckh was the best place on earth. Clearly, one has to travel."
After this long conversation, the good old man had a carriage harnessed to six sheep and gave the two travelers twelve of his servants to take them to court. "Forgive me," he said to them, "if my age prevents me from having the honor of going with you. The king will receive you in a way you will like. And I am sure you will excuse any local customs that may displease you."
Candide and Cacambo got into the carriage. The six sheep flew along, and in less than four hours they arrived at the king's palace at one end of the capital. The entrance was two hundred and twenty feet high and one hundred feet wide. It is impossible to describe the material it was made of. Plainly it must have been vastly superior to the stones and sand we call gold and precious gems.
Twenty beautiful young women of the guard met Candide and Cacambo as they stepped down from the carriage. They led them to the baths and dressed them in robes woven from hummingbird down. Then the senior male and female officers of the crown led them to His Majesty's rooms between two rows of musicians, a thousand in each row, as was the usual custom. When they approached the throne room, Cacambo asked a senior officer how they should greet His Majesty. Should they kneel or lie face down? Should they put their hands on their heads or on their backsides? Should they lick the dust from the floor? In short, what was the ceremony? "The custom," said the senior officer, "is to hug the king and kiss him on both cheeks." Candide and Cacambo threw their arms around His Majesty's neck. He received them with all the grace imaginable and politely invited them to dinner.
Meanwhile they were shown the city: public buildings rising to the clouds, markets decorated with a thousand columns, fountains of pure water, fountains of rosewater, and fountains of sugarcane liquor. These flowed constantly in large squares paved with a kind of gemstone that gave off a smell like cloves and cinnamon. Candide asked to see the court of justice and the parliament. They told him there was neither, and that no one ever went to court. He asked if there were prisons, and they said there were not. What surprised and pleased him most was the palace of sciences. There he saw a gallery two thousand paces long, full of instruments for mathematics and physics.
After spending the whole afternoon touring roughly one thousandth of the city, they were taken back to the king. Candide sat at dinner between His Majesty, his servant Cacambo, and several ladies. No one had ever enjoyed better food, and no one had ever heard more wit at a dinner than His Majesty showed. Cacambo explained the king's witty remarks to Candide. Even in translation, they were still witty. This was one of the things that surprised Candide most.
They spent a month as guests there. Candide kept saying to Cacambo, "It's true, my friend, I'll say it again: the castle where I was born is nothing compared with this country. But Miss Cunégonde isn't here, and you must have a sweetheart somewhere in Europe. If we stay here, we'll be just like everyone else. But if we return to our own world with only twelve sheep loaded with stones from Eldorado, we'll be richer than all the kings put together. We won't have to fear inquisitors anymore, and we can easily get Miss Cunégonde back."
Cacambo liked this argument. People love to travel, to impress their own people, and to show off what they have seen on their journeys. So the two happy men decided to stop being happy and ask His Majesty's permission to leave.
"You're making a foolish choice," the king told them. "I know my country isn't much, but when you are doing reasonably well somewhere, you should stay there. Of course I have no right to keep foreigners here. That would be tyranny, and tyranny has no place in our customs or our laws. All people are free. Leave whenever you wish, but getting out is very difficult. You cannot go back up the fast river that you came down by a miracle. It runs beneath arches of rock. The mountains around my whole kingdom are ten thousand feet high and as sheer as walls. Each one is more than ten leagues wide, and you can get down from them only by way of cliffs. Still, since you are determined to leave, I'll order the overseers of the machinery to build something that can transport you comfortably. Once you have been taken to the far side of the mountains, no one will be able to go with you. My subjects have vowed never to leave the land within these boundaries, and they are too sensible to break their vow. Ask me for anything else you like." "We ask Your Majesty," said Cacambo, "only for a few sheep loaded with food, stones, and the local mud." The king laughed. "I don't understand," he said, "why you Europeans are so fond of our yellow mud. But take as much as you want, and I hope it does you good."
He immediately ordered his engineers to build a machine to hoist these two extraordinary men out of the kingdom. Three thousand skilled scientists worked on it. It was ready in fifteen days and cost no more than twenty million pounds sterling in the country's currency. Candide and Cacambo were placed on the machine. There were two large red sheep, saddled and bridled for them to ride once they crossed the mountains, twenty pack sheep loaded with food, thirty carrying gifts of the most remarkable things in the country, and fifty loaded with gold, precious gems, and diamonds. The king hugged the two wanderers warmly.
Their departure was a fine sight, as was the clever way they and their sheep were hauled to the tops of the mountains. The scientists said goodbye once they had placed them safely there. Now Candide wanted nothing except to show his sheep to Miss Cunégonde. "We have enough," he said, "to pay the governor of Buenos Aires, if a price can be put on Miss Cunégonde. Let's head for Cayenne, get on a ship, and then see what kingdom we can buy."