SCENE III (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.