Summary
Riding down the streets of Meung, he comes fully equipped with an interesting name, d’Artagnan, and a physical description. He is a fairly attractive young man, wearing armor, with a large sword in his scabbard and a haughty air. D’Artagnan bears a strong physical resemblance to Don Quixote. He is quick to anger, misinterprets every smile as an insult, and takes every whispered conversation personally. And sure enough, he gets a lot of smiles and stifled laughter as he rides down the streets, because he is riding possibly the most ridiculous horse ever. The horse is an odd yellow color, and walks strangely. Passersby cannot help their amusement, but try to conceal it by laughing out of one side of their mouths because they notice d’Artagnan’s furious expression and intimidating sword.
Dumas then segues off into d’Artagnan’s back story, which accounts for the title of this chapter. Before d’Artagnan left his home, his Gascon father gave him a talk. D’Artagnan the Elder earnestly told d’Artagnan the Younger to never sell the weird yellow horse, since it was a family heirloom. The horse is the first present, in case you’re counting. D’Artagnan the Elder also gave his son his sword, along with the sage advice to fight as much as possible, despite duels being outlawed. Great advice there, d’Artagnan the Elder, who shall hereafter be known as dad’Artagnan! Dad’Artagnan further gave his son a letter for Monsieur de Treville, captain of the powerful Musketeers, in hopes that M. de Treville will become d’Artagnan’s mentor. Dad’Artagnan hugged the spunky lad, gave him fifteen crowns (which is apparently not much money) and sent him to his mother, who gave him her recipe for a medicine that would cure most wounds. Wow, mom’Artagnan should sell it and get rich! Then parents’Artagnan could afford to give their son more than just fifteen crowns. In case you lost count, the list of dad’Artagnan’s presents was:
1. Horse
2. Sword
3. Letter
4. Money
So dad’Artagnan gave his son four gifts, not three. Awkward! Young d’Artagnan and mom’Artagnan cried as they parted while tough manly man dad’Artagnan didn’t shed a tear as his son rode away on that silly horse to find M. de Treville and to try to become one of the famous Musketeers. Dad’Artagnan explained that the Musketeers are a big deal, because they are allowed to fight despite the law, and even the cardinal is said to fear them. They also get paid buckets of money.
Anyway, horse’Artagnan elicits many snickers and giggles as he bears his owner down the streets. One guy in particular, standing near the Jolly Miller hotel, infuriates d’Artagnan. He is making jokes about horse’Artagnan to his buddies, who guffaw uproariously. He calls the horse a buttercup, which makes his sidekicks laugh even harder. But angry, angry, d’Artagnan, who loses his cool when people so much as smile, obviously gets all aggressive. He combatively asks the guy what he’s laughing at, and proceeds to threaten him. The stranger, cool as a cucumber, in turn responds with the unique combination of good manners and rude words. The stranger in question is described as having a “well shaped” mustache, a purple jacket, and purple pants. Faaancy. The detailed description makes it clear that he will continue to be important to the plot. The stranger eventually decides to leave. At this, d’Artagnan totally flies off the handle and tries to fight him, calling him a coward. The stranger doesn’t seem overly bothered, and lets his cronies and the owner of the Jolly Miller hotel handle d’Artagnan, as the stranger watches calmly. D’Artagnan ends up badly hurt and knocked unconscious. The owner takes him up into a hotel room and gets his servants to tend to him, which they do, but not very thoroughly.
The nosy hotel owner snoops through d’Artagnan’s belongings, takes them to the kitchen, and reports all of them to the mysterious stranger. The stranger gets all thoughtful and broody when he hears about the letter to M. de Treville. He then sneaks down to the kitchen and steals the letter. The stranger seems to suspect that M. de Treville sent d’Artagnan to murder him. D’Artagnan, still injured badly, stumbles out of the hotel in time to see the stranger talking to a gorgeous lady named Milady. They seem to be in a great hurry to give some things in a box to someone, and they speed off in different directions to perform this mysterious task. Poor, self-absorbed d’Artagnan takes this departure personally, and screams ‘coward!’ after the stranger. He then faints again.
When he wakes up, d’Artagnan uses his mother’s recipe to heal his wounds, but then almost needs more special medicine after he throws a monumental hissy fit after noticing the missing letter, and has to be subdued by the servants. The hotel owner helps him look, because he respects M. de Treville, and finally both realize that Mr. Mysterious “Fancy-pants” Stranger stole the letter. D’Artagnan presently leaves the hotel, and rents an apartment in the city of Meung. He plans to pay M. de Treville a visit in the morning. That evening, he sells the poor horse, which his father expressly told him to never sell. Poor horse’Artagnan.
Reaction
Okay, I am excited about this book! It is funnier and more intriguing than I expected. I find d’Artagnan hilarious and I love his awful temper and lack of caution. It is easy to predict that he will get into trouble due to being so darn combative, and I look forward to some epic fights ahead. I also admire the way Dumas developed such strong characters and used the horse as a catalyst to advance the story. I also enjoyed Dumas’s plot development. He managed to get the reader excited about the stranger, the Musketeers, and M. de Treville all in the first chapter.
And, now for my favorite line: “‘My letter of recommendation!’ cried d'Artagnan, ‘my letter of recommendation! or, the holy blood, I will spit you all like ortolans!’” Imagine asking a teacher for a recommendation in that way! :)
And, now for my favorite line: “‘My letter of recommendation!’ cried d'Artagnan, ‘my letter of recommendation! or, the holy blood, I will spit you all like ortolans!’” Imagine asking a teacher for a recommendation in that way! :)
