The Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas
Publication date 2008-01-08
Usage Public DomainCreative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audiobooks, Dumas, musketeers, France, D'Artagnan, Athos, Portos, Aramis, Richelieu, adventure, romance, France
Librivox recording of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
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The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis -- inseparable friends who live by the motto, "One for all, and all for one".
The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the magazine Le Siècle between March and July 1844. Dumas claimed it was based on manuscripts he had discovered in the Bibliothèque Nationale. It was later proven that Dumas had based his work on the book Mémoires de Monsieur D'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la première compagnie des Mousquetaires du Roi (Memoirs of Mister D'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first company of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700).
chapter one of the three musketeers this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org this recording is by mark smith of simpsonville south carolina
the three musketeers by alexandre dumas chapter one the three presence of d'artagnan the elder
on the first monday of the month of april 1625 the market town of myung in which the author of romance of the rose was born appeared to be in as perfect the state of revolution as if the huguenots had just made a second la rochelle of it many citizens seeing the women flying toward the high street leaving their children crying at the open doors hastened on the queer ass and supporting their somewhat uncertain courage with a musket or a partisan directed their steps toward the hostily of the jolly miller before which was gathered increasing every minute a compact group vociferous and full of curiosity in those times panics were common and few days passed without some city or other registering in its archives an event of this kind there were nobles who made war against each other there was the king who made war against the cardinal there was spain which made war against the king then in addition to these concealed or public secret or open wars there were robbers mendicants huguenots wolves and scoundrels who made war upon everybody the citizens always took up arms readily against thieves wolves or scoundrels often against nobles or huguenots sometimes against the king but never against cardinal or spain it resulted then from this habit that on the said first monday of april 1625 the citizens on hearing the clamor and seeing neither the red and yellow standard nor the livery of the doctor richie rushed towards the hostel of the jolly miller when arrived there the cause of the hubbub was apparent to all a young man we can sketch his portrait at a dash imagine to yourself a don quixote of 18 a don quixote without his courselet without his coat of mail without his squeezes a don quixote clothed in a woolen doublet the blue color of which had faded into a nameless shade between leaves of wine and a heavenly azure face long and brown high cheekbones a sign of sagacity the maxillary muscles enormously developed an infallible sign by which a gaskin may always be detected even without his cap and our young man wore a cap set off with a sort of feather the eye open and intelligent the nose hooked but finally chiseled too big for a youth too small for a grown man an experienced i might have taken him for a farmer's son upon a journey had it not been for the long sword which dangling from a leather baldrick hit...
