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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:26:34 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:26:34 -0700 |
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diff --git a/old/orig5921-h/p6.htm b/old/orig5921-h/p6.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a0f605 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig5921-h/p6.htm @@ -0,0 +1,808 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE HISTORY OF DON QUIXOTE, By Cervantes, Vol. I., Part 6.</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-size: 97%; margin-left: 15%;} + // --> +</style> + + +</head> +<body> + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p5.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p7.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + + + +<center> +<h1>DON QUIXOTE</h1> +<br> +<h2>by Miguel de Cervantes</h2> +<br> +<h3>Translated by John Ormsby</h3> +</center> + +<br><br> + +<center><h3> +Volume I., Part 6. +<br><br> +Chapters 16-17 +</h3></center> + +<br><br> +<center> +<img alt="bookcover.jpg (230K)" src="images/bookcover.jpg" height="842" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/bookcover.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<img alt="spine.jpg (152K)" src="images/spine.jpg" height="842" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/spine.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + + + +<h3>Ebook Editor's Note</h3> + +<blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote> +<p>The book cover and spine above and the images which follow were not part of the original Ormsby +translation—they are taken from the 1880 edition of J. W. Clark, illustrated by +Gustave Dore. Clark in his edition states that, "The English text of 'Don Quixote' +adopted in this edition is that of Jarvis, with occasional corrections from Motteaux." +See in the introduction below John Ormsby's critique of +both the Jarvis and Motteaux translations. It has been elected in the present Project Gutenberg edition +to attach the famous engravings of Gustave Dore to the Ormsby translation instead +of the Jarvis/Motteaux. The detail of many of the Dore engravings can be fully appreciated only +by utilizing the "Enlarge" button to expand them to their original dimensions. Ormsby +in his Preface has criticized the fanciful nature of Dore's illustrations; others feel +these woodcuts and steel engravings well match Quixote's dreams. + + D.W.</p> +</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<img alt="p003.jpg (307K)" src="images/p003.jpg" height="813" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/p003.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"> +</a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<center><h2>CONTENTS</h2></center> + +<pre> + +<a href="#ch16">CHAPTER XVI</a> +OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE INN +WHICH HE TOOK TO BE A CASTLE + +<a href="#ch17">CHAPTER XVII</a> +IN WHICH ARE CONTAINED THE INNUMERABLE TROUBLES WHICH +THE BRAVE DON QUIXOTE AND HIS GOOD SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA +ENDURED IN THE INN, WHICH TO HIS MISFORTUNE HE TOOK TO +BE A CASTLE + +</pre> + +<br><br><br><br> + + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN IN THE INN WHICH HE TOOK +TO BE A CASTLE +</h3></center> +<br> + +<br> +<center><a name="c16a"></a><img alt="c16a.jpg (129K)" src="images/c16a.jpg" height="332" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c16a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>The innkeeper, seeing Don Quixote slung across the ass, asked Sancho +what was amiss with him. Sancho answered that it was nothing, only +that he had fallen down from a rock and had his ribs a little bruised. +The innkeeper had a wife whose disposition was not such as those of +her calling commonly have, for she was by nature kind-hearted and felt +for the sufferings of her neighbours, so she at once set about tending +Don Quixote, and made her young daughter, a very comely girl, help her +in taking care of her guest. There was besides in the inn, as servant, +an Asturian lass with a broad face, flat poll, and snub nose, blind of +one eye and not very sound in the other. The elegance of her shape, to +be sure, made up for all her defects; she did not measure seven +palms from head to foot, and her shoulders, which overweighted her +somewhat, made her contemplate the ground more than she liked. This +graceful lass, then, helped the young girl, and the two made up a very +bad bed for Don Quixote in a garret that showed evident signs of +having formerly served for many years as a straw-loft, in which +there was also quartered a carrier whose bed was placed a little +beyond our Don Quixote's, and, though only made of the pack-saddles +and cloths of his mules, had much the advantage of it, as Don +Quixote's consisted simply of four rough boards on two not very even +trestles, a mattress, that for thinness might have passed for a quilt, +full of pellets which, were they not seen through the rents to be +wool, would to the touch have seemed pebbles in hardness, two sheets +made of buckler leather, and a coverlet the threads of which anyone +that chose might have counted without missing one in the reckoning.</p> + +<p>On this accursed bed Don Quixote stretched himself, and the +hostess and her daughter soon covered him with plasters from top to +toe, while Maritornes—for that was the name of the Asturian—held the +light for them, and while plastering him, the hostess, observing how +full of wheals Don Quixote was in some places, remarked that this +had more the look of blows than of a fall.</p> + +<p>It was not blows, Sancho said, but that the rock had many points and +projections, and that each of them had left its mark. "Pray, +senora," he added, "manage to save some tow, as there will be no +want of some one to use it, for my loins too are rather sore."</p> + +<p>"Then you must have fallen too," said the hostess.</p> + +<p>"I did not fall," said Sancho Panza, "but from the shock I got at +seeing my master fall, my body aches so that I feel as if I had had +a thousand thwacks."</p> + +<p>"That may well be," said the young girl, "for it has many a time +happened to me to dream that I was falling down from a tower and never +coming to the ground, and when I awoke from the dream to find myself +as weak and shaken as if I had really fallen."</p> + +<p>"There is the point, senora," replied Sancho Panza, "that I +without dreaming at all, but being more awake than I am now, find +myself with scarcely less wheals than my master, Don Quixote."</p> + +<p>"How is the gentleman called?" asked Maritornes the Asturian.</p> + +<p>"Don Quixote of La Mancha," answered Sancho Panza, "and he is a +knight-adventurer, and one of the best and stoutest that have been +seen in the world this long time past."</p> + +<p>"What is a knight-adventurer?" said the lass.</p> + +<p>"Are you so new in the world as not to know?" answered Sancho Panza. +"Well, then, you must know, sister, that a knight-adventurer is a +thing that in two words is seen drubbed and emperor, that is to-day +the most miserable and needy being in the world, and to-morrow will +have two or three crowns of kingdoms to give his squire."</p> + +<p>"Then how is it," said the hostess, "that belonging to so good a +master as this, you have not, to judge by appearances, even so much as +a county?"</p> + +<p>"It is too soon yet," answered Sancho, "for we have only been a +month going in quest of adventures, and so far we have met with +nothing that can be called one, for it will happen that when one thing +is looked for another thing is found; however, if my master Don +Quixote gets well of this wound, or fall, and I am left none the worse +of it, I would not change my hopes for the best title in Spain."</p> + +<p>To all this conversation Don Quixote was listening very attentively, +and sitting up in bed as well as he could, and taking the hostess by +the hand he said to her, "Believe me, fair lady, you may call yourself +fortunate in having in this castle of yours sheltered my person, which +is such that if I do not myself praise it, it is because of what is +commonly said, that self-praise debaseth; but my squire will inform +you who I am. I only tell you that I shall preserve for ever inscribed +on my memory the service you have rendered me in order to tender you +my gratitude while life shall last me; and would to Heaven love held +me not so enthralled and subject to its laws and to the eyes of that +fair ingrate whom I name between my teeth, but that those of this +lovely damsel might be the masters of my liberty."</p> + +<p>The hostess, her daughter, and the worthy Maritornes listened in +bewilderment to the words of the knight-errant; for they understood +about as much of them as if he had been talking Greek, though they +could perceive they were all meant for expressions of good-will and +blandishments; and not being accustomed to this kind of language, they +stared at him and wondered to themselves, for he seemed to them a +man of a different sort from those they were used to, and thanking him +in pothouse phrase for his civility they left him, while the +Asturian gave her attention to Sancho, who needed it no less than +his master.</p> + +<p>The carrier had made an arrangement with her for recreation that +night, and she had given him her word that when the guests were +quiet and the family asleep she would come in search of him and meet +his wishes unreservedly. And it is said of this good lass that she +never made promises of the kind without fulfilling them, even though +she made them in a forest and without any witness present, for she +plumed herself greatly on being a lady and held it no disgrace to be +in such an employment as servant in an inn, because, she said, +misfortunes and ill-luck had brought her to that position. The hard, +narrow, wretched, rickety bed of Don Quixote stood first in the middle +of this star-lit stable, and close beside it Sancho made his, which +merely consisted of a rush mat and a blanket that looked as if it +was of threadbare canvas rather than of wool. Next to these two beds +was that of the carrier, made up, as has been said, of the +pack-saddles and all the trappings of the two best mules he had, +though there were twelve of them, sleek, plump, and in prime +condition, for he was one of the rich carriers of Arevalo, according +to the author of this history, who particularly mentions this +carrier because he knew him very well, and they even say was in some +degree a relation of his; besides which Cide Hamete Benengeli was a +historian of great research and accuracy in all things, as is very +evident since he would not pass over in silence those that have been +already mentioned, however trifling and insignificant they might be, +an example that might be followed by those grave historians who relate +transactions so curtly and briefly that we hardly get a taste of them, +all the substance of the work being left in the inkstand from +carelessness, perverseness, or ignorance. A thousand blessings on +the author of "Tablante de Ricamonte" and that of the other book in +which the deeds of the Conde Tomillas are recounted; with what +minuteness they describe everything!</p> + +<p>To proceed, then: after having paid a visit to his team and given +them their second feed, the carrier stretched himself on his +pack-saddles and lay waiting for his conscientious Maritornes. +Sancho was by this time plastered and had lain down, and though he +strove to sleep the pain of his ribs would not let him, while Don +Quixote with the pain of his had his eyes as wide open as a hare's.</p> + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c16b"></a><img alt="c16b.jpg (333K)" src="images/c16b.jpg" height="838" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c16b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>The inn was all in silence, and in the whole of it there was no +light except that given by a lantern that hung burning in the middle +of the gateway. This strange stillness, and the thoughts, always +present to our knight's mind, of the incidents described at every turn +in the books that were the cause of his misfortune, conjured up to his +imagination as extraordinary a delusion as can well be conceived, +which was that he fancied himself to have reached a famous castle +(for, as has been said, all the inns he lodged in were castles to +his eyes), and that the daughter of the innkeeper was daughter of +the lord of the castle, and that she, won by his high-bred bearing, +had fallen in love with him, and had promised to come to his bed for a +while that night without the knowledge of her parents; and holding all +this fantasy that he had constructed as solid fact, he began to feel +uneasy and to consider the perilous risk which his virtue was about to +encounter, and he resolved in his heart to commit no treason to his +lady Dulcinea del Toboso, even though the queen Guinevere herself +and the dame Quintanona should present themselves before him.</p> + +<p>While he was taken up with these vagaries, then, the time and the +hour—an unlucky one for him—arrived for the Asturian to come, who in +her smock, with bare feet and her hair gathered into a fustian coif, +with noiseless and cautious steps entered the chamber where the +three were quartered, in quest of the carrier; but scarcely had she +gained the door when Don Quixote perceived her, and sitting up in +his bed in spite of his plasters and the pain of his ribs, he +stretched out his arms to receive his beauteous damsel. The +Asturian, who went all doubled up and in silence with her hands before +her feeling for her lover, encountered the arms of Don Quixote, who +grasped her tightly by the wrist, and drawing her towards him, while +she dared not utter a word, made her sit down on the bed. He then felt +her smock, and although it was of sackcloth it appeared to him to be +of the finest and softest silk: on her wrists she wore some glass +beads, but to him they had the sheen of precious Orient pearls: her +hair, which in some measure resembled a horse's mane, he rated as +threads of the brightest gold of Araby, whose refulgence dimmed the +sun himself: her breath, which no doubt smelt of yesterday's stale +salad, seemed to him to diffuse a sweet aromatic fragrance from her +mouth; and, in short, he drew her portrait in his imagination with the +same features and in the same style as that which he had seen in his +books of the other princesses who, smitten by love, came with all +the adornments that are here set down, to see the sorely wounded +knight; and so great was the poor gentleman's blindness that neither +touch, nor smell, nor anything else about the good lass that would +have made any but a carrier vomit, were enough to undeceive him; on +the contrary, he was persuaded he had the goddess of beauty in his +arms, and holding her firmly in his grasp he went on to say in low, +tender voice:</p> + +<p>"Would that found myself, lovely and exalted lady, in a position +to repay such a favour as that which you, by the sight of your great +beauty, have granted me; but fortune, which is never weary of +persecuting the good, has chosen to place me upon this bed, where I +lie so bruised and broken that though my inclination would gladly +comply with yours it is impossible; besides, to this impossibility +another yet greater is to be added, which is the faith that I have +pledged to the peerless Dulcinea del Toboso, sole lady of my most +secret thoughts; and were it not that this stood in the way I should +not be so insensible a knight as to miss the happy opportunity which +your great goodness has offered me."</p> + +<p>Maritornes was fretting and sweating at finding herself held so fast +by Don Quixote, and not understanding or heeding the words he +addressed to her, she strove without speaking to free herself. The +worthy carrier, whose unholy thoughts kept him awake, was aware of his +doxy the moment she entered the door, and was listening attentively to +all Don Quixote said; and jealous that the Asturian should have broken +her word with him for another, drew nearer to Don Quixote's bed and +stood still to see what would come of this talk which he could not +understand; but when he perceived the wench struggling to get free and +Don Quixote striving to hold her, not relishing the joke he raised his +arm and delivered such a terrible cuff on the lank jaws of the amorous +knight that he bathed all his mouth in blood, and not content with +this he mounted on his ribs and with his feet tramped all over them at +a pace rather smarter than a trot. The bed which was somewhat crazy +and not very firm on its feet, unable to support the additional weight +of the carrier, came to the ground, and at the mighty crash of this +the innkeeper awoke and at once concluded that it must be some brawl +of Maritornes', because after calling loudly to her he got no +answer. With this suspicion he got up, and lighting a lamp hastened to +the quarter where he had heard the disturbance. The wench, seeing that +her master was coming and knowing that his temper was terrible, +frightened and panic-stricken made for the bed of Sancho Panza, who +still slept, and crouching upon it made a ball of herself.</p> + +<p>The innkeeper came in exclaiming, "Where art thou, strumpet? Of +course this is some of thy work." At this Sancho awoke, and feeling +this mass almost on top of him fancied he had the nightmare and +began to distribute fisticuffs all round, of which a certain share +fell upon Maritornes, who, irritated by the pain and flinging +modesty aside, paid back so many in return to Sancho that she woke him +up in spite of himself. He then, finding himself so handled, by whom +he knew not, raising himself up as well as he could, grappled with +Maritornes, and he and she between them began the bitterest and +drollest scrimmage in the world. The carrier, however, perceiving by +the light of the innkeeper candle how it fared with his ladylove, +quitting Don Quixote, ran to bring her the help she needed; and the +innkeeper did the same but with a different intention, for his was +to chastise the lass, as he believed that beyond a doubt she alone was +the cause of all the harmony. And so, as the saying is, cat to rat, +rat to rope, rope to stick, the carrier pounded Sancho, Sancho the +lass, she him, and the innkeeper her, and all worked away so briskly +that they did not give themselves a moment's rest; and the best of +it was that the innkeeper's lamp went out, and as they were left in +the dark they all laid on one upon the other in a mass so unmercifully +that there was not a sound spot left where a hand could light.</p> + +<p>It so happened that there was lodging that night in the inn a +caudrillero of what they call the Old Holy Brotherhood of Toledo, who, +also hearing the extraordinary noise of the conflict, seized his staff +and the tin case with his warrants, and made his way in the dark +into the room crying: "Hold! in the name of the Jurisdiction! Hold! in +the name of the Holy Brotherhood!"</p> + +<p>The first that he came upon was the pummelled Don Quixote, who lay +stretched senseless on his back upon his broken-down bed, and, his +hand falling on the beard as he felt about, he continued to cry, "Help +for the Jurisdiction!" but perceiving that he whom he had laid hold of +did not move or stir, he concluded that he was dead and that those +in the room were his murderers, and with this suspicion he raised +his voice still higher, calling out, "Shut the inn gate; see that no +one goes out; they have killed a man here!" This cry startled them +all, and each dropped the contest at the point at which the voice +reached him. The innkeeper retreated to his room, the carrier to his +pack-saddles, the lass to her crib; the unlucky Don Quixote and Sancho +alone were unable to move from where they were. The cuadrillero on +this let go Don Quixote's beard, and went out to look for a light to +search for and apprehend the culprits; but not finding one, as the +innkeeper had purposely extinguished the lantern on retreating to +his room, he was compelled to have recourse to the hearth, where after +much time and trouble he lit another lamp.</p> + + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c16e"></a><img alt="c16e.jpg (32K)" src="images/c16e.jpg" height="565" width="375"> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>IN WHICH ARE CONTAINED THE INNUMERABLE TROUBLES WHICH THE BRAVE +DON QUIXOTE AND HIS GOOD SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA ENDURED IN THE INN, WHICH +TO HIS MISFORTUNE HE TOOK TO BE A CASTLE +</h3></center> +<br> + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c17a"></a><img alt="c17a.jpg (87K)" src="images/c17a.jpg" height="224" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c17a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>By this time Don Quixote had recovered from his swoon; and in the +same tone of voice in which he had called to his squire the day before +when he lay stretched "in the vale of the stakes," he began calling to +him now, "Sancho, my friend, art thou asleep? sleepest thou, friend +Sancho?"</p> + +<p>"How can I sleep, curses on it!" returned Sancho discontentedly +and bitterly, "when it is plain that all the devils have been at me +this night?"</p> + +<p>"Thou mayest well believe that," answered Don Quixote, "because, +either I know little, or this castle is enchanted, for thou must +know—but this that I am now about to tell thee thou must swear to keep +secret until after my death."</p> + +<p>"I swear it," answered Sancho.</p> + +<p>"I say so," continued Don Quixote, "because I hate taking away +anyone's good name."</p> + +<p>"I say," replied Sancho, "that I swear to hold my tongue about it +till the end of your worship's days, and God grant I may be able to +let it out tomorrow."</p> + +<p>"Do I do thee such injuries, Sancho," said Don Quixote, "that thou +wouldst see me dead so soon?"</p> + +<p>"It is not for that," replied Sancho, "but because I hate keeping +things long, and I don't want them to grow rotten with me from +over-keeping."</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said Don Quixote, "I have more confidence in thy +affection and good nature; and so I would have thee know that this +night there befell me one of the strangest adventures that I could +describe, and to relate it to thee briefly thou must know that a +little while ago the daughter of the lord of this castle came to me, +and that she is the most elegant and beautiful damsel that could be +found in the wide world. What I could tell thee of the charms of her +person! of her lively wit! of other secret matters which, to +preserve the fealty I owe to my lady Dulcinea del Toboso, I shall pass +over unnoticed and in silence! I will only tell thee that, either fate +being envious of so great a boon placed in my hands by good fortune, +or perhaps (and this is more probable) this castle being, as I have +already said, enchanted, at the time when I was engaged in the +sweetest and most amorous discourse with her, there came, without my +seeing or knowing whence it came, a hand attached to some arm of +some huge giant, that planted such a cuff on my jaws that I have +them all bathed in blood, and then pummelled me in such a way that I +am in a worse plight than yesterday when the carriers, on account of +Rocinante's misbehaviour, inflicted on us the injury thou knowest +of; whence conjecture that there must be some enchanted Moor +guarding the treasure of this damsel's beauty, and that it is not +for me."</p> + +<p>"Not for me either," said Sancho, "for more than four hundred +Moors have so thrashed me that the drubbing of the stakes was cakes +and fancy-bread to it. But tell me, senor, what do you call this +excellent and rare adventure that has left us as we are left now? +Though your worship was not so badly off, having in your arms that +incomparable beauty you spoke of; but I, what did I have, except the +heaviest whacks I think I had in all my life? Unlucky me and the +mother that bore me! for I am not a knight-errant and never expect +to be one, and of all the mishaps, the greater part falls to my +share."</p> + +<p>"Then thou hast been thrashed too?" said Don Quixote.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I say so? worse luck to my line!" said Sancho.</p> + +<p>"Be not distressed, friend," said Don Quixote, "for I will now +make the precious balsam with which we shall cure ourselves in the +twinkling of an eye."</p> + +<p>By this time the cuadrillero had succeeded in lighting the lamp, and +came in to see the man that he thought had been killed; and as +Sancho caught sight of him at the door, seeing him coming in his +shirt, with a cloth on his head, and a lamp in his hand, and a very +forbidding countenance, he said to his master, "Senor, can it be +that this is the enchanted Moor coming back to give us more +castigation if there be anything still left in the ink-bottle?"</p> + +<p>"It cannot be the Moor," answered Don Quixote, "for those under +enchantment do not let themselves be seen by anyone."</p> + +<p>"If they don't let themselves be seen, they let themselves be felt," +said Sancho; "if not, let my shoulders speak to the point."</p> + +<p>"Mine could speak too," said Don Quixote, "but that is not a +sufficient reason for believing that what we see is the enchanted +Moor."</p> + +<p>The officer came up, and finding them engaged in such a peaceful +conversation, stood amazed; though Don Quixote, to be sure, still +lay on his back unable to move from pure pummelling and plasters. +The officer turned to him and said, "Well, how goes it, good man?"</p> + +<p>"I would speak more politely if I were you," replied Don Quixote; +"is it the way of this country to address knights-errant in that +style, you booby?"</p> + +<p>The cuadrillero finding himself so disrespectfully treated by such a +sorry-looking individual, lost his temper, and raising the lamp full +of oil, smote Don Quixote such a blow with it on the head that he gave +him a badly broken pate; then, all being in darkness, he went out, and +Sancho Panza said, "That is certainly the enchanted Moor, Senor, and +he keeps the treasure for others, and for us only the cuffs and +lamp-whacks."</p> + +<p>"That is the truth," answered Don Quixote, "and there is no use in +troubling oneself about these matters of enchantment or being angry or +vexed at them, for as they are invisible and visionary we shall find +no one on whom to avenge ourselves, do what we may; rise, Sancho, if +thou canst, and call the alcaide of this fortress, and get him to give +me a little oil, wine, salt, and rosemary to make the salutiferous +balsam, for indeed I believe I have great need of it now, because I am +losing much blood from the wound that phantom gave me."</p> + +<p>Sancho got up with pain enough in his bones, and went after the +innkeeper in the dark, and meeting the officer, who was looking to see +what had become of his enemy, he said to him, "Senor, whoever you are, +do us the favour and kindness to give us a little rosemary, oil, salt, +and wine, for it is wanted to cure one of the best knights-errant on +earth, who lies on yonder bed wounded by the hands of the enchanted +Moor that is in this inn."</p> + +<p>When the officer heard him talk in this way, he took him for a man +out of his senses, and as day was now beginning to break, he opened +the inn gate, and calling the host, he told him what this good man +wanted. The host furnished him with what he required, and Sancho +brought it to Don Quixote, who, with his hand to his head, was +bewailing the pain of the blow of the lamp, which had done him no more +harm than raising a couple of rather large lumps, and what he +fancied blood was only the sweat that flowed from him in his +sufferings during the late storm. To be brief, he took the +materials, of which he made a compound, mixing them all and boiling +them a good while until it seemed to him they had come to +perfection. He then asked for some vial to pour it into, and as +there was not one in the inn, he decided on putting it into a tin +oil-bottle or flask of which the host made him a free gift; and over +the flask he repeated more than eighty paternosters and as many more +ave-marias, salves, and credos, accompanying each word with a cross by +way of benediction, at all which there were present Sancho, the +innkeeper, and the cuadrillero; for the carrier was now peacefully +engaged in attending to the comfort of his mules.</p> + +<p>This being accomplished, he felt anxious to make trial himself, on +the spot, of the virtue of this precious balsam, as he considered +it, and so he drank near a quart of what could not be put into the +flask and remained in the pigskin in which it had been boiled; but +scarcely had he done drinking when he began to vomit in such a way +that nothing was left in his stomach, and with the pangs and spasms of +vomiting he broke into a profuse sweat, on account of which he bade +them cover him up and leave him alone. They did so, and he lay +sleeping more than three hours, at the end of which he awoke and +felt very great bodily relief and so much ease from his bruises that +he thought himself quite cured, and verily believed he had hit upon +the balsam of Fierabras; and that with this remedy he might +thenceforward, without any fear, face any kind of destruction, battle, +or combat, however perilous it might be.</p> + +<p>Sancho Panza, who also regarded the amendment of his master as +miraculous, begged him to give him what was left in the pigskin, which +was no small quantity. Don Quixote consented, and he, taking it with +both hands, in good faith and with a better will, gulped down and +drained off very little less than his master. But the fact is, that +the stomach of poor Sancho was of necessity not so delicate as that of +his master, and so, before vomiting, he was seized with such +gripings and retchings, and such sweats and faintness, that verily and +truly be believed his last hour had come, and finding himself so +racked and tormented he cursed the balsam and the thief that had given +it to him.</p> + +<p>Don Quixote seeing him in this state said, "It is my belief, Sancho, +that this mischief comes of thy not being dubbed a knight, for I am +persuaded this liquor cannot be good for those who are not so."</p> + +<p>"If your worship knew that," returned Sancho—"woe betide me and all +my kindred!—why did you let me taste it?"</p> + +<p>At this moment the draught took effect, and the poor squire began to +discharge both ways at such a rate that the rush mat on which he had +thrown himself and the canvas blanket he had covering him were fit for +nothing afterwards. He sweated and perspired with such paroxysms and +convulsions that not only he himself but all present thought his end +had come. This tempest and tribulation lasted about two hours, at +the end of which he was left, not like his master, but so weak and +exhausted that he could not stand. Don Quixote, however, who, as has +been said, felt himself relieved and well, was eager to take his +departure at once in quest of adventures, as it seemed to him that all +the time he loitered there was a fraud upon the world and those in +it who stood in need of his help and protection, all the more when +he had the security and confidence his balsam afforded him; and so, +urged by this impulse, he saddled Rocinante himself and put the +pack-saddle on his squire's beast, whom likewise he helped to dress +and mount the ass; after which he mounted his horse and turning to a +corner of the inn he laid hold of a pike that stood there, to serve +him by way of a lance. All that were in the inn, who were more than +twenty persons, stood watching him; the innkeeper's daughter was +likewise observing him, and he too never took his eyes off her, and +from time to time fetched a sigh that he seemed to pluck up from the +depths of his bowels; but they all thought it must be from the pain he +felt in his ribs; at any rate they who had seen him plastered the +night before thought so.</p> + +<p>As soon as they were both mounted, at the gate of the inn, he called +to the host and said in a very grave and measured voice, "Many and +great are the favours, Senor Alcaide, that I have received in this +castle of yours, and I remain under the deepest obligation to be +grateful to you for them all the days of my life; if I can repay +them in avenging you of any arrogant foe who may have wronged you, +know that my calling is no other than to aid the weak, to avenge those +who suffer wrong, and to chastise perfidy. Search your memory, and +if you find anything of this kind you need only tell me of it, and I +promise you by the order of knighthood which I have received to +procure you satisfaction and reparation to the utmost of your desire."</p> + +<p>The innkeeper replied to him with equal calmness, "Sir Knight, I +do not want your worship to avenge me of any wrong, because when any +is done me I can take what vengeance seems good to me; the only +thing I want is that you pay me the score that you have run up in +the inn last night, as well for the straw and barley for your two +beasts, as for supper and beds."</p> + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c16c"></a><img alt="c16c.jpg (326K)" src="images/c16c.jpg" height="846" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c16c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"Then this is an inn?" said Don Quixote.</p> + +<p>"And a very respectable one," said the innkeeper.</p> + +<p>"I have been under a mistake all this time," answered Don Quixote, +"for in truth I thought it was a castle, and not a bad one; but +since it appears that it is not a castle but an inn, all that can be +done now is that you should excuse the payment, for I cannot +contravene the rule of knights-errant, of whom I know as a fact (and +up to the present I have read nothing to the contrary) that they never +paid for lodging or anything else in the inn where they might be; +for any hospitality that might be offered them is their due by law and +right in return for the insufferable toil they endure in seeking +adventures by night and by day, in summer and in winter, on foot and +on horseback, in hunger and thirst, cold and heat, exposed to all +the inclemencies of heaven and all the hardships of earth."</p> + +<p>"I have little to do with that," replied the innkeeper; "pay me what +you owe me, and let us have no more talk of chivalry, for all I care +about is to get my money."</p> + +<p>"You are a stupid, scurvy innkeeper," said Don Quixote, and +putting spurs to Rocinante and bringing his pike to the slope he +rode out of the inn before anyone could stop him, and pushed on some +distance without looking to see if his squire was following him.</p> + +<p>The innkeeper when he saw him go without paying him ran to get +payment of Sancho, who said that as his master would not pay neither +would he, because, being as he was squire to a knight-errant, the same +rule and reason held good for him as for his master with regard to not +paying anything in inns and hostelries. At this the innkeeper waxed +very wroth, and threatened if he did not pay to compel him in a way +that he would not like. To which Sancho made answer that by the law of +chivalry his master had received he would not pay a rap, though it +cost him his life; for the excellent and ancient usage of +knights-errant was not going to be violated by him, nor should the +squires of such as were yet to come into the world ever complain of +him or reproach him with breaking so just a privilege.</p> + +<p>The ill-luck of the unfortunate Sancho so ordered it that among +the company in the inn there were four woolcarders from Segovia, three +needle-makers from the Colt of Cordova, and two lodgers from the +Fair of Seville, lively fellows, tender-hearted, fond of a joke, and +playful, who, almost as if instigated and moved by a common impulse, +made up to Sancho and dismounted him from his ass, while one of them +went in for the blanket of the host's bed; but on flinging him into it +they looked up, and seeing that the ceiling was somewhat lower what +they required for their work, they decided upon going out into the +yard, which was bounded by the sky, and there, putting Sancho in the +middle of the blanket, they began to raise him high, making sport with +him as they would with a dog at Shrovetide.</p> + + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c16d"></a><img alt="c16d.jpg (285K)" src="images/c16d.jpg" height="840" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c16d.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>The cries of the poor blanketed wretch were so loud that they +reached the ears of his master, who, halting to listen attentively, +was persuaded that some new adventure was coming, until he clearly +perceived that it was his squire who uttered them. Wheeling about he +came up to the inn with a laborious gallop, and finding it shut went +round it to see if he could find some way of getting in; but as soon +as he came to the wall of the yard, which was not very high, he +discovered the game that was being played with his squire. He saw +him rising and falling in the air with such grace and nimbleness that, +had his rage allowed him, it is my belief he would have laughed. He +tried to climb from his horse on to the top of the wall, but he was so +bruised and battered that he could not even dismount; and so from +the back of his horse he began to utter such maledictions and +objurgations against those who were blanketing Sancho as it would be +impossible to write down accurately: they, however, did not stay their +laughter or their work for this, nor did the flying Sancho cease his +lamentations, mingled now with threats, now with entreaties but all to +little purpose, or none at all, until from pure weariness they left +off. They then brought him his ass, and mounting him on top of it they +put his jacket round him; and the compassionate Maritornes, seeing him +so exhausted, thought fit to refresh him with a jug of water, and that +it might be all the cooler she fetched it from the well. Sancho took +it, and as he was raising it to his mouth he was stopped by the +cries of his master exclaiming, "Sancho, my son, drink not water; +drink it not, my son, for it will kill thee; see, here I have the +blessed balsam (and he held up the flask of liquor), and with drinking +two drops of it thou wilt certainly be restored."</p> + +<p>At these words Sancho turned his eyes asquint, and in a still louder +voice said, "Can it be your worship has forgotten that I am not a +knight, or do you want me to end by vomiting up what bowels I have +left after last night? Keep your liquor in the name of all the devils, +and leave me to myself!" and at one and the same instant he left off +talking and began drinking; but as at the first sup he perceived it +was water he did not care to go on with it, and begged Maritornes to +fetch him some wine, which she did with right good will, and paid +for it with her own money; for indeed they say of her that, though she +was in that line of life, there was some faint and distant resemblance +to a Christian about her. When Sancho had done drinking he dug his +heels into his ass, and the gate of the inn being thrown open he +passed out very well pleased at having paid nothing and carried his +point, though it had been at the expense of his usual sureties, his +shoulders. It is true that the innkeeper detained his alforjas in +payment of what was owing to him, but Sancho took his departure in +such a flurry that he never missed them. The innkeeper, as soon as +he saw him off, wanted to bar the gate close, but the blanketers would +not agree to it, for they were fellows who would not have cared two +farthings for Don Quixote, even had he been really one of the +knights-errant of the Round Table.</p> + + +<br> +<br><br><br> +<center><a name="c17e"></a><img alt="c17e.jpg (47K)" src="images/c17e.jpg" height="398" width="650"> +</center> +<br><br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p5.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p7.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<br><br> + + +</body> +</html> + |