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diff --git a/old/orig5921-h/p16.htm b/old/orig5921-h/p16.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30ce8e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/orig5921-h/p16.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1105 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>THE HISTORY OF DON QUIXOTE, By Cervantes, Vol. I., Part 16.</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="p15.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p17.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 16 +<br><br> +Chapters 47-49 +</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="#ch47">CHAPTER XLVII</a> +OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE OF +LA MANCHA WAS CARRIED AWAY ENCHANTED, TOGETHER +WITH OTHER REMARKABLE INCIDENTS + +<a href="#ch48">CHAPTER XLVIII</a> +IN WHICH THE CANON PURSUES THE SUBJECT OF THE BOOKS +OF CHIVALRY, WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF HIS WIT + +<a href="#ch49">CHAPTER XLIX</a> +WHICH TREATS OF THE SHREWD CONVERSATION WHICH SANCHO +PANZA HELD WITH HIS MASTER DON QUIXOTE + + +</pre> + +<br><br><br><br> + + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch47"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>OF THE STRANGE MANNER IN WHICH DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA WAS +CARRIED AWAY ENCHANTED, TOGETHER WITH OTHER REMARKABLE INCIDENTS +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c47a"></a><img alt="c47a.jpg (181K)" src="images/c47a.jpg" height="433" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c47a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>When Don Quixote saw himself caged and hoisted on the cart in this +way, he said, "Many grave histories of knights-errant have I read; but +never yet have I read, seen, or heard of their carrying off +enchanted knights-errant in this fashion, or at the slow pace that +these lazy, sluggish animals promise; for they always take them away +through the air with marvellous swiftness, enveloped in a dark thick +cloud, or on a chariot of fire, or it may be on some hippogriff or +other beast of the kind; but to carry me off like this on an +ox-cart! By God, it puzzles me! But perhaps the chivalry and +enchantments of our day take a different course from that of those +in days gone by; and it may be, too, that as I am a new knight in +the world, and the first to revive the already forgotten calling of +knight-adventurers, they may have newly invented other kinds of +enchantments and other modes of carrying off the enchanted. What +thinkest thou of the matter, Sancho my son?"</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c47b"></a><img alt="c47b.jpg (357K)" src="images/c47b.jpg" height="836" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c47b.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"I don't know what to think," answered Sancho, "not being as well +read as your worship in errant writings; but for all that I venture to +say and swear that these apparitions that are about us are not quite +catholic."</p> + +<p>"Catholic!" said Don Quixote. "Father of me! how can they be +Catholic when they are all devils that have taken fantastic shapes +to come and do this, and bring me to this condition? And if thou +wouldst prove it, touch them, and feel them, and thou wilt find they +have only bodies of air, and no consistency except in appearance."</p> + +<p>"By God, master," returned Sancho, "I have touched them already; and +that devil, that goes about there so busily, has firm flesh, and +another property very different from what I have heard say devils +have, for by all accounts they all smell of brimstone and other bad +smells; but this one smells of amber half a league off." Sancho was +here speaking of Don Fernando, who, like a gentleman of his rank, +was very likely perfumed as Sancho said.</p> + +<p>"Marvel not at that, Sancho my friend," said Don Quixote; "for let +me tell thee devils are crafty; and even if they do carry odours about +with them, they themselves have no smell, because they are spirits; +or, if they have any smell, they cannot smell of anything sweet, but +of something foul and fetid; and the reason is that as they carry hell +with them wherever they go, and can get no ease whatever from their +torments, and as a sweet smell is a thing that gives pleasure and +enjoyment, it is impossible that they can smell sweet; if, then, +this devil thou speakest of seems to thee to smell of amber, either +thou art deceiving thyself, or he wants to deceive thee by making thee +fancy he is not a devil."</p> + +<p>Such was the conversation that passed between master and man; and +Don Fernando and Cardenio, apprehensive of Sancho's making a +complete discovery of their scheme, towards which he had already +gone some way, resolved to hasten their departure, and calling the +landlord aside, they directed him to saddle Rocinante and put the +pack-saddle on Sancho's ass, which he did with great alacrity. In +the meantime the curate had made an arrangement with the officers that +they should bear them company as far as his village, he paying them so +much a day. Cardenio hung the buckler on one side of the bow of +Rocinante's saddle and the basin on the other, and by signs +commanded Sancho to mount his ass and take Rocinante's bridle, and +at each side of the cart he placed two officers with their muskets; +but before the cart was put in motion, out came the landlady and her +daughter and Maritornes to bid Don Quixote farewell, pretending to +weep with grief at his misfortune; and to them Don Quixote said:</p> + +<p>"Weep not, good ladies, for all these mishaps are the lot of those +who follow the profession I profess; and if these reverses did not +befall me I should not esteem myself a famous knight-errant; for +such things never happen to knights of little renown and fame, because +nobody in the world thinks about them; to valiant knights they do, for +these are envied for their virtue and valour by many princes and other +knights who compass the destruction of the worthy by base means. +Nevertheless, virtue is of herself so mighty, that, in spite of all +the magic that Zoroaster its first inventor knew, she will come +victorious out of every trial, and shed her light upon the earth as +the sun does upon the heavens. Forgive me, fair ladies, if, through +inadvertence, I have in aught offended you; for intentionally and +wittingly I have never done so to any; and pray to God that he deliver +me from this captivity to which some malevolent enchanter has +consigned me; and should I find myself released therefrom, the favours +that ye have bestowed upon me in this castle shall be held in memory +by me, that I may acknowledge, recognise, and requite them as they +deserve."</p> + +<p>While this was passing between the ladies of the castle and Don +Quixote, the curate and the barber bade farewell to Don Fernando and +his companions, to the captain, his brother, and the ladies, now all +made happy, and in particular to Dorothea and Luscinda. They all +embraced one another, and promised to let each other know how things +went with them, and Don Fernando directed the curate where to write to +him, to tell him what became of Don Quixote, assuring him that there +was nothing that could give him more pleasure than to hear of it, +and that he too, on his part, would send him word of everything he +thought he would like to know, about his marriage, Zoraida's +baptism, Don Luis's affair, and Luscinda's return to her home. The +curate promised to comply with his request carefully, and they +embraced once more, and renewed their promises.</p> + +<p>The landlord approached the curate and handed him some papers, +saying he had discovered them in the lining of the valise in which the +novel of "The Ill-advised Curiosity" had been found, and that he might +take them all away with him as their owner had not since returned; +for, as he could not read, he did not want them himself. The curate +thanked him, and opening them he saw at the beginning of the +manuscript the words, "Novel of Rinconete and Cortadillo," by which he +perceived that it was a novel, and as that of "The Ill-advised +Curiosity" had been good he concluded this would be so too, as they +were both probably by the same author; so he kept it, intending to +read it when he had an opportunity. He then mounted and his friend the +barber did the same, both masked, so as not to be recognised by Don +Quixote, and set out following in the rear of the cart. The order of +march was this: first went the cart with the owner leading it; at each +side of it marched the officers of the Brotherhood, as has been +said, with their muskets; then followed Sancho Panza on his ass, +leading Rocinante by the bridle; and behind all came the curate and +the barber on their mighty mules, with faces covered, as aforesaid, +and a grave and serious air, measuring their pace to suit the slow +steps of the oxen. Don Quixote was seated in the cage, with his +hands tied and his feet stretched out, leaning against the bars as +silent and as patient as if he were a stone statue and not a man of +flesh. Thus slowly and silently they made, it might be, two leagues, +until they reached a valley which the carter thought a convenient +place for resting and feeding his oxen, and he said so to the +curate, but the barber was of opinion that they ought to push on a +little farther, as at the other side of a hill which appeared close by +he knew there was a valley that had more grass and much better than +the one where they proposed to halt; and his advice was taken and they +continued their journey.</p> + +<p>Just at that moment the curate, looking back, saw coming on behind +them six or seven mounted men, well found and equipped, who soon +overtook them, for they were travelling, not at the sluggish, +deliberate pace of oxen, but like men who rode canons' mules, and in +haste to take their noontide rest as soon as possible at the inn which +was in sight not a league off. The quick travellers came up with the +slow, and courteous salutations were exchanged; and one of the new +comers, who was, in fact, a canon of Toledo and master of the others +who accompanied him, observing the regular order of the procession, +the cart, the officers, Sancho, Rocinante, the curate and the +barber, and above all Don Quixote caged and confined, could not help +asking what was the meaning of carrying the man in that fashion; +though, from the badges of the officers, he already concluded that +he must be some desperate highwayman or other malefactor whose +punishment fell within the jurisdiction of the Holy Brotherhood. One +of the officers to whom he had put the question, replied, "Let the +gentleman himself tell you the meaning of his going this way, senor, +for we do not know."</p> + +<p>Don Quixote overheard the conversation and said, "Haply, +gentlemen, you are versed and learned in matters of errant chivalry? +Because if you are I will tell you my misfortunes; if not, there is no +good in my giving myself the trouble of relating them;" but here the +curate and the barber, seeing that the travellers were engaged in +conversation with Don Quixote, came forward, in order to answer in +such a way as to save their stratagem from being discovered.</p> + +<p>The canon, replying to Don Quixote, said, "In truth, brother, I know +more about books of chivalry than I do about Villalpando's elements of +logic; so if that be all, you may safely tell me what you please."</p> + +<p>"In God's name, then, senor," replied Don Quixote; "if that be so, I +would have you know that I am held enchanted in this cage by the +envy and fraud of wicked enchanters; for virtue is more persecuted +by the wicked than loved by the good. I am a knight-errant, and not +one of those whose names Fame has never thought of immortalising in +her record, but of those who, in defiance and in spite of envy itself, +and all the magicians that Persia, or Brahmans that India, or +Gymnosophists that Ethiopia ever produced, will place their names in +the temple of immortality, to serve as examples and patterns for +ages to come, whereby knights-errant may see the footsteps in which +they must tread if they would attain the summit and crowning point +of honour in arms."</p> + +<p>"What Senor Don Quixote of La Mancha says," observed the curate, "is +the truth; for he goes enchanted in this cart, not from any fault or +sins of his, but because of the malevolence of those to whom virtue is +odious and valour hateful. This, senor, is the Knight of the Rueful +Countenance, if you have ever heard him named, whose valiant +achievements and mighty deeds shall be written on lasting brass and +imperishable marble, notwithstanding all the efforts of envy to +obscure them and malice to hide them."</p> + +<p>When the canon heard both the prisoner and the man who was at +liberty talk in such a strain he was ready to cross himself in his +astonishment, and could not make out what had befallen him; and all +his attendants were in the same state of amazement.</p> + +<p>At this point Sancho Panza, who had drawn near to hear the +conversation, said, in order to make everything plain, "Well, sirs, +you may like or dislike what I am going to say, but the fact of the +matter is, my master, Don Quixote, is just as much enchanted as my +mother. He is in his full senses, he eats and he drinks, and he has +his calls like other men and as he had yesterday, before they caged +him. And if that's the case, what do they mean by wanting me to +believe that he is enchanted? For I have heard many a one say that +enchanted people neither eat, nor sleep, nor talk; and my master, if +you don't stop him, will talk more than thirty lawyers." Then +turning to the curate he exclaimed, "Ah, senor curate, senor curate! +do you think I don't know you? Do you think I don't guess and see +the drift of these new enchantments? Well then, I can tell you I +know you, for all your face is covered, and I can tell you I am up +to you, however you may hide your tricks. After all, where envy reigns +virtue cannot live, and where there is niggardliness there can be no +liberality. Ill betide the devil! if it had not been for your +worship my master would be married to the Princess Micomicona this +minute, and I should be a count at least; for no less was to be +expected, as well from the goodness of my master, him of the Rueful +Countenance, as from the greatness of my services. But I see now how +true it is what they say in these parts, that the wheel of fortune +turns faster than a mill-wheel, and that those who were up yesterday +are down to-day. I am sorry for my wife and children, for when they +might fairly and reasonably expect to see their father return to +them a governor or viceroy of some island or kingdom, they will see +him come back a horse-boy. I have said all this, senor curate, only to +urge your paternity to lay to your conscience your ill-treatment of my +master; and have a care that God does not call you to account in +another life for making a prisoner of him in this way, and charge +against you all the succours and good deeds that my lord Don Quixote +leaves undone while he is shut up.</p> + +<p>"Trim those lamps there!" exclaimed the barber at this; "so you +are of the same fraternity as your master, too, Sancho? By God, I +begin to see that you will have to keep him company in the cage, and +be enchanted like him for having caught some of his humour and +chivalry. It was an evil hour when you let yourself be got with +child by his promises, and that island you long so much for found +its way into your head."</p> + +<p>"I am not with child by anyone," returned Sancho, "nor am I a man to +let myself be got with child, if it was by the King himself. Though +I am poor I am an old Christian, and I owe nothing to nobody, and if I +long for an island, other people long for worse. Each of us is the son +of his own works; and being a man I may come to be pope, not to say +governor of an island, especially as my master may win so many that he +will not know whom to give them to. Mind how you talk, master +barber; for shaving is not everything, and there is some difference +between Peter and Peter. I say this because we all know one another, +and it will not do to throw false dice with me; and as to the +enchantment of my master, God knows the truth; leave it as it is; it +only makes it worse to stir it."</p> + +<p>The barber did not care to answer Sancho lest by his plain +speaking he should disclose what the curate and he himself were trying +so hard to conceal; and under the same apprehension the curate had +asked the canon to ride on a little in advance, so that he might +tell him the mystery of this man in the cage, and other things that +would amuse him. The canon agreed, and going on ahead with his +servants, listened with attention to the account of the character, +life, madness, and ways of Don Quixote, given him by the curate, who +described to him briefly the beginning and origin of his craze, and +told him the whole story of his adventures up to his being confined in +the cage, together with the plan they had of taking him home to try if +by any means they could discover a cure for his madness. The canon and +his servants were surprised anew when they heard Don Quixote's strange +story, and when it was finished he said, "To tell the truth, senor +curate, I for my part consider what they call books of chivalry to +be mischievous to the State; and though, led by idle and false +taste, I have read the beginnings of almost all that have been +printed, I never could manage to read any one of them from beginning +to end; for it seems to me they are all more or less the same thing; +and one has nothing more in it than another; this no more than that. +And in my opinion this sort of writing and composition is of the +same species as the fables they call the Milesian, nonsensical tales +that aim solely at giving amusement and not instruction, exactly the +opposite of the apologue fables which amuse and instruct at the same +time. And though it may be the chief object of such books to amuse, +I do not know how they can succeed, when they are so full of such +monstrous nonsense. For the enjoyment the mind feels must come from +the beauty and harmony which it perceives or contemplates in the +things that the eye or the imagination brings before it; and nothing +that has any ugliness or disproportion about it can give any pleasure. +What beauty, then, or what proportion of the parts to the whole, or of +the whole to the parts, can there be in a book or fable where a lad of +sixteen cuts down a giant as tall as a tower and makes two halves of +him as if he was an almond cake? And when they want to give us a +picture of a battle, after having told us that there are a million +of combatants on the side of the enemy, let the hero of the book be +opposed to them, and we have perforce to believe, whether we like it +or not, that the said knight wins the victory by the single might of +his strong arm. And then, what shall we say of the facility with which +a born queen or empress will give herself over into the arms of some +unknown wandering knight? What mind, that is not wholly barbarous +and uncultured, can find pleasure in reading of how a great tower full +of knights sails away across the sea like a ship with a fair wind, and +will be to-night in Lombardy and to-morrow morning in the land of +Prester John of the Indies, or some other that Ptolemy never described +nor Marco Polo saw? And if, in answer to this, I am told that the +authors of books of the kind write them as fiction, and therefore +are not bound to regard niceties of truth, I would reply that +fiction is all the better the more it looks like truth, and gives +the more pleasure the more probability and possibility there is +about it. Plots in fiction should be wedded to the understanding of +the reader, and be constructed in such a way that, reconciling +impossibilities, smoothing over difficulties, keeping the mind on +the alert, they may surprise, interest, divert, and entertain, so that +wonder and delight joined may keep pace one with the other; all +which he will fail to effect who shuns verisimilitude and truth to +nature, wherein lies the perfection of writing. I have never yet +seen any book of chivalry that puts together a connected plot complete +in all its numbers, so that the middle agrees with the beginning, +and the end with the beginning and middle; on the contrary, they +construct them with such a multitude of members that it seems as +though they meant to produce a chimera or monster rather than a +well-proportioned figure. And besides all this they are harsh in their +style, incredible in their achievements, licentious in their amours, +uncouth in their courtly speeches, prolix in their battles, silly in +their arguments, absurd in their travels, and, in short, wanting in +everything like intelligent art; for which reason they deserve to be +banished from the Christian commonwealth as a worthless breed."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c47c"></a><img alt="c47c.jpg (300K)" src="images/c47c.jpg" height="524" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c47c.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>The curate listened to him attentively and felt that he was a man of +sound understanding, and that there was good reason in what he said; +so he told him that, being of the same opinion himself, and bearing +a grudge to books of chivalry, he had burned all Don Quixote's, +which were many; and gave him an account of the scrutiny he had made +of them, and of those he had condemned to the flames and those he +had spared, with which the canon was not a little amused, adding +that though he had said so much in condemnation of these books, +still he found one good thing in them, and that was the opportunity +they afforded to a gifted intellect for displaying itself; for they +presented a wide and spacious field over which the pen might range +freely, describing shipwrecks, tempests, combats, battles, +portraying a valiant captain with all the qualifications requisite +to make one, showing him sagacious in foreseeing the wiles of the +enemy, eloquent in speech to encourage or restrain his soldiers, +ripe in counsel, rapid in resolve, as bold in biding his time as in +pressing the attack; now picturing some sad tragic incident, now +some joyful and unexpected event; here a beauteous lady, virtuous, +wise, and modest; there a Christian knight, brave and gentle; here a +lawless, barbarous braggart; there a courteous prince, gallant and +gracious; setting forth the devotion and loyalty of vassals, the +greatness and generosity of nobles. "Or again," said he, "the author +may show himself to be an astronomer, or a skilled cosmographer, or +musician, or one versed in affairs of state, and sometimes he will +have a chance of coming forward as a magician if he likes. He can +set forth the craftiness of Ulysses, the piety of AEneas, the valour +of Achilles, the misfortunes of Hector, the treachery of Sinon, the +friendship of Euryalus, the generosity of Alexander, the boldness of +Caesar, the clemency and truth of Trajan, the fidelity of Zopyrus, the +wisdom of Cato, and in short all the faculties that serve to make an +illustrious man perfect, now uniting them in one individual, again +distributing them among many; and if this be done with charm of +style and ingenious invention, aiming at the truth as much as +possible, he will assuredly weave a web of bright and varied threads +that, when finished, will display such perfection and beauty that it +will attain the worthiest object any writing can seek, which, as I +said before, is to give instruction and pleasure combined; for the +unrestricted range of these books enables the author to show his +powers, epic, lyric, tragic, or comic, and all the moods the sweet and +winning arts of poesy and oratory are capable of; for the epic may +be written in prose just as well as in verse."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c47e"></a><img alt="c47e.jpg (67K)" src="images/c47e.jpg" height="409" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c47e.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch48"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>IN WHICH THE CANON PURSUES THE SUBJECT OF THE BOOKS OF CHIVALRY, +WITH OTHER MATTERS WORTHY OF HIS WIT +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c48a"></a><img alt="c48a.jpg (80K)" src="images/c48a.jpg" height="232" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c48a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"It is as you say, senor canon," said the curate; "and for that +reason those who have hitherto written books of the sort deserve all +the more censure for writing without paying any attention to good +taste or the rules of art, by which they might guide themselves and +become as famous in prose as the two princes of Greek and Latin poetry +are in verse."</p> + +<p>"I myself, at any rate," said the canon, "was once tempted to +write a book of chivalry in which all the points I have mentioned were +to be observed; and if I must own the truth I have more than a hundred +sheets written; and to try if it came up to my own opinion of it, I +showed them to persons who were fond of this kind of reading, to +learned and intelligent men as well as to ignorant people who cared +for nothing but the pleasure of listening to nonsense, and from all +I obtained flattering approval; nevertheless I proceeded no farther +with it, as well because it seemed to me an occupation inconsistent +with my profession, as because I perceived that the fools are more +numerous than the wise; and, though it is better to be praised by +the wise few than applauded by the foolish many, I have no mind to +submit myself to the stupid judgment of the silly public, to whom +the reading of such books falls for the most part.</p> + +<p>"But what most of all made me hold my hand and even abandon all idea +of finishing it was an argument I put to myself taken from the plays +that are acted now-a-days, which was in this wise: if those that are +now in vogue, as well those that are pure invention as those founded +on history, are, all or most of them, downright nonsense and things +that have neither head nor tail, and yet the public listens to them +with delight, and regards and cries them up as perfection when they +are so far from it; and if the authors who write them, and the players +who act them, say that this is what they must be, for the public wants +this and will have nothing else; and that those that go by rule and +work out a plot according to the laws of art will only find some +half-dozen intelligent people to understand them, while all the rest +remain blind to the merit of their composition; and that for +themselves it is better to get bread from the many than praise from +the few; then my book will fare the same way, after I have burnt off +my eyebrows in trying to observe the principles I have spoken of, +and I shall be 'the tailor of the corner.' And though I have sometimes +endeavoured to convince actors that they are mistaken in this notion +they have adopted, and that they would attract more people, and get +more credit, by producing plays in accordance with the rules of art, +than by absurd ones, they are so thoroughly wedded to their own +opinion that no argument or evidence can wean them from it.</p> + +<p>"I remember saying one day to one of these obstinate fellows, +'Tell me, do you not recollect that a few years ago, there were +three tragedies acted in Spain, written by a famous poet of these +kingdoms, which were such that they filled all who heard them with +admiration, delight, and interest, the ignorant as well as the wise, +the masses as well as the higher orders, and brought in more money +to the performers, these three alone, than thirty of the best that +have been since produced?'</p> + +<p>"'No doubt,' replied the actor in question, 'you mean the +"Isabella," the "Phyllis," and the "Alexandra."'</p> + +<p>"'Those are the ones I mean,' said I; 'and see if they did not +observe the principles of art, and if, by observing them, they +failed to show their superiority and please all the world; so that the +fault does not lie with the public that insists upon nonsense, but +with those who don't know how to produce something else. "The +Ingratitude Revenged" was not nonsense, nor was there any in "The +Numantia," nor any to be found in "The Merchant Lover," nor yet in +"The Friendly Fair Foe," nor in some others that have been written +by certain gifted poets, to their own fame and renown, and to the +profit of those that brought them out;' some further remarks I added +to these, with which, I think, I left him rather dumbfoundered, but +not so satisfied or convinced that I could disabuse him of his error."</p> + +<p>"You have touched upon a subject, senor canon," observed the +curate here, "that has awakened an old enmity I have against the plays +in vogue at the present day, quite as strong as that which I bear to +the books of chivalry; for while the drama, according to Tully, should +be the mirror of human life, the model of manners, and the image of +the truth, those which are presented now-a-days are mirrors of +nonsense, models of folly, and images of lewdness. For what greater +nonsense can there be in connection with what we are now discussing +than for an infant to appear in swaddling clothes in the first scene +of the first act, and in the second a grown-up bearded man? Or what +greater absurdity can there be than putting before us an old man as +a swashbuckler, a young man as a poltroon, a lackey using fine +language, a page giving sage advice, a king plying as a porter, a +princess who is a kitchen-maid? And then what shall I say of their +attention to the time in which the action they represent may or can +take place, save that I have seen a play where the first act began +in Europe, the second in Asia, the third finished in Africa, and no +doubt, had it been in four acts, the fourth would have ended in +America, and so it would have been laid in all four quarters of the +globe? And if truth to life is the main thing the drama should keep in +view, how is it possible for any average understanding to be satisfied +when the action is supposed to pass in the time of King Pepin or +Charlemagne, and the principal personage in it they represent to be +the Emperor Heraclius who entered Jerusalem with the cross and won the +Holy Sepulchre, like Godfrey of Bouillon, there being years +innumerable between the one and the other? or, if the play is based on +fiction and historical facts are introduced, or bits of what +occurred to different people and at different times mixed up with +it, all, not only without any semblance of probability, but with +obvious errors that from every point of view are inexcusable? And +the worst of it is, there are ignorant people who say that this is +perfection, and that anything beyond this is affected refinement. +And then if we turn to sacred dramas--what miracles they invent in +them! What apocryphal, ill-devised incidents, attributing to one saint +the miracles of another! And even in secular plays they venture to +introduce miracles without any reason or object except that they think +some such miracle, or transformation as they call it, will come in +well to astonish stupid people and draw them to the play. All this +tends to the prejudice of the truth and the corruption of history, nay +more, to the reproach of the wits of Spain; for foreigners who +scrupulously observe the laws of the drama look upon us as barbarous +and ignorant, when they see the absurdity and nonsense of the plays we +produce. Nor will it be a sufficient excuse to say that the chief +object well-ordered governments have in view when they permit plays to +be performed in public is to entertain the people with some harmless +amusement occasionally, and keep it from those evil humours which +idleness is apt to engender; and that, as this may be attained by +any sort of play, good or bad, there is no need to lay down laws, or +bind those who write or act them to make them as they ought to be +made, since, as I say, the object sought for may be secured by any +sort. To this I would reply that the same end would be, beyond all +comparison, better attained by means of good plays than by those +that are not so; for after listening to an artistic and properly +constructed play, the hearer will come away enlivened by the jests, +instructed by the serious parts, full of admiration at the +incidents, his wits sharpened by the arguments, warned by the +tricks, all the wiser for the examples, inflamed against vice, and +in love with virtue; for in all these ways a good play will +stimulate the mind of the hearer be he ever so boorish or dull; and of +all impossibilities the greatest is that a play endowed with all these +qualities will not entertain, satisfy, and please much more than one +wanting in them, like the greater number of those which are commonly +acted now-a-days. Nor are the poets who write them to be blamed for +this; for some there are among them who are perfectly well aware of +their faults, and know what they ought to do; but as plays have become +a salable commodity, they say, and with truth, that the actors will +not buy them unless they are after this fashion; and so the poet tries +to adapt himself to the requirements of the actor who is to pay him +for his work. And that this is the truth may be seen by the +countless plays that a most fertile wit of these kingdoms has written, +with so much brilliancy, so much grace and gaiety, such polished +versification, such choice language, such profound reflections, and in +a word, so rich in eloquence and elevation of style, that he has +filled the world with his fame; and yet, in consequence of his +desire to suit the taste of the actors, they have not all, as some +of them have, come as near perfection as they ought. Others write +plays with such heedlessness that, after they have been acted, the +actors have to fly and abscond, afraid of being punished, as they +often have been, for having acted something offensive to some king +or other, or insulting to some noble family. All which evils, and many +more that I say nothing of, would be removed if there were some +intelligent and sensible person at the capital to examine all plays +before they were acted, not only those produced in the capital itself, +but all that were intended to be acted in Spain; without whose +approval, seal, and signature, no local magistracy should allow any +play to be acted. In that case actors would take care to send their +plays to the capital, and could act them in safety, and those who +write them would be more careful and take more pains with their +work, standing in awe of having to submit it to the strict examination +of one who understood the matter; and so good plays would be +produced and the objects they aim at happily attained; as well the +amusement of the people, as the credit of the wits of Spain, the +interest and safety of the actors, and the saving of trouble in +inflicting punishment on them. And if the same or some other person +were authorised to examine the newly written books of chivalry, no +doubt some would appear with all the perfections you have described, +enriching our language with the gracious and precious treasure of +eloquence, and driving the old books into obscurity before the light +of the new ones that would come out for the harmless entertainment, +not merely of the idle but of the very busiest; for the bow cannot +be always bent, nor can weak human nature exist without some lawful +amusement."</p> + +<p>The canon and the curate had proceeded thus far with their +conversation, when the barber, coming forward, joined them, and said +to the curate, "This is the spot, senor licentiate, that I said was +a good one for fresh and plentiful pasture for the oxen, while we take +our noontide rest."</p> + +<p>"And so it seems," returned the curate, and he told the canon what +he proposed to do, on which he too made up his mind to halt with them, +attracted by the aspect of the fair valley that lay before their eyes; +and to enjoy it as well as the conversation of the curate, to whom +he had begun to take a fancy, and also to learn more particulars about +the doings of Don Quixote, he desired some of his servants to go on to +the inn, which was not far distant, and fetch from it what eatables +there might be for the whole party, as he meant to rest for the +afternoon where he was; to which one of his servants replied that +the sumpter mule, which by this time ought to have reached the inn, +carried provisions enough to make it unnecessary to get anything +from the inn except barley.</p> + +<p>"In that case," said the canon, "take all the beasts there, and +bring the sumpter mule back."</p> + +<p>While this was going on, Sancho, perceiving that he could speak to +his master without having the curate and the barber, of whom he had +his suspicions, present all the time, approached the cage in which Don +Quixote was placed, and said, "Senor, to ease my conscience I want +to tell you the state of the case as to your enchantment, and that +is that these two here, with their faces covered, are the curate of +our village and the barber; and I suspect they have hit upon this plan +of carrying you off in this fashion, out of pure envy because your +worship surpasses them in doing famous deeds; and if this be the truth +it follows that you are not enchanted, but hoodwinked and made a +fool of. And to prove this I want to ask you one thing; and if you +answer me as I believe you will answer, you will be able to lay your +finger on the trick, and you will see that you are not enchanted but +gone wrong in your wits."</p> + +<p>"Ask what thou wilt, Sancho my son," returned Don Quixote, "for I +will satisfy thee and answer all thou requirest. As to what thou +sayest, that these who accompany us yonder are the curate and the +barber, our neighbours and acquaintances, it is very possible that +they may seem to be those same persons; but that they are so in +reality and in fact, believe it not on any account; what thou art to +believe and think is that, if they look like them, as thou sayest, +it must be that those who have enchanted me have taken this shape +and likeness; for it is easy for enchanters to take any form they +please, and they may have taken those of our friends in order to +make thee think as thou dost, and lead thee into a labyrinth of +fancies from which thou wilt find no escape though thou hadst the cord +of Theseus; and they may also have done it to make me uncertain in +my mind, and unable to conjecture whence this evil comes to me; for if +on the one hand thou dost tell me that the barber and curate of our +village are here in company with us, and on the other I find myself +shut up in a cage, and know in my heart that no power on earth that +was not supernatural would have been able to shut me in, what +wouldst thou have me say or think, but that my enchantment is of a +sort that transcends all I have ever read of in all the histories that +deal with knights-errant that have been enchanted? So thou mayest +set thy mind at rest as to the idea that they are what thou sayest, +for they are as much so as I am a Turk. But touching thy desire to ask +me something, say on, and I will answer thee, though thou shouldst ask +questions from this till to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>"May Our Lady be good to me!" said Sancho, lifting up his voice; +"and is it possible that your worship is so thick of skull and so +short of brains that you cannot see that what I say is the simple +truth, and that malice has more to do with your imprisonment and +misfortune than enchantment? But as it is so, I will prove plainly +to you that you are not enchanted. Now tell me, so may God deliver you +from this affliction, and so may you find yourself when you least +expect it in the arms of my lady Dulcinea-"</p> + +<p>"Leave off conjuring me," said Don Quixote, "and ask what thou +wouldst know; I have already told thee I will answer with all possible +precision."</p> + +<p>"That is what I want," said Sancho; "and what I would know, and have +you tell me, without adding or leaving out anything, but telling the +whole truth as one expects it to be told, and as it is told, by all +who profess arms, as your worship professes them, under the title of +knights-errant-"</p> + +<p>"I tell thee I will not lie in any particular," said Don Quixote; +"finish thy question; for in truth thou weariest me with all these +asseverations, requirements, and precautions, Sancho."</p> + +<p>"Well, I rely on the goodness and truth of my master," said +Sancho; "and so, because it bears upon what we are talking about, I +would ask, speaking with all reverence, whether since your worship has +been shut up and, as you think, enchanted in this cage, you have +felt any desire or inclination to go anywhere, as the saying is?"</p> + +<p>"I do not understand 'going anywhere,'" said Don Quixote; "explain +thyself more clearly, Sancho, if thou wouldst have me give an answer +to the point."</p> + +<p>"Is it possible," said Sancho, "that your worship does not +understand 'going anywhere'? Why, the schoolboys know that from the +time they were babes. Well then, you must know I mean have you had any +desire to do what cannot be avoided?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! now I understand thee, Sancho," said Don Quixote; "yes, +often, and even this minute; get me out of this strait, or all will +not go right."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c48e"></a><img alt="c48e.jpg (32K)" src="images/c48e.jpg" height="653" width="461"> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br><br> +<center><h2><a name="ch49"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2></center> +<br> +<center><h3>WHICH TREATS OF THE SHREWD CONVERSATION WHICH SANCHO PANZA HELD WITH +HIS MASTER DON QUIXOTE +</h3></center> +<br> +<br> + +<center><a name="c49a"></a><img alt="c49a.jpg (181K)" src="images/c49a.jpg" height="434" width="650"> +</center> +<a href="images/c49a.jpg" target="_blank"><img alt="Full Size" src="images/enlarge.jpg"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<p>"Aha, I have caught you," said Sancho; "this is what in my heart and +soul I was longing to know. Come now, senor, can you deny what is +commonly said around us, when a person is out of humour, 'I don't know +what ails so-and-so, that he neither eats, nor drinks, nor sleeps, nor +gives a proper answer to any question; one would think he was +enchanted'? From which it is to be gathered that those who do not eat, +or drink, or sleep, or do any of the natural acts I am speaking +of--that such persons are enchanted; but not those that have the desire +your worship has, and drink when drink is given them, and eat when +there is anything to eat, and answer every question that is asked +them."</p> + +<p>"What thou sayest is true, Sancho," replied Don Quixote; "but I have +already told thee there are many sorts of enchantments, and it may +be that in the course of time they have been changed one for +another, and that now it may be the way with enchanted people to do +all that I do, though they did not do so before; so it is vain to +argue or draw inferences against the usage of the time. I know and +feel that I am enchanted, and that is enough to ease my conscience; +for it would weigh heavily on it if I thought that I was not +enchanted, and that in a faint-hearted and cowardly way I allowed +myself to lie in this cage, defrauding multitudes of the succour I +might afford to those in need and distress, who at this very moment +may be in sore want of my aid and protection."</p> + +<p>"Still for all that," replied Sancho, "I say that, for your +greater and fuller satisfaction, it would be well if your worship were +to try to get out of this prison (and I promise to do all in my +power to help, and even to take you out of it), and see if you could +once more mount your good Rocinante, who seems to be enchanted too, he +is so melancholy and dejected; and then we might try our chance in +looking for adventures again; and if we have no luck there will be +time enough to go back to the cage; in which, on the faith of a good +and loyal squire, I promise to shut myself up along with your worship, +if so be you are so unfortunate, or I so stupid, as not to be able +to carry out my plan."</p> + +<p>"I am content to do as thou sayest, brother Sancho," said Don +Quixote, "and when thou seest an opportunity for effecting my +release I will obey thee absolutely; but thou wilt see, Sancho, how +mistaken thou art in thy conception of my misfortune."</p> + +<p>The knight-errant and the ill-errant squire kept up their +conversation till they reached the place where the curate, the +canon, and the barber, who had already dismounted, were waiting for +them. The carter at once unyoked the oxen and left them to roam at +large about the pleasant green spot, the freshness of which seemed +to invite, not enchanted people like Don Quixote, but wide-awake, +sensible folk like his squire, who begged the curate to allow his +master to leave the cage for a little; for if they did not let him +out, the prison might not be as clean as the propriety of such a +gentleman as his master required. The curate understood him, and +said he would very gladly comply with his request, only that he feared +his master, finding himself at liberty, would take to his old +courses and make off where nobody could ever find him again.</p> + +<p>"I will answer for his not running away," said Sancho.</p> + +<p>"And I also," said the canon, "especially if he gives me his word as +a knight not to leave us without our consent."</p> + +<p>Don Quixote, who was listening to all this, said, "I give +it;--moreover one who is enchanted as I am cannot do as he likes with +himself; for he who had enchanted him could prevent his moving from +one place for three ages, and if he attempted to escape would bring +him back flying."--And that being so, they might as well release +him, particularly as it would be to the advantage of all; for, if they +did not let him out, he protested he would be unable to avoid +offending their nostrils unless they kept their distance.</p> + +<p>The canon took his hand, tied together as they both were, and on his +word and promise they unbound him, and rejoiced beyond measure he +was to find himself out of the cage. The first thing he did was to +stretch himself all over, and then he went to where Rocinante was +standing and giving him a couple of slaps on the haunches said, "I +still trust in God and in his blessed mother, O flower and mirror of +steeds, that we shall soon see ourselves, both of us, as we wish to +be, thou with thy master on thy back, and I mounted upon thee, +following the calling for which God sent me into the world." And so +saying, accompanied by Sancho, he withdrew to a retired spot, from +which he came back much relieved and more eager than ever to put his +squire's scheme into execution.</p> + +<p>The canon gazed at him, wondering at the extraordinary nature of his +madness, and that in all his remarks and replies he should show such +excellent sense, and only lose his stirrups, as has been already said, +when the subject of chivalry was broached. And so, moved by +compassion, he said to him, as they all sat on the green grass +awaiting the arrival of the provisions:</p> + +<p>"Is it possible, gentle sir, that the nauseous and idle reading of +books of chivalry can have had such an effect on your worship as to +upset your reason so that you fancy yourself enchanted, and the +like, all as far from the truth as falsehood itself is? How can +there be any human understanding that can persuade itself there ever +was all that infinity of Amadises in the world, or all that +multitude of famous knights, all those emperors of Trebizond, all +those Felixmartes of Hircania, all those palfreys, and damsels-errant, +and serpents, and monsters, and giants, and marvellous adventures, and +enchantments of every kind, and battles, and prodigious encounters, +splendid costumes, love-sick princesses, squires made counts, droll +dwarfs, love letters, billings and cooings, swashbuckler women, and, +in a word, all that nonsense the books of chivalry contain? For +myself, I can only say that when I read them, so long as I do not stop +to think that they are all lies and frivolity, they give me a +certain amount of pleasure; but when I come to consider what they are, +I fling the very best of them at the wall, and would fling it into the +fire if there were one at hand, as richly deserving such punishment as +cheats and impostors out of the range of ordinary toleration, and as +founders of new sects and modes of life, and teachers that lead the +ignorant public to believe and accept as truth all the folly they +contain. And such is their audacity, they even dare to unsettle the +wits of gentlemen of birth and intelligence, as is shown plainly by +the way they have served your worship, when they have brought you to +such a pass that you have to be shut up in a cage and carried on an +ox-cart as one would carry a lion or a tiger from place to place to +make money by showing it. Come, Senor Don Quixote, have some +compassion for yourself, return to the bosom of common sense, and make +use of the liberal share of it that heaven has been pleased to +bestow upon you, employing your abundant gifts of mind in some other +reading that may serve to benefit your conscience and add to your +honour. And if, still led away by your natural bent, you desire to +read books of achievements and of chivalry, read the Book of Judges in +the Holy Scriptures, for there you will find grand reality, and +deeds as true as they are heroic. Lusitania had a Viriatus, Rome a +Caesar, Carthage a Hannibal, Greece an Alexander, Castile a Count +Fernan Gonzalez, Valencia a Cid, Andalusia a Gonzalo Fernandez, +Estremadura a Diego Garcia de Paredes, Jerez a Garci Perez de +Vargas, Toledo a Garcilaso, Seville a Don Manuel de Leon, to read of +whose valiant deeds will entertain and instruct the loftiest minds and +fill them with delight and wonder. Here, Senor Don Quixote, will be +reading worthy of your sound understanding; from which you will rise +learned in history, in love with virtue, strengthened in goodness, +improved in manners, brave without rashness, prudent without +cowardice; and all to the honour of God, your own advantage and the +glory of La Mancha, whence, I am informed, your worship derives your +birth."</p> + +<p>Don Quixote listened with the greatest attention to the canon's +words, and when he found he had finished, after regarding him for some +time, he replied to him:</p> + +<p>"It appears to me, gentle sir, that your worship's discourse is +intended to persuade me that there never were any knights-errant in +the world, and that all the books of chivalry are false, lying, +mischievous and useless to the State, and that I have done wrong in +reading them, and worse in believing them, and still worse in +imitating them, when I undertook to follow the arduous calling of +knight-errantry which they set forth; for you deny that there ever +were Amadises of Gaul or of Greece, or any other of the knights of +whom the books are full."</p> + +<p>"It is all exactly as you state it," said the canon; to which Don +Quixote returned, "You also went on to say that books of this kind had +done me much harm, inasmuch as they had upset my senses, and shut me +up in a cage, and that it would be better for me to reform and +change my studies, and read other truer books which would afford +more pleasure and instruction."</p> + +<p>"Just so," said the canon.</p> + +<p>"Well then," returned Don Quixote, "to my mind it is you who are the +one that is out of his wits and enchanted, as you have ventured to +utter such blasphemies against a thing so universally acknowledged and +accepted as true that whoever denies it, as you do, deserves the +same punishment which you say you inflict on the books that irritate +you when you read them. For to try to persuade anybody that Amadis, +and all the other knights-adventurers with whom the books are +filled, never existed, would be like trying to persuade him that the +sun does not yield light, or ice cold, or earth nourishment. What +wit in the world can persuade another that the story of the Princess +Floripes and Guy of Burgundy is not true, or that of Fierabras and the +bridge of Mantible, which happened in the time of Charlemagne? For +by all that is good it is as true as that it is daylight now; and if +it be a lie, it must be a lie too that there was a Hector, or +Achilles, or Trojan war, or Twelve Peers of France, or Arthur of +England, who still lives changed into a raven, and is unceasingly +looked for in his kingdom. One might just as well try to make out that +the history of Guarino Mezquino, or of the quest of the Holy Grail, is +false, or that the loves of Tristram and the Queen Yseult are +apocryphal, as well as those of Guinevere and Lancelot, when there are +persons who can almost remember having seen the Dame Quintanona, who +was the best cupbearer in Great Britain. And so true is this, that I +recollect a grandmother of mine on the father's side, whenever she saw +any dame in a venerable hood, used to say to me, 'Grandson, that one +is like Dame Quintanona,' from which I conclude that she must have +known her, or at least had managed to see some portrait of her. Then +who can deny that the story of Pierres and the fair Magalona is +true, when even to this day may be seen in the king's armoury the +pin with which the valiant Pierres guided the wooden horse he rode +through the air, and it is a trifle bigger than the pole of a cart? +And alongside of the pin is Babieca's saddle, and at Roncesvalles +there is Roland's horn, as large as a large beam; whence we may +infer that there were Twelve Peers, and a Pierres, and a Cid, and +other knights like them, of the sort people commonly call adventurers. +Or perhaps I shall be told, too, that there was no such +knight-errant as the valiant Lusitanian Juan de Merlo, who went to +Burgundy and in the city of Arras fought with the famous lord of +Charny, Mosen Pierres by name, and afterwards in the city of Basle +with Mosen Enrique de Remesten, coming out of both encounters +covered with fame and honour; or adventures and challenges achieved +and delivered, also in Burgundy, by the valiant Spaniards Pedro +Barba and Gutierre Quixada (of whose family I come in the direct +male line), when they vanquished the sons of the Count of San Polo. +I shall be told, too, that Don Fernando de Guevara did not go in quest +of adventures to Germany, where he engaged in combat with Micer +George, a knight of the house of the Duke of Austria. I shall be +told that the jousts of Suero de Quinones, him of the 'Paso,' and +the emprise of Mosen Luis de Falces against the Castilian knight, +Don Gonzalo de Guzman, were mere mockeries; as well as many other +achievements of Christian knights of these and foreign realms, which +are so authentic and true, that, I repeat, he who denies them must +be totally wanting in reason and good sense."</p> + +<p>The canon was amazed to hear the medley of truth and fiction Don +Quixote uttered, and to see how well acquainted he was with everything +relating or belonging to the achievements of his knight-errantry; so +he said in reply:</p> + +<p>"I cannot deny, Senor Don Quixote, that there is some truth in +what you say, especially as regards the Spanish knights-errant; and +I am willing to grant too that the Twelve Peers of France existed, but +I am not disposed to believe that they did all the things that the +Archbishop Turpin relates of them. For the truth of the matter is they +were knights chosen by the kings of France, and called 'Peers' because +they were all equal in worth, rank and prowess (at least if they +were not they ought to have been), and it was a kind of religious +order like those of Santiago and Calatrava in the present day, in +which it is assumed that those who take it are valiant knights of +distinction and good birth; and just as we say now a Knight of St. +John, or of Alcantara, they used to say then a Knight of the Twelve +Peers, because twelve equals were chosen for that military order. That +there was a Cid, as well as a Bernardo del Carpio, there can be no +doubt; but that they did the deeds people say they did, I hold to be +very doubtful. In that other matter of the pin of Count Pierres that +you speak of, and say is near Babieca's saddle in the Armoury, I +confess my sin; for I am either so stupid or so short-sighted, that, +though I have seen the saddle, I have never been able to see the +pin, in spite of it being as big as your worship says it is."</p> + +<p>"For all that it is there, without any manner of doubt," said Don +Quixote; "and more by token they say it is inclosed in a sheath of +cowhide to keep it from rusting."</p> + +<p>"All that may be," replied the canon; "but, by the orders I have +received, I do not remember seeing it. However, granting it is +there, that is no reason why I am bound to believe the stories of +all those Amadises and of all that multitude of knights they tell us +about, nor is it reasonable that a man like your worship, so worthy, +and with so many good qualities, and endowed with such a good +understanding, should allow himself to be persuaded that such wild +crazy things as are written in those absurd books of chivalry are +really true."</p> + +<br><br><br><br> +<center><a name="c49e"></a><img alt="c49e.jpg (22K)" src="images/c49e.jpg" height="513" width="389"> +</center> + + +<br> +<br> + + + +<center> +<table summary="" cellPadding=4 border=3> +<tr><td> + <a href="p15.htm">Previous Part</a> +</td><td> + <a href="5921-h.htm">Main Index</a> +</td><td> + <a href="p17.htm">Next Part</a> + </td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br> + +</body> +</html> + |